Kino Lorber Studio Classics

[oildude]

Watched my Sabata blu-ray this weekend. Excellent PQ and the sound is good too. Lots of dry dusty colors, typical of Spaghetti Westerns shot in Spain.

This was my first viewing of Sabata since I saw it as a kid in the 1970s. I did not remember much about it, except that it was a really cool and exciting film to a ten year old. Wow....I did not remember how over-the-top it is. Imagine Sergio Leone ramped up to almost cartoonish levels of violence and gun play. Viewing it now as an adult, I realize how much it parodies the genre and is loaded with dark humor.

Lee van Cleef is steely eyed and cool as the title character bounty hunter Sabata. He is surrounded by a circus of unusual and memorable characters, including a mysterious banjo picker, acrobats, knife throwers, an evil rancher with a comb-over and a taste for dueling, gorgeous saloon girls, and bad guys galore straight out of pulp westerns. Mix in inventive elements reminiscent of a series like The Wild, Wild West with the standard Spaghetti Western staples of impossibly accurate shooting, short cigars, and dynamite, and you get one explosive (literally) movie. In fact, I would argue Sabata is as much a Grindhouse film as it is a western. If you made a drinking game out of the body count, you would be dead drunk before it is over. Definitely a movie you won't soon forget.

Viva, Sabata!

[seagal]

"Sam Whiskey" with Burt Reynolds and Angie Dickinson will be released on November 11th.

[jayembee]

Received Marty, Separate Tables, and Duel at Diablo today. Again, no sleeves, no inserts. Marty does not have English subtitles, the other two do.

On quick scans, they all look quite good, though Diablo tends to look a touch washed out now and again. Regarding the aspect ratio issue on Marty...

I've read all the arguments, seen the presented documentation. Bob Furmanek makes a good case for Marty being intended to be shown in a 1.85:1 ratio. That said, I think 1.33:1 looks right to me. Now, to be honest, I've never seen the film in any ratio other than 1.33:1. That's how I saw the film (numerous times) on television, on laserdisc, and on DVD. This may well affect my perception of the film.

Quite frankly, there are scenes where it looks like there's a bit too much headroom. But there are more scenes where it looks like there isn't enough headroom to comfortably matte it to a wider ratio. Well, maybe 1.66:1, but not 1.85:1.

I looked at three early scenes: (1) Marty and Angie in the bar, trying to decide what to do that night, (2) Marty's mother, cousin, and cousin's wife talking in the apartment, along with Marty later in the scene, and (3) Marty calling Mary Feeney on the phone. With each of these scenes, I watched it in 1.33:1, then zoomed to 1.78:1, then a third time swapping back and forth between the two. At 1.33:1, these scenes look well-framed. At 1.78:1, they look cramped. I'd imagine that at 1.85:1 they'd look too cramped.

(And I have to agree with Jeff Kauffman's review on this site: the 1.33:1 framing does not look zoomed.)

Also worth noting is the look of the opening credits. The title card and the following "Starring / Ernest Borgnine / Betsy Blair" card, when zoomed to 1.78:1 are just about touching the top of the screen. I don't see them matting this to 1.85:1 without adjusting the mattes to keep the credits comfortably in the frame (there would be enough footroom to do that).

Bottom line...if you really like this movie, you'd be doing yourself a disfavor by passing up this release by simply because of the AR. Aspect ratio aside, the PQ and AQ are a definite improvement over the MGM "Vintage Classics" DVD.

[Brad1963]

My first Kino Classics are just trickling in. I have received and watched Witness for the Prosecutionn and Paris Blues. I've been waiting forever for Paris Blues and was not disappointed, the PQ was actually quite good, solid black and great detail. There were a couple not so great moments but overall I am quite pleased. Witness also looked quite good and was much fun to watch again. Separate Tables is delivering today,Duel at Diablo and The Scalphunters about to ship and Breakheart Pass , On The Beach and The Great Train Robbery are ordered.

[Robert Furmanek]

Unfortunately, the MARTY transfer is at least a decade old and has been zoomed-in and manipulated in telecine.

In other words, you're not seeing the full image on the 35mm element. That's why it does not matte properly to the intended 1.85:1.

[Mose Harper]

Just briefly flipped thru Separate Tables last night.
If the entire disc looks as good as the scattered scenes I watched, this will be one of the best looking B&W Bds I've ever seen.
Every bit as impressive looking as anything put out by Criterion or Twilight Time.

[Akijama]

More Reynolds on the way.

WHITE LIGHTNING never strikes twice - 'cause once is enough!

Coming November 11th From Kino Lorber Studio Classics on BLU-RAY and DVD - Starring Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Bo Hopkins, Jennifer Billingsley, Matt Clark, R.G. Armstrong and Diane Ladd. Directed by Joseph Sargent and Written by William W. Norton.

[The Great Owl]

I received my first four Kino Lorber titles (Witness for the Prosecution, Separate Tables, Marty, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes) in the mail today.

I'm not one to pay a lot of mind to packaging, but I'm really pleased with the simple look of these Blu-ray sleeves. I love the uniformity of the spines, and I have a grand vision of a bunch of these spines lining my shelf.

I'm looking forward to jumping into these movies this weekend.

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

Unfortunately, the MARTY transfer is at least a decade old and has been zoomed-in and manipulated in telecine.

In other words, you're not seeing the full image on the 35mm element. That's why it does not matte properly to the intended 1.85:1.

Damn, we need a new scan than...this is some Bull S***!

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I received my first four Kino Lorber titles (Witness for the Prosecution, Separate Tables, Marty, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes) in the mail today.

I'm not one to pay a lot of mind to packaging, but I'm really pleased with the simple look of these Blu-ray sleeves. I love the uniformity of the spines, and I have a grand vision of a bunch of these spines lining my shelf.

I'm looking forward to jumping into these movies this weekend.

Sounds great Owl...let us know.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I received my first four Kino Lorber titles (Witness for the Prosecution, Separate Tables, Marty, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes) in the mail today.

I'm not one to pay a lot of mind to packaging, but I'm really pleased with the simple look of these Blu-ray sleeves. I love the uniformity of the spines, and I have a grand vision of a bunch of these spines lining my shelf.

I'm looking forward to jumping into these movies this weekend.

I like the simple look too. I honestly thought I would own the bulk of the series, but these latest announcements over July have poured cold water on that thought.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jshaide

I like the simple look too. I honestly thought I would own the bulk of the series, but these latest announcements over July have poured cold water on that thought.

Same here.

[Mose Harper]

Yeah, I agree the announcements started off incredibly strong and lately have become far less so. Still greatly excited for Last Embrace and Planet of the Vampires...but after early Sept, my pre-orders will taper off considerably.

That said, I realize this contradicts the above notion- nor is it likely to happen anyway, but I would be over the moon if they announced the next title as another Joseph Sargent directed one- Goldengirl. I haven't seen it since I rented it on VHS a good while back, but I remember it being a lot more entertaining than its reputation suggested. Great cast too with James Coburn, Robert Culp, Leslie Caron, and Curt Jurgens. I think I might have heard there were rights issues with it, but being distributed by Avco Embassy, I would think it might be with MGM now- and would fit in comfortably (quality wise) with the likes of White Lightning, More Dead Than Alive, Sam Whiskey etc

Barring that, just give me Roller Boogie and I'll shut up for awhile.

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by jshaide

I like the simple look too. I honestly thought I would own the bulk of the series, but these latest announcements over July have poured cold water on that thought.

although the last dozen titles announced have been jump off your seat titles or oh I can't wait to get these but some are interesting titles that I have never seen that could make for a fun watch and I'm sure nice to see in HD(but then again there are so many titles that I really want to own I might not have the extra loot to through out just to check out titles, we'll see though)

[ScorpionReleasing]

Originally Posted by Mose Harper

Yeah, I agree the announcements started off incredibly strong and lately have become far less so. Still greatly excited for Last Embrace and Planet of the Vampires...but after early Sept, my pre-orders will taper off considerably.

That said, I realize this contradicts the above notion- nor is it likely to happen anyway, but I would be over the moon if they announced the next title as another Joseph Sargent directed one- Goldengirl. I haven't seen it since I rented it on VHS a good while back, but I remember it being a lot more entertaining than its reputation suggested. Great cast too with James Coburn, Robert Culp, Leslie Caron, and Curt Jurgens. I think I might have heard there were rights issues with it, but being distributed by Avco Embassy, I would think it might be with MGM now- and would fit in comfortably (quality wise) with the likes of White Lightning, More Dead Than Alive, Sam Whiskey etc

e.

it's with LionsGate

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jshaide

I like the simple look too. I honestly thought I would own the bulk of the series, but these latest announcements over July have poured cold water on that thought.

The latest announcements are not priority one selections for the most part, but there will be a lot of Kino Lorber in my future.

I will definitely be picking up The Unforgiven, The Children's Hour, On the Beach, The Long Goodbye, The Great Train Robbery, The Young Savages, Elmer Gantry, Desperately Seeking Susan, and Gorky Park. Several of the others (White Lightning, Meteor) will be good late-night popcorn movie selections that may show up on my shelf soon as well.

[dsman71]

Im looking forward to Planet of the Vampires , Jennifer , The Long Goodbye and the Childrens Hour (Mortuary and Island Claws from Scorpion ) ... I rented some of the other announced Kino titles but just couldnt get into them. Its probably for the better anyway with so many titles coming out from other studios

[Mose Harper]

Originally Posted by ScorpionReleasing

it's with LionsGate

Drats. Might as well be with Warner for all the good it will do there.
I guess that would imply studio-canal for oversees?

Oh well, thanks for the info anyway. One more film I can forget ever existed.

BTW, looking forward to picking up Grizzly soon as well as a couple others. I hope the new system works out better for you. I was lurking as the back and forth was going going on recently. There are some people out here who understand exactly what the score is and why certain things are necessary. That's why I'm hoping more of my MGM wants get pushed out by Kino before they realize what so many others have found out.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by RiFiFi1955

although the last dozen titles announced have been jump off your seat titles or oh I can't wait to get these but some are interesting titles that I have never seen that could make for a fun watch and I'm sure nice to see in HD(but then again there are so many titles that I really want to own I might not have the extra loot to through out just to check out titles, we'll see though)

If they were a little cheaper, I may consider a few. But 17-20 bucks on a gamble is tricky, especially considering the so so picture I've heard about (my initial orders haven't arrived yet) and the lack of any supplemental content.

Not to say I haven't ordered a ton. Scalphunters, Diablo, Separate Tables, Witness, and Sabata are all en route, with Majestyk, Breakheart, Children's Hour, Unforgiven and On the Beach shortly following.

November has Man of the West and Long Goodbye for me, and I might spring on More Dead Than Alive. I'm hoping for more westerns but I personally can't stomach the Reynolds ones.

[Arkadin]

will definitely be interesting to see what true "classic" UA titles Kino has left to announce.
the last few--while I'm sure they excite somebody out there--don't hold a candle to stuff like "Witness for the Prosecution" or "Marty".