STEALING BEAUTY: a warning for potential purchasers (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Ulmer]

My review is online, and the transfer looks fine, however, Fox dropped the ball big time and left off the translation subtitles for any of the foreign language in the film.
Also, the French audio track that was supposed to be included, isn't, though it's listed on the cover.
This is a pretty major screw up, and is deserving of a recall.

 

[Mark McLeod]

Jeff.

I reviewed this title early last week and I thought something seemed odd regarding the Italian language dialogue. I thought there should be some subtitles there but I couldn't compare it to my VHS tapes (yeah i have two.. one the retail release and one a screener) because they are both loaned out.

Your review mentions you watched a screener. My review is from the retail version so the problem still exists there.

As for the French track it appears to be missing from mine as well. I had no reason to suspect it wasn't there and I did mention it's inclusion in my review.

It's still a nice transfer on a good but not exceptional movie.

The biggest issue to me is the missing subtitles. While I enjoyed the film without them they should have been included. If Fox feels this is a huge problem hopefully they will fix things

 

[David Lambert]

Oh. I was thinking of picking this one up, too...esp. since it's streeting with such a low price. But I won't, not with those problems.

Uh-oh...a co-worker was DEFINATELY going to buy this. I'll fill him in!

Thanks for the heads-up you guys. Hopefully Peter Staddon is monitoring this (although it's been a while since I've seen him post anything).

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

It's still a nice transfer on a good but not exceptional movie. The biggest issue to me is the missing subtitles. While I enjoyed the film without them they should have been included. If Fox feels this is a huge problem hopefully they will fix things

The transfer is great, and otherwise this is a fine release, but the missing subs are a HUGE problem. I've seen this many times and thought it was odd that the foreign language wasn't translated the first time it happened, so I dug out the LD and sure enough everything was there. They even moved the Spanish subs out of the way, and the English CC track (they call it subtitle, but it isn't really) has all the translations gone, leading me to believe they did those tracks to the LD or VHS version.

Without the translations, a lot of the exquisite plot development is missing and incomprehensible.

This isn't a minor fix, as they'd need to redo the existing English subs to add the translations, plus add a second English sub track for just the translations, which means a new menu and a complete re-encode.

Hopefully this will get fast tracked, I can't imagine this staying in the market as is.

 

[Lance Nichols]

Dang, I was going to pick this up today. :frowning: Hope Fox gets this fixed quickly. We don't need an other Monty Python and the Holy Grail

 

[Joseph Young]

What would i do without the HTF? Thanks for the heads-up, Jeff. I would have dived into this purchase sight-unseen otherwise.
Joseph

 

[Carlo_M]

Bummer about the subs, hopefully Fox will remedy this. However, being a little bit fluent in Italian (very little) and liking this movie so much, I'll probably buy it and deal with it. If Fox offers a fixed version later, I'll just drive down Pico Blvd and exchange it in person...
Jeff (or anyone else with an early copy) are there any subtitles at all? Maybe a lesser evil would be to turn on French or Spanish subs at the appropriate times and hopefully get some sort of subs up there?

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

The English "sub" track is actually captions, with all the [people laughing] cues in it, though it does have song lyrics, which is cool, however, as mentioned, they drop out during any foreign language parts. The Spanish subs translate, so if you know Spanish (which I don't) you may be okay. There is no French track (sub or dub) anywhere.
If this gets fixed this will definitely be the best version of the film ever made available, as the colors are just gorgeous here, and the added value material, while not outstanding is nice to have. I hope this gets fixed soon, I've been waiting for this one for a while now.

 

[Mark-W]

Has anyone contacted Fox about this?

What is there e-mail?

I realize that Peter S frequents this forum from

time to time, but he has been rather quiet lately,

and since my copy already shipped, I am eager to

get this corrected.

Mark

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Has anyone contacted Fox about this?

Yes, as soon as I discovered the problem, however I'm not sure whether my contact is even around with the holidays and so forth. I only got the disc last Friday.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I have added a thread in feedback, which is about to fall off the first page, if anyone else would like to bring this to Fox's attention there....

 

[carl.k]

Thanks Jeff, I have never seen this film but had read enough good things about it that I would have picked up the dvd, now I'll skip it until it is hopefully corrected.

 

[Mark-W]

So, have we heard back from

FOX yet on this?

I have the DVD sitting at my house, unopened,

because DeepDiscountDVD is looking into what

should be done. (I hate to stick it to them

when it is not their fault.)

Mark

 

[Horatio Jones]

"GASP...!" FOX made a boo boo, this is unheard of. They are perfect, I find it hard to belived that they actually made a mistake, it must be all fo your guys' DVD players

 

[David Lambert]

So, have we heard back from FOX yet on this?

Problem is, Peter Staddon last posted on 1/2/02. Over 2 weeks ago. I wonder where he's hiding? Or is he just lurking?

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I don't expect an official reply, nor would I in any way demand we get one. My only reason for posting about this was to let consumers know the disc is flawed, and hopefully bring it to Fox's attention, as I wasn't sure my direct contact got through.

If Peter feels like posting, great, if not, that is his perogative. I hope we aren't getting so used to having the reps available that we expect them to answer every question. This should be a place of fun for them too.

I am still grateful that this title was put into production. I just wish I could have somehow helped avoid this current situation.

 

[Ted Todorov]

If Peter feels like posting, great, if not, that is his perogative. I hope we aren't getting so used to having the reps available that we expect them to answer every question. This should be a place of fun for them too.

While I agree that they don't need to answer questions on any old topic, I think studio reps darn well should answer every question when it comes to DVD defects with particular titles. Lets not forget who is paying their salaries -- we are, with our rampant DVD addictions
Frankly, I'm quite distressed that Fox has not responded to the Moulin Rouge DTS problems since Peter's initial info gathering posts. I'm holding off buying what for me was an absolute must buy. In the long run not addressing problems head on will only cost the studios sales.
Ted

 

[Mark-W]

As far as Fox responding, they absolutely MUST
respond to this DEFECT in the DVD.
No English subtitless is not a minor problem on a film
set in Italy!
I am grateful that they resolved the issue
with Cleopatra, which was simply
that the final musical score was missing.
So, I would hope they suspend and pull all shipments
of this DVD, and replace it for those of us who
already bought it.
Mark

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

As far as Fox responding, they absolutely MUST respond to this DEFECT in the DVD.

Doing something about it and responding here are two different things. The first is necessary, the second is not. Chances are there isn't a game plan yet, and if there is, there are scheduling issues to contend with as well. I'm sure Fox won't leave us hanging, but responding here can open more cans of worms than keeping quiet until the situation is addressed. Hopefully they are aware of the problem now, and can figure out what to do to fix it.

 

[Carlo_M]

That's the danger of a studio rep joining this forum, and why more do NOT do so:

We are now "expecting" them to post, and that simply should not be the case. They have no obligations whatsoever. Hey, who posts here when MGM has a defect? How about Warner and their WAMO/DVD rot problem? Or Artisan and those glitches? How about Disney? Or New Line with the fact that Infinifilm doesn't always work with every player?

Anyone?

Nope.

Peter is here and it is our PRIVILEGE to hear from him. I have met him FIRSTHAND several times and can assure you he cares deeply for the HTF and DVD fans. If he's not posting, he's probably busy. He is a VP over there, not some Customer Service Rep.

Time for a reality check.

Don't abuse the resources we have, lest we risk losing them.