WHV Press Release: How The West was Won (DVD/Blu-Ray)+Western & Errol Flynn Classics (1 Viewer)

[Jon Smith]

If I remember correctly there is also an example of Smilebox on the King Kong (1933) 2 disc set.

 

[Doug Bull]

To the owners of, Search For Paradise, South Seas Adventure, Seven Wonders of The World and This is Cinerama, I have my wallet open and will be first in line to purchase a Smilebox DVD or Blu-Ray version.

I made a big mistake by buying a suspect DVD of CINERAMA's RUSSIAN ADVENTURE off E-Bay and it went straight into the rubbish bin, as it was totally unwatchable.
The muffled mono sound also rubbed salt into the wound.
The image was so bad you could hardly see what was going on.
Cinerama buffs beware.

 

[Simon Howson]

Letterboxed and Smileboxed in the same UCE package; spread over 4 DVDs rather than 2.

I mean, how much does it cost to press a DVD these days? $1?

 

[MikeGale]

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of attending a screening of Dave Strohmaier’s documentary about Cinerama which is an extra feature on the HTWWW set, and it's truly outstanding. WB is to be commended for including this in the package -- it's a must see for anyone interested in the history of cinema and film formats. To be honest, I'm more excited about seeing this documentary again than I am about HTWWW.

 

[GerardoHP]

I saw David Strohmaier’s Cinerama documentary at the Cinerama Dome in LA a couple of years ago, at a morning screening. The picture was projected "window-boxed" (in the middle of the giant Cinerama screen) from a video source, but the picture quality was outstanding and the Smilebox sequences, which curved a little more on the giant curved screen, were awesome, truly reminiscent of the feel and scope of Cinerama even though they were obviously much smaller than they would have been in true Cinerama. The documentary is great, with lots of shots from Cinerama movies that have not been seen in decades. I just can't wait to get this package.

 

[Simon Howson]

I hope they present the documentary anamorphic on the DVD so that the Cinerama sequences use the entire space of a widescreen TV.

The 4:3 material should just be pillar boxed out to 16:9

 

[RolandL]

The showing at Yale University last year was masked to 1.66 but I'm sure 1.78 would be fine.

 

[Jon Smith]

Have there been any updates as to whether the DVD edition will contain the Smilebox version?

 

[AdrianTurner]

I echo those who praise Cinerama Adventure. It's a superb piece of work - like the doco on Cleopatra, it goes the extra mile in seeking out not just the fact and the image but the social, artistic and political context. I especially liked the aside that Cinerama is an anagram of American. I loved that!

 

[Mark_TS]

----
yeah, the airs some people put on around here-you'd think you had accidently stumbled into a meeting of the MENSA CLUB...and were not welcome

Ill have to agree with you here-most of the "Hi-Tech home viewing" set will have never heard of HTWWW, and would rather watch something screamingly modern like the latest Disney shazam / LAURA CROFT/STAR WARS/VAN HELSING/BATMANs/SUPERMAN/SPIDERMAN/DAREDEVIL/HELLBOY Cloverfield, TERMINATOR 2-3 ,ARMAGEDDON etc etc or at worst, Blade Runner/ALIEN etc.
Most of the people ive met or have seen posting at various BBs into HT have little interest in film/s made before 1980 or worse, 2000-where the look is so sharp and saturated- and a WESTERN at that- WESTERN!? too unscreamingly unmodern and quaint=boring-there are exceptions, my self included.
In another post about WARNER sci-fi double features-some of which are double hexed by being black & white AND made before 1980....
What chance will we ever have of seeing some of these and many other classics or low sales classics on BD-?

I'll tell you after I get home from the grocery store tonite with my winning SUPERLOTTO ticket, which is why SD just might be around for awhile-and if the economy doesnt pick up, BD may join HD in the cememtary.
The blowout-fire sales of BD are getting to be like Starbucks-one on every corner-make me just a tad nervous-some are almost being given away...
The number of box stores closing/ or of tech sales on the edge is incredible...almost as bad as 600 Starbucks/_______(fill in the blank) closing-its gonna get a lot worse-1929 had a number of nice('everythings just fine') rallies before slowly sliding to rock bottom.
But im getting off topic.

 

[John Hodson]

Amazon has now changed the pics for both the SE and UCE to show them as 3-disc sets; the film split over two discs, extras on the third:

 

[RolandL]

I see the three discs for the UCE but only two for the SE. The SE mentions "...10 behind-the-scenes photo cards, 10 postcards..." but they are not shown in the picture.

 

[Ed Moroughan]

RolandL: Here's a link. Amazon.com: How the West Was Won Hopefully this is like Apocalypse Now - The Complete Doosier, with a transfer for the LB and SB versions on each disc? It's really short to be split into two parts otherwise, no?

 

[John Hodson]

The discs are labelled 'The Movie - Part 1', 'The Movie - Part 2' and 'Special Features'.

That Smilebox transfer really is looking like a BD exclusive, despite the hopes being raised here.

 

[RolandL]

Sorry. My bad. I thought when John said "SE" he meant the Blu-Ray SE.

155 minutes on one disc might be sacrificing to much PQ.

 

[James Phillips]

The BBC technology programme Click had a report about film restoration last week, which featured Ned Price talking about the remastering of How The West Was Won, along with some before and after shots.

Here's a link to it: BBC

The film restoration segment is about ten minutes in.

 

[DeeF]

I'm very excited to see these on my new Pioneer 60" KURO plasma.

P.S. About cover art: although Warners has made cover art from original poster art in years past, the covers are always (in my estimation) repainted.

A very good example of this is Suspicion. Just look online for the poster art for this 1941 Hitchcock movie, and then look at the DVD cover. They are similar, but not the same. The art has been repainted, by someone inferior to the original illustrator.

I think those new covers for the Westerns look swell.

 

[Charles H]

I'm admittedly a bit dense but I still don't understand if the complete Smileboxed edition of HOW THE WEST WAS WON will be included on the UCE?

 

[John Hodson]

No evidence whatsoever to support that possibility; the short answer is it won't be and the SB version will be - as stated in Warners own press release - a BD exclusive.

 

[DeeF]

My big beef isn't the smilebox, since I'll be buying the BD.

But I really want the deluxe edition with all the printed materials.

I'm gonna have to buy both, I guess.