West Side Story (1961) 4K UHD coming from Capelight

[whiteberry]

7 Days, 7 News - Day 6: WEST SIDE STORY. In the 4K UHD Mediabook. In Dolby Vision. Christmas 2025.

https://www.facebook.com/capelightpi...4209449372013/

West Side Story Official Trailer #1 - Russ Tamblyn Movie (1961) HD - YouTube

[Geoff D]

Ugh, why'd it have to be Capelight, prolly means they've got the UK rights too. Watch Kino do the US release, double ugh

[Farerb]

I hope there's a US release, bit I'll get it anyway. Will it be available on Amazon?

So exciting to finally get both West Side Story and The Sound of Music this year. All we need is Mary Poppins and we'll have all the great American musicals of the '60s on 4K.

[Bolty]

Originally Posted by Farerb

I hope there's a US release, bit I'll get it anyway. Will it be available on Amazon?

So exciting to finally get both West Side Story and The Sound of Music this year. All we need is Mary Poppins and we'll have all the great American musicals of the '60s on 4K.

Damn you for snubbing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

[Dailyan]

I hope it'll include the 4.0 track from the MGM BD.

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Ugh, why'd it have to be Capelight, prolly means they've got the UK rights too. Watch Kino do the US release, double ugh

Why so pessimistic? The encode will be amazing! Will pre-order ASAP

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by nicwood

Why so pessimistic? The encode will be amazing! Will pre-order ASAP

Just play it cool, boy, real cool.

[aladdin123]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Ugh, why'd it have to be Capelight, prolly means they've got the UK rights too. Watch Kino do the US release, double ugh

There are good Capelight encodes, such as The Night Of The Hunter, which is much better than the Kino. Let's hope that West Side Story is one of the good ones.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by nicwood

Why so pessimistic? The encode will be amazing! Will pre-order ASAP

Geoffrey hates Germans, sad to say.

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Geoffrey hates Germans, sad to say.

He’s only jealous. The stinky British could never

[CourtlyHades296]

The original worldwide Blu-Ray release didn't have the 70mm six-track mix despite the fact it was restored in 2010. Let's hope this release has the six-track mix.

[aladdin123]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Geoffrey hates Germans, sad to say.

He's just upset because of german labels trying to keep HDR10+ alive, since he is a Dolby Vision fanboy.

(If you are reading this, Geoff D, please know that I'm just kidding).

[johnny_g]

The original worldwide Blu-Ray release didn't have the 70mm six-track mix despite the fact it was restored in 2010. Let's hope this release has the six-track mix.

Yes! And also fixed colors during the Overture and no shimmering during the opening pans over NYC.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

I hope it'll include the 4.0 track from the MGM BD.

Originally Posted by CourtlyHades296

The original worldwide Blu-Ray release didn't have the 70mm six-track mix despite the fact it was restored in 2010. Let's hope this release has the six-track mix.

Originally Posted by johnny_g

Yes! And also fixed colors during the Overture and no shimmering during the opening pans over NYC.

The last Blu-ray was a disaster. The fixed disc fixed some of the issues.

First, the OCN and multiple copies (including the OG tapes) of the six-track mix exist. MGM says they don't, fans and historians have proved that they do. There have been hundreds of Blu/4K releases and thousands of overall home video releases sourced from 65mm OCNs and six-track sound, so there's no reason why this can't be done. Cost shouldn't be relevant when you're talking about a Best Picture winner, arguably the greatest musical ever, and one of the greatest films ever.

The last disc was a 4K scan/restoration/master of some 65/70m element, but I don't know exactly what element it was. It's sharpened, the colors are off, and it's a bizarre disc to watch. That restoration cannot and should not be used again.

As for the sound, the last disc was derived from a four-track mix, but I don't know exactly what elements were used or when they're from. The film had mag quad sound for decades on some 35mm prints (and mono on other 35mm prints). At some point in the late 70s or early 80s, they made a 4/2/4 Dolby Stereo mix for newer 35mm prints, but it was fortunately just the mag quad track dropped in a 4/2/4 container. (I don't know if a Dolby Stereo six-track mix was created, as I haven't looked into it.)

On top of that, IMDb has this little bit about the colors of the opening:

The overture's colors changed multiple times in several home media releases:
-The 1991 Laserdisc has yellow, red, blue, red and blue
-The 1981 VHS' colors are red, yellow, orange, blue, orange and blue.
-In the DVD releases, it's green, red, blue, green during transition to orange, and finally green during transition from orange to blue.
-In the 2007 HD remaster, the order of the overture's colors go from orange, red, magenta, red and green briefly appearing during the dimming transition blue.
-The Blu-ray version uses the same overture colors from the HD remaster, but there is an error where it had the fade to black in the red to blue transition at the end. That issue, although fixed in the corrected Blu-ray and post-2024 version on the digital platforms, is replaced by dimming shift.

So now we have to wonder if any release got it right, and whether this release will be different. And if it's different, will this one be right or will it be wrong too?

Either way, with the OG negative, six-track mix, four-track mix, and mono mix in existence, this could and should be a definitive presentation of the film on home video. 4K of the movie, Blu-ray of the movie, Blu-ray of all the special features. No reason this can't be done right.

[Hbx360]

How is the iTunes 4K release like, compared to the last Blu-ray disc?

[Dsneybuf]

Judging from the overture card turning purple instead of blue during "Maria", it's the same master with some updated MGM logos.

[CourtlyHades296]

The optical mix was last seen on the Magnetic Video VHS and Beta, and I hope all of the original mixes are included (six-track, stereo and mono)

[Deadend45]

Better be without the EE.

[starman15317]

Criterion for the U.S.? *crosses fingers*

[CourtlyHades296]

Originally Posted by starman15317

Criterion for the U.S.? *crosses fingers*

If Criterion did the US release of West Side Story, it would mark another Criterion Laserdisc title that returned to the collection.