Mr Bongo Chimes at Midnight/Falstaff (1 Viewer)

[david hare]

A warning at least until I can get a copy of the actual disc and watch it but I have now seen a spread range of 24 uncompressed screencaps from this and I am - err - appalled. They all look bleached! There seems to be no trace of true black in sight, and the dynamic range/contrast is so narrow it looks like some incredibly major mistake has been made in the mastering stage, presumably after the scan from what were always known to be very good 35mm elements and the new 4k scan.


More in a day or two when I have the disc, but Bongo really can take credit for some of the great disasters of major titles being wrecked on bad Stateside BDs

.
This looks like complete crap I'm afraid. I'm hoping it's the caps themselves, but I know the source and the software used and they never look like this.

 

[David_B_K]

Thanks for the warning. I just canceled my pre-order. I've kept it on my wish list in case the caps turn out to be wrong. I've got the Italian DVD which is pretty good.

 

[RMajidi]

Thanks for the warning. I just canceled my pre-order.

Ditto

 

[Worth]

A warning at least until I can get a copy of the actual disc and watch it but I have now seen a spread range of 24 uncompressed screencaps from this and I am - err - appalled. They all look bleached! There seems to be no trace of true black in sight, and the dynamic range/contrast is so narrow it looks like some incredibly major mistake has been made in the mastering stage, presumably after the scan from what were always known to be very good 35mm elements and the new 4k scan.


More in a day or two when I have the disc, but Bongo really can take credit for some of the great disasters of major titles being wrecked on bad Stateside BDs

.
This looks like complete crap I'm afraid. I'm hoping it's the caps themselves, but I know the source and the software used and they never look like this.

Sounds like the black level was set for computer levels rather than video. The Arrival, Destroy All Monsters and the European Howling and Flash Gordon discs all suffer from the same problem, as do many others, I'm sure.


There should be a light/dark black level setting on your monitor/player that's set to "light" by default. Switching it to "dark" should fix the problem.

 

[WilliamMcK]

Interesting... I DVR'd it from TCM last month during their Friday night Welles tribute. That print was exactly as you described the blu-ray... I even put on my "Bongo" DVD to compare... the TCM print had greater resolution (it was an HD broadcast), but the DVD had acceptable black levels. Wish I had kept the TCM print on my DVR so I could go back and look more closely!

 

[Robert Harris]

All this, and there are no element problems on this film. The last print that I saw had just been struck, and was beautiful.

RAH

 

[david hare]

Yes, this is nonsense.


The disc is plainly unacceptable and so blown out with white level it is almost impossible to ascertain what the 4K might look like. But now reports are coming in from people who've seen the DCP. Not only does the DCP display the quite rough start with multiple emulsion damage like nicks and scratches, but later you get cigarette burns, which in itself suggests a 35mm positive source not a neg, and some shrinkage based frame jitter. So there are obviously issues with the 4K from Filmoteca itself although it is apparently not as "bright" and devoid of dynamic range as the disc image.


Criterion's Issa Clubb is likely to be the producer on their disc and one hopes they may now be giving this Filmoteca "restoration" a wide berth. One would hope he can access something at least as good as the 35mm positive from France which Studio Canal used for their DVD until the title was pulled from circulation a few years back.

 

[Squire]

Interesting... I DVR'd it from TCM last month during their Friday night Welles tribute. That print was exactly as you described the blu-ray... I even put on my "Bongo" DVD to compare... the TCM print had greater resolution (it was an HD broadcast), but the DVD had acceptable black levels. Wish I had kept the TCM print on my DVR so I could go back and look more closely!

What about the sound on the DVD? I had a hard time watching it on TCM because the sound had problems. I had a hard time making out the dialogue which is kind of important when your watching Shakespeare.

 

[david hare]

Audio remains unrestored on the Blu Ray. (Track is LPCM mono.) That means there's also been no effort to resynch parts of it. Which is probably just as well given the general air of disaster around this "restoration".

The French DVD (which is "OOP" courtesy of Beatrice) has excellent black levels and grayscale and doesn't display any multi run print damage like reel end cigarette burns, frame jitter and tramline scratches. It would have been a perfect source for scanning, untouched.

 

[Squire]

Audio remains unrestored on the Blu Ray. (Track is LPCM mono.) That means there's also been no effort to resynch parts of it. Which is probably just as well given the general air of disaster around this "restoration".

The French DVD (which is "OOP" courtesy of Beatrice) has excellent black levels and grayscale and doesn't display any multi run print damage like reel end cigarette burns, frame jitter and tramline scratches. It would have been a perfect source for scanning, untouched.

Sounds like I'd better join those who've decided to wait for something better. Thanks!

 

[titch]

Have received my copy of the Mr Bongo blu ray today and can confirm that it is atrocious. This can't possibly be the restored copy that was shown in cinemas last year - it is full of specks and scratches and the blacks are washed out. No subtitles and no extras. Avoid like the plague.

 

[Darby67]

Janus Films/Criterion has a nice webpage about Chimes at Midnight and where and when it will be shown in theaters in 2016: http://janusfilms.com/chimes/


I can't wait until this screens at the Music Box Theater here in Chicago and, of course, the eventual DVD and Blu-ray releases!


Darby

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Janus Films/Criterion has a nice webpage about Chimes at Midnight and where and when it will be shown in theaters in 2016: http://janusfilms.com/chimes/


I can't wait until this screens at the Music Box Theater here in Chicago and, of course, the eventual DVD and Blu-ray releases!


Darby

Did see Welles's It's All True at the Music Box...what a great theater and I will be there to see Chimes too.