They All Laughed: October 17 (1 Viewer)

[Haggai]

I'm excited to see this news, I wasn't even sure who owned the DVD rights:


I'm not very familiar at all with HBO's track record on DVDs; is it generally pretty good? The announcement doesn't even say whether it's going to be 16X9 or not (the movie is 1.85:1), which one would assume, but I guess you never know. They did put out a nice release of Maria Full of Grace, which I think is the only HBO DVD I've ever seen.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Unfortuantley No.
they have released plenty of MAR discs, including one I was looking forward to last year- Go Tell The Spartans.

Its amazing news this is getting released- but HBO is not the company I would want to see release it. It might almost pay to put it back out of your mind right now :frowning:

 

[Haggai]

Not what I wanted to hear. But they do have some special features lined up for this, so hopefully they've paid enough attention to do it right, or at least not to screw it up.

 

[Roger Rollins]

HBO doesn't really have a substantial theatrical feature library. They own THEY ALL LAUGHED from an early pre-TimeWarner Time-Life films venture that didn't last very long. Most of the other theatrical product they had was sublicensed, and has reverted to their respective owners. I don't know how long they retain THE THREE AMIGOS from Orion, but that and a few others are all that is left, except the small output of the ill-fated SAVOY PICTURES.

Will we ever get proper anamorphic versions of A BRONX TALE or SERIAL MOM? Who knows...

But thankfully we are finally getting THEY ALL LAUGHED...


This film is an undiscovered gem that never got a proper release, likely due to the sensationalism around Dorothy Stratten's murder, and Bogdanovich's relationship with her.

While, not up in the ranks of his three timeless classics (LAST PICTURE SHOW, WHAT'S UP, DOC?, PAPER MOON), it's a delightful romp, and its DVD release, and the director's involvement is something to cheer about, at least in my opinion.

 

[Jon Martin]

I would feel rather safe about the disc being anamorphic, as Bogdanovich is involved (and didn't he go bankrupt buying the rights back to this film so she could release his director's cut of it?). If HBO has just about all of their current programming, even the sitcom LUCKY LOUIE 16x9, I would think this would be.

A very underrated film. Will be looking forward to it.

 

[walter o]

it's hit or miss with HBO DVD, They will 16x9 their made for HBO features like TRAVELING MAN, but will give a full frame transfer to their theatrical features like GO TELL THE SPARTANS and FLASHPOINT. Glad they are putting this one out, hopefully SILENT PARTNER and BELL JAR is not far behind.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Silent Partner would be so, so sweet.

 

[Haggai]

The disc should be in stores today, and there a couple of reviews out: one from UpcomingDiscs and one from Digitally Obsessed. Thankfully, it DOES appear that this transfer IS 16X9 enhanced--Digitally Obsessed clearly labels it as such. The UD review says the transfer is OK, while DO rates it as mediocre. Both reviews give the audio (it's in 2.0) mediocre rankings. As for extras, the conversation between Bogdanovich and Wes Anderson gets high marks from both reviews, and the UD review rates Bogdanovich's commentary more highly than DO. So, all in all, it looks like this at least an acceptable DVD presentation. I'm picking it up today, though I probably won't get to watch it until tomorrow.

 

[Haggai]

I watched the movie tonight, plus the interview, and listened to a bit of the commentary. The transfer looks pretty good to me. I saw it at a screening two years ago, which I posted about here, and as far as I remember it, the video presentation on this disc is a good representation of the print I saw. I suppose the audio track could have been better, though I didn't really have any problems with it. The interview is quite interesting, and the commentary so far is worthwhile as well. So, all in all, this is a nice DVD for those of us who like the movie.