http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/ The High Definition Media forum includes all the latest discussion and news about high definition. Keep up with the latest on Blu-ray and HD-DVD media. Please post Blu-ray and HD-DVD movie and concert reviews in the appropriate forum below. Moderators: wbassett en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:25:10 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/ http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/high-definition-media/22704-north-northwest-blu-ray-review.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:53:08 GMT The restored Blu-Ray version of Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" (derived from an 8 K master)
is the most spectacular presentation of this VistaVision film I've ever seen. So before you
ask...what have I seen on this film? I screened an original 1958 35mm dye transfer Technicolor print,
a 1966 35mm dye transfer re-issue and a 16mm 1.33 Technicolor print. The first two release copies
were in 1.85 and the 16mm print in a modified 1.33 but with more image area on top and bottom
and less on the sides which is what used to be broadcast on TV. What that meant was that
the tops and bottoms of sets were obvious along with some movie lights.

The Blu-Ray is in the proper 1.85 ratio even though the 35mm negative was in
a 5.1 ratio that exposed an 8 sprocket image horizontally. My research indicates
the original color negative was too faded to utlilize so they taped the VistaVision
black and white separations and recombined them with color filters. So this Blu-Ray
is first generation but looks as good as a camera negative transfer because of the huge
image area exposed in the cameras (the same ratio as in a still camera).

This movie is Hitchcock's most popular color movie and the zenith of the 'innocent man
accused of murder' theme that he utilized in so many other pictures up to that date. He
would do one more film with this plot device in 1972, "Frenzy".

Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason give defining roles in this mock thriller
which has as much comedy as it does suspense. Hitchcock was such a master of his
game that the preposterous plot is totally believable during it's running time. There is no
house on top of Mount Rushmore with a landing strip and of course anyone smuggling state
secrets would not pick such a conspicous spot as a national monument. But
the pacing is so fast and the dialogue so sharp you're able to suspend your disbelief.
Any lesser director would have the audience laughing at the film rather than with it.

Grant portrays his stock character very well and looks better in middle age than many other
leading men did in their youth. Mason wanted the lead role but Hitchcock persuaded him
to play one of the most charming villains in his canon. What isn't disclosed in any of the
supplements is that the role was loosely based on Soviet spy Alger Hiss who was also
debonair. The clue is when Saint gives Grant the statue he comments that she has
the "pumpkin" referring to the Pumpkin papers in the Hiss case. KGB archives
were released revealing Hiss was their top spy in Washington. So Hitchcock
borrowed this character as the "McGuffin" which is the story device to put the plot in motion.

Saint is a real standout here since before and after this movie she
tended to portray meek female victims or housewives. This is her only 'femme fatale' and
she's sensational in it even though she didn't play this type of role again.

Hitchcock's usual team is on hand including Robert Burks for the vibrant Technicolor
photography and Bernard Hermann for the dynamic music score. Saul Bass did the
imaginative opening credits which set the mood for the film. This movie was the stylistic influence
for the later James Bond films.

The Blu-Ray looks razor sharp with spectacular color and fine grain sharpness. Only the
special effects process shocks look bad because of the upgraded quality. The sound has
been re-mixed to 5.1 and also sounds good although this is an alteration of the original
mono track. Hitchcock seemed uninterested in stereo sound even though three of
his Paramount films were released in Perspecta sound in the fifties ("The Trouble with
Harry", "To Catch a Thief", "The Man Who Knew Too Much"). Since he never
mentioned them in any interview, I suspect the Perspecta directional encoding was done
by the studio without his input.

Aside from the humor and set pieces, the film does have a dark undercurrent like most
Hitchcock films. The entertainment is for the masses, the subtext is for
film buffs and historians. Leo Carroll's duplicitous CIA operative is no more concerned with
human life than the villain played by James Mason. Another stand out is the
closeted gay killer played by Martin Landau. Somehow his line, "Call it my woman's intuition"
escaped the Production Code scrutiny. There is a lot of risque dialogue
and only one line was censored. Saint's sentence, "I never make love on an empty stomach" was
re-dubbed to, "I never discuss love on an empty stomach".

The Supplements have some carry over material from previous editions. One new piece
of information was that the movie went one million dollars over budget. It was such a hit,
Hitchcock was forgiven although he followed this box-office smash with a low
budget black and white Gothic horror film, "Psycho". I was always under the impression that
Hitchcock meticulously stayed within the budget due to his intensive pre-production planning.

I highly recommend this Blu-Ray which is superior to the original Technicolor prints.
Really breathtaking film-making from a director at the top of his game.

Before watching the movie make sure to check out the Hitchcock narrated trailer with
the director pitching the film like a tour guide. Very droll. ]]> High Definition Media Richard W. Haines http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/high-definition-media/22704-north-northwest-blu-ray-review.html http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/high-definition-media/22695-playtime-blu-ray-review.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:30:58 GMT I went to my local library and was very surprised to discover that they had a shelf of Blu-Ray DVDs that I could take out. ... I went to my local library and was very surprised to discover that they had a shelf
of Blu-Ray DVDs that I could take out. They're the only one in my area that offers
them. Among them was Jacques Tati's "Playtime" which is a very expensive Criterion
disc.

As I covered in my previous review of Tati's "Mr. Hulot's Holiday", "Platime" was his
epic folly that destroyed the actor/director's career.

Tati was an 'auterist' in every sense of the word which meant he had talent but
extreme liabilities. The 'auteur' theory of film was developed in France and
introduced in the US by film critic, Andrew Sarris. It's approach to film-making was
the polar opposite of the way most Hollywood features were created. An 'auteur'
(author) was a director who had complete creative control over his movies without
interference. It was his vision on film, no one elses. Most studio films in the US were
collaborations although there were a handful of producer/directors like Hitchcock,
Welles and Capra that did retain relative creative control over their pictures.
They were the exception rather than the rule. While it's very interesting
to examine the influences of auteur film-makers, many
great movies were made as collaborations (i.e. "Singin' in the Rain", "The Wizard of
Oz", "Casablanca"). One method of production is not necessarily better than
another.

The flaws of the auteur theory were that if they that lacked discipline or
business sense could lose their investors and distributors millions which was
the case with "Playtime". Other auteurs who had epic visions that cost astronomical
sums of money include Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", Coppola's "Apocalypse Now"
and Cimino's "Heaven's Gate". Kubrick's vision was a hit, Coppola's eventually made
money and Cinino's closed the producing studio and ruined his career. So you can
see the full range of possibilities with the 'auteur' theory as it applies to exhibition.

Tati was a quirky, talented but undisciplined 'auteur'.
His earlier films starring his character, Mr. Hulot, were very successful and
popular but low budget productions. He used them to persuade people to
invest ten million dollars on a massive, epic undertaking that could not possibly
recoup it's costs since his movies only played small art houses which was a minor
market at the time. Tati also insisted that theaters show the movie in 70mm
which was virtually impossible in the US since those were large screen movie palaces
that booked Hollywood pictures like "The Sound of Music". This delayed the release
by a year when he agreed to allow 35mm reduction prints in mono to be shown
domestically.

To illustrate how eccentric Tati was, his decision to shoot in 65mm made
this film the most expensive French production in it's history. Not only that,
but Tati didn't like the aspect ratio of 2.21 x 1 so he masked off the sides
of the frame to create a 1.85 image on 65mm film stock. And rather than
utilize the six channels of magnetic stereo, he only used two channel stereo.
Sound flakey? Well it was. For less money he could've shot the film in 35mm
VistaVision and ended up with the same ratio and image quality but Tati had
his own vision and he wasn't going to let any crass commercial considerations like
budget or time bother him. This movie took four years to make (1964-1967)
with an incredible two year shooting schedule. Rather than secure modern
buildings he actually built enormous sets for the airport, convention center
and restaurant outside of Paris. They were so huge they were called "Tativille".
Of course he went bankrupt after the picture bombed at the box-office. 1967-1968
was the era of "New Hollywood" where the counter-culture dominated cinema.
This mild mannered comedy seemed completely out of place compared to controversial
movies like "The Graduate" and "Midnight Cowboy".

How is the film? Well if you liked his earlier films like "My Uncle" and "Mr. Hulot's
Holiday", you'll enjoy this one providing you give it a lot of leeway. Tati's humor
is very low key and done entirely in long shots. No close ups. He creates
complex compositions where all kinds of nutty things are happening within the
frame. You have to let your eyes wander around. Aside from the eccentric
Hulot character, Tati has a strange way of looking at things in his environment.
He finds ordinary people funny if you examine them through his eyes. Two nuns
walk by and their white hats with the flaps make it look like wings flying. A group
of women with flowers on their hats are in a restaurant and a waiter is pouring them
water but in Tati's angle it appears as if he's watering their flowers.

Like all Hulot movies, this film is plotless. The main character gets lost in the locations
and wanders around getting into trouble or creating chaos in the sterile environment.
Tati is obsessed with modern technology and architecture which he believes is
de-humanizing the country. He seems very anti-electronics. While he's able to
derive humor from these concepts, all of us here are pro-technology so
it's a bit hard to relate to his objections. If anything, things like the internet allowed
people to stay in touch with friends and relatives around the world whereas it would
be quite expensive to make phone calls before most people had home computers.

The quality of the Blu-Ray is quite good and the main feature is razor sharp in high
definition with a lot of detail in the 16:9 frame. The two channel stereo sound is
primarily funny sound effects with little dialogue. The only flaw in the transfer are
the opening credits which have some kind of streaky chemical stain on it. I did
some on line research and they had quite a challenge restoring this movie. The 65mm
negative was a mess in rusty cans with missing frames and scenes. They were able
to piece it back together from different elements and clean up the image.

"Playtime" Premiered at 2 hours and 35 minutes but this running time was objected
to by theaters so Tati cut it to 2 hours and five minutes which is considered the
'authorized' international version. In the US the prints ran 95 minutes which is the
version I saw when I was at NYU. To be honest, the short version probably worked
better for most audiences. This restored version is much too long for the premise and
the restaurant sequence seems to drag on endlessly. Fortunately, the final scene is
very charming with a traffic jam choreographed to resemble an amusement park carousel.
My problem is...if Tati is so opposed to technology and machines, then why does
he make an amusing merry-go-round out of machines in his final sequence?

Tati is an acquired taste and you have to be in the right mood to see this film and the other
three Hulot features. They play like one continuous story if that word is applicable. Tati
never explained who Hulot was or why he spent most of his time wandering around aimlessly
getting into trouble. Since the director started as a mime I guess he's similar to Chaplin's
Tramp in that he had no history and is lost soul in a complex world. However, his style
of comedy is not slapstick like Chaplin but a combination of Buster Keaton and
Mr. Bean. I'm sure Rowan Atkinson was influenced by Tati.

The supplements include documentaries about the director and interviews with Tati.
The man interviewing him was British and while Tati spoke English it was clearly
a second language to him. He didn't express himself well and often discussed
things unrelated to the question. Or, Tati was so eccentric that he wasn't
able to explain his style of comedy and just worked on instinct. ]]> High Definition Media Richard W. Haines http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/high-definition-media/22695-playtime-blu-ray-review.html http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/high-definition-media/22191-wizard-oz-blu-ray-supplements-review.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:36:02 GMT For fans of this film who are considering purchasing the expensive box set as opposed to the cheaper single box Wal-mart... For fans of this film who are considering purchasing the expensive box set as opposed
to the cheaper single box Wal-mart Blu-Ray, I thought I'd review the supplements so
you can determine whether you want to spend the extra money...

Many of the extras have been carried over from the previous Special Edition. There is
the Angela Lansbury documentary which is midly entertaining. Also a short documentary
about the author, Frank Baum, that is okay. The commentary track advertised film
director, Sidney Pollack, which was a curious choice and intrigued me. Unfortunately,
Pollack does very little other than introduce other historians who discuss the production
of the film. That was a frustrating tease. The actual discussion is interesting although
no information was disclosed that I wasn't already aware of. The documentary about
Victor Fleming is acceptable. The demonstration of the restoration is completely out
of date. They show the film being scanned at 4K back in 2005 even though this Blu-Ray
was a brand new transfer at 8K which will confuse some people. There are old clips
of the surviving Munchkins (at the time) and children of the stars. Burt Lahr's daughter
looks exactly like him.

The second disc contains some curios but is also disappointing. Baum tried to direct some
early movies based on his books. He was a talented Children's book writer but had no
abilities as a film-maker. These series of movies were made in the very early days of the
medium. Basically he just puts the characters in appropriate costumes and they over-act
in wide shot with title cards explaining what was going on. Very primitive and un-cinematic.
The conditions of these rare films is horrible. I had a tough time sitting through them because
the surviving copies were splicey, scratchy, decomposing nitrate dupes. Barely an image
on many of them. There is also a public domain Technicolor cartoon from an obscure studio
that runs about five minutes. It's also in terrible shape and very worn. It has little to
do with the story and just uses some of the characters in the Baum story for some surrealistic
animation. The only interesting element is that the prologue is in black and white and Oz
sequence in Technicolor which the later 1939 feature replicated.

There is also the complete 1925 feature version of "The Wizard of Oz". It starred Larry
Semon who also directed and produced it. It's an excellent condition tinted and toned
nitrate copy. One of the best surviving examples of the silent era. Unfortunately it's
a terrible movie and was such a bomb when it came out, Semon went bankrupt. Allegedly,
he was a popular comedian of that era although based on his performance in this
picture it's hard to determine why. He looks a little like Stan Laurel (and was briefly
partnered with him) but his slapstick is very forced and desperate. Like the cartoon,
Semon just took some of the characters from the Baum book to create an un-related
fairy tale which makes little sense. However, there are some interesting things about
this bomb if you skim through it. Oliver Hardy (two years before teaming with Laurel)
played the Tin man in this version. The special effects of the cyclone are pretty good
for that era. The farm hands later become the characters in Oz which was also adapted
by the 1939 version. Otherwise, it's one of the worst silent comedies I've ever seen
and it's a pity it turned out to be one of the best condition copies too. They used to
sell Super 8 prints of it when I was an adolescent. Because it wasn't well received,
good condition copies existed. Most popular films of the Silent era were victims of
their own success since all prints were made directly from the 35mm nitrate camera
negative. The more popular the movie, the more worn out the negatives and prints
if anything survived at all since most Silents had decomposed before the introduction
of tri-acetate safety film in 1948.

The third disc is better. It features the three part documentary, "MGM: When the Lion Roars".
It's a good general overview of the history of that studio although it avoids
controversy just summarizing what happened with clips of the movies. I read many books about
the moguls. The battles and corporate intrigue between Mayer, Thalberg and Schary is
skimmed over. Patrick Stewart narrates the film in a very theatrical manner. Fortunately
he has an excellent speaking voice and his hammy commentary seems appropriate for the
subject matter. Like most documentaries, the clips they use are from the un-restored versions of the movies.
Rather than replace the footage with the up-graded copies, you'll see segments from "The
Wizard of Oz" that are full of dust and dirt. At the very least they should have corrected those
scenes for this Blu-Ray. I enjoyed this documentary in general although I wish they had
covered the participants in more detail even if it offended some people. Those early
movie moguls were great Showmen who made spectacular movies. But they were also
ruthless, egotistical and vindictive. They spent a great deal of time trying to put each other
out of business as Mayer did to William Fox. You'll need to do some supplemental reading to
find out what really happened since this movie glosses over it. For example, Stewart notes
that when Schary became the production head the studio split into pro-Schary and pro-Mayer
factions. But we only hear interviews fromt the pro-Mayer survivors.

There are other materials on these three discs like pictures and illustrations.
Also a watch, copy of the budget, campaign book and other fun stuff. If you're a real
afficianado of this classic it's worth the money. Otherwise, just buy the Wal-mart Blu-Ray
for the superior transfer. ]]> High Definition Media Richard W. Haines http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/high-definition-media/22191-wizard-oz-blu-ray-supplements-review.html