Pre-Order Portrait of Jennie (1948) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

The link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

 

[Rodney]

Currently $16.06 at Amazon. Use the link above to support HTF!

 

[GlennF]

Has anyone ordered this? The reviews have been pretty bleak, but I wonder if anyone here has any thoughts.

 

[JimMiller]

Has anyone ordered this? The reviews have been pretty bleak, but I wonder if anyone here has any thoughts.

I have it. It's in need of a good clean-up but, for now, I'll make do with it. Clarity is nice but I was distracted with speckling. I may be too hard on the faults but this is one of those I'd been waiting for a long time. I was expecting a better presentation, overall.

 

[Matt Hough]

I watched this tonight. It's always been one of my favorite romantic fantasies, and the movie holds up in that it's still haunting and quite effective. But I was a bit dismayed the studio handed over such a shoddy transfer to Kino. It needs major clean-up and some loving care to deal with scratches and other imperfections. I am grateful, of course, that the tinting in the last reel and the final Technicolor shot have been retained and that the wonderful surround sound track for the storm sequence was made available as an alternate track.

The commentary was also excellent though I was surprised he didn't mention that the film's special effects did win an Oscar in 1948.

 

[Dick]

I have it. It's in need of a good clean-up but, for now, I'll make do with it. Clarity is nice but I was distracted with speckling. I may be too hard on the faults but this is one of those I'd been waiting for a long time. I was expecting a better presentation, overall.

I totally understand the annoyance felt by collectors when dirt and speckles show up on Blu-rays. Flame barrier up: it generally doesn't bother me much, as long as there aren't bad splices and lengthy vertical scratches. Changeover cues don't bother me, either. They are a reminder that this is a film as most of us experienced in theaters when we were young, when talented projectionists had to smoothly alternate projectors every ten minutes, perhaps as many as 15 or more times.

Admittedly, I am astonished with the brilliant work that has been done with classic films that make them look pristine, like they were photographed last year. Examples of this are common now, on releases such as THE OLD DARK HOUSE and DRACULA (1931) and THE GENERAL (1925) and...well, on and on. But, had any of these films contained changeover cues or minor specking, I would have been fine with it, as long as the transfer was sharp and had good contrast and decent audio. I did not at all mind the cell speckles of the early BAMBI transfers, and in fact still prefer them to the "cleaned-up" (DNR'd) Blu-rays. They were visible on the 35mm prints we watched in the 50's. They were integral to the movie-going experience. What we have now is not what was projected on screens in 1942 or in any subsequent re-issues.

However, I do get why younger viewers than I would find visual artifacts such as these distracting. But to simply relegate transfers that are not completely devoid of them to the "this DVD/Blu-ray sucks" category is kind of too bad. I still enjoy watching some of the older DVD's that were anything but picture-perfect, but generally were of very good quality. I can mentally cancel out the minor defects quite easily, and enjoy what to me really looks like a movie as I'd have viewed it in my youth.