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Skidoo was DVD only before, wasn't it? Are the other two new releases?

All three had previously been released on separate DVDs. I recommend all of them though they're not for everyone.

All four Noir films were previous DVD releases by Olive as well. This is a good approach to BD upgrades for their previous DVD-only releases.

A Groucho film finally makes it to blu-ray and it's Skidoo...

Truly he was in nothing better (I'm only half joking).

eerik wrote:Sidney Lumet's Long Day's Journey Into Night is also scheduled for October 30th.

Sanity and good taste, finally, prevail:

It's different, but in no way is it an improvement.

The original was a variation on this, btw:

Matt wrote:It's different, but in no way is it an improvement.

Really? You don't think Hepburn and Stockwell trump glasses of bourbon? Admittedly, the artwork could still be a lot better, but at least there's some humanity there now.

I like the text and colors ok but the image is awkwardly integrated

Anyone else have the Bluray sign just peel off of their covers when they take the tape off? Now that's some cheap manufacturing.

Drucker wrote:Macbeth Bluray.com review

"This is one title that cries out for subtitles, something that Olive releases typically don't include."
How true.

"But like so many of Welles' films, even the meddling influence of studio executives couldn't completely diminish the inherent genius that was at least sporadically on display throughout the enterprise."

I get the impression from this line that the reviewer may be unaware that there was actually no studio meddling involved with this version of the film. Apart from having to work with a poverty-row budget, the film is as Welles originally assembled it. Even the subsequently reworked version was re-cut by Welles (at the studio's behest) although he was reluctant to do it.

It would have been nice to have both extant versions of the film (along with those subtitles!), but this is Olive after all.

I was tempted to get Johnny Guitar, but I just came across Robert Harris' HTF review, and he seemed massively disappointed.

I may stick with the Paramount DVD (from Spain?)...frustrating that this film's never been done that well for home video.

hearthesilence wrote:I was tempted to get Johnny Guitar, but I just came across Robert Harris' HTF review, and he seemed massively disappointed.

I may stick with the Paramount DVD (from Spain?)...frustrating that this film's never been done that well for home video.

Frankly, Harris has been overly harsh in all his Olive BD reviews, IMO, just like he's overly forgiving of nearly all Warner releases.

The only real significant issue with the Johnny Guitar release is that it's 1.33:1 when Bob Furmanek's research suggests it should be 1.66:1.

Beaver on The Devil Probably

Fuckin' screwed it up, interlaced, not properly converted from PAL.

Police will probably be screwed up too. Probably won't upgrade to BD either like they did with Love Exposure...

Oh yeah, burned-in subs as well...

captveg wrote:Frankly, Harris has been overly harsh in all his Olive BD reviews, IMO, just like he's overly forgiving of nearly all Warner releases.

The only real significant issue with the Johnny Guitar release is that it's 1.33:1 when Bob Furmanek's research suggests it should be 1.66:1.

Personally I find many blu-ray releases from Olive quite satisfactory. But I can understand Mr. Harris's assessments, which have been sticking to the standard of 'how much effort has been put into the transfer' or 'what it could have been' rather than 'how vast an improvement it has comparing to its previous incarnations'. The issue with Olive and company like this has always been the inability of doing anything other than putting out whatever they received. (Maybe every once a while they DID something, such as turning up the DNR knobs or pushing the 'fake grain' buttons.) MoC is also taking a hands-off approach, but they have quite high a standard in evaluating existing elements/transfers. If something is not up to par, they would choose to release it on DVD only, or slow down and push the responsible party to do a newer/less problematic scan, rather than rushing everything out in very short intervals and be done with it. I have a feeling if titles like Johnny Guitar fell into the hands of Criterion or MoC or BFI, they could have collaborated with the studios to make new scans or even produce preservation elements (like Criterion did with Kes, Heaven's Gate, etc.) and we will end up getting something much better.

Mathew2468 wrote:Oh yeah, burned-in subs as well...

That would be a major fuck-up if they were burnt-in as opposed to merely fixed.

Good grief.

TMDaines wrote:

Mathew2468 wrote:Oh yeah, burned-in subs as well...

That would be a major fuck-up if they were burnt-in as opposed to merely fixed.

I'm not sure what the distinction is -- does "fixed subs" refer to subtitles generated by the player but not optional under normal circumstances (due to PUOs)? If so, I seriously doubt that's what Olive has used here, since all of their foreign-language releases to date have burnt-in subs that can't be removed under any circumstances (with the sorta-exception of 1900, which has optional English subs but also has an English audio track). At least they're not yellow this time, but then this disc is such a fuckup in every other respect there's no reason to get it over the AE.

I'm always baffled by releases like this - Facets' Sátántangó is another example - that emerge years after their European counterparts and then turn out to be demonstrably worse.

Granted, there's probably less importing to the US going on than vice versa, but it still seems bizarre - one of the first things I do when working on a DVD project (whether as producer or consultant) is get hold of as many other editions as I can manage, ruthlessly analyse their shortcomings and work out how they can be improved on or at worst equalled.

Not least because I'm well aware that one of the very first reviews will be a Beaver comparison.

What is seriously baffling though is that Finnish poster for this film on the Beaver page

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:

TMDaines wrote:

Mathew2468 wrote:Oh yeah, burned-in subs as well...

That would be a major fuck-up if they were burnt-in as opposed to merely fixed.

I'm not sure what the distinction is -- does "fixed subs" refer to subtitles generated by the player but not optional under normal circumstances (due to PUOs)? If so, I seriously doubt that's what Olive has used here, since all of their foreign-language releases to date have burnt-in subs that can't be removed under any circumstances (with the sorta-exception of 1900, which has optional English subs but also has an English audio track). At least they're not yellow this time, but then this disc is such a fuckup in every other respect there's no reason to get it over the AE.

Yep, that's the distinction. I didn't realise Olive had used burnt-in subtitles as opposed to fixed subtitles. That's even worse.

Fixed subtitles are actual subtitles that simply cannot be turned off using a normal DVD player. However, most decent media players for the PC and a few standalone DVD players will be able to turn them off by virtue of ignoring the flag that marks whether the subtitles are fixed or not. If you watch the bulk of your stuff on the PC then fixed subtitles aren't really a problem.

Burnt-in subtitles aren't technically subtitles. They're just part of the video image and hence nothing can be done to them.

david hare wrote:As for Mr Harris' disdain for the Olive product, I would be looking further afield for reason(s) why he has a consistently negative take on Olive product. It looks disarmingly to me like a grudge. But no more from me, I dont want to invite a lawsuit.

I'm glad someone finally said it. I've been thinking it for a loooong time. Leave it to Mr. hare to tell it like it is.