White Christmas - Diamond Edition

[KrugStillo]

Originally Posted by mchalebk

People have been claiming that White Christmas is a remake of Holiday Inn for a long time. I would say it's more accurate to say that White Christmas was inspired by Holiday Inn. Certainly they have some similarities:

1. Both have music by Irving Berlin.
2. Both star Bing Crosby.
3. Both feature an inn in New England.
4. Both feature the song White Christmas.

However, the plots have nothing in common. The actual stories are not even similar. This is not a remake.

And here's the big difference in my book: White Christmas is a feel good, warm and fuzzy holiday movie, while Holiday Inn is not. In White Christmas, the only tensions that arise are from misunderstandings. In Holiday Inn, there are deliberate attempts to betray, mislead, connive and downright stab their "friends" in the back. Holiday Inn has some great song and dance routines and an interesting plot, but it is not a feel good Christmas movie.

One last thing. The black face number in Holiday Inn is just plain uncomfortable to watch. I understand that it's a product of its time, but that doesn't change the fact.

On to the Blu-ray of White Christmas...

I'll watch the DVD this holiday season and see if it annoys me enough to feel that I need to upgrade. If I have a movie on DVD already, I pretty much have to find something that annoys me before I consider upgrading.

Thanks for the Holiday Inn info I always wondered what the difference was. If it helps any this BD is a huge upgrade in image quality from the previous DVD. Gone is the hazy slighly blurry image and the new one has a crisp sharp image that is very clean and filmlike. There is only one section in the beginning with dissolves that represents the way the film used to look (still better but in general). They must have not had the elements to recreate that section, it's the only one though that loses it's crispness a bit. The bonus documentaries are good too. They're short but informative.

[JamesN]

Originally Posted by KrugStillo

...Gone is the hazy slighly blurry image and the new one has a crisp sharp image that is very clean and filmlike. There is only one section in the beginning with dissolves that represents the way the film used to look (still better but in general). They must have not had the elements to recreate that section, it's the only one though that loses it's crispness a bit...

Are you referring to the scene where Bob visits Phil in the Army hospital? That scene was really soft...almost DVD quality.

I thought I saw a few other scenes/shots here and there where the sharpness discernibly denigrated, then suddenly popped back into high def. Still, as you say, orders of magnitude above any previous releases.

[ndiamone]

Originally Posted by JamesN

Are you referring to the scene where Bob visits Phil in the Army hospital?
That scene was really soft...almost DVD quality.

I saw a few other scenes/shots here and there where the sharpness
discernibly denigrated, then suddenly popped back into high def.
Still, as you say, orders of magnitude above any previous releases.

Well as all you raging vintage cinephiles know, dissolves in film in those days had to be created optically from the original master reels broken up into two parts, A and B. So when the negatives come out of the camera and get developed, that first development goes straightaway to make the interpositive or IP that goes to make both the black and white workprints used for timing and editing and effect practices (like dissolves so they can see how they will look on film) as well as the internegatives or IN's from which effects shots get printed.

So it's no surprise then that if the original camera negatives could not be found for the section containing the optical effect, that the IP, IN or even a release show print three generations down had to be used for the transitions and or other optical effects.

Look at The Wizard of Oz and its' registration problems, especially in the scene where we find the Tin Man frozen in place. With it's re-created YCM seps (yellow-cyan-magenta black and white color band separation films used to re-assemble a color film after the original color negatives have faded to the point of unusability) the three reconstructed color strips never quite match due to different shrinkage amounts of the original elements.

Or look at My Fair Lady or Lawrence of Arabia or the 1954 A Star is Born with Judy Garland. Look at and listen to any vintage film in High Definition real close. You'll find all kinds of artifacting in the video or audio because restorationists had to lift pieces from show prints or outtake reels or the soundtrack master the LP was made from or off a tired old acetate reference playback disc the artist used to practice their lip synching for shooting or whatever else was left and didn't get thrown in the dumpster after it was used to make the film.

Studios in Hollywood's Golden Era didn't know in 50 years there was going to be all this money being able to be made off Blu-Ray and High Definition from home-cinephiles with more money than taste (WINK) who wanted everything in pristine sound and perfect video as if it was shot yesterday instead of 50 years ago. So they threw out a lot of things.

I mean if you were some itty-bitty junior vault technician and your cubicle warrior bean counter boss at the studio was yelling at YOU to clean out storage space in Hollywood's Golden Age and YOUR crystal ball was busted so YOU couldn't know about Blu-Ray in 50 years, you'd do what you were told too if you wanted to keep your vault job and move up the food chain.

Which is oftentimes why junior editors and production assistants and other people low on the totem pole take things home destined for the dumpster and report it as ``destroyed'' pay the cold storage on it out of their own pocket for 50 years and then when they declare bankruptcy or die, here's all these perfect-condition original production elements discovered in a pristine state just in time to make a studio a lot of money for Blu-Ray.

Whereupon the ``hoarder'' who ``stole'' the materials out of the dumpster 50 years ago is now honored with a Special Academy Award for Film Preservation, honored on Turner Classic Movies, and gets their portrait hung up in the American Film Institute, none of which existed at the time.

So, mebbe yinz can come daaaahn orf yer perfectionistic high horses and enjoy the fact that MOST of it was able to be sourced from pristine elements, and the rest was able to be cleaned up after weeks and weeks in the restoration computer and be glad you have what you have the way you have it.

[benbess]

I saw White Christmas about 20 years ago on vhs, and although I liked it, somehow it didn't quite come through in that pale shadow of VistaVision.

But this blu-ray is great! It really just pulls you right into the movie. Plus now I'm in my 40s, and I guess what they say about getting more sentimental as you get older is true, because this one is making me laugh as well as choke up a few times too.

I should have bought this months ago. But I'm enjoying it now a lot with my 9 year old daughter. And she's laughing too.

What amazing costumes by the great Edith Head!

If anyone is on the fence on this one--buy it.

Great pq and aq for a film of this era.

[disneyfreak]

Does anyone know of a Combo pack version of this film? I want to get it on blu-ray but won't get it unless it comes with the DVD.

[hidef al]

Originally Posted by disneyfreak

Does anyone know of a Combo pack version of this film? I want to get it on blu-ray but won't get it unless it comes with the DVD.

None that I know of. I don't think Paramount will re-release it as a BD+DVD Combo Pack any time soon.

You can buy the blu-ray version and DVD version and make our own combo pack

[wudawg]

I have a question, does anyone know if there is more than one version of White Christmas on blu ray? I ask because the copy I received from Amazon does not say "Anniversary Edition" anywhere on the cover as depicted in a picture above in another post. I also ask because my copy of this movie still has a lot of film dirt running throughout especially big pieces on people's faces. I also noticed that there is still some film flicker in some spots. The colors look good though. So that's why I'm wondering if I may have gotten a different version or something. I would appreciate it if someone can fill me in. Thanks.