What's new

The Battle of Britain: 2 Disc SE will include Walton's original score! (1 Viewer)

Zen Butler

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2002
Messages
5,568
Location
Southern, Ca
Real Name
Zen K. Butler


Exactly, not to mention the 2Disc The Great Escape he has. Yeah, boo-hoo. This may be the final straw, I going to get one of those souped up region-free players that also addresses the pal speed up issue.


Dennis, Limeolives? Help me.....


I thought those were dates for a sec, mmmmmmmmmm.
 

Douglas R

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2000
Messages
2,947
Location
London, United Kingdom
Real Name
Doug
QUOTE]I've just cancelled my order on account of getting the check discs to review.[/quote]

Thanks for the review Mark. As regards your quote below:

"According to the IMDb, there was a 151 minute original cut of the movie shown at its London premiere but I think it`s entirely possible the film may have included an intermission to make up that figure".

I believe IMDb is wrong. I saw the film at the premiere and as far as I recall the film was not much more than a little over 2 hours, with no intermission.
 

Zen Butler

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2002
Messages
5,568
Location
Southern, Ca
Real Name
Zen K. Butler
Yeah, but do you have one of these fancy boxes , Steve? I found one yesterday! #49253 of 50000. Is 50,000 limited edition nowadays?

 

Steve Christou

Long Member
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2000
Messages
16,333
Location
Manchester, England
Real Name
Steve Christou
No I don't Zen, mine's in a cardboard case, but it is the 2-disc special edition, and I love the film. First saw it at a major sci-fi convention here in London back in the late 70's, along with The Thing (1951), Dark Star (1974) and others, Wicker Man isn't exactly sci-fi though is it? That wooden box cover looks great though! It's limited until they re-release it in a couple of years time in a straw box, and then in a stone box, and then[STOP IT STEVE].;)


"Much has been said of the strumpets of yore
Of wenches and bawdyhouse queens by the score
But I sing of a baggage that we all adore
The landlord's daughter."


:)
 

Mark Oates

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 12, 2004
Messages
875


Wouldn't be the first time. I didn't notice anything missing from the disc, and if anything saw a lot more in the movie than I'd seen before (damn BBC P&S version).

Goodwin's score over the end "the few" quote and casualty list raises the hair, but the Walton version is sheer class.
 

Zen Butler

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2002
Messages
5,568
Location
Southern, Ca
Real Name
Zen K. Butler
Steve, mine too has 2 disks, One theatrical, 1 extended. I too haved loved this one, but only since about 88.
 
Joined
May 22, 2003
Messages
18
I can't wait for this release - I think my R1 will be heading for eBay. :)

Steve Christou,

Nice Spitfire, but it really should have been a Mark 1. Great Union Jack-clad arse there, too! ;) :emoji_thumbsup:

Steve
 

Steve Christou

Long Member
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2000
Messages
16,333
Location
Manchester, England
Real Name
Steve Christou


Thanks Steve, and very apt too don't you think? ;)

Don't forget, A Bridge Too Far 2-disc sp.ed is also arriving on the same day, great film. The Longest Day, Dirty Dozen and Wild Geese are out next month too, Longest Day is a special edition... it's good to be in PAL-land eh? :D
 

andrew markworthy

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 30, 1999
Messages
4,762
If we can move the conversation away from posteriors for a moment ...

Bought the discs today. Picture and sound are excellent. I've never heard the sound so lacking in distortion (particularly the large Nazi rally scene). Extras (as far as I can tell - I haven't seen them all) are excellent as well.

*However*, the Walton score (that I'd been looking forward to) is a real disappointment. Don't get me wrong - the *music* in itself is just fine (though I confess I have a soft spot for Walton). However, for the most part it really doesn't fit in with the movie. The one bit that does was the section that was used in the original theatrical release. However, for most of the time, the music IMHO sets an inappropriate mood (e.g. a lot of the music playing during the Nazi preparations seems almost heroic rather than menacing - sorry if this sounds like a xenophobic Brit reaction, it's not meant to be, but if you see the movie, you'll see what I mean). I can see all too clearly why the Walton music was dropped - *in the specific context* it really doesn't work.

But nonetheless, full marks to whoever found the Walton recording and decided to offer it as an alternative. I'm very glad to have heard it.

Overall, the disc is a strong recommendation, and I hope you guys in R1 land get a chance to buy this soon.
 

Steve Christou

Long Member
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2000
Messages
16,333
Location
Manchester, England
Real Name
Steve Christou
Got it today along with the 2-disc A Bridge Too Far, a fantastic copy of
Battle of Britain, couldn't care less about the William Walton track, great color, picture, sound, Ron Goodwin's music is back on the end credits as is the famous Churchill 'few' quote! Yay! the 2nd disc has about 2 hours of documentaries, it's like a dream come true. One of my favorite war films released just the way I want it, a fantastic package.:) :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Dennis Nicholls

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 5, 1998
Messages
11,396
Location
Boise, ID
Real Name
Dennis


Spoken like a true ally. I won't even ask for my firehose back.


Until this shows up in R1 land, I think I'll just keep looking at the LD version I have.
 

keith/uknuts

Auditioning
Joined
Apr 22, 2004
Messages
7
Id like to echo what andrew markworthy said in his comments.
i totaly agree with him about the score by william walton, it certainly didnt fit in at all, apart from the battle in the air sequence.There are five soundtracks to choose from on this dvd all english of course.track 1)ron goodwin in 5.1dd.track 2)ron goodwin in 5.1dts.track 3)william walton in 5.1dd.track 4)william walton in 5.1dts.track 5)commentry
with director guy hamilton and crew.And i have to say my personal preference was the ron goodwin score in 5.1dd i managed to swap between all the tracks on the fly and to my ear the rg 5.dd seemed to have slightly more body to it. Although to be honest there wasnt much difference between the dd and tds track and i think that is to be expected for a 35 year old film that was originally proberbly recorded in mono.I found that the ww 5.1dd and the 5.1dts track had no souround effects at all except for the score itself which was came across nice and loud, but for the whole of the film everything else was just comming out of the center speeker.The rg track in either dd or dts had plenty of directional effects comming across all the surrounds, quite a nice amount of base in the explosions although i did turn my sub up abit.As for the pic quality well its very nice indeed and i did quick comparison with my r1 copy and as far as i can tell there nearly identicle.The differences i could see were that the opening titles where different on the r2 and as andrew said the correct ending was in place with right churchill quote.My first thoughts where is this r2 print the same one as the r1, well apart from the begining and endings theres not too much to tell between them except for maybe the colour and hues.Iv noticed with most r1ntsc compared to r2pal that the r1s always seem to have brighter colours
and hues and to be honest sometimes they do look abit unnatural at times on certain discs.In this case id say the r2 has a slightly more natural look although i tiny bit darker in certain scenes.To be honest there may also be
a lttle bit more compression artifacting on the r2 but then it does have more tracks and an animated menu but thats just from what i can see on my modest set up.Breifly
the extras are not bad at all i injoyed them and the animated menus i though where excellent.A fantastic british film classic in my humble opinion and an excellent dvd, i am very happy indeed.;)
 

Mark Oates

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 12, 2004
Messages
875
After posting my review for "Battle", I got a very nice email from Mike Anscombe at Anvil Post Production who put me right on a few things that I'd got wrong (thank you Rykodisc's liner notes for the soundtrack CD!). Anvil Studios are still operating and worked closely with MGM on the restoration of the movie soundtracks (not least the Walton score).

I have to agree with everybody that the judgement call on dropping the Walton score and substituting the Goodwin score was the right one. I'm still thrilled to be able to hear the score as an alternative.

Top job, MGM.
 

RichardCrowther

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
160
Would someone be kind enough to confirm whether the subtitles and/or captions used in the film are player-generated, or burnt-in?

Thanks. :)
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,791
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top