SOUND OF MUSIC 4K restoration and 70mm reissue??? (1 Viewer)

[Dave Moritz]

You’d not purchase without HDR or Dolby Vision?

I would like it to have HDR or Dolby Vision as I feel it would add to the color pallet of the colorful scenes but if HDR or Dolby Vision was not applied I would still buy it. I just want a really high quality 4K blu-ray at the end of the day. A properly done 4K transfer onto 4K blu-ray is an instant purchase for me.

 

[PMF]

Just watched the blu of SOM the other night, for the first time n a long time.
The sound is not what it should be with the high end cut off.
Just swith during any orchestral part to the French track and you can hear what is missing.
Everyone who is supposed to have blond hair has red hair in this transfer.
Its like SOM has been reset in Ireland.

I'll be checking out the French track. Thanks for the heads up.
Meanwhile, Shawn Belston's work on the initial SoM is what sold me on switching to Blu Ray. I thought it looked and sounded beautiful. And for that, I thank him. But oh, how quickly technology has since advanced. So, with that said, here's to hoping that FOX is taking notes on all our posts in prep for an even grander work on a future 4K/UHD.

 

[Garysb]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this before but on the streaming version from Movies Anywhere the sound effect where Maria slaps her side during the opening song is back. It is not on the steaming version on VUDU.

 

[Garysb]

A good documentary about the real story, the family, and the film.

 

[Stu's Cheesecake]

In summer of 2018 I saw a 70MM print of SOM at Museum Of The Moving Image. The print was crystal clear with great color and sound. However, two changes in the opening credits caught my eye.

Omitted is the “With the partial use of ideas by Georg Hurdalek” credit. The “stage musical” credits are in a different font.

Unmistakably this is a new (or recently struck) print. Did I see a restored 4K version? There were no restoration credits at the end.

 

[JPCinema]

The "slap" is there in the Movies Anywhere streaming version, but the PQ is not good...unrestored with lines , specks, less color and more grain.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Hoping for a 3D conversion so Julie can twirl and pop right into my living room.

How fun going back to read this thread, especially since we are getting close to 2020, the film's next 5-year anniversary and hopefully the time Fox will release this in 4k.

I have stated my feelings on the blu-ray anywhere people will listen. The sound was not spectacular, Oklahoma, made 10 years earlier, sounds so much more alive. If you listen closely, and Joe Capps will agree with me on this one, they filtered off the high end of the soundtrack, probably to get rid of the tape hiss sound from 1965 recording. There was no Dolby then so every soundtrack had tape hiss. I would much rather have the tape hiss there and get the entire high end of the soundtrack. And my other complaint is that the picture has just too many earthtones. No version of this film (no theatrical release or video release) ever looked like the blu-ray, it's just wrong in its color palettes. They didn't stay with the Robert Wise approved transfer, which was the laserdisc box set. Those are the colors all the projectionists who remember this say are correct. And seeing this over 50 times in 70mm between 1965 and the 1973 reissue, it never looked like the blu-ray. But I have to give Shawn B major credit for the sharpness and detail, now that is astounding on the blu-ray. To me, the most accurate versions of The Sound of Music as far as color and sound are the 40th anniversary DVD and the ABC TV showings done around Thanksgiving every year.

It is said for the first time they used the original 6 track master. But I think they altered the high end with filtering to get rid of tape hiss. So sad. Just leave the hiss there, that is what is on the tape. If you go back and forth between the blu-ray DTS MA soundtrack and the French soundtrack, you will hear exactly what I am talking about, the French soundtrack was obviously taken from the 40th anniversary DVD transfer. In my opinion, that version had the right colors and the soundtrack had a much better high end to it.

But I digress, the main reason I posted here was to respond to Noel Aguirre when he mentioned a 3D version of the film. What better film to convert to 3D than this one. Just watch the film and think of 3D, imagine Julie on the hill in 3D and all of that scenery in the film. I truly believe a theatrical (and blu-ray) 3D release of this film could have earned Fox millions of dollars. Look what The Lion King made for Disney when converted to 3D, and look how stunning The Wizard of Oz looks. Of all of Hollywood's classics, I believe it is this one that would have been a huge success with a proper 3D conversion. I suppose it will never happen now with 3D as it is.....very sad.

Also, a note to Fox: There are some new extras that could appear on the 4k edition. Oprah did an hour long reunion show for the 50th anniversary. Diane Sawyer also did an hour long special going back to Austria with Julie, also there are some screen-test compilations out there with screen tests from this movie. Plus there was an English hour long documentary which can be seen on YouTube, plus I believe a few more I didn't list here, all of those could be added to disc 2 which came out with the last set which had one blu-ray with just one program. If they really wanted to go all out, they could add the Andrew Llooyd Webber series "How do you solve a problem like Maria" from the U.K., the reality show in which they cast the new Maria!

 

[RobertSiegel]

I couldn't agree with you more. Some of these posters who dislike the SOM blu-ray have no problem with the teal King and I or the blooming white Hello Dolly blu-rays? I too have an audio file system and the music sounds absolutely perfect. And the image is a VAST improvement over the previous blu-ray- the golds are golden as they were in the theater.
Would I buy it for a missing foley sound or 2? Probably but there are a lot more films in need of fixing- and we can begin with the King and I. Just makes no sense.

I am one of the posters unhappy with the SOM blu-and I also think that The King and I is an abomination. We do not "hate" The Sound of Music transfer for the blu-ray, we just want the original colors back and the high end of the sound unfiltered. I believe the blu-ray of SOM is one of the sharpest detailed blu-rays out there, but for those of us who have been bat-nuts fans of this film, we are picky, and want the version that Robert Wise okay'd. The King and I blu-ray was one of my biggest let-downs and I can't believe they didn't do a fix on it like they did for Patton.

 

[Ethan Riley]

When I look at the King and I blu-ray, I don't even understand what I'm seeing.

 

[DP 70]

And remember the recent 70mm/ DTS print is a digital out, nowwhere as good as an original 1965 print.

You are in the show in Todd-AO , not with this print.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I am one of the posters unhappy with the SOM blu-and I also think that The King and I is an abomination. We do not "hate" The Sound of Music transfer for the blu-ray, we just want the original colors back and the high end of the sound unfiltered. I believe the blu-ray of SOM is one of the sharpest detailed blu-rays out there, but for those of us who have been bat-nuts fans of this film, we are picky, and want the version that Robert Wise okay'd. The King and I blu-ray was one of my biggest let-downs and I can't believe they didn't do a fix on it like they did for Patton.

Hey having just re-read this I fully get what you now mean by the sound. Yes the high end is missing. I remember that original LP in all its stereophonic glory sounding better. As to the picture it’s still much better than any previous blu-ray which were all terrible. Of course I would love to see this as accurate as possible on all its 70M glory.
But Fox please fix The King and I first- it’s unwatchable.

 

[trajan007]

Lets not forget poor STAR! that only has a DVD release

 

[titch]

Just read an interview with dame Julie in connection with her second memoir release and was reminded that there is no 4K UHD Sound Of Music disc yet. There have been several catalogue releases this fall, so I'm hoping for next year. Disney, in particular, has many 4K disc releases.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/oct/19/julie-andrews-second-memoir-home-work-interview

 

[Joe Caps]

Some thoughts - this is NOT the first use of the six track. Apparently the six track was in bad shape, so they used a print master.
To haear the lack of high end, go to the dance portion of Sixteen Going on Seventeen and switch to the French language track. the difference is like night and day.
Never in this entire transfer is julies haie blond - born and often red, but no blond !!!

 

[PMF]

With both "Sound" and "Music" in and of its title; and an Oscar win in each of these categories;
it's so clear, obvious and demanding as to what must be done.
If the powers that be can do it right, this hopeful 4K/UHD could prove itself as being one of the highest selling discs of all time;
just as it initially was in 1965 when "The Sound of Music" had set its historical box-office record.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Hoping for a 3D conversion so Julie can twirl and pop right into my living room.

Wow, I thought I was the only one who thought this film would be perfect for a 3D conversion. After seeing what a classy job Warner Brothers did with The Wizard of Oz, I have been hoping, but now that Disney owns the movie, my hopes for anything are much lower if not, gone. They didn't even do anything for the 55th anniversary which was on March 2, whereas Fox did something special every 5 years, I thought for sure a 4k would be available, but who knows maybe it was delayed due to remastering.

If you watch this film keeping 3D in mind, it is really evident how many scenes would look just fantastic in 3D with all of the scenery, ect. I was hoping they would have done it for the 50th 5 years ago. I am not a fan of colorizing or changing films, but in some cases, I think it would be great for those who would want it to have it that way and this would be the one film on the top of my list to convert to 3D due to the cinematography.

I have a question for some of the posters here. What problems did you have with the blu-ray transfer? Mine were too much earth-tone, it was never that brown and beige, and the whole top end of the soundtrack, all of the upper frequencies seem to be gone. Just switch to the French soundtrack and you will hear it. I understand they used the 6 track sound master for the first time, but it must be worn, and the first thing to go is the high end. On the other hand, if you watch the short documentary on restoring the sound, you can see the sound engineer removing all of the top parts of the graphs on their monitors that show the sound, and it is very evident if you look closely they are removing some of the sound signal, all to make it so there is no tape hiss. In my opinion that is a sin. I would much rather have the tape hiss and all of the sound than no hiss and signal removed. There was no Dolby then, so everything had tape hiss, and when it is gone, you can be sure some of the high end is missing.

So nothing yet for the 55th anniversary. I have a feeling Fox had something planned and because Disney put the movie on Disney plus, they scrapped or delayed these plans. But who can be sure. All I know is every 5 years Fox released something new. They could greatly improve the sound by just remixing the entire movie, they have the music stems, and those are even separated so they have the dialogue, singing voices separate from the music, and if you listen to the gold CD that came with the laserdisc box set, you can hear that tape hiss right away but the high end is there and it sounds fantastic.

 

[John Skoda]

Its not as sharp as OKLAH0MA because of filters in many scenes.

Well, also because the Todd-AO OKLAHOMA! was shot at 30fps while SOUND OF MUSIC was shot at 24fps!

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I totally agree- they remove the hiss and there goes the high end and especially for a musical with a voice like JA you lose more than you gain.
Also I was totally serious about the 3D. Like WoOz and Titanic this would be an excellent choice- the mountains at the beginning, the entire Do Re Mi number, the wedding with the bell ringer, the puppets, Sixteen going on Seventeen- all would look fantastic with the third dimension added. Even the credits!
One can only dream.

 

[john a hunter]

More like a nightmare I would have thought!!!
You will be colourising Citizen Kane next.
Unless of course I am missing the irony in your email Noel!

 

[Noel Aguirre]

More like a nightmare I would have thought!!!
You will be colourising Citizen Kane next.
Unless of course I am missing the irony in your email Noel!

lol not suggesting anything gets changed on the original like Oz and Titanic. Just adding another dimension.
But what about your comparing the Sound of Music to Citizen Kane? That’s even more of a sacrilege if you ask me!!
However I would be so happy if technology could de- color (remove) all those gels from South Pacific. It would make it so much better. What a mistake!