Re: Abbott & Costello in AFRICA SCREAMS -- is there a decent trransfer out there? (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

I just rented a copy of this film, one of the few not included in my A&C 28-film box set, and it's nearly unwatchable. Poor contrast, and so blurry it's like watching the film through vaseline-smeared glass. It's from Westlake, one of those horrible Alpha/Madacy-quality companies. The film is PD, but surely there is a better edition of it out there...? I'm not expecting the pristine PQ of the Universal set, but at least something I can watch through without acquiring a headache. Any info?

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Dick

I just rented a copy of this film, one of the few not included in my A&C 28-film box set, and it's nearly unwatchable. Poor contrast, and so blurry it's like watching the film through vaseline-smeared glass. It's from Westlake, one of those horrible Alpha/Madacy-quality companies. The film is PD, but surely there is a better edition of it out there...? I'm not expecting the pristine PQ of the Universal set, but at least something I can watch through without acquiring a headache. Any info?

There are not a lot of good transfers of this film. It is PD and they seem to find the worse prints possible to transfer. The only avenue I can give us is to try the Legend release. Beware that it is colorized, but Legend generally uses the best prints around to colorize. I do not know if a Black & White copy is included. The rest of the releases are bad.

 

[mdnitoil]

I haven't seen the Legend release, but prior to that the Good Times version was considered one of the better versions. Frankly, I think they simply stole the excellent laser transfer and repurposed it. For what it's worth, the Good Times version of Beanstalk is also not bad. It has the opening in the original sepia tone which is nice.

 

[John Sparks]

The Silver Screen Collectors Edition from 1997 is the best out there (silver sleeve, disc slides out of bottom,by DVD Matters b.v.).The print is very clean and looks great upscaled to 1080i.

The 2001 Roan Group Archival Entertainment edition of the double feature of "Africa Screams and Jack and the Beanstalk" is the next best thing to own. On the back of the package it states. "Digitally remastered from the finest elements!"...for what's it worth.

Africa and Jack are a tad soft on the Roan edition, but enjoyable. Of course, the best versions were on laser disc, and those Roan prints were bootlegged from them, with no credit to Bob Fermarack (sp), who, of course, made the laser discs what they were.

 

I used to have the Hal Roach collection release from Image and though its a good print, its PAL-NTSC so I never bothered watching the whole thing.

 

[mdnitoil]

Just noticed the Legend release is one of the few out there with CC. Most of the Legend discs are currently on sale at Deep Discount so I might give that one a try and compare it to my old Good Times version. Good to know on the Hal Roach as the PAL conversion stuff makes me nuts.