Blu-ray Review The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[William Moore]

This restoration of the other of the 2 Cinerama features which actually told a story is indeed a miracle! The awesome David Strohmaier, Tom March and all the countless others who were involved in this monumental project will surely go down in Cinerama history as the ones who did the impossible, bringing to the screen at long last as it was meant to be seen in the full glory of Smilebox Technicolor! This production's countless fans are no doubt thrilled and awed by what they have experienced in their home theatres. And, perhaps, one day, this truly great Cinerama production will be shown at the Dome on the giant curved screen. Surely, George Pal is very, very pleased!!!

 

[Mark-P]

Is that correct? When I produced the soundtrack album, I had access to the multi-track film mix and I remember working very hard to position the vocals in "Dee-Are-A-Gee-O-En (Dragon)" to the center for the album. The film mix panned the vocals to match the on-screen action, but I was able to merge just the vocals with the scoring masters for the album mix.

I didn't notice a pan there, but I'll check it out again tomorrow. There was so much to absorb throughout the movie that I'm sure I missed a ton of interesting and worthwhile things.

Just watched the smilebox version. Directional dialog is present throughout the entire film. I have to say I enjoyed this way more than the last time I saw it on tv over 20 years ago. Presentation is key to how a film is perceived.

 

[Mrozsa]

I’m really looking forward to watching this. I’ve had it pre-ordered for weeks but, living here in the UK, my supplier tells me that delivery could take up to 45 days, frustratingly. Oh well, I guess that means I’ll savour it all the more when it arrives.

 

[Mrozsa]

Well I’ll be jiggered! Only an hour after my above post TWWOTBG arrived in my letterbox several weeks earlier than might have been the case. Well done WOW HD. Guess what I’ll be watching this weekend.

 

[Matt Hough]

Because I was still on a Cinerama high from this gorgeous transfer, I took out the Smilebox version of How the West Was Won and watched that tonight. The time just flew by; it's such a good movie, and the restoration looks wonderful (but less impressive than Grimm frankly). We learned in the documentary that West had pristine masters from which to work. Of course, this work was done many years ago, and it still holds up beautifully, but I can't help thinking Grimm's restoration is the real miracle.

I'm happy to have both now which I hope to enjoy for many years to come.

 

[ahollis]

Me too

 

[Dee Zee]

Because I was still on a Cinerama high from this gorgeous transfer, I took out the Smilebox version of How the West Was Won and watched that tonight. The time just flew by; it's such a good movie, and the restoration looks wonderful (but less impressive than Grimm frankly). We learned in the documentary that West had pristine masters from which to work. Of course, this work was done many years ago, and it still holds up beautifully, but I can't help thinking Grimm's restoration is the real miracle.

I'm happy to have both now which I hope to enjoy for many years to come.

Grimm’s restoration is remarkable. Love it.

On How the West Was Won, I wish they had fixed that opening aerial which has the spots on the window or something. Always takes me out of the restoration. Wish the Grimm guys could take a new go at HTWWW

 

[Ethan Riley]

Grimm’s restoration is remarkable. Love it.

On How the West Was Won, I wish they had fixed that opening aerial which has the spots on the window or something. Always takes me out of the restoration. Wish the Grimm guys could take a new go at HTWWW

I don't think they'll feel the need to revisit that title anytime soon. I just want them to get their hands on Around the World in 80 Days. Nobody's ever touched the 30fps Todd-AO version for home release. I understand it's faded, but no one can tell me how faded--if it's just a loss at this point, or can be engineered.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I may be misremembering but I recall Robert Harris saying something to the effect of “80 Days” needing work in the high six figures to low seven figures to bring it back to its original state - and if my memory of that figure is even halfway accurate, that’s more than they’d ever recoup.

On the other hand, the digital restoration tools improve each year and the cost of data storage and processing goes down with time, so there may come a point where the outlook becomes more favorable.

 

[Dee Zee]

I may be misremembering but I recall Robert Harris saying something to the effect of “80 Days” needing work in the high six figures to low seven figures to bring it back to its original state - and if my memory of that figure is even halfway accurate, that’s more than they’d ever recoup.

On the other hand, the digital restoration tools improve each year and the cost of data storage and processing goes down with time, so there may come a point where the outlook becomes more favorable.

Which begs the question, how much did it cost to restore Grimm?

 

[Dennis Gallagher]

I'm working my way through all the travelogs (some which I haven't seen all the way through but purchased anyway to "support the cause") in preparation for a "grand hurrah" viewing of "Brothers Grimm". I realize there's absolutely no chance this would ever happen, but it sure would be nice if there could be some additional cleanup of the earlier discs using some of the wonderful new digital tools that are now available.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Just watched the smilebox version. Directional dialog is present throughout the entire film. I have to say I enjoyed this way more than the last time I saw it on tv over 20 years ago. Presentation is key to how a film is perceived.

I agree on presentation. I just watched this yesterday for the 1st time since the 90's when I watched the laserdisc. I did not have a strong impression of this film from that 90's viewing. The film bored me. The only George Pal film to do that so I was pleasantly surprised with my viewing of the blu ray in smilebox. I really enjoyed it this time.

 

[battlebeast]

Watch the restoration documentary on the SmileBox disc to find out all about the whys and hows of the restoration.

The restoration doc was a real eye opener! Well Worth the 40’minutes!

 

[TallPaulInKy]

After watching the Blue Ray of Brothers Grimm several times in both modes "flat and Smile" I am wishing instead of offering the flat version that they had instead used a cinemascope print like would have been used in general release after the film completed it's road show run. The current picture is so wide, it is short on height and looks small on every screen I've tried it on. A cinemascope print was probably pan and scan rather than cutting off the actions on far right or left. I remember seeing the film in cinemascope as a kid and really enjoyed it. This is a kids movie and to get young people (preteens) to watch it..the picture should be a reasonable viewable size.

 

[winstoncarolina]

A really terrible idea.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

After watching the Blue Ray of Brothers Grimm several times in both modes "flat and Smile" I am wishing instead of offering the flat version that they had instead used a cinemascope print like would have been used in general release after the film completed it's road show run. The current picture is so wide, it is short on height and looks small on every screen I've tried it on. A cinemascope print was probably pan and scan rather than cutting off the actions on far right or left. I remember seeing the film in cinemascope as a kid and really enjoyed it. This is a kids movie and to get young people (preteens) to watch it..the picture should be a reasonable viewable size.

The CinemaScope prints were heavily cropped - evenly on the left and right. They weren't panned & scanned.

 

[cda1143]

After watching the Blue Ray of Brothers Grimm several times in both modes "flat and Smile" I am wishing instead of offering the flat version that they had instead used a cinemascope print like would have been used in general release after the film completed it's road show run. The current picture is so wide, it is short on height and looks small on every screen I've tried it on. A cinemascope print was probably pan and scan rather than cutting off the actions on far right or left. I remember seeing the film in cinemascope as a kid and really enjoyed it. This is a kids movie and to get young people (preteens) to watch it..the picture should be a reasonable viewable size.

I can understand this POV with a flat screen. For me, at 103” wide projection from 10 feet, I love the smile box.

 

[Matt Hough]

I had no trouble fully appreciating the movie in both Smilebox and letterbox on my 65" OLED.