Blu-ray Review Written on the Wind Blu ray Review (1 Viewer)

[roxy1927]

Deleted.

 

[mskaye]

Just watched this blu ray tonight and loved it! Looks and sounds great. The scene with Dorothy Malone dancing in her room intercut with a (spoiler) is a notch below the Psycho shower scene in my opinion (I'm being as over the top in my praise as the film is with its examination of post war values obviously.) Highly recommended!

 

[roxy1927]

I saw it for the first time at Joe Papp's Public Theater which had a film program for a while. It was sensational as I believe it was curated by Scorsese. Has classic film ever had a greater champion? The Newman theater was used which had a very nice sized screen which was not the case of most movie repertory houses and the prints were excellent. I remember seeing everything From Dolce Vita on its large wide screen to Les Girls with its spectacular colors.
Written made quite an impact especially that shocking scene.

 

[Will Krupp]

Written made quite an impact especially that shocking scene.

You mean when they went to "21" and DIDN'T order the steak sandwich?

 

[roxy1927]

21 served steak sandwiches? I thought Capote's swans only ate cucumber salad with a slice of Melba toast. Two slices if they were feeling decadent and didn't have to fit into a Dior dress for the evening.

 

[Will Krupp]

21 served steak sandwiches? I thought Capote's swans only ate cucumber salad with a slice of Melba toast. Two slices if they were feeling decadent and didn't have to fit into a Dior dress for the evening.

THAT was at Cote Basque, Vincent!!!

 

[lark144]

THAT was at Cote Basque, Vincent!!!

According to the New York Times, La Cote Basque was famous for a quenelle of pike with scallops in two sauces.

Will, you must have been thinking of the Monkey Bar on East 54th Street. Those Monkey Bar habituates were definitely the cucumber and Melba Toast type.

 

[roxy1927]

But little did Truman know La Cote Basque would be the end of him. And he wasn't even 60!

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Would like to get Whistle Down the Wind someday

 

[Keith Cobby]

I have the French release which looks a little tight at 2.00 AR, so will buy this edition. Perhaps we could have expected a 4k release.

 

[M90GM]

Continue reading...

A quality release - a thorough assessment - released previously in Australia - probably not the same quality transfer...

 

[M90GM]

Another great review. Thanks, Matt.

Yes great review, a great film but was 1.85 correct as it is often listed as 2.00. Also why was there a blu ray release, a little earlier in Australia at a cut price? The quality is inferior...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yes great review, a great film but was 1.85 correct as it is often listed as 2.00. Also why was there a blu ray release, a little earlier in Australia at a cut price? The quality is inferior...

Criterion would never screw up the aspect ratio of a film.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yes great review, a great film but was 1.85 correct as it is often listed as 2.00. Also why was there a blu ray release, a little earlier in Australia at a cut price? The quality is inferior...

Wasn't this the period when Universal "suggested" aspect ratios for theaters allowing them to choose anything from 1.66-2.00 for non-anamorphic films? Or am I thinking of VistaVision?

 

[Lord Dalek]

The difference between 1.85 and 2:1 is fairly negligable. This isn't a Summertime style situation folks.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The difference between 1.85 and 2:1 is fairly negligable. This isn't a Summertime style situation folks.

True!

 

[Lord Dalek]

Just for the hell of it...

1920x1038

Vs.

1920x960

DISCLAIMER: These caps were taken from CriterionForum. Channel currently does not have the film available for streaming so I couldn't take fresh ones for cropping. Otherwise my same mathematical approach to window sizes applies here.

 

[midvalleyguy]

I posted some screen caps from my TV in the Criterion Press Release thread on 16 November 2021 post #13.

I don't have the Criterion release. I have the 2019 Australian BluRay (Shock) and the 2007 DVD U.K release. Both claim on their blurb to have an aspect ratio of 1:85:1.

When doing my comparison I couldn't see much difference between them - fairly negligible as mentioned above. To my eyes, I suspect the Aussie Shock BluRay is sourced and upscaled from an old DVD scan.

(P.S. Sorry - don't know how to link my post from the other thread, so have attached a screen shot).

 

[benbess]

Finally bought and watched the blu-ray of Written on the Wind. It was my first time watching this movie, and...Wow. Over the top, but I was held from the first to the last. By the end I did feel a bit like, as with Giant, we were getting a rather searing view of a slice of America in the mid-1950s. From my pov it's too bad that Sirk retired after Imitation of Life. Wish he'd hung around Hollywood and made a few more.

Matt Hough wrote insightfully in his review:

"Douglas Sirk in his usual florid directorial style with his melodramas indulges in the emotional excesses of the story and its characters filming several fistfights and later a particularly provocative orgiastic dance by Dorothy Malone’s Marylee which crosscuts with her father’s pained reaction to his children’s maleficences and its resultant heart attack. There’s not an ounce of fat on the narrative, but the saga’s only misstep occurs during the climactic inquest which features a particular character’s startling about-face which doesn’t ring quite true."