RAINTREE COUNTY on Blu? (1 Viewer)

[Nick*Z]

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

Actually, they did it on The Man Who Knew Too Much.

 

[DVBRD]

Actually, they did it on The Man Who Knew Too Much.

They put the Paramount logo back on that movie, too. At the beginning, though. The end of it still had the Universal logo. I know this because I saw the movie on cable recently.

 

[DVBRD]

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 a hard time believing that this is anything but a pirated DVD.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

One Eyed Jacks is in the public domain; Universal takes a lot of risk doing a restoration on such titles because anyone can steal it and put it out as their own. You can in many instances copyright a restoration but you need to be able to prove that your new restoration is what’s being copied if you want to take someone to court over it. Making the logo more prominent can help thwart those efforts by bootleggers.

If a studio feels the need to make their logo more prominent in exchange for doing financially risky work which may never pay for itself, I’ll take that deal every time.

 

[DVBRD]

One Eyed Jacks is in the public domain; Universal takes a lot of risk doing a restoration on such titles because anyone can steal it and put it out as their own. You can in many instances copyright a restoration but you need to be able to prove that your new restoration is what’s being copied if you want to take someone to court over it. Making the logo more prominent can help thwart those efforts by bootleggers.

If a studio feels the need to make their logo more prominent in exchange for doing financially risky work which may never pay for itself, I’ll take that deal every time.

I thought that more effort is needed before a "derivative work" could be copyrighted. (You know, colorizing a black-and-white movie, altering the soundtrack, even pan-and-scanning a movie?)

 

[OliverK]

One Eyed Jacks is in the public domain; Universal takes a lot of risk doing a restoration on such titles because anyone can steal it and put it out as their own. You can in many instances copyright a restoration but you need to be able to prove that your new restoration is what’s being copied if you want to take someone to court over it. Making the logo more prominent can help thwart those efforts by bootleggers.

If a studio feels the need to make their logo more prominent in exchange for doing financially risky work which may never pay for itself, I’ll take that deal every time.

I agree with you regarding Universal having every right to protect their restoration but they do actually hold the rights for One Eyed Jacks. This is mentioned briefly by Martin Scorsese here starting at the 8:20 mark:



Park Circus also lists Universal as the rights holder:

One-Eyed Jacks | Park Circus

After a successful bank robbery, a group of outlaws are tracked by Mexican Rurales and are forced to go on the run. Left with only one horse between them, old partners Dad and Rio split up, with Dad sent to fetch fresh mounts and to return and rescue Rio from the law. Seeing an opportunity to...

www.parkcircus.com

 

[AlanP]

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.

Didn't notice, was just happy to finally get it on disc.......

 

[AlanP]

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.

`We can only HOPE !

 

[OliverK]

Liz Taylor on Montogomery Clift:


She also speaks about his car accident during the shooting of Raintree County. That must have been tough!

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Liz Taylor on Montogomery Clift:


She also speaks about his car accident during the shooting of Raintree County. That must have been tough!

Thanks for posting, Oliver! This is a snippet of the BBC documentary, England's Other Elizabeth, which was produced to coincide with Elizabeth being invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000. It was released on DVD, but sadly is long out of print.

 

[OliverK]

Thanks for posting, Oliver! This is a snippet of the BBC documentary, England's Other Elizabeth, which was produced to coincide with Elizabeth being invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000. It was released on DVD, but sadly is long out of print.

I should have known that you know all about it

The documentary would make a nice extra in a Liz Taylor boxset with Raintree County and the other Liz Taylor movies where Warner holds the rights.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

I should have known that you know all about it

The documentary would make a nice extra in a Liz Taylor boxset with Raintree County and the other Liz Taylor movies where Warner holds the rights.

Love that idea! While I'd love to see as many of her Warner owned films released as possible, here are a handful that I think are likely candidates: Lassie Come Home, National Velvet, Little Women, Ivanhoe, BUtterfield 8, The V.I.P.s, and The Sandpiper.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

George Feltenstein addresses a viewer question about Raintree County around the 32 minute mark on this week's Warner Archive Podcast.

I'll try and transcribe his response later, but he spends about five minutes going into the complications of potentially bringing this film to Blu-ray. He says that they're between a rock and a hard place and that it would be a seven figure cost even to bring the 65mm general release version to Blu-ray (unless I missed it, he doesn't explore the possibility of using the 35mm general release cut or what that would cost). George concludes his answer by saying that while at this time there isn't a way to make the expense it would cost to restore this film profitable, WAC has been able to bring films to Blu-ray they previously never thought possible, so never say never and this is a problem he would like to solve.

 

[marcco00]

the elements of this film- and many others- are continuing to deteriorate with each passing

day, and could be lost forever to future generations.

if only film were treated more like works of art in need of restoration... but we are not there

yet

 

[DVBRD]

George Feltenstein addresses a viewer question about Raintree County around the 32 minute mark on this week's Warner Archive Podcast.

I'll try and transcribe his response later, but he spends about five minutes going into the complications of potentially bringing this film to Blu-ray. He says that they're between a rock and a hard place and that it would be a seven figure cost even to bring the 65mm general release version to Blu-ray (unless I missed it, he doesn't explore the possibility of using the 35mm general release cut or what that would cost). George concludes his answer by saying that while at this time there isn't a way to make the expense it would cost to restore this film profitable, WAC has been able to bring films to Blu-ray they previously never thought possible, so never say never and this is a problem he would like to solve.

Feltenstein seems to be interested in restoring the film from the 35mm roadshow print, but the color is completely faded. I wonder how much it would cost to marry the color of the 4:3 road show copy with the faded elements like the Criterion "Mad Mad World" reconstruction?

 

[ptb2020]

Such a pity the big studios haven’t followed the lead Scorcese gave with restoration of movies. Why does Hollywood not consider cinema an art worth preserving? France restores and archives so many of its cinematic history to put Hollywood to shame.

 

[DVBRD]

Such a pity the big studios haven’t followed the lead Scorcese gave with restoration of movies. Why does Hollywood not consider cinema an art worth preserving? France restores and archives so many of its cinematic history to put Hollywood to shame.

Hollywood is, and has always been, a business.

Sad, but true.

 

[Thomas T]

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.

A small price to pay for such a handsome restoration after decades of hideous public domain transfers.

 

[AlanP]

Hope springs eternal ! "RAINTREE" for Blu-Ray

 

[Vern Dias]

While the version shown on TCM was at least in HD, the transfer left a lot to be desired. Tons of negative dirt, lots of printer timing light bumps, visible aliasing on diagonal lines, and many un-repaired tape splices at scene changes.

But, it's the best transfer we have today, and certainly tons better than the Laser Disc, with its poor resolution and horrible interlace line twitter throughout.

Here's a screen photo from it with some digital repair work applied.

Still hoping for more, but pretty happy with what we have.