The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) [No 3D Blu-ray]

[3DLUVER29]

It's os disappointing, but, Millcreek won't restore this film to its 3d, wides screen, and stereophonic sound presentation. It's going to be released in 2d Blu -ray, not even a 3D d.c.p projection print for limited theatrical showings. This is just as bad as Olive film not restoring Money from home in 3d. I found this out on i.md.b on the list of golden age 3d films.

[BleedOrange11]

There is a 2D open matte German Blu-ray already released. Mill Creek only has it on DVD. They are too budget-focused to invest in any restorations themselves though. The bigger issues is that Sony probably won't let anyone touch the elements, and they don't want to restore it themselves, deeming it too unimportant, which makes no sense. It's a better film than Man in the Dark.

[ColumbiaSunburstHD]

No thanks. If it's full screen. No HD, No Sale!

[Camps]

Originally Posted by BleedOrange11

The bigger issues is that Sony probably won't let anyone touch the elements, and they don't want to restore it themselves, deeming it too unimportant, which makes no sense. [/I].

Quite true. Same deal with Spacehunter. Sony has a distribution deal with Mill Creek, which is not the distributor a studio would work with for a premium blu ray release. The studio also has (or had) a distribution deal with Twilight Time, which does do premium work and which released both Man in the Dark and, thankfully, Mad Magician in 3D at premium prices which I happily paid. But the only way Twilight Time was able to do this was because Sony gave them 3D masters.

If a studio does not provide a blu ray distributor (whether an indie like Mill Creek, Twilight Time, Kino, Olive or Shout, or its own in-house distribution unit) with a ready-to-go 3D master, or (like Universal) bring 3D Film Archive in to produce a 3D master, or (like Paramount did with Kino) allow an indie distributor to bring in 3DFA to produce a 3D master.... then there's no 3D blu ray.

So, at least Sony gave us Man in the Dark, Mad Magician, Gun Fury and Miss Sadie Thompson in 3D (all via Twilight Time). Hopefully, if decent 3D components exist, they'll let us have some of the others -- especially Spacehunter -- though it wouldn't be via a budget-distributor like Mill Creek.

[cinerama]

That guy in Australia sent me a free copy of Stranger Wore a Gun, The 3D is good with lots of pop-outs but the picture is very soft. Looks like a seventh generation copy of a VHS tape.

[wildbill722]

Originally Posted by cinerama

That guy in Australia sent me a free copy of Stranger Wore a Gun, The 3D is good with lots of pop-outs but the picture is very soft. Looks like a seventh generation copy of a VHS tape.

Yes, nothing to write home about, but still fun.

[Interdimensional]

Last we heard there was no existing digital 3D master, and I would assume that remains the case. I believe NYC's Film Forum have done dual 35mm 3-D screenings of this in the recent past.

My advice would be to express an interest in the title to Twilight Time and British label Indicator. Indicator license from Sony and did a Randolph Scott boxset last year. Depending on how well that sold, they may be interested in The Stranger Wore a Gun. They can ask Sony, maybe that'll start the ball rolling.

It's unannounced, but Indicator are supposedly releasing The Mad Magician in 3D at some point, so hopefully they will be open to doing more 3D releases. Of course that is an existing 3D master(and a TT release), and unmastered titles would be more problematic. To be realistic it would probably require a deal struck with our budget conscious friends at 3DFA to be viable. It may be a slim hope, but deals have been done on lesser films.

I've been following the Indicator thread here, and they sometimes respond. I'm fully behind anyone who would request any of Sony's 3D titles.

[Robert Furmanek]

We reached out to Millcreek several years ago offering to help create a 3D master on SPACEHUNTER and also suggesting a William Castle 3D boxset.

No reply.

[dhvsfan]

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

We reached out to Millcreek several years ago offering to help create a 3D master on SPACEHUNTER.

I assume Spacehunter is Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone.

It was my first 3D movie ever. For me, it is an instant buy in 3D Blu-ray.

[Brian81]

Oh, I just realized this one isn't OAR. Was this released in both formats originally? Widescreen and 1.37:1 for theaters that hadn't gone widescreen yet ? That the German BD is 1.37:1 and not 1.33:1 leads me to think that this isn't just a simple P&S edition. As far as 3D goes, is this a case of missing what's required for 3D? As a 2D disc, the PQ is actually really good on this.

[revgen]

I just looked at the screenshots at caps-a-holic.

LINK

That's incorrect. Stranger Wore a Gun was composed for 1.85:1. It was protected for 1.37:1 for theaters that couldn't support widescreen, but 1.85:1 is the ratio that it was composed for. It was one of the first widescreen productions filmed at Columbia.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by revgen

I just looked at the screenshots at caps-a-holic.

LINK

That's incorrect. Stranger Wore a Gun was composed for 1.85:1. It was protected for 1.37:1 for theaters that couldn't support widescreen, but 1.85:1 is the ratio that it was composed for. It was one of the first widescreen productions filmed at Columbia.

So is this cropped or is this a case of showing the full negative when it should not? Before I thought to check this, I thought about how good the PQ was given the budget nature of the release. Then I saw the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment logo as the only one on the spine and figured that's why the quality was good.

[revgen]

The 1.37:1 aspect ratio is showing more information than what was intended at the top and bottom of the frame. By the time Stranger Wore a Gun went into production, the studios were screening 1.37:1 films like Shane (1953) in widescreen. All in an effort to attract audiences away from television.

[Robert Furmanek]

It was composed for widescreen during principal photography.

http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/the-fir...-of-widescreen

[Brian81]

I went ahead and played the German disc last night, zooming to "FULL" on the Oppo, and it didn't make it look bad (PQ-wise). I did have to move the image down a bit. Doing this, it looked fine to me. I wish it was in 3D!

[Camps]

Originally Posted by Robert Furmanek

We reached out to Millcreek several years ago offering to help create a 3D master on SPACEHUNTER and also suggesting a William Castle 3D boxset.

No reply.

And not to .... but let's look at how that worked out for Mill Creek (and Sony) by using our trusty unscientific back-of-envelope metric of updated "Collections" tallied here on good ol' BluRay.com for each '80s 3D title that's received a blu-ray release, whether flat or 3D (i.e., the proper way...):

Parasite (1982): 604 (Kudos, Kino and 3DFA)

Metalstrom (1983): 507

Spacehunter (1983): 395 (And this for a title that had a multiple of the production budgets of the other two.... ooooops!)

Keep leaving $$ on the table, myopic studios and distributors....