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MY FAIR LADY 4K restoration completed! Dec. 9th release announced (Post #299) (1 Viewer)

Dave Moritz

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When ever the studio decides to release this title I hope to be ready for it as long as the transfer is done right. As there are so many other movies that I want as well if I do not get around to it before the 4K bluray comes out then I guess I would be even happier. I also would like to see 4K releases of Gone With The Wind and Sound Of Music. But My Fair Lady in 4K is on my list as well.
I'll just say that any studio project -- as with any company project -- should remain
shrouded in secret until that studio or company chooses to announce it. That's their
right, and I completely understand the circumstances of any company taking that stance.
I totally agree with you Ronald Epstein some people get upset when a title doesn't get released when they think it should or when they heard it was coming out.
 

Allansfirebird

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JimmyK said:
If that's what it takes to get it right this time, so be it.
Exactly! If it means we can get a final product of the highest visual quality, what's a couple more months of waiting? It's the old adage: "you want it done good, or you want it done fast?"
 

Jim*Tod

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Absolutely. We have waited this long and really in none of its previous home video incarnations has it really been allowed to shine as it might. I also trust that if Mr. Harris was involved, what we will get is going to be great. And gee folks, don't we have plenty of other blu rays we can watch while we wait? Patience is virtue.... and it is always good to have at least one.
 

lukejosephchung

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When Mr. Harris posted earlier in this thread about the delay, he made it crystal clear to anybody who read it CAREFULLY that it was instituted for QUALITY CONTROL purposes...the HTF membership has waited 3 years for the botched initial release to be properly rectified, and Mr. Harris is making certain that it is...I, for one, have NO COMPLAINTS about this development, even though it means a longer wait!!! :thumbsup:
 

Robin9

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AdrianTurner said:
Make that two. I agree with everything John Maher says. I still fancy seeing the Blu-ray though!
Wow! Three extremists in one thread! :)

O K gentlemen, I stand corrected. I should have written shared by no-one except a handful of extremists
 

Eric Vedowski

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AdrianTurner said:
Make that two. I agree with everything John Maher says. I still fancy seeing the Blu-ray though!
Make that three (or four), I too agree with John Maher and Alan Jay Lerner didn't like the movie version either.
 
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Patrick Donahue

Personally, I will probably not have much time to watch this release with the attention it deserves over the holidays anyway...
 

battlebeast

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MatthewA said:
My Fair Lady is neither clunky nor dull on screen, unlike that nanny movie that inexplicably won five Oscars (and it really, really needs to have its Film Editing Oscar revoked). 139 minutes of pure torture. There is no combination of actors, writers, directors, composers, lyricists, cinematographers or any professionals (or amateurs) who can make that thing work in any medium.
THE ONLY THING wrong with MARY POPPINS is Dick Van Dyke's accent. The rest of the film is spectacular. Much better than MFL, but MFL IS NOWHERE NEAR as bad as John said.
 

trajan

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lukejosephchung said:
When Mr. Harris posted earlier in this thread about the delay, he made it crystal clear to anybody who read it CAREFULLY that it was instituted for QUALITY CONTROL purposes...the HTF membership has waited 3 years for the botched initial release to be properly rectified, and Mr. Harris is making certain that it is...I, for one, have NO COMPLAINTS about this development, even though it means a longer wait!!! :thumbsup:
On the preorder thread Robert Harris says "Delay is for simple reasons"He does not say what those simple reasons are.
 

Paul Scott

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Has it not been confirmed that the delay is due to that "for the modern collector" packaging and not the actual disc itself?

From the solicit photos, this looks to be using the same kind of cases that Warner has been having trouble getting out. A wave of basic re-releases in these new cases were supposed to be Best Buy exclusives for several months but they couldn't produce them on time.

I wouldn't be surprised if the problem were similar here.
 

haineshisway

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What does it really matter what the reason is - it is and Ron E. is right - but of course, people can't wait to post release dates and stuff so this happens. Of course we all want it sooner than later but I've seen a goodly portion of it and it's worth the wait.
 

MatthewA

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battlebeast said:
THE ONLY THING wrong with M--- P------ is Dick Van Dyke's accent.
There are plenty of things wrong with that movie. One of the most utterly disgusting is Admiral Boom shooting at the dancing chimney sweeps because he thinks they're "Hottentots" (the correct term is Khoikhoi). All the people who make a living accusing Disney movies, the people who make them, and the people who like them of various prejudices let them off the hook for this for some reason, but I won't because this time I sincerely think such criticisms are warranted.

And that woman only got the job because she practically murdered all the other applicants. Did any of them survive being blown away by a gust of wind? The movie doesn't explain that, but it's doubtful.

And yes, I also blame this film for the trend of sagging among grown men (Bert, who frankly is wasting his time pining after that woman, did so when dancing with the penguins).

And the suggestion that "a sweep is as lucky as lucky can be" is pretty disgusting when you consider what the life of a chimney sweep was really like. I liked that song better when it was called "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." Can you really call it the best song from a film made in 1964 when The Beatles' songs from A Hard Days' Night were completely shut out? Not only is it not better than My Fair Lady and certainly not better than The Sound of Music (the two best films that ever have been made or ever will be made from Broadway musicals), it is not better than ANY other Disney musical or live-action/animation hybrid or any of the other late 1960s musical flops inspired in part by it, not even the deeply flawed Doctor Dolittle. And after some of Disney's actions with other films of its kind, i.e. cutting stuff out again after putting it back, this film needs to lose its film editing Oscar. The only reason it won that particular award was because Walt told Buena Vista and Radio City to go pound sand when they suggested cuts. The stage and screen versions are proof the book wasn't any good to begin with. The Shermans' songs are way, way substandard by their standards, and so are the Stiles & Drew songs from the stage version (Robert B. Sherman takes the same position on Stiles & Drew's work there that I do with the Sherman Brothers and practically everyone else in this film; he disliked their work there but does not consider it representative of their work overall). This is the moment Walt jumped the shark in my book. It's almost as bad as any Disney movie I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen some stinkers.

My Fair Lady, by contrast, is pure screen magic from start to finish, and the best thing Alan Jay Lerner ever did. If he didn't like it, tough. Most people didn't like Paint Your Wagon, and a lot of that was his doing since he produced it himself. It deserved every single Oscar it won and should have won at least one more, and frankly, I would have given the Oscars to Stanley Holloway and Gladys Cooper as well. For once in his life, Bosley Crowther was right, although if Julie Andrews' award had been for The Americanization of Emily, a film she was genuinely proud of because she was cast against type, then I could have said Audrey lost to a worthy competitor.
 

haineshisway

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MatthewA said:
There are plenty of things wrong with that movie. One of the most utterly disgusting is Admiral Boom shooting at the dancing chimney sweeps because he thinks they're "Hottentots" (the correct term is Khoikhoi). All the people who make a living accusing Disney movies, the people who make them, and the people who like them of various prejudices let them off the hook for this for some reason, but I won't because this time I sincerely think such criticisms are warranted.

And that woman only got the job because she practically murdered all the other applicants. Did any of them survive being blown away by a gust of wind? The movie doesn't explain that, but it's doubtful.

And yes, I also blame this film for the trend of sagging among grown men (Bert, who frankly is wasting his time pining after that woman, did so when dancing with the penguins).

And the suggestion that "a sweep is as lucky as lucky can be" is pretty disgusting when you consider what the life of a chimney sweep was really like. I liked that song better when it was called "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." Can you really call it the best song from a film made in 1964 when The Beatles' songs from A Hard Days' Night were completely shut out? Not only is it not better than My Fair Lady and certainly not better than The Sound of Music (the two best films that ever have been made or ever will be made from Broadway musicals), it is not better than ANY other Disney musical or live-action/animation hybrid or any of the other late 1960s musical flops inspired in part by it, not even the deeply flawed Doctor Dolittle. And after some of Disney's actions with other films of its kind, i.e. cutting stuff out again after putting it back, this film needs to lose its film editing Oscar. The only reason it won that particular award was because Walt told Buena Vista and Radio City to go pound sand when they suggested cuts. The stage and screen versions are proof the book wasn't any good to begin with. The Shermans' songs are way, way substandard by their standards, and so are the Stiles & Drew songs from the stage version (Robert B. Sherman takes the same position on Stiles & Drew's work there that I do with the Sherman Brothers and practically everyone else in this film; he disliked their work there but does not consider it representative of their work overall). This is the moment Walt jumped the shark in my book. It's almost as bad as any Disney movie I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen some stinkers.

My Fair Lady, by contrast, is pure screen magic from start to finish, and the best thing Alan Jay Lerner ever did. If he didn't like it, tough. Most people didn't like Paint Your Wagon, and a lot of that was his doing since he produced it himself. It deserved every single Oscar it won and should have won at least one more, and frankly, I would have given the Oscars to Stanley Holloway and Gladys Cooper as well. For once in his life, Bosley Crowther was right, although if Julie Andrews' award had been for The Americanization of Emily, a film she was genuinely proud of because she was cast against type, then I could have said Audrey lost to a worthy competitor.
Well, you know, it's funny about opinions, isn't it? I discount all the politically correct stuff in your post, needless to say, as I find that sort of thing specious. We do, you know, have the ability to understand context, when the film was made, and, more importantly, when the film takes place. We can also be politically correct about My Fair Lady but what IS the point - it takes place when it takes place. I don't really find to be pure screen magic at all. I enjoy it for what it is, but it is, at times, stodgy and stagey, most obviously in Mr. Holloway's two numbers. If you find the Sherman Brothers songs in Mary Poppins substandard, well, yes, it's your opinion, just as mine is they are anything but substandard. While I would never say that Mary Poppins is on my all-time favorite list, I will say it achieves exactly what it set out to do - entertain, and wildly so in several of its best instances.

One wonders if you come from a line of chimney sweeps :) Of course, your entire post could be meant humorously - for me it was VERY humorous. Thus, opinions.
 

MatthewA

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If it's any consolation to you, I liked The First Nudie Musical better, too.
haineshisway said:
One wonders if you come from a line of chimney sweeps :)
Nope. Just a radiation oncologist who would kill me if he ever caught me smoking. So I've stayed away from tobacco ever since, and I'm from North Carolina! I only wish Walt could have done the same, considering he warned us about some of the dangers of smoking in the 1951 Goofy cartoon No Smoking and, of course, depicted it as a vice worthy of being turned into a donkey in Pinocchio. In that thing Tom Hanks did, he seems aware it's a vice and is shown putting it out at an angle that doesn't even show the cigarette. That is the extent of what that thing Tom Hanks did could depict within the guidelines they've imposed in the past few years regarding smoking. I find that nanny and everyone she associates with and everything she does to be colossally annoying. And I think what I dislike the most about it is the film's message that change can come from some person who floats in the sky and fixes everybody. Personal change comes from within, not without. That's why that Simpsons parody was not only funny, but necessary as well. All the technical skill on display can be seen in other movies that aren't so emotionally false and therefore insulting to my intelligence. Speaking of which, the ending does that as I cannot believe Mr. Banks got his job back so easily after what happened to Mr. Dawes, Sr. It was kind of his fault. Don't you think he should have to make some kind of restitution for it? That's even worse than tearing up the kite. Normally I do look at things like this as products of their times, but the Hottentot gag in particular just crossed the line, considering the time and place in which it was made, both at the studio and in the US in general. He was shooting fireworks at them. His whole character could have been cut from the film and harmed nothing in the film's virtually nonexistent narrative. And as for "political correctness," check my signature.And as for the supposed "stodginess" of My Fair Lady, I actually rather admire their restraint, especially when compared to most of the musicals that have followed over the past five decades (as fun as some of those are to watch). Here, though, they need to be restrained a little more. Or perhaps the talents should have been used in the service of different source material.And as for the singing, I think David Tomlinson worked on his voice some in the seven years between his two musicals, as he sounded better in the latter one. But there he was playing someone in show business.Trust me, I would not lie about disliking a movie so popular with critics and audiences, especially when it meant so much to Walt that he fulfill a promise he made to his daughter when he was young. Helen Lyndon Goff was the exact opposite with her children; narcissistic and cold. I usually expend my efforts defending unfairly maligned films or mentioning obscure ones that deserve a look-see. But this time, I have to say that I genuinely consider this film not only bad, but toxic to the Disney brand and just plain toxic in general. A lot of people love the film. I don't, and that's that. There are worse films, but few with such an undeserved critical reputation and so many ill-gotten awards; this is simply the most overrated thing ever to begin with the credit "Walt Disney Presents."All you Frozen haters had better get used to hearing "Let it Go" for the next 50 years just like I had been subjected to these songs as a child. I hated them then and I hate them now. Adulthood did not make me appreciate them more, but it did make me realize how much better pretty much everything else* the Sherman Brothers did is (although I had already figured that out when I was 3, and I didn't see this film until I was 5 or 6).*everything else excludes "It's a Small World." That's the only other one I just can't deal with. "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," definitely. "The Tiki Room," of course. But not that one, except when Freddie Jackson sings it on The Golden Girls and renders it virtually unrecognizable until he gets to the title.
 

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