PHE Press Release: It's A Wonderful Life 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

(click on photo for larger image)

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE ​

70TH ANNIVERSARY PLATINUM EDITION​

Blu-ray & DVD Street Date: 10/11/16

​

Overview:

Celebrate the 70th anniversary of one of the most beloved films of all time! Starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell and Henry Travers, director Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life has made an indelible impact on popular culture and continues to be a cherished part of many families’ holiday tradition.


Blu-ray & DVD:

This 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition includes a beautifully colorized version of the film and the original black-and-white movie, as well as “The Making of It’s A Wonderful Life,” a documentary featurette hosted by Tom Bosley, and the original trailer. Plus, both the Blu-ray and DVD set include collectible, limited edition art cards featuring images of original ads and lobby cards.



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[Lord Dalek]

So box o' junk edition then?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'd pick this up if it's not just a repackaging of the 2009 transfers.

 

[titch]

Doesn't say anywhere that this is a restored transfer. A real pity, considering the very meticulous Grover Crisp/Sony restorations of It Happened One Night, Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Mr Deeds Goes To Town and You Can't Take It With You during the last year. I seem to recall rumours of Lost Horizon being restored being tossed around a while back - no new news?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Lost Horizon was restored and is available for repertory bookings - just nothing on a Blu-ray yet. I'm sure it'll eventually be coming, either directly from Sony or through one of their licensees.

 

[2HB]

Lost Horizon was restored and is available for repertory bookings - just nothing on a Blu-ray yet. I'm sure it'll eventually be coming, either directly from Sony or through one of their licensees.

Actually Lost horizon has been released on Blu in Australia recently. I've got a copy on the way, hopefully with me shortly.

 

[Rodney]

I've cancelled my pre-order. I was really hoping for a 4K remaster.

 

[RMajidi]

As an aside, the new Blu of It's a Wonderful Life is coming from Paramount, and I'm looking forward to it, so that I can replace the old disc, which had major digitally affected grain problems, apparent from across the room.

That was a problem release, which I'm thrilled has been re-visited.

RAH

For those who may have missed it, RAH confirmed on the An American Werewolf in London thread that It's A Wonderful Life has been "re-visited" by Paramount, and his tone suggests this may be more than a re-package.

Here's hoping that it is a worthy release of one of the greatest films ever made.

As to Mr Capra's Lost Horizon, the Sony restoration released on Blu in Australia is excellent. There are still several segments of stills where original footage is no longer available, but less so than in the previous DVD.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I'll wait for the reviews. Is that several-minute-long vertical streak gone from the last part of the film? If it isn't, no sale. It's not like I want the "box 'o junk." It goes in the recycle bin anyway, along with the "special packaging" (I'm talking about you, "Gone With the Wind" big box and all your ilk).

 

[Garysb]

For those who may have missed it, RAH confirmed on the An American Werewolf in London thread that It's A Wonderful Life has been "re-visited" by Paramount, and his tone suggests this may be more than a re-package.

Here's hoping that it is a worthy release of one of the greatest films ever made.

As to Mr Capra's Lost Horizon, the Sony restoration released on Blu in Australia is excellent. There are still several segments of stills where original footage is no longer available, but less so than in the previous DVD.

The wording on the back cover of Lost Horizon says the blu ray primarily uses the 1998 preservation negative scanned at 4K as its source integrated with the director's personal nitrate print and features an additional one minute of previously lost footage preserving the original performance and another full minute previously presented by original soundtrack and still images. I guess another possibility is that they found some 35mm film to replace some of the 16mm film used in the previous restoration,

Seems odd that Capra's nitrate print is the shorter version. I am confused about the wording about the new footage. Does it mean they found a minute of footage that was not in the original long version plus one minute of footage to replace the stills? Or was the previous DVD of the long version still missing a part of the film that has now been found? Or did they find some 35mm film to replace some of the 16mm film used in the previous restoration.

 

[David Weicker]

While I can't say what is in the new version of Lost Horizon, I do know there were two 'issues' with the restoration/DVD.

1) Footage added by the restoration from less than ideal sources (bits of scenes, lines of dialogue, etc.) - for example Bob and George's conversation on the plane.
2) missing video represented by stills accompanied by audio.


Its possible that some of the restored footage has been replaced with a better source (Capra's nitrate). And some of the 'still' scenes were either found elsewhere or were on Capra's nitrate.

Of course, this is all speculation. And given how brilliantly the other Capra's have been redone by Sony, I don't know if I would be able to tell if some of the lesser footage was replaced or just corrected digitally.

I do know I am waiting for this to get a domestic release.

 

[Cranston37+]

I do know I am waiting for this to get a domestic release.

You can order it right now from Deep Discount for $22 and it looks amazing - I say why wait!?

 

[battlebeast]

Capra's prints were made years after... It said so in the digi book notes from YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU.

 

[RMajidi]

I've updated the Lost Horizon thread with a post regarding the Aussie Blu ray. Some of the issues raised by members here are addressed in that post (although Sony makes no mention of the source of the additional footage incorporated in the new release):

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/com...st-horizon-blu-ray.348621/page-2#post-4422368

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw the Lost Horizon 4K restoration when it was first released to repertory theaters in 2014.

It looks and sounds fantastic. Approximately one minute of footage which had been represented by stills in previous restoration (which was on the DVD) Has since been recovered - the newly recovered material is the Sam Jaffe scene as the High Llama. On the DVD version, it switches between some footage in poor shape and stills; in the new 4K restoration, it's completely live action.

Other sections remain with stills and audio only; this accounts for about five or six minutes of the film now.

The biggest difference to me is that it is no longer as glaring when the restoration switches from 35mm to 16mm footage. Those jumps were very noticeable on the DVD; it's much more subtle now, making for a far more seamless viewing experience.

 

[Dick]

This 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition includes a beautifully colorized version of the film and the original black-and-white movieQUOTE]

The terms "Beautifully colorized" and "the original black and white movie" in one description are an oxymoron.

Colorization is a bizarre, sickly and completely unnecessary process (especially today) that is an insult to the filmmakers and their audiences. Black and white is an artistic (although sometimes a monetary) choice that creates a specific atmosphere, which colorization completely reverses because 1) It has never been artistically acceptable, and was never endorsed by the filmmakers. 2) The people who approve and create these bastardized editions have no knowledge of the original colors of the films when they were first photographed -- which were carefully designed by the designers and cinematographers for monochrome, and make a guess, and, regardless of how "accurate" these guesses are, the terrible quality of colorization even now completely distorts the director's intention. Simply turning the color down to zero to try to achieve a true black and white image from a colorized transfer is futile, because the fake layers of color layered over the original compromise the contrast and gray scale.

So, even now, decades after the insidious process of colorization began (thanks, Ted Turner), it hasn't come close to emulating actual color, and should be buried. Black and white is beautiful, and the sooner we all catch on to that, the sooner we can be rid of this total crap of these awful transfers. Sorry, Mr. Harryhausen... you were supporting a horrible process that needs to be buried.

 

[Dick]

Sorry, duplicate post.

 

[Tony Bensley]

One thing to be thankful for is this is a 2 disc Blu-ray set, on BD50 double layer discs. This way, the colorized version isn't compromising the bitrate for the original, beautiful Black & White version!

By the way, Robert A. Harris' mention of this previously having been a problem release that has been revisited, is at the end of post #72 of this topic: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/com...n-werewolf-in-london-in-blu-ray.349596/page-4

Provided I can dig up the funds, I may be in for this new set, after all!

CHEERS!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

2) The people who approve and create these bastardized editions have no knowledge of the original colors of the films when they were first photographed -- which were carefully designed by the designers and cinematographers for monochrome, and make a guess

I don't know when the colorization for Wonderful Life was done and I've never seen that version, so my comment isn't specifically directed towards this... but colorization done for some other projects in recent years have done exactly that - referencing older materials, costume samples, paint chips, color home movies taken from the set, surviving props, etc., etc., to make the color as accurate as possible. For the CBS broadcasts of colorized I Love Lucy episodes, they've done just that - trying to make the color of Lucy's outfits or the walls of the apartment the colors that the studio audience actually saw that day, and not just whatever whim came to the colorist's mind that day.

Having a colorized version will never replace a B&W version for me, and in truth, it's very rare that I watch a colorized bit of programming. But for something like I Love Lucy, once or twice a year when CBS broadcasts a newly colorized episode, it is nice to a) see Lucy on TV in primetime on a major network again and b) get a little bit of a sense of what it was like to be there when it was filmed. The color versions don't replace the black and white versions for me, but much like the version of the Star Trek original series that features redone special effects, it gives me the illusion of seeing an old favorite as if it was my first time.

 

[Mark-P]

I don't know when the colorization for Wonderful Life was done and I've never seen that version...

It's a Wonderful Life has been colorized no less than three times. First in 1986 by Colorization, Inc. for Hal Roach Studios, second in 1989 by American Film Technologies, Inc. for the new owner Republic Pictures, and finally in 2007 it was colorized in high definition by Legend Films for Paramount. The earlier colorizations used bold garish colors, but the new version is very subdued pastels, which is pretty much Legend's standard practice for colorizing old movies.