Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by garyrc

Did they finally re-do Patton? I was cautioned that they would be selling the old overprocessed version in a new box. If they created a new transfer, who did it, and how is it?

Kind of off topic, I'm sure you can investigate here:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Patton-Blu-ray/55325/

[Early Memphis]

Originally Posted by dougotte

The word is "ululating."

Thanks. I knew that I knew the word but I couldn't recall it for the life of me.

Originally Posted by bdmartin134

Lineup for Cinemark's Classic Series for the spring is up. Go to their site to check out films and dates, but Lawrence of Arabia is playing on March 20th at 2pm and 7pm.

Wow, is that like the same time everywhere?

Originally Posted by Cortiz

Never seen this movie before. Is it worth a blind buy?

Dude, as always, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It's a classic, but ... I've seen it argued both ways.

[Javert]

Help! When I popped in the Lawrence of Arabia disc, it's a black screen after the "Sony Pictures" logo. I stared at it for over 2 minutes. The blu-player screen reads "Top Menu".

I also tried Disc 2, and I get past the Sony logo and the FBI warnings before I get the black screen.

My blu-ray player is a Pioneer BDP-320. Is the player showing its age? Are both LoA discs defective??

Thanks!
Javert

EDIT: Updated firmware, works now. *PHEW!

[Scottie]

Can somebody please recommend me a stand for displaying this behemoth of a set?

[returnofthemack]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

Never seen this movie before. Is it worth a blind buy?

i bought it used because of various people telling me that its their favorite movie of all time. i watched it last night and thought it was very good. the blu ray itself is top notch. some of the best PQ ever

[garyrc]

Originally Posted by returnofthemack

... the blu ray itself is top notch. some of the best PQ ever

Yes, excellent PQ, but flawed in other ways. 1) If someone wants to skip the prelude music and start with Lady Columbia, you can't easily do that, at least on my Oppo player. There is no index point at the Columbia logo that my player recognizes, so one has to either fast forward through the overture, and probably overshoot, or fast reverse from a scene well into the movie to get to the logo as a starting point. Naturally this should be done without the audience in the room. Why skip the overture? Granted, music lovers like myself would like to hear it (and I have); but I find that Home Theater audiences tend to fidget during most overtures, especially if they know the movie will be more than 3 1/2 hours long. HT guests are in their seats within a few moments, unlike in a road show theater with a few people straggling in during the overture, and where there is the magic of the house lights slowly dimming during the music, leaving only the curved curtains dimly illuminated, making the screen area the focus of attention. 2) The sound could have been better. There is a little stridency early on that may cause the rare member of the audience to break the spell by saying "Turn it down," which then makes the drums and the motorcycle too soft for the intended dramatic impact. I'm not a stickler for playing films at reference level, as determined by Audyssey, partly because I think the Audyssey people overestimate the care that is taken when a catalog film is transferred to disk. It's even conceivable that the transfer people don't listen to the soundtrack, running it their standard control room, at a standard level, when establishing levels on the disk; if so, unlike with modern films, there may be no reference level for Audyssey to match. We often play catalog films a few dB below "reference" -- adjusting by ear, memory, and our taste. Even so, those drums need to be loud, and small amount of stridency in other instruments tends to prevent that.

[BaronVH]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

Never seen this movie before. Is it worth a blind buy?

In my opinion it is hands down the best blu-ray in existence. It is not a fast movie at all, and it will take you many veiwings to catch all the nuances. I am very glad that Sony took their time to get it right.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

Never seen this movie before. Is it worth a blind buy?

It was sort of a BB for me as I had only seen the first half in a low-res video stream. That is not the way this movie should be experienced. Blu-ray on a big television/projector is what you want.

Personally, the movie does not blow me away, but it is entertaining and the cinemaphotography is crazy awesome. I can see it's influence on tons of other directors as I watch it.

I just got mine last night and I have to say I am highly impressed with the AV presentation. If you changed the dated 60's score to something modern, it would be almost impossible to tell that this film is 50 years old! They really did an outstanding job on it.

[NoirFan]

Two-disc dropped to $9.99 on Amazon.

[Rizor]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Two-disc dropped to $9.99 on Amazon.

Well worth a blind buy at that price. For those who haven't seen it, Lawrence of Arabia is a cinematic goldmine. In my estimation there are only 2-3 movies that are as good/better.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Two-disc dropped to $9.99 on Amazon.

Matching Best Buy's price. Glad I waited to pick this up.

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Matching Best Buy's price. Glad I waited to pick this up.

Yeah me too! I've been meaning to pick this up but just haven't gotten around to it yet but I will jump on this right now.

[BluMonday]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Two-disc dropped to $9.99 on Amazon.

Trigger pulled after waiting 6 months.

[garyrc]

Originally Posted by BouCoupDinkyDau

... If you changed the dated 60's score to something modern, it would be almost impossible to tell that this film is 50 years old! They really did an outstanding job on it.

If it were to be made today, what kind of score do you think would work? What kind of sound would the music have? If you were directing/producing it today, what music would you put on the temp track (if any) to give the composer? What requests would you make of the composer? Any composers in mind? I'm not sure what "modern" would mean in this context. Williams? Howard Shore? Danny Elfman? Philip Glass? Randy Newman? James Horner? Rachel Portman? John Corigliano?

To me, the Achilles Heel of the best film music -- music I love -- giants like Jarre and Dr. Rozsa, is too much repetition. I doubt if they expected their music to be played over and over again as people ran and re-ran the film and played and replayed the soundtrack recording. [U]LoA[U] suffers from a little of that repetitiveness, but it still works for me.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by garyrc

Yes, excellent PQ, but flawed in other ways. 1) If someone wants to skip the prelude music

I stopped reading this post right after the bolded comment. Maurice Jarre is the French equivalent to John Williams, therefore there is no good reason to skip one of the greatest film score openings.

[Early Memphis]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

I stopped reading this post right after the bolded comment. Maurice Jarre is the French equivalent to John Williams, therefore there is no good reason to skip one of the greatest film score openings.

The option to skip the prelude music should be there. Perhaps if you had actually read the post, instead of basking in ignorance, you'd better understand garyrc's reasoning. My own experience was different. The last time I watched the flick I was alone, but like his fidgety theater viewers, I wanted to watch the film, not sit there like a bump on a log waiting in an empty room. If you choose to sit there - every single time you watch the film - and worship at the fountain of the great Maurice Jarre, more power to you ... but the option to say "no thanks, not this time should be there. Do you understand that the music was only written and recorded to be played as a noisy crowd filed into a large theater, and that, because times have changed, no-one does that anymore?

[benricci]

Originally Posted by Early Memphis

The option to skip the prelude music should be there. Perhaps if you had actually read the post, instead of basking in ignorance, you'd better understand garyrc's reasoning. My own experience was different. The last time I watched the flick I was alone, but like his fidgety theater viewers, I wanted to watch the film, not sit there like a bump on a log waiting in an empty room. If you choose to sit there - every single time you watch the film - and worship at the fountain of the great Maurice Jarre, more power to you ... but the option to say "no thanks, not this time should be there. Do you understand that the music was only written and recorded to be played as a noisy crowd filed into a large theater, and that, because times have changed, no-one does that anymore?

Breathe...count to 10. It'll be OK.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by benricci

Breathe...count to 10. It'll be OK.

Anger management 101, maybe listening to Mr. Jarre fantastic score would help also. I understand his point, but in my opinion, there is no need to use the skip feature for this marvelous film (overture and intermission included). It would be analogous to skipping Mozart overture of The Marriage of Figaro, which was also used for the aristocrats' tardiness.

You can make some popcorn while you wait.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Early Memphis

The option to skip the prelude music should be there. Perhaps if you had actually read the post, instead of basking in ignorance, you'd better understand garyrc's reasoning. My own experience was different. The last time I watched the flick I was alone, but like his fidgety theater viewers, I wanted to watch the film, not sit there like a bump on a log waiting in an empty room. If you choose to sit there - every single time you watch the film - and worship at the fountain of the great Maurice Jarre, more power to you ... but the option to say "no thanks, not this time should be there. Do you understand that the music was only written and recorded to be played as a noisy crowd filed into a large theater, and that, because times have changed, no-one does that anymore?

They're just corn flakes, dude. Make another bowl.

[Early Memphis]

What, are you guys all in the same club? Hey, I'm breathing just fine, thanks for the concern. What you're interpreting as anger is mere annoyance. To my mind, Mr. Fellini912 took a cheap shot at garyrc, and all garyrc did was ask for choice. I believe in choice, I don't believe in knocking somebody's idea - especially when the knocker says that they didn't even bother to read the rather well-reasoned post they're knocking.

Now, I don't know garyrc, in fact, I don't know any of you - except for octagon, and then only by some of his (?) posts (loved the corn flakes line ). But I will rush to the defense of anyone who gets knocked for voicing their opinion - every time. And by the way, Mr. Fellini912, make of this what you will, but I prefer more modern music when I have the time, you can have my share of easy listening Muzak - that's music for people who really didn't come for the music too.