Swing Time DVD question (1 Viewer)

[Jing_B]

Hello! I just bought the new DVD of Swing Time and watched it through. It was a very good movie, superb dancing and a VERY beautiful Ginger Rogers. Just one question. At the scene where Fred and Ginger are talking while sitting on the bench ,in the New Amsterdam right before the song number A Fine Romance, the screen appears to be wavy. The shot of Fred and Ginger sitting there was particularly strange, the screen keeps on shaking! Is this a problem with the transfer or is the DVD damaged?

 

[John Whittle]

OR - maybe the original negative. I don't know the history of Swing Time, but Top Hat & Flying Down to Rio the original negative was used to make several hundred prints for the original release with the resulting wear and tear. Many years of making dupes and reductions also took their toll. Shall We Dance just ran on TCM and it was missing it original Radio Tower opening logo starting with an abrupt cut into the opening title background--perhaps a casuality from the C&C Releasing "re-cuts".

I would suspect the pre-print used for the transfer was at fault and doubt that there was a better copy currently available (but stuff keeps turning up in the darnest places so who know what might happen in the future).

John

 

[Roger Rollins]

Mr. Whittle's comments are astute and right-on....

The OCNs of the Astaire/Rogers RKO pictures were subject to so many printings, editing for re-issues, and then ultimate butchering for TV ownership, that to see these glistening,
gorgeous NEAR-pefect, Warner DVDs is a revelation.

Previous releases on LD and VHS were hazy, muddy, & ugly compared to what we have here. Are they meticulously perfect? No. Are they amazing, compared to what die=hard fans have been subjected to for decades on TV, revival houses, and subsequent home video releases? Yes, and then some.

I'm still amazed at being able to see the dusty footprints on the floor in TOP HAT!

What an amazing set this is. I've run out of superlatives for Warner Home Video. Buy the bargain-priced box and you'll be thrilled with it.

 

[Paul_Scott]

i was going to ask if the dvd (don't have mine yet) had the wavy passage as it was present on the Criterion Laserdisc, and now i guess the answer is yes
i returned my LD once thinking it was a defect of the disc and found out to my chagrin it was something to do with the elements.

a very odd little anomoly to be sure.