The Criterion Collection

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

From what I understand, there's always been an exaggerated image softness with the shots of Tippi Hedren, and word around the campfire is that this was Hitchcock's intent. There's some unnatural grain in the picture, but I could not tell if this was simply a longtime source issue that happened to be magnified in high definition.

At any rate, I did not note any extraordinary visual problems with the Blu-ray when I sat down to watch Marnie, and I just had fun watching the movie. As long as I can enjoy a movie without having the video quality take my mind out of the movie, I do not consider it to be an overly-problematic Blu-ray.

For sure, Marnie is in line with many classic films where the leading lady is filmed in soft focus to keep her looking young and beautiful. Maybe you're right about hi-def making it more noticeable but I certainly found it distracting while watching the entire film. It's just that I've yet to notice such distracting noise on any of my other older films including other Hitch ones where I'm sure the same technique was used.

[alien2010]

Originally Posted by SidneyFalco

I'd love a double feature of The Long Goodbye and The Day of the Locust, the other film that really captures L.A. for me. But that film's Paramount, and with the exception of Rosemary's Baby and Downhill Racer, don't seem to license much (and now that Warner distributes for them, probably not again).

I could see the remaster of The Long Goodbye going to Twilight Time though, through their deal with MGM.

It could go either way. Arrow released it on Blu-Ray under their revamped Arrow Academy label in December so I guess its more of a Criterion release then a Twilight Time. But I'm just speculating here.

On another note, are Criterion announcing their April releases this week? I'm pretty annoyed that I'm going to be away on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

[smoss469]

Alien, hopefully on Wednesday.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

You mean the disc was loose (as in out of the disc holding mechanism) inside the case when it arrived?

You got it from Amazon?? Lucky you, I pre-ordered mine several weeks ago and it hasn't even shipped yet.

I can't wait for mine to arrive. I can't remember when I was this excited for a blu ray I really want to watch. I've seen this movie a long time ago in much worse quality obviously. Can't remember much in detail, but I can remember that it was awesome. So it will be really sweet to watch it properly for the first time in HD quality.

Yeah, it was flopping around in the case. My City Lights was the same way. Both discs were ok, just kind of scared me for a moment. And yes, pre-ordered from Amazon a while back and got it today. I do have Amazon Prime, so that may be why I got it today.

*edit* post 666 for me , gotta make another legit post soon!!

[Yami]

Originally Posted by SidneyFalco

I'd love a double feature of The Long Goodbye and The Day of the Locust, the other film that really captures L.A. for me. But that film's Paramount, and with the exception of Rosemary's Baby and Downhill Racer, don't seem to license much (and now that Warner distributes for them, probably not again).

Paramount have licensed a lot more than that to Criterion:

If...
Ace in the Hole
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Days of Heaven
The Naked Prey
The Furies
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
White Dog
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Harold and Maude
Medium Cool
Seconds
Nashville

In addition to the Rosemary's Baby and Downhill Racer you mentioned

[Lordy]

Originally Posted by smoss469

Alien, hopefully on Wednesday.

Huh?

[Lordy]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

Got my copy of Thief from Amazon today, nice to have a day early! The insert looks great, can't wait to read it all. Will say that I don't like the new dual cases... this is the second or third i've gotten in that case and one of the discs is always loose. :-\

That aside, I can't wait to watch this!!

You have it already? How is that even possible?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by smoss469

Alien, hopefully on Wednesday.

I'm hard-pressed to imagine how anybody could possibly improve on the existing Blu-ray edition of Alien. I've loved this movie dearly since childhood, I've seen it on big theater screens a few times, and I'm astounded by how good the current Blu-ray looks.

Just the same, I'd pull the trigger on a Criterion Collection presentation of this movie on the off chance that it were to happen, since the extras would likely be incredible.

[smoss469]

No guys, a poster named "Alien" asked when they were announcing the next round of releases. I'm not talking about the movie.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by Lordy

You have it already? How is that even possible?

Just a lucky man... I chose free 2 day shipping via Amazon Prime, but it shipped from a nearby warehouse yesterday, so it only took a day.


(post 667, phew )

[Lordy]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm hard-pressed to imagine how anybody could possibly improve on the existing Blu-ray edition of Alien. I've loved this movie dearly since childhood, I've seen it on big theater screens a few times, and I'm astounded by how good the current Blu-ray looks.

Just the same, I'd pull the trigger on a Criterion Collection presentation of this movie on the off chance that it were to happen, since the extras would likely be incredible.

LOL, I got fooled too!

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by joie

The Blu-rays may survive cardboard packaging, but DVDs may be scratched. I am assuming the Blu-ray can be removed without touching the disc's data surface. With the Kubrick set, I got the discs out, gently, by using a pair of needlenose pliers with its "jaws" wrapped in nonabrasive cloth. They never went back in the cardboard and were placed in Tyvek sleeves.

I'm sorry but that sounds totally insane! Pliers? What's wrong with just using your own fingers?

[bwdowiak]

ah.. you see? ebay does serve its purpose sometimes. not exactly the deal to end all deals, but I just had an offer accepted for $29.42 + $2.58 shipping ($32 flat total) for a brand new Twilight Time copy of Leave Her to Heaven. $3 less than TT web site and about $5 or so less than Amazon. I'm happy. Looking forward to this one. Never seen it.

[joie]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

I'm sorry but that sounds totally insane! Pliers? What's wrong with just using your own fingers?

I don't want to touch the data surface. The pliers eliminate that problem, but they do need to be used carefully. I did say the "jaws" are covered with non-abrasive cloth.

It should never be necessary to touch a disc's data surface. With spindled holders, it's possible to get a disc free by just holding its edges with the fingers of one hand and releasing the spindle with the other.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

ah.. you see? ebay does serve its purpose sometimes. not exactly the deal to end all deals, but I just had an offer accepted for $29.42 + $2.58 shipping ($32 flat total) for a brand new Twilight Time copy of Leave Her to Heaven. $3 less than TT web site and about $5 or so less than Amazon. I'm happy. Looking forward to this one. Never seen it.

Great purchase! Leave Her to Heaven is an exceptional movie, and a good companion piece to Laura. It must have been a pretty dark flick for its time, but that's all that I will say without ruining anything.

A heads-up that the picture quality is somewhat odd, because they were not working off the original Technicolor of the movie, and they had to do their best with the source material at hand. Just the same, I think that it's a great-looking Blu-ray.

I hope that Criterion will hurry up and upgrade Night and the City, because we need more Gene Tierney on Blu-ray.

Come to think of it, I should get around to watching my new copy of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Great purchase! Leave Her to Heaven is an exceptional movie, and a good companion piece to Laura. It must have been a pretty dark flick for its time, but that's all that I will say without ruining anything.

A heads-up that the picture quality is somewhat odd, because they were not working off the original negative of the movie, and they had to do their best with the source material at hand. Just the same, I think that it's a great-looking Blu-ray.

I hope that Criterion will hurry up and upgrade Night in the City, because we need more Gene Tierney on Blu-ray.

Come to think of it, I should get around to watching my new copy of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

yeah, I read about the color problems. that's a shame because I think it won an Oscar for cinematography. it is what it is though and I heard it's pretty good, so I figured it a must have.

Please do report back on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.. I'm considering picking that one up, too. Will probably wait though until it can be had for around 10 bucks.

[SammyJankis]

Love your avatar, Owl. One of my all-time favorite noirs (might be my favorite). Hoping Criterion gets their hands on it.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

yeah, I read about the color problems. that's a shame because I think it won an Oscar for cinematography. it is what it is though and I heard it's pretty good, so I figured it a must have.

Please do report back on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.. I'm considering picking that one up, too. Will probably wait though until it can be had for around 10 bucks.

99% of the time, Leave Her to Heaven looks remarkable on the Blu-ray. There's a train sequence early in the film where Cornel Wilde looks almost like a computer-animated character while he's talking to Tierney's character, but the vast majority of scenes are not nearly that glaring.

There's a lake scene in the film that really looks amazing on the transfer.

I grabbed The Ghost and Mrs. Muir for less than $10 with the Barnes & Noble sale, because the timing was perfect.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by joie

I don't want to touch the data surface. The pliers eliminate that problem, but they do need to be used carefully. I did say the "jaws" are covered with non-abrasive cloth.

It should never be necessary to touch a disc's data surface. With spindled holders, it's possible to get a disc free by just holding its edges with the fingers of one hand and releasing the spindle with the other.

Does one side of the pliers not touch the data surface too? I'm just having a hard time comprehending how that could be any safer than just using fingers and buffing out any fingerprints with a cloth.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Love your avatar, Owl. One of my all-time favorite noirs (might be my favorite). Hoping Criterion gets their hands on it.

Thanks.

I posted about it a few nights ago, but I revisited Out of the Past this weekend for the first time in almost a decade, and I had forgotten how perfect this movie is in terms of cinematography and plot.

On Saturday night, in fact, I stayed up late watching the movie two times in a row.

Since my previous viewing experiences with Out of the Past were on my old tube television years ago, my mind was really blown when I watched the DVD on a high definition television. As such, I've moved this film to the top of my wishlist of Blu-ray upgrades. I'm hoping that the avatar will be a good luck charm for this to happen.