International The Man With The Golden Arm Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[haineshisway]

Bruce,


Warner DVD or this BD release?

The Warner DVD was, if memory serves, not bad, but I need to go find it and look at it again. It was open matte though.

 

[david hare]

Screencaps only I realize but the Network so waxy you could grease candles with it.


I gather from the reviewer the German BD is in 1.37!!!!!! Nonononononononono!


1.66 in the Network looks pretty good to me, nice and tight for compositions (as the bishop said to the actress.) But the PQ is revolting.

 

[Persianimmortal]

I haven't received my copy yet, but just going by the screenshots it confirms what Bruce says regarding overzealous digital scrubbing. But of equal concern to me is that the contrast seems too high as well - whites are overblown. Bruce, or anyone else with the disc, any comments regarding the overall brightness?

 

[haineshisway]

I haven't received my copy yet, but just going by the screenshots it confirms what Bruce says regarding overzealous digital scrubbing. But of equal concern to me is that the contrast seems too high as well - whites are overblown. Bruce, or anyone else with the disc, any comments regarding the overall brightness?

That didn't bother me so much, but I was too distracted by the complete lack of detail. Glad others are seeing it - that reviewer is rather out of his mind.

 

[Persianimmortal]

I've had a quick look at DVD Beaver's Review of the German BD, and it definitely looks much better both in terms of detail and contrast - shame about the aspect ratio.


I tried to find two comparable screenshots between the old and the new release to highlight the difference, and the closest I found are these:


German BD:

Network BD:

I think it shows quite clearly the reduced detail and possible overbrightness of the Network release.

 

[Mark-P]

The Warner DVD was, if memory serves, not bad, but I need to go find it and look at it again. It was open matte though.

The 2008 Warner DVD (I have it) was 16X9 widescreen 1.78:1.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I can't decide, without further help, which blu-ray to get. This would have been a good film to get the 'Tarantula' treatment (both 1.33 & 1.85 on the disc). I thought the Warners DVD edition was good and may wait to upgrade.

 

[haineshisway]

The 2008 Warner DVD (I have it) was 16X9 widescreen 1.78:1.

My mistake. I just took a post somewhere at their word - I have it here somewhere, will find it and compare. Actually I wrote about it on my blog in 2008. Guess that will be the only thing I ever need to view. I still want to compare it, so I'll find it today.


I then watched The Man With The Golden Arm, again starring Mr. Sinatra, Miss Kim Novak, Miss Eleanor Parker, Mr. Darren McGavin, and Mr. Arnold Stang, along with strong support from some wonderful character actors. The film was masterfully directed by Mr. Otto Preminger, and well-written by Walter Newman, from the novel by Nelson Algren. I wrote about the film when I ran one of those public domain DVDs about a year ago. Those transfers are from 16mm prints, slightly zoomed in on an open matte transfer – by zooming in they remove some of the unseemly headroom but in so doing they also cut off the sides of the film. However, the correct ratio for the film has always been 1:85 and this new transfer from Warner Bros. is the first time it’s ever appeared on home video properly. Not only that, for those who’ve only seen the PD copies, this transfer will be a complete revelation. Due to the muddy, awful PD copies, I’ve always thought this film was the ugliest Preminger picture ever made – dark, dingy, and grimy-looking. Wherever Warners got their element from, it’s fantastic looking. Suddenly, Mr. Sam Leavitt’s photography looks amazing – with rich blacks, great contrast, and it’s sharp as a tack. Of course, some have complained about a small white emulsion scratch that runs down the center of the film for a couple of minutes tops, and an occasional black scratch that also lasts less than a minute. There’s no reason to complain at all – it’s a great transfer which finally does this film a great service, and a couple of imperfections are not worth mentioning. We just ought to thank the classic movie gods that The Man With The Golden Arm is finally here in a splendidly splendid transfer. Mr. Sinatra’s performance is really good, as are all the performances. The few Eleanor Parker films I’ve seen, she really had a knack for creating characters you love to loathe. Miss Novak is lovely, and Arnold Stang is surprisingly effective as Mr. Sinatra’s friend who doesn’t quite play with a full deck. And the Elmer Bernstein score remains a wonder. Highly recommended by the likes of me.

 

[Charles Smith]

Just ordered the Warner DVD.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Just ordered the Warner DVD.

For those that don't know, Amazon is selling the 2008 DVD for less than $6.00


I have that DVD as part of the Frank Sinatra DVD boxset that was released in 2008.

 

[John Hermes]

I watched TMWTGA Blu-ray tonight on a 106" screen from my DLP projector. I thought the contrast was pretty good on my system. Whites weren't really blown out to any extent and blacks were deep while still showing detail. Overall sharpness throughout the film could have been better, but wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

 

[Persianimmortal]

Finally got around to watching this tonight. It definitely looks a bit too bright and contrasty for me, just as the screenshots indicated. In fact that bothered me much more than the relative lack of detail. That said, it's a superb movie which I didn't own on DVD, and which is now available in the correct aspect ratio on BD, so I suppose I can overlook the overbrightness.