PILLOW TALK problems: Framing, freezing, etc. (MERGED THREAD) (2 Viewers)

[Nick Eden]

The new anamorphic release of Pillow Talk as found in the Rock Hudson-Doris Day boxset freezes at about 70 minutes into the film (layer change????).
Anyone else got their copies yet and found this a problem disc or was I just unlucky?
DVD player is a Pioneer.

 

[george kaplan]

Nick,

I can't answer your question since I don't have this yet, but I would like to ask you a question, since you bought the boxset.

What are the contents of the bonus cd?

Thanks.

 

[Nick Eden]

Easy. There is no bonus CD.

 

[george kaplan]

Maybe the R1 box set is different. Everything I've seen on it lists a bonus cd.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

There's a new anamorphic release of Pillow Talk?

Can it be bought outside of boxed set?

When did this happen? - must have been sleeping...

Joel

 

[george kaplan]

It is available separately. This coming Tuesday.

 

[Richard Michael Clark]

So is there a bonus CD in the (Region 1) boxset or not?
Was just about to order this! Every online retailer who have this lists a "Bonus CD with 8 songs from the films"

examples:
http://www.playusa.com/playusa.asp?p...1&title=159367

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...365678-8498541

http://www.dvdempire.com/exec/v4_ite...item_id=584810

this shows the back cover WITH the cd!!!!
http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_ite...0&tab=5&back=1

Nick Eden, do you have the R4 release maybe?
(sorry I can't help any with the freeze question!)

 

[DeeF]

At DVD Empire, it DOES list the 8 Doris Day songs. It doesn't say that there's an extra CD, though. Perhaps the songs are on one of the DVDs?

 

[Richard Michael Clark]

But that back cover scan shows it to be a seperate disc (in a wallet by the looks of it - and tucked into the digipak flap)

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I'm having trouble locating this on deepdiscountDVD.com. Should I just try costco once it's out? What else comes in the box set? I want this 16x9 Pillow Talk SO BAD!!!!

 

[DeeF]

The box set includes the 3 Doris/Rock movies. Send Me No Flowers has been available before, anamorphic, and Pillow Talk has been available before, non-anamorphic. Now Pillow Talk is upgraded, the the 3rd movie in the trio, Lover Come Back, is available for the first time.

I'm guessing that Pillow Talk makes the whole thing worth the price, which in my case is $20 for 3 movies (from DVD Empire).

Although I already own the two previous disks. I'll give my Send Me No Flowers to someone.

 

[Brian W]

Any reviews yet?

 

[Gary Nash]

I have the box-set, but the CD is missing.
I also note that there is no insert/booklet included, so none of the individual disc chapters are listed.
Seems a bit cheapskate considering how nicely the rest has been put together.


I assumed that this would have been tucked inside the digipack flap on the left, but maybe that's just the CD I can see peeking out on the rear packshot.


The other thing to note is that 'Send Me No Flowers' has a different disc design (dark blue background), which doesn't match the style of the other two (the packshot photo is not of the finished disk)

Did anyone else get and insert with their box-set ?

 

[Richard Michael Clark]

Gary where did you get yours from? I've ordered from playusa.com (I'm in the UK too)
I'm guessing (being Universal) that there won't be a chapter insert.

Is there no mention of "The Doris Day Romance Music Collection" (cd) on your set? - either inside or on the back of the box as in the cover scan I linked to?

I hope someone can find out if this has indeed been dropped from the set or whether Universal have messed up by not including it. (and mine's shipped so too late to cancel now! but I'll post here when I get it)

 

[Randy_M]

Mine came today with the Doris Day music CD included along with a useless single sheet telling what films are included. The CD had 8 songs sung by Doris.

Although I am grateful that Universal released this set, I am kind of disappointed with the transfer of Lover Come Back , which is the film I've been waiting for. To me the picture looks quite soft, and the colors not at all vibrant. Oh well, I'm happy to have the film in anamorphic widescreen, as it's the first time since it was first released that I've seen it in anything other than Pan 'n' Scan.

I really like the packaging, though.

 

[george kaplan]

Randy,

Could you tell me what the 8 songs are? Thanks.

 

[Gary Nash]

Richard,

I also ordered via playusa.
The scan you linked to is different to the descriptive sheet attached to the back of the box -it makes no mention at all of the CD. You can just see the edge of what is probably the CD poking out from behind the card flap on the packshot.

I see from Randy M's post that the CD and insert is included on his set, so it looks like play are using a diferent supplier.

I did email them asking if they could send the missing CD and insert, but got a standard'returns' reply indicating I could return for replacement - not much point if they send out an identical set with missing items!
I've sent them a follow up request to press this further.

Randy - does your copy of 'Send me no flowers' follow the same white background style of the other two discs, or is it blue like mine ?

 

[David Von Pein]

I find it difficult to believe the Universal Studios Home Video DVD Dept. can let something like this slide by undetected! Incredible shoddiness IMO! .......

"Pillow Talk" (1959) was re-released on DVD-Video by Universal Studios on April 6th, 2004. This newer version has been enhanced for 16x9 widescreen TVs, and the anamorphic enhancement has helped in many places. However, the picture quality here does seem to be a bit of a "hit and miss" proposition. Several portions of the movie still look rather crummy (artifact-wise), exhibiting obvious dirt speckles and "noise". The opening titles sequence is peppered with dirt and artifacts galore, as are a few other parts of the film, particularly ALL of the "split screen" scenes. For some reason, it seems that these "split screen" shots could not be cleaned-up nearly as much as the other portions of the movie.

But by far the biggest atrocity is the fact that this 2004 DVD print has been
mis-framed! In some places pretty badly, too. Head room is way too tight here, with the tops of many character's heads being cut off. This was NOT the case with the previous 1999 DVD print of this movie.

When you compare the '99 print with this 2004 one, the mis-framing is obvious in many places. It appears that this new print has been "zoomed in" quite a bit, creating the tight head room. Some of the most blatant examples of this "zooming in" occur in Chapter 10, where the piano player's head is severely cropped. Whereas, on the '99 DVD, her entire head is visible in the frame. Plus, a few seconds later in that "Roly Poly" scene, we see a shot of several people singing along to the music and clapping their hands. In this shot, TWO ENTIRE PEOPLE (one on the left and one on the right side of the frame) are totally cut out of the shot! Plus, part of another man is cut out of the frame on the left! These "missing" people are all visible on the 1999 disc.

And check out Chapter 14! This scene is simply horrifying from a framing standpoint! Literally half of Rock Hudson's head is missing here! When we KNOW it should be in the frame (based on the 1999 disc, which is perfectly framed for the 2.35:1 aspect ratio of the movie). Yikes!

This is ridiculous carelessness on the part of Universal's quality control department! Many scenes are totally botched with this zoomed-in mis-framing of the print!

Looks like yet another case of a Universal product being mishandled in the DVD transfer department. A pity! For "Pillow Talk" is one of the best romantic comedies you're likely to see this year, or any other year. And it deserves better treatment than this. It's just plain stupid to let an obviously-botched DVD video transfer like this one get into any consumer's hands! Doesn't ANYONE check these framing issues before finalizing the product? Mind-boggling indeed!

I'm severely disappointed with this DVD (quite obviously). I looked forward very much to having this film in an enhanced anamorphic state. But in this butchered, mis-framed version, it's nearly impossible to fully enjoy the film. Because the FULL film is not here!

If you've already got the older non-anamorphic DVD of "Pillow Talk", you'd be better advised to just hang onto it, and skip this version entirely. Upon looking over both versions side-by-side, the older one really isn't very much worse (fuzziness-wise) than this new one. And when factoring in the mis-framing problem of the new one, the old DVD displays the WHOLE picture; while this new one definitely does not.

 

[David Von Pein]

If someone with the capability to do so could place some screenshots in this thread, it would be very illuminating.

One of the biggest examples of the mis-framing is in the chapter "Roly Poly", where Rock & Doris are singing at the piano.

At 1:01:53 in the film we see a line of several people singing along to the
tune. 2.5 people are totally wiped out of this scene in the new DVD version!

If somebody has the ability to place these "old vs. new" DVD images here, it would demonstrate fully why I'm outraged by this messed-up new DVD version!

Crap with a capital C!!!!!!!!!

 

[george kaplan]

This is disappointing news. Looks like I'll be sticking with my old dvd of this. Thanks for the heads up David.