Rebel without a Cause & Stagecoach (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Conway]

What are the possibilities of Warner doing 2-disc SEs of these classics? I've wanted to pick up both for quite a while, but whenever I consider it my mind says "reissue to come."

Thoughts?

 

[Bill Burns]

A restored reissue of Stagecoach (either one disc, as per Now, Voyager, or two discs if supplements warrant) is very high on my list of hopefuls. The current DVD slips along that unpleasant slope that connects "mediocre" to "poor": contrast, detail, artificial grain build-up (likely from multi-generation elements), and so forth all leave much to be desired. This is one of John Ford's best revered classics. Two of his others, the B&W The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and the color The Searchers, have received quality transfers. I trust Stagecoach will be revisited soon (as popular and indeed revered as it generally remains among film critics, film historians, and film fans, I'd rest easy that we'll see it again before too long; I also hope Warner revisits their much worse transfer of Show Boat and mediocre or slightly better than mediocre transfer of On the Town, both in three-strip Technicolor; a number of great films I'd expect -- and certainly hope -- to see remastered before too long).