'To Catch a Thief' - any reviews yet ? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Stewart]

Martin Blythe, I assume you worked on the "To Catch a Thief" transfer. Can you tell me if the writhing moiré pattern which shows up so blatantly in Cary Grant's striped shirt in broadcast or VHS versions of the film goes away on the DVD--at least when watched using S-video, component video, or progressive scan connections? Or is it inherent in the transfer itself?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Eric,
Grant's shirt pattern looked a lot better on the dvd compared to the broadcast and VHS versions.




Crawdaddy

 

[Larry Sutliff]

It is as good or better than Universal's release of "The Man Who Knew Too Much", but that's a bit like praising the fastest three-legged horse.

If it's as good as the MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH DVD, I'll be satisfied. Not perfection, but a reasonable representation of a classic film.

I'm looking forward to this DVD(as well as SUNSET BOULEVARD).

 

[Patrick McCart]

Universal had (or is having) Cinesite give The Man Who Knew Too Much a 100% digital restoration via Cineon.

They're doing the same thing with To Kill A Mockingbird, but no idea on the quality.

Is Cineon high-res enough for a film restoration?

 

[TedD]

I just watched "To Catch A Thief" and was actually pleasantly surprised by the quality. I did have to bump gamma up 2 steps, back off a little on the color saturation, and knock down the white level some. No problems with compressed blacks or lack of detail after that.

The only major print issue that I saw was some differential shrinkage of the seps during the titles.

I would suggest that for a 1954 film shot on EastmanColor stock, the color was actually pretty good.

This is as viewed on a 5'x9' screen with a CRT FP, Zoom Player and the Sonic Cineplayer 1.5 filters.

Ted

 

[Gary Tooze]

My Review with screen captures (almost native resolution) is complete. You may find it my clicking HERE
This release has been much anticipated by the Home Theater crowd and initial reviews showed disappointment. It may possibly have been because many of us have been spoiled by technically pristine releases such as 'Vertigo' and 'North by Northwest'. The elements of 'To Catch a Thief' were not in very good condition to start with and it is obvious that a full restoration at this point was not totally cost effective for Paramount. However, saying that I was pleasantly surprised by this DVD... and thankful for the wonderful extras. Yes, there is some wear showing on this print, but overall I was happy and bet it is the best this has looked since it opened in the theaters in August of 1955. My big complaint would be the colors seem too vibrant... out of place may be more accurate. The Trailer in the extras is in Full Screen format, which I was not particularily happy with, but the featurettes are a nice touch. Negligible edge enhancement down left side and across bottom. The blacks are not totally solid. You may not swoon as quickly at Grace Kelly, but regardless you will still swoon.
Regards,

 

[Scott Shanks]

Can you tell me if the writhing moiré pattern which shows up so blatantly in Cary Grant's striped shirt in broadcast or VHS versions of the film goes away on the DVD--at least when watched using S-video, component video, or progressive scan connections? Or is it inherent in the transfer itself?

I first viewed TCAT on an interlaced DVD player output to a 4:3 HD set with NO squeeze mode and his shirt was dancing. Then I watched it on a 17" PC monitor and it was stable. Same with Danielle's shirt on the boat.

 

[Patrick McCart]

From the screenshots, it looks pretty good despite some grain. The color looks very good and very Technicolor-ish.

Sure, it's not the perfection given to Vertigo (which was hand-restored by Robert Harris) or North By Northwest (which was digitally cleansed by LDI), but it still looks great.

I'm glad they didn't pull an Artisian by DVNR-ing the heck out of it.

 

[Nelson Au]

Regarding the "To Catch A Thief" DVD, I took a quick look at the first few minutes today. I saw it up till John Robie arrived at the restaurant from the bus. I also compared it to the Paramount laserdisc I’ve had for years. For me, it was quite a revelation. The DVD was like seeing it for the first time, having the windshield cleaned, if you will.

The laserdisc exhibited very bad color, quite yellow. And the shadow detail was nonexistent. The scenes when the cat walks over the roof tops was very dark and the one shot of the burglar taking the bag from under the sleeping woman’s pillow was so dark on the laser disc, I never knew the burglar’s arms were in the shot taking the bag.

The other improvement of this disc is the outdoor sequences; the South of France scenery was so green and clear. It looked real, while the LD looked like a matte painting. The flowers in John Robie’s garden had bright colors! And the egg that splatters on the window that was meant for Cary Grant’s face is so sharp and clear. Also, the new widescreen version of the DVD reveals much more of Robie’s house interior then I’ve seen before, the LD is full screen.

Of course, my reference is the laserdisc, I have not seen the video tape versions or the recent broadcast version. And I viewed this on a monitor, not a projector. The only thing the laserdisc had over the DVD was the mono sound, IMHO! The laserdisc actually had a stronger analog track. It was not digitally encoded on the laserdisc, but it definitely had authority compared to the DVD, which surprised me.

I look forward to seeing the whole DVD, visually, it blows away my LD. Even though the source material used on the DVD was not perfect, the sharpness and clarity and color is striking.

Nelson

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Thanks, Tooze!
Aren't those menus beautiful? Very tasteful.
Judging by the captures, the transfer look quite good. Some fine filmgrain, but it looks nice. I look forward to seeing it for myself.
If Grace Kelly is in a movie - I swoon every time! :b Her radiant beauty has never been better captured than in To Catch A Thief.
Great stuff, Gary!
Gordy

 

[Joe Caps]

Got To Catch A thief DVD yesterday - and I think it looks wonderful. Though filmed in Eastman, it had some prints processed in dye transfer Technicolor - and this DVD looks like that! More than I can say for North by Northwest - a bright, pleasant, clean "safe" transfer. Very nice - but I never understood the raves that transfer has gotten. And it looks NOTHING like the Technicolor prints I have seen. Thief does.
Robert Harris, we needmore info from you here.

 

[Robert Harris]

Again, I'd like to welcome Joe Caps back to the forum.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I really don't want to get into a discussion of the merits of this dvd, as there are many things not within the control of Paramount.

Regarding color, I will offer points of reference.

Thief was derived from the separation masters which were designed as a protection element, and which by that design are meant to replicate the colors of the Eastman original...

and within certain parameters, the Thief dvd does that quite well - colorwise.

The N x NW transfer is not based upon sep masters, but rather the faded original negative, taken to an new interpositive, and has gone through a digital mode which attempts (and does a reasonably good job) of bringing back a great deal of the color design from the faded elements.

Concurrently, there was also digital work to degrain the image, making it look decidedly un-filmlike, but not in any way bad.

Therefore, what one is viewing is one dvd with all work being performed in the photo-optical, photo-chemical world, which delivers a filmlike offering, while the other delivers a purely video-based offering.

Two totally different worlds, and different products.

Which is why Thief has the capability of looking more correct than N x NW, which, while a perfectly serviceable and beautifully rendered transfer, does not capture the integrity of the original. N x NW was a very interesting experiment, which yielded a nice result and served as the basis for similar work (and slightly different work) being done on other titles, inclusive of Disney and others.

The digital work done for the N x NW release is based upon a tool available to us, which may be used alone or with other tools to create pleasing video images.

RAH

 

[rutger_s]

Mr. Robert A. Harris,

I would like to thank you very much for providing this information to us. I understand that you would prefer not to get into the technical aspect of film restoration but your responses, like Martin Blythe's, have always been done with courtesy and respect for everyone.

Again, thank you for your contributions to this forum and to the film art world.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

If those screen shots are a good indicator of what the motion image looks like, you've got a happy camper here.

It looks like film. And for me that's the most important thing. I would rather watch a 100" image that looks like film with the requisite grain, and even be witness to a few scratch marks or reel-change markers now and then, than see an image of a historic film that is "free" from all those "artifacts" but looks like it was shot on video!

 

[GlennH]

dvdfile.com now has their review posted.
If you didn't know it was in color you might think this film was in black and white from the pictures in their review. Strange.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't agree with the DVDFile review about it being a disappointment with it's video presentation, but I do think a better presentation could have been achieved with perhaps more money spent and film elements involved with the process.




Crawdaddy

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I get the impression that they did a very faithful transfer of an element that was not ideally suitable for video transfer. Considering the amount of natural looking film grain and the relatively few digital artifacts, they obviously were very careful with the compression work as well.

Regards,

 

[Robert Harris]

The quality of dvds aside, I find it rather irksome when reviewers find the need to re-tell the entire story after viewing a film...

leaving little need for anyone to actually make an effort to see the film.

The review in DVDFile is a perfect example of this type of "reviewing." It tells you everything except the fact that Robie was the sled.

RAH

 

[DeeF]

The DVDfile review almost exactly sums up my feelings about the picture on this DVD. Surprisingly, the worst shot may be the opening titles! Perhaps the separations from which this transfer was generated, were in their sorriest shape at the very front end. Weren't the titles for My Fair Lady also in very sorry shape, and had to be redone?

After the titles, the picture gets much better. I thought the colors were too saturated, but I adjusted my set to accommodate the problem. I also thought there was too much contrast overall, but once again, I could improve the picture by adjusting my user settings.

I don't think disappointment is too harsh a word for the picture and sound of this DVD. It is an improvement over the versions we've had before, but we perhaps wanted too much from a DVD of a movie this old (and we don't really know the condition of the original elements).

 

[Randy_M]

OK, just finished the film and all the extras, and I am more than satisfied. The presentation is BY FAR the best I've ever seen it. I thought the soundtrack was fine for a 40+ year old movie. In addition, I loved the extras; especially the Edith Head tribute.
All in all, I'll proudly put this one on my Hitckcock shelf, and I say kudos to Paramount!
Now, on to Houseboat
Cheers