Spartacus (1960) (Restored Edition)

[stratford]

Todd Fredericks--Just send it back, a lot easier. Studios only care when it suits them.
The American copy is not locked or expensive

[Page14]

Originally Posted by stratford

Page1 According to Pioneer's own web site, as I see it the last firmware update was just over two years ago

I'm not sure I see what you're getting at. ???

[stratford]

***Page14*** Dosen't a Blu-ray player using a firmware of not less than two years old, and play back issues with titles that are recent, suggest any thing to you?

[Ray_Rogers]

Originally Posted by stratford

***Page14*** Dosen't a Blu-ray player using a firmware of not less than two years old, and play back issues with titles that are recent, suggest any thing to you?

Are you attempting to quote someone but can't?

[Show spoiler]I'm still looking for custom disc label artwork for this 55th Anniversary release because the generic label, even though it's more of a tan color, is worthless. Much rather have a nice full-color label for it.

[L'armée des ombres]

Would have loved either one of these for the cover !
spartacus_1960_german.jpgSpartacus-1960-movie-poster.jpg

[Page14]

Originally Posted by stratford

***Page14*** Dosen't a Blu-ray player using a firmware of not less than two years old, and play back issues with titles that are recent, suggest any thing to you?

I'm assuming you're suggesting that my blu-ray player is too old, but I'm really not sure. ?? If so, yes, I guess that's a possibility.

[gkolb]

Originally Posted by Blu-21

Mine was "despatched" on the 30th, and I haven't received it yet (although I am from Australia so its international post.) Have you received yours?

My Black Friday order arrived yesterday, Dec 10. The box was marked Priority Airmail. There was a dent in the cardboard packaging, but the steel was just fine inside.

Oddly enough, the disc inside says "Tous Publics" in 1/4 inch lettering, but in fine print on the perimeter I finally found the name "Spartacus". So it looks like the right disc.

Hopefully will give it a spin tonight. at 3 hr 16 mins.

[Ray_Rogers]

Originally Posted by L'armée des ombres

Would have loved either one of these for the cover !
Attachment 130200Attachment 130201

One on the left without the mink or ferret watermark would make for an awesome custom front cover.

EDIT: I'm a bit shit of making custom covers. It takes me longer than I'd like to.

[Rich65]

I'm waiting for the Barnes and Noble Blu-Ray sale and this will be mine.

[Todd Fredericks]

Originally Posted by stratford

Todd Fredericks--Just send it back, a lot easier. Studios only care when it suits them.
The American copy is not locked or expensive

Universal wrote back and they're sending me the correct disc. Very fast response.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by jag2007

You will enjoy it as I had!

I finally got to watch this yesterday, and I can't believe I had never seen it before.
Needless to say, it's one of my top 10 movies now.
What a masterpiece!
This is by far my favourite Stanely Kubrick film now!

The characters are great, so is the story, the scope, the score, everything about it is just right. It's immensely sad, but also tremendously beautiful.

Film: 5/5
PQ: 5-/5 (I had read rave reviews about this one, but the opening credits left me unimpressed....then the first shot appeard!!! , it's a remarkable job by the now fine folks at Universal! Watch the trailer, and then the movie! It's night and day!

AQ: 4/5 I think there must have been something wrong, because I hardly noticed any surround activity at all, and certainly nothing discrete, yet the reviewer states that the surrounds are very enveloping....
Can anyone comment on this? Is it just the music, or sound effects too?

Extras: Not much, but an interesting and cute interview with Kirk Douglas, the restoring Spartactus featurette, some vintage interviews, and some vintage behind the scenes stuff.
This epic deserves way more IMHO. An in-dpeth making-off would be most appreciated.

The slipcover is very nice as well. So glad it came in good condition.

This is a MUST HAVE for every movie and Blu-ray fanatic IMO.

[Geoff D]

I agree about the audio, I've got a 7.1 set-up and detected very little surround activity aside from some of the music bleeding across, yet the review raves about it. Very odd.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I agree about the audio, I've got a 7.1 set-up and detected very little surround activity aside from some of the music bleeding across, yet the review raves about it. Very odd.

Thanks for clarifying, Geoff D. I thought 5.1 was overkill. Yes, I also just noticed some music bleeding into the surrounds. That was it. Interesting.

At least, I didn't notice any distortion, and the dynamics were excellent for a film of this vintage.
Also, I thought it was a great three channel mix (L,C,R).

The image quality is clearly the show-stealer though. I don't think anyone got to see it in this quality back when the movie was first released. Very nearly perfect. I almost cried at how beautiful it was.

[Geoff D]

Yes, it's a very clean, robust-sounding mix nonetheless. The best thing about it IMO is the replication of the original directional dialogue across the fronts (the 70mm mix had 5 screen channels and 1 surround), the speech doesn't just come from L,C,R but also from in-between them as 'phantom' screen channels.

It's brilliantly done but the review seems to miss out on it completely, saying that the dialogue is "center balanced". Add to that the surround disparity and it makes me wonder if we've listened to the same movie!

[Monroville]

So I gather the german steelbook contains the older release of SPARTACUS... is it the same with the italian steelbook too? That last post wasn't quite clear about that...

The Zavvi steel is sold out, so I want to make sure if there is a proper alternative.

[Warbler]

can some one clear this up for me? According the page about this release, the original aspect ratio is 2.35:1, but the aspect ratio for this release is 2.20:1. Did they cut off the sides? That would suck.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Warbler

can some one clear this up for me? According the page about this release, the original aspect ratio is 2.35:1, but the aspect ratio for this release is 2.20:1. Did they cut off the sides? That would suck.

Spartacus was shot in Super Technirama, the OAR is 2.20:1, anything that says 2.35:1 is a typo.

See this link:
https://books.google.com/books?id=zf...rtacus&f=false

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Originally Posted by Warbler

can some one clear this up for me? According the page about this release, the original aspect ratio is 2.35:1, but the aspect ratio for this release is 2.20:1. Did they cut off the sides? That would suck.

It was 2.35:1 for 35mm theatrical prints and 2.20:1 for 70mm showings. So if the framing on the old Blu-ray is accurate, you should have the same horizontal information but have a little more picture at the top and bottom.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

I finally got to watch this yesterday, and I can't believe I had never seen it before.
Needless to say, it's one of my top 10 movies now.
What a masterpiece!
This is by far my favourite Stanely Kubrick film now!

The characters are great, so is the story, the scope, the score, everything about it is just right. It's immensely sad, but also tremendously beautiful.

Film: 5/5
PQ: 5-/5 (I had read rave reviews about this one, but the opening credits left me unimpressed....then the first shot appeard!!! , it's a remarkable job by the now fine folks at Universal! Watch the trailer, and then the movie! It's night and day!

AQ: 4/5 I think there must have been something wrong, because I hardly noticed any surround activity at all, and certainly nothing discrete, yet the reviewer states that the surrounds are very enveloping....
Can anyone comment on this? Is it just the music, or sound effects too?

Extras: Not much, but an interesting and cute interview with Kirk Douglas, the restoring Spartactus featurette, some vintage interviews, and some vintage behind the scenes stuff.
This epic deserves way more IMHO. An in-dpeth making-off would be most appreciated.

The slipcover is very nice as well. So glad it came in good condition.

This is a MUST HAVE for every movie and Blu-ray fanatic IMO.

Just watched the restored version last night myself and it is awesome. I'd seen bits and pieces on TV here and there over the years, and I knew how the film ended, but I never watched the film in its entirety until yesterday, and I really enjoyed it.

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Spartacus was shot in Super Technirama 70mm, the OAR is 2.20:1, anything that says 2.35:1 is a typo.

See this link:
https://books.google.com/books?id=zf...rtacus&f=false

It's not a typo. Both 2.20:1 and 2.35:1 are correct. See my previous post.