TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT DEBUTS Manufacture-On-Demand DVD SERIES (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Twelve years into the 21 st century, and they're still trying to pass off old video masters. Pathetic. I am really disappointed with this.

 

[jdee28]

For the price involved, not only is it a video master but not in the correct aspect ratio? Give me a break.

 

[Marcel H.]

DVDBeaver has a review of Way of a Gaucho up with some screencaps: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/dvd_reviews57/way_of_a_gaucho.htm

 

[lionel59]

My guess is they are using the same P/S prints which are being run on the Fox Movie Channel. It would appear that they cannot be bothered even going to a vault to check for an Archive 35mm print. No TVs are square these days so it will look ridiculous seeing a CinemaScope movie with black bars on the sides and about 45% of each shot missing. It is like returning to the early days of VHS (there were letterboxed movies on VHS in the latter phase of that format). Fox should hang their heads in shame.........(as they should still be doing for presenting a P/S version of PRINCE OF PLAYERS on Cinemax HD in recent times. Ugh!!)

 

[flagbrothers]

I would like to have FOX release the folowing CinemaScope films (see below). In addition, I think FOX should reconsider releasing Violent Saturday and give it the 16x9 treatment it deserves.
Woman's World,
King of the Khyber Rifles
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
The Racers
Night People
Untamed
The Lieutenant Wore Skirts
On the Threshold of Space
23 paces to baker street
Revolt of Mamie Stover
Gentlemen Prefer Brunetts
Teenage Rebel
A hatful of Rain

 

[Louis Letizia]

BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF has been in pd hell for quite some time. Surprising that THE RACERS.never even made it to DVD. Nor did BOY ON A DOLPHIN which screams out for Bluray.

 

[Richard V]

Hatful of Rain is a great, forgotten film.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by Richard V /t/321686/twentieth-century-fox-home-entertainment-debuts-manufacture-on-demand-dvd-series/30#post_3945516
Hatful of Rain is a great, forgotten film.

I agree. A truly adult drama and quite unforgettable.

ABC remade it for TV with Sandy Dennis, and it retained its power completely for me. I'd love to have both versions.

 

[lionel59]

Great list, but GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES is a UA title, not Fox. TCM run it letterboxed at times. Nice print. For those who can collect from overseas and play PAL dvds and other region codes, 23 PACES TO BAKER STREET, KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES and BOY ON A DOLPHIN have been released in Australia and are inexpensive (Try a seller on ebay.com.au). BAKER is Anamorphic and looks great, BOY is LBX and generally good though the colour appears a bit faded in some shots.KHYBER is LBX and is a nice print. NIGHT PEOPLE has been released in Spain and is an excellent print. LBX transfer. I think Fox should stick to pre-'Scope titles for its MOD releases. CENTENNIAL SUMMER has been MIA for a long time. Are there rights issues re the Jerome Kern score? Some more interesting Fox titles I'd like to see in 'Scope are NEW FACES, THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE, THE STRIPPER (Original director's cut if possible, Zanuck tampered with it),THE VIEW FROM POMPEY'S HEAD, THAT LADY,A CERTAIN SMILE, SANCTUARY, CIRCLE OF DECEPTION,CRACK IN THE MIRROR,THE DEEP BLUE SEA and TEN NORTH FREDERICK. Twilight Blu Rays would be nice, but I'd accept an MOD as long as it's in 'Scope. I can only assume that the "young guns" running Fox Home Video only go as far back as HOME ALONE with their understanding of Fox's movie history.

 

[Thomas T]

A pristine anamorphic scope transfer of 10 North Frederick has been released in Germany, Lionel. New Faces is a title that fallen into the public domain but VCI Entertainment has done a very good looking scope transfer.
However, I think it's clear from non anamorphic scope titles like Violent Saturday and P&S scope titles like Fraulein that Fox has little interest in remastering titles. It seems that their motto is "this is what we have available, take it or leave it".

 

[PaulaJ]

I'm pretty sure Fox has a widescreen master of King of the Kyber Rifles, because I've seen it in widescreen on the Fox Movie Channel. The question is... do they have it 16x9 anamorphic or if it were released on DVD, would it go the Violent Saturday route, i.e., non-anamorphic?
Also would like to see Something Big (1971) starring Dean Martin and Brian Keith -- but in its proper widescreen aspect ratio and anamorphic transfer!

 

[Garysb]

[/quote] "It seems that their motto is "this is what we have available, take it or leave it".[/quote]
I think that is the model for MOD. Remastering ,if any, is the exception. The idea for this is not preservation or spending any money on these titles. It just to put out what they have available to the people who are interested. Same thing with the titles put out by Twilight Time. If Fox happens to have good elements great. If not, take it or leave it. The vast majority of Warner archive titles are released without remastering. Fortunately for fans of Warner movies many of their films are in good shape. The same can't be said for Fox. I think it is unrealistic to expect great transfers from these releases unless some restoration had been done previously. Its not going to be done for these releases.

 

[David Weicker]

I think it is unrealistic to expect great transfers from these releases unless some restoration had been done previously. Its not going to be done for these releases.

I think is is completely realistic for the companies involved to at least release the films in their OAR. Clean-up may not be on the table, but giving us the complete film - content and aspect wise - is a valid expectation.
David

 

[Thomas T]

I'm pretty sure Fox has a widescreen master of King of the Kyber Rifles, because I've seen it in widescreen on the Fox Movie Channel. The question is... do they have it 16x9 anamorphic or if it were released on DVD, would it go the Violent Saturday route, i.e., non-anamorphic?

Both the Australian and Spanish releases of King Of The Khyber Rifles are non anamorphic CinemaScope transfers so I suspect any Region 1 would be the same.

 

[Matt Hough]

With the future of streaming and such just blooming, it's very shortsighted of studios not to get the contents in their film vaults ready for the highest quality they canachieve to maximize their assets. To my way of thinking, it's only good business to remaster what they have.

 

[JoHud]

I think that is the model for MOD. Remastering ,if any, is the exception.

Not entirely true, especially for widescreen films. OAR is rarely a problem with these sorts of releases. WAC has never released a letterboxed or pan&scanned title, Sony released a non-anamorphic letterboxed White Line Fever but otherwise always kept OAR, Universal's MOD also only let one non-anamorphic letterboxed title slide, and MGM actually went through the trouble of updating many early non-anamorphic letterboxed releases (The Best Man, The Group, etc) to anamorphic widescreen, even though they currently have a problem with occasionally releasing open-matte transfers.
The Fox Archive is the only one outside of Disney's sad MOD effort that has tried to sell a P&S'd CinemaScope title on MOD. MGM's faults could be somewhat excused by recovering from bankruptcy. Fox has no excuse.

 

[Garysb]

I think is is completely realistic for the companies involved to at least release the films in their OAR. Clean-up may not be on the table, but giving us the complete film - content and aspect wise - is a valid expectation.
David

If they have the elements yes of course they should. If they don't, they probably are not going to do it for a MOD release. In an ideal world all movies would be restored to the state they were in when first released and we would get great video releases whether its a MOD or a pressed disc. People on this forum believe that Fox should only release films which have good elements. Films with poor elements should stay in the vaults. I agree with that. Time will tell if the general public feels the same way. Fox apparently doesn't feel that way. Maybe going forward they will. I think if films released in pan and scan do not sell, they will not release films which they only have pan and scan elements. I don't think they will restore the films to the OAR for MOD release.

 

[David Weicker]

People on this forum believe that Fox should only release films which have good elements. Films with poor elements should stay in the vaults. I agree with that.

Well, count me in the minority, I guess. I completely disagree with this statement. Films should be seen. They should never be buried. Never ever. Poor element or good element, they should still be available to be seen.

 

[Justin Ray]

Well, count me in the minority, I guess. I completely disagree with this statement. Films should be seen. They should never be buried. Never ever. Poor element or good element, they should still be available to be seen.

You're not alone-- I absolutely agree. While I love clear, restored prints, and wish that studios had enough time and money to restore EVERYTHING, I'm happy if audiences have access to see and appreciate our rich film heritage.

 

[JoHud]

Elements with poor picture quality are really only 100% acceptable for transfer on films that cannot look any better due to better elements not being available and/or films that cannot look any better because the source elements are several generations old and nothing better exists. That's pretty much the case for the 1925 The Phantom of the Opera (as opposed to the 1929 re-release) and other silents films/early talkies that are only known to exist on 16mm or inferior dupes.
It's also the case for reconstructed films such as Island of Lost Souls, Metropolis, Lost Horizons, and The Old Dark House in which much of the existing footage is 16mm stock which tends to contrast sharply with the 35mm footage, yet is unavoidable in the reality that the chance of coming across 35mm footage of these scenes is very small--especially in the case of Metropolis where the extra footage was missing entirely for about 70+ years.