Mighty Joe Young (1949) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

 

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[Dick]

I doubt this and SON OF KONG are going to be full restorations that way HUNCHBACK is, but it's so cool to see more of the classic RKO titles committed to Blu.


Makes me wonder if THE INFORMER or GUNGA DIN or the Val Lewton films will ever make the transition. There are fine-looking HD masters already out there for the CAT PEOPLE films, but no commercial releases in sight.

 

[Squire]

One of my Father's favorites! Probably because it had a happier ending than King Kong.

 

[John Sparks]

I remember when King Kong came out on BD and everyone said it was much better looking than the last SD WB released. Well, I did an A/B comparison and there wasn't that much of a difference. Check out my equipment below, that's what I viewed them on.


Hoping they do a little restoration, not like they did with King Kong. I would hate to spend my money on port overs.

 

[aPhil]

My only issue with the otherwise beautiful HD of 1949 "Mighty Joe Young" is not having the option of viewing the entire film in black & white.


I know some people say just turn off the chroma, but techs will understand that is not the same thing.


I first saw the big ape movies in the early 1960s on that 35mm triple bill with the original King Kong and the USA version of the original Godzilla. It was an exciting experience, and I remember the prints looking great. Joe was shown without any of the sepia tone stuff during the orphanage scene, and that's the way I like it best.

 

[Mark-P]

My only issue with the otherwise beautiful HD of 1949 "Mighty Joe Young" is not having the option of viewing the entire film in black & white.

Most of us grew up seeing the bookends of The Wizard of Oz in black & white instead of sepia but that doesn't make it correct. Warner did the right thing by restoring the original tint to that scene in Mighty Joe Young.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Most of us grew up seeing the bookends of The Wizard of Oz in black & white instead of sepia but that doesn't make it correct. Warner did the right thing by restoring the original tint to that scene in Mighty Joe Young.

Agree - if that's the way the film was intended to be seen, that's the way it should be seen. "I saw it the wrong way and want to continue to see it the wrong way" is an argument I don't understand...

 

[Dick]

My only issue with the otherwise beautiful HD of 1949 "Mighty Joe Young" is not having the option of viewing the entire film in black & white.


I know some people say just turn off the chroma, but techs will understand that is not the same thing.

No, it certainly isn't the same thing, which is why the "just turn the color down" advice does not work for "colorized" movies. When you swath a black and white film with bogus colors, you completely change the gray scale and contrast values, and simply turning the color down leaves you with a muddy mess. MIGHTY JOE YOUNG was supposed to have been shown with the fire sequence tinted, so I don't mess with it while viewing. It might be a completely different tint than that seen in 1949, but it was apparently not meant to be viewed in black and white.

 

[Tony Bensley]

No, it certainly isn't the same thing, which is why the "just turn the color down" advice does not work for "colorized" movies. When you swath a black and white film with bogus colors, you completely change the gray scale and contrast values, and simply turning the color down leaves you with a muddy mess. MIGHTY JOE YOUNG was supposed to have been shown with the fire sequence tinted, so I don't mess with it while viewing. It might be a completely different tint than that seen in 1949, but it was apparently not meant to be viewed in black and white.

Hi Rick!


That's one reason why I appreciate all efforts to present a film as it was originally presented, or at least as close to that as possible with existing elements!


On the opposite side of the colorization argument, I can recall having first viewed Black & White prints of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET CAPTAIN KIDD and their JACK AND THE BEANSTALK on Television, which were originally Cinecolor presentations, back in the 1970's. While the latter has never really had a great DVD release (Though I've read the 1990's LaserDisc, which Bob Furmanek was involved with, was quite good!), I'm thankful that the original versions of these are available on Home Video!


Regarding the tinted restoration for MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, I did see this version on TCM several years back and was quite impressed with this! That said, I would hope that it's at least as near as possible (I have no idea, myself!) to what Theater Goers would have seen back in 1949!


CHEERS!


Tony

 

[aPhil]

Actually, I doubt that the original "Mighty Joe Young" was meant to be seen with the color tint that we see today. Even Ray Harryhausen commented with surprise (on the commentary track for both the old DVD, which I still have, and repeated here on the Blu-ray) and said that this is not how the original release looked.


I would also suggest the possibility that the Technicolor tinting on 1949 prints

(which is not what we have on the DVD nor the Blu-ray)

might have been more of a 1949 marketing gimick rather than the original intent of the filmmakers. Were all the 1949 prints released this way? Does anyone know?

Regardless, what is presented here does not seem to be the original look for the Technicolor tinted sequences.


Yes, I would love to see what the original Technicolor work looked like and have that as an option, but that is not what is presented. Actually, I'm surprised that no such print seems to be in existence, as I have not heard of anyone actually seeing it other than Harryhausen's comments on the commentary track.

 

[Paul Penna]

Back in 2006, Jack Theakston posted this on the Classic Horror Film Board:

(http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/reply/37957/Mighty-Joe-Young-Question#reply-37957)

Actually, it was a tri-tone effect by Technicolor (who also test colored portions of CHANG with this process), with highlights, midtones and shadows. Red, orange and yellow, respectively. The printing was done dye-transfer by Technicolor, and the epilogue was printed (or black and white toned) a sepia tone, similar to the end of PORTRAIT OF JENNIE. Subsiquent rerelease prints were either on pre-tinted red stock or simply not tinted at all.

 

[Tony Bensley]

My only issue with the otherwise beautiful HD of 1949 "Mighty Joe Young" is not having the option of viewing the entire film in black & white.


I know some people say just turn off the chroma, but techs will understand that is not the same thing.


I first saw the big ape movies in the early 1960s on that 35mm triple bill with the original King Kong and the USA version of the original Godzilla. It was an exciting experience, and I remember the prints looking great. Joe was shown without any of the sepia tone stuff during the orphanage scene, and that's the way I like it best.

Hi Phil!


Perhaps the "Black & White" only option, alongside the version with the Tinted/Colored Fire sequence, might be available on the Blu-ray?


In my opinion, the above would be the best solution, as what has been used in past MIGHTY JOE YOUNG home video issues wasn't an original tinting!


CHEERS!


Tony