To Kill a Mockingbird and The Sting DVDS (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Both of the newly released dvds of "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Sting" have 5.1 DD and DTS on them. However, after sampling and comparing the different audio options, I think the 2.0 audio sounded the most pleasant to my ears. Case in point, the sound of the gunshots in both dvds were similar to the same problem that Jaws exhibited with gunshots and explosions, whenever you play the dvds in either of the 5.1 format. Since, both films have excellent film scores, I was curious to how both would sound in 5.1 audio, but IMO, the 2.0 audio just sounded better to me. Other members might disagree with my assessment, but I wanted to alert the differences I've heard in both dvds.

Visually, both dvds are true to the theater experiences I remembered for both films. However, there are a couple of scenes in "To Kill a Mockingbird" that exhibited heavy film grain that will become noticable to most people. Without question, "To Kill a Mockingbird" will remain one of my favorite films for the rest of my life because of the emotionally childhood attachment I had with both, the film and book. As far as "The Sting" it too is a great film with Newman/Redford being the definition of great film chemistry between two movie stars.







Crawdaddy

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I am looking forward to seeing these again. The Sting is an all-time favorite, and To Kill a Mockingbird also goes back to childhood as a favorite book and movie. In fact, I may go re-read the book...

I'm supposed to be receiving the screeners after street date, however, so the reviews will not be posted until later in the week.

Thanks for the heads up on the audio.

- Steve

 

[Scott Kimball]

Thanks for the quick review... I was sondering about the quality of both of these.

-Scott

 

[Patrick McCart]

Here's an article on the restoration of To Kill a Mockingbird:


Looks like the negative was lost, since they had to use fine-grain positives. :frowning:

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Thanks Patrick, do you have a link to that?

- Steve

 

[GeorgePaul]

So, then, we do finally have a widescreen version of The Sting? And is this release of To Kill a Mockingbird worth the double-dip if you already own the original?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yes, to both questions.





Crawdaddy

 

[Jordan_E]

Excellent! I've wanted The Sting for so long, but refused to pick up a p&s version. Me happy, me so happy!

 

[Robert Harris]

The original negative of Mockingbird is incomplete, and the fine grain master is of varying quality. The film was restored from a variety of sources, and has been in the works for several years.

The discussion regarding the film's restoration by Cinesite makes no sense, and seems to have been written by someone who has an incomplete knowledge of film elements.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Found the link:

http://cinesite.co.uk/?1243&0&3030

There is an interesting Flash demo here, as well.

- Steve

 

[Matt Butler]

Picking up The Sting tomorrow.



Ive been waiting for a W/S release for too damn long!

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Sounds like fun.

 

[Robert Crawford]

My initial impression while watching the dvd was that some parts of the presentation didn't come from the same source elements.


Also, in regards to "The Sting", some will be disappointed by the lack of bonus material. There is a great featurette that is 56 minutes in length that has Newman, Redford, other supporting actors and film production people on it. Some of this featurette evidently was filmed this year and does offer some good insight about the production of the film. However, an audio commentary would've been nice, even if it was by a film historian because it's unlikely that either Newman or Redford are the type of guys that would participate on a dvd commentary.





Crawdaddy

 

[obscurelabel]

Newman is on the commentary track for The Hustler although it is just a few isolated comments mixed in with other speakers. I don't know if it was specifically recorded for the DVD though; it may be from an earlier laserdisc or an unrelated interview.

 

[Jeff_HR]

For R1. I've had a WS R2 version for some time.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Which is basically like this featurette in which a person asks him questions, but his answers are spliced into the audio commentary. However, I wouldn't think that either Newman or Redford would do a full length audio commentary, especially since Redford always kids Newman about Newman's memory being so bad when it comes to recalling actual events.





Crawdaddy

 

[BrianM]

Does any one know if the new versions of these two movies are significantly improved from the previous releases? I know that To Kill A Mockingbird was one of the first DVD's ever released so I am assuming the new one should be an improvement but I have made this assumption before in the past and have been proven wrong.

 

[Ray H]

I know the To Kill a Mockingbird release has been restored and is now anamorphic, can't say much else.

 

[CaseyL]

Well "The Sting" is now in WS, so that's an improvement

 

[andrew markworthy]

FWIW, the WS version was broadcst on Brit TV last week (I suspect it was from the same stock as the new DVD - it was a pretty clean print) - after years of seeing the thing broadcast in rather dingy P and S, it was a definite improvement. However, I still have an aversion to the film because of 'The Entertainer' [the Scott Joplin theme tune]. Anyone who learned to play the piano around the time the movie first came out is likely to remember with horror being made to learn that piece and then having to trot it out for relatives. Hearing the opening bars is enough to have me sticking my fingers in my ears and screaming.

Good news about To Kill A Mockingbird - an excellent movie and Scott Joplin-free.