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Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:16 am**

The Film Detective is classic film restoration and distribution company that is releasing three films on Blu-ray on November 24th.

Salt of the Earth (Herbert J. Biberman, 1954) - The Criterion Collection had released this film on their Voyager label on Laserdisc.

Beat the Devil (John Huston, 1953)

Hollow Triumph (Steve Sekely, 1948)

Some background on The Film Detective from their webpage:

The Film Detective founder Philip Hopkins has channeled his life-long passion for film collecting into the leading purveyor of classic film restoration and distribution of broadcast-quality, digitally-remastered material. Since launching services in 1999, he has distributed his film library into the home video market and through leading broadcast platforms such Turner Classics Movies, American Movie Classics, NBC, Hulu, Amazon, EPIX HD.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:22 am**

Dang, if those aren't garbage PD prints, they're pretty well all exciting.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:24 am**

Their Facebook page indicates they will release ten films (I'm assuming these include the three announced above) on Blu-ray soon, including D.O.A. and Night of the Living Dead.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:30 am**

These are PD titles, I wouldn't get too excited until proven otherwise

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:38 am**

These are also going to be BD-Rs, I heard!

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:58 am**

Nice to have them out, but yes, probably lousy PD prints.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:36 am**

chatterjees wrote:These are also going to be BD-Rs, I heard!

In a posting on the Blu-ray.com forum, The Film Chest has confirmed the releases will indeed be BD-Rs.

We recognize our clients desire for a Blu Ray product that offers lasting durability, playability, and collectable packaging. For that reason we have partnered with Allied Vaughn to bring out our Blu Ray On-Demand Titles. Allied produces all BD-R product on professional grade equipment, and using top grade media.

While Blu Ray On-Demand titles have become more widely available over the past 18 months, on-demand discs overall have become a critical segment of the classic film industry, with many millions of discs sold worldwide. Our main focus is to build a classic movie network, and make available titles that otherwise might not be released in decent quality versions. Again, we are all fans of the genre, as well as consumers of other studios on a regular basis. We're also going to be very sensitive to the issue of noise reduction, and will avoid using it as much as possible for blu-ray. We will also pay close attention to aspect ratio to make sure we get that right as well. Thanks for all your valuable feedback, everyone.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:41 am**

Home Media Magazine has a story about The Film Detective's PD Blu-ray release plans.

Among the initial remastered discs on tap from Film Detective: A Bucket of Blood (1959), Angel and the Badman (1947), Beat the Devil (1953), Carnival of Souls (1962), D.O.A. (1950), Dementia 13 (1963), Dick Tracy’s Dilemma (1947), Go for Broke (1951), Kansas City Confidential (1952), Love Affair (1939), My Favorite Brunette (1947), My Man Godfrey (1936), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Nothing Sacred (1937), Salt of the Earth (1954), Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942), Sherlock Homes: Dressed to Kill (1946), Smash Up: The Story of a Woman (1947), The Big Lift (1950), The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962), The Inspector General (1949), The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), The Red House (1947), The Stranger (1946) and The Terror (1963).

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:54 am**

Watch, they'll end up teaming up with Flicker Alley and devise the ultimate idiotic business maneuver (too late for them to sell Beta tapes or CED? with PDF files available, naturally).
You're better off just getting these movies on those $1 dvd sets - at least the picture quality will be about the same, and the disc will last longer!

Edit,

As though you didn't have enough of a reason to love these already...

Film Detective wrote:Had a nice talk with Bob Furmanek today regarding original aspect ratios of Salt of the Earth and Beat the Devil.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:49 am**

What is it with this forum and Bob Furmanek. The man is a genuine expert who knows what he's talking about.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:29 pm**

This thread just gets worse and worse

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2014 5:13 pm**

So apparently "The Film Detective" is the same guy behind "The Film Chest" then. "The Film Chest" already released a DNR-scrubbed version of THE STRANGER (1946) on a pressed Blu-ray a couple of years back that was easily eclipsed by Kino's release of the film; how is a BD-R of the same title going to be of any value?

Posted: **Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:22 am**

Great, BD-Rs... the medium so problematic and unreliable that even Warner Archive won't use them—clearly that's the way to satisfy your customers' "desire for a Blu Ray product that offers lasting durability, playability, and collectable packaging."

Roger Ryan wrote:So apparently "The Film Detective" is the same guy behind "The Film Chest" then. "The Film Chest" already released a DNR-scrubbed version of THE STRANGER (1946) on a pressed Blu-ray a couple of years back ... how is a BD-R of the same title going to be of any value?

Same with The Red House.
I wonder if Criterion will at least save Carnival of Souls and My Man Godfrey with non-scrubbed high-def transfers from the negatives.
Salt of the Earth really calls out for a definitive special edition. Obviously a hugely significant and unique film with a special and fascinating story behind the independent production, covert post-production, suppression, and below-the-radar appreciation for many years via unofficial/pirated 16mm prints. Still, I'm satisfied with my now-OOP DVD from Organa that was authorized by the filmmakers' heirs, and Deborah Rosenfelt's book makes an excellent supplement.

Posted: **Thu Nov 27, 2014 6:30 am**

Posted by The Film Detective to the Blu-ray.com forum on November 24th:

Just wanted to give everyone an update. The blu-ray releases are being delayed, as we were very interested in getting as much feedback from everyone as possible and accordingly improving our final releases. The good news is we will be releasing Beat the Devil in its original aspect ratio, Salt of the Earth, and Hollow Triumph at the end of the year. These will all have closed captions and we will be using no noise reduction on any of the transfers for blu-ray. We appreciate all the feedback and encouragement. The discs will be distributed and manufactured as originally planned by Allied Vaughn.

Posted: **Thu Nov 27, 2014 6:48 am**

If a PD label wants to inspire confidence, they'll talk about seeking out worthwhile elements. Without that, none of these other things matter. Their promise to avoid DNR sounds like preparation of a defense against future accusations of poor image quality: "But you told us to leave the image alone!"

Posted: **Thu Nov 27, 2014 7:06 am**

The Film Chest wrote:We will put every effort into paying lip service to quality while exhausting no expense to provide it. Enjoy your burnt media of fifth-generation tape dupes in newly cropped ratios!

Posted: **Wed Dec 03, 2014 6:37 pm**

Want to chime in, as obviously we've been engaged on several threads and want to be very clear that this is never going to be an easy task, especially when dealing with PD movies. However, being the co-founder of Film Chest, which rescued and saved several libraries from extinction, including the important Al Adamson-directed Carnival Magic as well as the recently released Russ Meyers' Fanny Hill, released through Vinegar Syndrome (a company that was started with Film Chest assets that included the lost films of Herschell Gordon Lewis), we're certainly not looking to put out fifth generation, poor-quality masters, as was previous quoted on this thread. We were very early on in both blu-ray and are trying to offer titles that normally wouldn't see the light of day. We've sourced from the Library of Congress as well as our own archive and other archives as well. While we've had conflicting opinions on the use of noise reduction, others have appreciated the restorations that we've done over the years. The basic concept to work with Allied Vaughn, who works with all the major studios including Warner Archive, for on-demand media is to allow us to go deep into the catalog and put out the best quality we can and have access to while building a library that will also be available on a streaming platform as well. We're trying to find a happy medium as we approach our 2nd year as Film Detective and have some exciting libraries that have yet to see the light of day in home video. We have several people lined up for audio commentaries, consulting on aspect ratio, and are taking us very seriously. Obviously, this is no easy task, but we are passionate and motivated & bring over 20 years experience in home media.

Appreciate the feedback! Look for our blu-rays in the first quarter of 2015, and also announcements on newly-licensed titles that will be making their home video debut.

Posted: **Wed Jan 28, 2015 2:54 pm**

From The Film Detective Facebook page on January 14th:

We had to go back to the drawing board with our blu-ray initiative, as we had many different opinions and we wanted to make sure we had a chance to get feedback from all the consumers while also making sure we could financially handle the initiative. The first slate of blu-ray releases should be ready early February/early March, and will include Beat the Devil in its true aspect ratio with no DVR.

Posted: **Wed Jan 28, 2015 3:31 pm**

The first slate of blu-ray releases should be ready early February/early March, and will include Beat the Devil in its true aspect ratio with no DVR.

Awww, I was looking forward to that Beat the Devil/DVR bundle.

Posted: **Wed Jan 28, 2015 3:33 pm**

and will include Beat the Devil in its true aspect ratio

Which, despite the assumptions made previously here, will actually be 1.37:1. Same goes for Salt of the Earth.

Posted: **Wed Feb 04, 2015 4:29 am**

The Film Detective Preps 12 New Film Restorations For DVD Release On Mar. 10

Heartbeat (Sam Wood, 1946)

Pot O’ Gold (1946)

Cyrano De Bergerac (Michael Gordon, 1950)

Royal Wedding (Stanley Donen, 1951)

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)

Dick Tracy Detective (1945)

Nancy Drew: Detective (William Clemens, 1938)

Fighting Caravans (Otto Brower and David Burton, 1931)

The Outlaw (Howard Hughes, 1943)

I'm from Arkansas (Lew Landers, 1944)

Gulliver's Travels (Dave Fleischer, 1939)

Hollow Triumph (Steve Sekely, 1948)

Posted: **Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:07 am**

Cyrano De Bergerac is on blu from Republic materials by Olive. Gulliver's Travels has a quality release on blu from Thunderbean Animation. And unless Film Detective got access to Warner's materials for RKO, Warner and MGM titles, I doubt they can be any better than what Warner can put out (Royal Wedding, Nancy Drew: Detective)

Posted: **Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:21 am**

Great, just what the world needed/wanted - more PD Bandit garbage.

You might as well skip any and every release by this company and just get those 50/100/250/1000 movie packs of public domain films that you can find everywhere. At a time when all of the majors are bailing out of the market, and new startups (like Olive) can license out hundreds of titles and release 20 a month, this company decides to be a 2015 Alpha Video?

Posted: **Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:52 am**

PD titles need an avenue of release. Sometimes companies do quality work. Despite some repeats with other releases (which is always gonna happen with PD titles), some of these, especially if they come to Blu-ray in relative quality, would be most welcome. We'll see how these turn out.

Posted: **Wed Mar 18, 2015 7:28 pm**

From TFD's FB page:

Question: When is Beat The Devil coming out on blu-ray?

The Film Detective: We've re-scanned it in its original aspect ratio and we're hoping to have it out towards the end of April. Thanks for checking in- we'll be making announcements soon.

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