RAINTREE COUNTY on Blu? (2 Viewers)

[Robert Crawford]

TCM on Verizon Fios has always been in SD.

I wonder why because that would be a deal breaker for me?

 

[Paul Rossen]

I wonder why because that would be a deal breaker for me?

I can see it being a deal breaker but it is what is...and I've given up trying to get them to go hd.
Their competition where I live has TCM in HD. I changed for a month and came running back to FIOS when all I had was aggravation. Use TCM for old B&W movies...

 

[Ernest]

Hi Ernest, if you want to watch Raintree in HD, TCM will air it tomorrow at 4:00 pm EST.

Thank you I saw that in the Spectrum guide but after opening the DVD I recorded years ago I saw no benefit of re-recording. The DVD was recorded in 4 x 3 so it appears on the TV in window boxing. With the OPPO 103 remote you can change the format to cscan which opens up the picture similar to 16 x 9. The recording is better than nothing but a Blu-ray would be great.

 

[Matt Hough]

Reminder! Raintree County will air this afternoon on TCM at 4:00 pm EST!

View attachment 74163

Lovely photo!

 

[Andrew Budgell]

One of my favourites!

 

[RolandL]

Sorry, it's the shorter version. But from 3:54pm to 3:59pm there are interviews of people who worked on the film or were there when they filmed it and behind the scenes videos. Luckily I recorded the movie before it or I would have missed it.

 

[OliverK]

Well, it was in the public domain prior to the restoration. I don't know if Universal used legal loopholes to reclaim the rights like what happened with It's a Wonderful Life, but One Eyed Jacks was for the longest time available on DVD through low-budget distributors who could only afford PD material, with horrendous picture quality. That played a large part in the restoration being done, and Scorsese does mention it in the same video.

You wrote that it IS in the public domain which is not quite the same as WAS

Obviously as long as such a movie is in the public domain the chances of a company spending all the money on a restoration without holding the rights are very close to zero so I am very happy this changed for One Eyed Jacks. Of course as we can see with Raintree County the chances of the rights holders spending that money are not always that high either.

 

[Vern Dias]

Caught Raintree County on TCM last night and DVR'd it as well. It is the general release version.
It appears to be from an HD master, although it suffers from serious aliasing on diagonal lines that is most obvious on the titles, but pops up now and then any time there is a sharp diagonal transition.
And of course, there's that aggravating intermittant TCM banner that has been moved up high enough to partially intrude into the image area.
But, it is definitely a major improvement from the Laser Disc which has SEVERE interlace line twitter throughout.

It's likely to be the best we're going to get anytime soon, maybe even forever.

 

[Matt Hough]

It's likely to be the best we're going to get anytime soon, maybe even forever.

Exactly which is why it will live on my DVR as long as I have it.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

It's likely to be the best we're going to get anytime soon, maybe even forever.

And if the latter is the case, I hope Warner will consider making it available for purchase digitally in HD on iTunes and other platforms, and use this master as a basis for a Warner Archive Collection DVD. Those of us who have TCM are fortunate to be able to hang onto a recording on our DVRs, but fans in other parts of the world are forced to resort to purchasing illegal bootlegs to own a copy of the film on disc.

 

[Matt Hough]

And if the latter is the case, I hope Warner will consider making it available for purchase digitally in HD on iTunes and other platforms, and use this master as a basis for a Warner Archive Collection DVD. Those of us who have TCM are fortunate to be able to hang onto a recording on our DVRs, but fans in other parts of the world are forced to resort to purchasing illegal bootlegs to own a copy of the film on disc.

This would be the most acceptable compromise if we aren't going to get a Blu-ray of it.

 

[OliverK]

This would be the most acceptable compromise if we aren't going to get a Blu-ray of it.

They could have done this 10 years ago. So one part of me says it is about time but the other says too little too late, after all these years of withholding it they should be able to do better.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

How about that Italian PAL "Cinema & Cultura" DVD now for sale at Amazon for $17.84, which is titled L'Albero Della Vita and is listed as a 16:9/2.35:1 disc. It's the 160 minute version and I heard somewhere that it's not a bad transfer. I'm just wondering if anyone here owns it or has more info about it. I'll probably give it a shot sometime soon, although I'm skeptical. Just bought too many "pigs in a poke" lately, like the Spanish "blu-ray" of Lady in a Cage (which looks like crap for Hi Def). Wish I could, indeed, buy a disc somewhere of that BBC HD version broadcast about a year ago. Now THAT looked great!

 

[Robin9]

How about that Italian PAL "Cinema & Cultura" DVD now for sale at Amazon for $17.84, which is titled L'Albero Della Vita and is listed as a 16:9/2.35:1 disc. It's the 160 minute version and I heard somewhere that it's not a bad transfer. I'm just wondering if anyone here owns it or has more info about it. I'll probably give it a shot sometime soon, although I'm skeptical. Just bought too many "pigs in a poke" lately, like the Spanish "blu-ray" of Lady in a Cage (which looks like crap for Hi Def). Wish I could, indeed, buy a disc somewhere of that BBC HD version broadcast about a year ago. Now THAT looked great!

I have that Italian DVD. The picture quality is watchable but no more than that. The running time is given as 160 minutes and the aspect ratio is said to be 2.35:1. I haven't watched it recently but I'm confident Warner Archive could put out a better DVD-R if they wanted to.

 

[OliverK]

Wish I could, indeed, buy a disc somewhere of that BBC HD version broadcast about a year ago. Now THAT looked great!

You should have recorded it, it may the best version you can get for a very long time. As rare as Raintree County is I propose to also mention HD airings in other countries in this thread. This is an international forum so there is a chance that somebody else may be able to also watch / record that airing.

 

[AlanP]

There is NO acceptable reason it was not released on its 60th anniversary. Is there ??
It is one of Taylor's Oscar nominated roles that in not released on DVD or BR.
Shame on Warner Brothers for neglecting this film !

 

[OliverK]

There is NO acceptable reason it was not released on its 60th anniversary. Is there ??
It is one of Taylor's Oscar nominated roles that in not released on DVD or BR.
Shame on Warner Brothers for neglecting this film !

For me an acceptable reason would be some kind of major effort to create new digital assets that will also make it to Blu-ray in a reasonable amount of time which to me would be this year or next year. Failing that a DVD and an HD streaming version wouldn't have been too much to ask. To avoid ridicule about such an underwhelming release I would have suggested to release it one year earlier in 2016.

 

[RolandL]

There is NO acceptable reason it was not released on its 60th anniversary. Is there ??

Money. Six figures just to do an 8K scan of 65mm negative. Then, the restoration cost. They would never recoup what they spent. Maybe 2022 - 65th anniversary.

 

[Nick*Z]

I never thought I would see "One Eyed Jacks" released the way it was intended and Criterion gave us one a few years back. It is a magnificent and one of my favorite films also. I still have not watched my copy even though I have it. I did watch the opening of the film and it looks spectacular to me.
Therefore, I remain hopeful that eventually we will get "Raintree County" one day.

Frankly, I was disappointed One Eyed Jacks did not retain the original VistaVision or Paramount credit. The fanfare plays over the Universal logo. Not good. Not authentic to the original release.

 

[DVBRD]

Frankly, I was disappointed One Eyed Jacks did not retain the original VistaVision or Paramount credit. The fanfare plays over the Universal logo. Not good. Not authentic to the original release.

Funny. Universal never did that when they restored the Hitchcock catalog.