Mary Poppins 50th Anniversary Blu-ray December 10th, 2013 (1 Viewer)

[moviebuff75]

Doug, are the opening credits and first scene a little rough and grainy?

 

[Doug Bull]

Eric,
The credit sequence seems a little softer (sharpness wise) and there is a fair amount of grain present.
I'm wondering if that is a result of the opticals.

Frame as scanned.

Also all of the live characters in the combined Animated sequences are extremely soft.

Animation below is much sharper.

Doug.

 

[moviebuff75]

Thanks! Can you see any of the effects wires in any of the frames or is the picture too soft?

 

[ahollis]

Sorry this a little off topic but evidently I have an ad blocker on the iPhone and would love to turn it off. Any know? Thanks.

 

[Doug Bull]

Eric,
No wires that I can see.

But only having limited access to the print I can't do a complete search.


Doug.

 

[moviebuff75]

Awesome! Thanks! Yeah, the scene where she lands at the Banks house is the most obvious one to me.

 

[Doug Bull]

I think you really need to see continuous motion to spot the wires.

 

[moviebuff75]

I'm sure that the softness of the IB Technicolor prints covered them up in the theater.

 

[warnerbro]

Amazon is claiming a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. I hope this is correct. I'm also hoping for a music only track.

 

[Escapay]

Amazon is claiming a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. I hope this is correct. I'm also hoping for a music only track.

I'd rather it be 1.75:1, but I'm also hoping for the music-only track as well.

 

[Doug Bull]

My actual 35mm film scans show that "Mary Poppins" is most definitely not 1.66:1

The only other possibility is that the print I was able to access is a reissue print with an altered matte.
That's a possibility I guess.

 

[Doug Bull]

A follow up to my last comment is that IMDb lists it as 1.66:1 so did they alter the aspect ratio for the 1973 or 1980 reissues?

 

[ahollis]

Disney in the 60's and 70's would send out instruction letters to the theatre owners and projectionists all signed by Irving Ludwig, who was VP of Distribution for Buena Vista, and someone not to second guess. I saw many of those letters in a file in the mid 70's in a theatre that was an exclusive Disney house. Except for the scope films the letters all indicated the films were to be 1.75:1 or 1.85:1. I do not recall any that suggested 1.66:1. I believe all features at that theatre played 1.85:1 at that time regardless of instructions. I guess they did second guess him. I meet the gentleman in latter years after his retirement and still would not second guess him.

 

[rich_d]

Doug,

Thanks for the frame captures.

Rich D

 

[Mark-P]

While I have no idea what the upcoming Poppins aspect ratio will be, I can tell you that many of the Disney HD masters that are now available on iTunes from that era are 1.66:1. So someone at Disney is making the call to put the bulk of their catalog at that aspect ratio.

 

[warnerbro]

The image on the bluray 50th anniversary trailer looks horrible. It is washed out and there is a horrible green noise grain on the shots of Dick Van Dyke in the park scenes. I'm guessing this is not the same print used for the bluray release.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

First, I don't want to state something I know may not be true....

However, I would *think* if Disney is promoting the new Blu-ray of
Mary Poppins they are using the exact print used for the Blu-ray release.

Why would you not?

Secondly, I had to look at the trailer again on YouTube, and I personally
cannot see any abnormalities. Realize, this is a YouTube trailer that is
being streamed. In regular window size it's hard to tell if there are any
problems. Full-screen on my 27" iMac monitor I see all kinds of issues
being introduced with the streaming even at a 1080p setting.

The scenes race from one to another, not really giving enough time for
one to evaluate any potential transfer problems, in my opinon.

Again, I am guessing a trailer for a restored Mary Poppins is going to
contain the actual transfer. However, to judge it via this YouTube
trailer seems a little preposterous to me.

That's just my personal take on this.

 

[warnerbro]

The trailer I watched was in full HD on THE MUPPET MOVIE bluray. I still framed on some of the shots of Dick Van Dyke in the park.. It looks horrible with some kind of weird grain structure. I hope this is not a sample of the bluray release.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Gotcha!

I will have to open my copy of The Muppet Movie today and look at it.

 

[Chuck Pennington]

First, I don't want to state something I know may not be true....However, I would *think* if Disney is promoting the new Blu-ray ofMary Poppins they are using the exact print used for the Blu-ray release.Why would you not?

Because in the past the trailers have been made up of clips from older transfers, that's why. The marketing department creates these trailers sometimes well ahead of a completed restored master being made available to them.Is it stupid to advertise a beautiful HD release using less than ideal clips? Sure, but have you seen the ridiculously false "before and after" restoration images they sometimes use?I doubt any part of the trailer is indicative of what will be on the released Blu-ray. For reference, check out the Blu-ray trailers for SLEEPING BEAUTY and THE ARISTOCATS that were on other Disney Blu-ray Discs.