Dressed to Kill (1980)

[Jakdonark]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Sisters is NOT region free, the first pressing seems to have been an accident and new copies from Amazon are now correctly B locked like all the packaging states.

I got sisters last fall and it was region free. I got it the same time as Phantom of the Paradise steel and was hoping to do a double feature but it was actually locked, and my seiki was unhooked to hook up my newer one, but I don't have a remote to change the code on the newer one... Other seiki remote doesn't work. Glad my Obsession is region free. Also have US and UK versions of Blow out and arrow DTK (just sold my mgm). I'll still pick up this criterion but I'm not in a rush.

[Vixen of the Night]

I think I'll give the Criterion release a chance. The original mono mix being included is a big reason for my interest in it, since the MGM release omitted it for some reason, so I never purchased it.

Also, I did not see anything wrong with the Scanners transfer everyone complains about. It didn't look anywhere near as bad as the caps online looked. So I'm glad I decided to view it for myself, rather than skipping it and going by what others have said.

Speaking of camera lenses issues and the very quirks they may have. I remember reading elsewhere online people complaining about 'barrel distortion' in digital camcorders years ago and how to digitally 'fix' it. They didn't seem to realize, that was a normal 'defect' of some camera lenses

Plenty of anamorphic films have that 'issue' I've noticed once becoming aware of it. It's when a straight line is slightly curved in the frame instead of straight. It's not something I would worry about, since it's not bad camera work, it's just a built in 'quirk' of the lenses used.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Femme Fatale, Casualties Of War and Raising Cain are three of my biggest Blu-Ray "wants", and are a gaping hole in my HD De Palma collection.

CoW released by Sony in Japan and Holland last year, so a wider European release may not be far behind...unless sales of those were so poor they dropped the idea.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by Vixen of the Night

I think I'll give the Criterion release a chance. The original mono mix being included is a big reason for my interest in it, since the MGM release omitted it for some reason, so I never purchased it.

Also, I did not see anything wrong with the Scanners transfer everyone complains about. It didn't look anywhere near as bad as the caps online looked. So I'm glad I decided to view it for myself, rather than skipping it and going by what others have said.

Speaking of camera lenses issues and the very quirks they may have. I remember reading elsewhere online people complaining about 'barrel distortion' in digital camcorders years ago and how to digitally 'fix' it. They didn't seem to realize, that was a normal 'defect' of some camera lenses

Plenty of anamorphic films have that 'issue' I've noticed once becoming aware of it. It's when a straight line is slightly curved in the frame instead of straight. It's not something I would worry about, since it's not bad camera work, it's just a built in 'quirk' of the lenses used.

Scanners is darker and more green than other transfers, objectively. You don't mind this, which is cool and neither do I, but people aren't wrong to point it out. Same here... there is squishing or vertical stretching, objectively. Irises aren't oval. If you don't mind it then again, that's cool, but I can't agree on this one. Looks terrible to me.

Anyway, my point is they are factual "issues" with subjective opinions on how bad they are.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by Yojimbo68

I'm actually happy with the MGM disc. Even without the stretching issue, I'm not overly crazy with how the Criterion transfer looks. I'd much rather see more unreleased De Palma on Blu-ray. Although it's flawed I'd love to see Femme Fatale make an appearance in HD. That first 10 minutes is one of the best openings to a movie ever!

I agree, except with Femme Fatale being flawed. Still can't believe WB hasn't bothered putting this out yet on blu-ray.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

I agree, except with Femme Fatale being flawed. Still can't believe WB hasn't bothered putting this out yet on blu-ray.

They'll release a flop Wesley Snipes action flick like Art Of War on BD, but not Femme Fatale.

[Fat Phil]

There's another review worth checking out from CriterionForum.org that again trashes the PQ (5/10) but more specifically states that the first 21 minutes are unaffected by the horizontal squish.

[tama]

Yup. Explains why a few caps from early in the film look fine while the rest look squeezed.

I personally believe this will be addressed and fixed.

[Geoff D]

21 minutes, that's basically a couple of reels' worth ([edit] or one 2000ft reel). Maybe a setting got changed when mastering reel x onwards and nobody noticed?

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by Fat Phil

There's another review worth checking out from CriterionForum.org that again trashes the PQ (5/10) but more specifically states that the first 21 minutes are unaffected by the horizontal squish.

Criterion Org can be somewhat tough on their reviews, so it is nice to know they are impressed with the amount of detail on the transfer.

[klauswhereareyou]

If this gets fixed, I will buy it.

[nitin]

it's very weird that this would be an authoring/encoding issue but on the other hand it's the only way a snafu like this makes any sense (because otherwise you would think that at some point when the transfer was being created it would have been picked up)

[nitin]

Originally Posted by ravenus

CoW released by Sony in Japan and Holland last year, so a wider European release may not be far behind...unless sales of those were so poor they dropped the idea.

the Japanese release of Casualties of War looks and sounds very nice and is dirt cheap at cdjapan.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by nitin

it's very weird that this would be an authoring/encoding issue but on the other hand it's the only way a snafu like this makes any sense (because otherwise you would think that at some point when the transfer was being created it would have been picked up)

Even if there was an error while the transfer was being created or when the disc was encoded, I assume this disc has a producer whose job it was to watch every bit of on-disc content (let alone the main feature) and make sure it was up to expected standards. Surely that wasn't outsourced to someone who didn't know how the movie was supposed to look, these things aren't single-pass processes...or at least shouldn't be. Even if it's an error that Criterion announces a fix for, there is no doubt that this is a dent to their credibility as a label that cares for its product.

[Hatfield Peverel]

Originally Posted by Christian Muth

Re: the green. I wonder if they color timed this in the P3 DCI color space? As I understand it, "pure white" in P3 actually leans towards a greenish tint to compensate for commercial digital projection. I suppose this should be compensated for when transferring to other color spaces like High Definition's REC209, but maybe the post houses are lax in doing so which is why we're getting so much green these days.

You may have something here. The review over at the Criterion Forum has some very striking screenshots. The shot of Angie Dickinson at the start of the museum sequence shows perfectly white walls. However, the next screengrab from a few minutes on in the scene shows a distinct green tint.

The reviewer says that the stretching begins at around the 21-minute mark - is this the point when both the dimensions and colour space of the image changes?

[BTSMGL]

I keep reading about some statement Criterion already put out but can't find it. What was their statement re: the issue?

[Martin_31]

Originally Posted by rdandura

They should have done the transfer right in the first place. Otherwise I wouldn't be this upset.

This is something they can't blame Pathe or Gaumont on. Forcing me to buy an older edition is the worst possible thing ever.

Lol calm down. I can just imagine you being overly dramatic with a Stewie Griffin voice. Let's wait and see what Criterion will say.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by rdandura

Forcing me to buy an older edition is the worst possible thing ever.

I know! Next thing they're gonna be slipping razor blades inside their cases to slash your fingers when you open them.

[Christian Muth]

Originally Posted by Fat Phil

There's another review worth checking out from CriterionForum.org that again trashes the PQ (5/10) but more specifically states that the first 21 minutes are unaffected by the horizontal squish.

Which would be the first reel of the film. So they formatted reel 1 correctly, then something went wrong formatting the rest.

Chris

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by BTSMGL

I keep reading about some statement Criterion already put out but can't find it. What was their statement re: the issue?

At first all they said was "this is an approved by Brian De Palma transfer" and left it at that. After this our resident reviewer Pro-B told us they are aware of the issue and hinted them might say more later, but nothing concrete.

I certainly would hope they recall the disc or replace it, the stretching is rather obvious. Even if they do though, the remaster itself looks a bit odd. I might get the Arrow either way.