The Hallelujah Trail (1965)

[Paulo Elias]

It is inadmissible, from a collector's point of view, to be offered a subpar Blu-Ray release containing out of specs transfers off 70 mm prints.

Granted, there were lots of movies blown-up to 70 mm in the 1960's that we could swear were shot with a 65 mm negative. In some of these cases it is possible that the 35 mm OCN will still look quite good, if scanned correctly.

But soundtracks are in a different situation altogether. The moment a picture is released in 70 mm there is always a chance to recover the 6-track or at least the 4-track stereo sound. I have several DVDs in my collection that fall in this category, and at least in one release, namely the Universal DVD edition of Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity the disc features a Dolby Digital 4.0 track.

Sweet Charity is a blown-up 35 mm source and was presented at our local Cinerama 70 mm theater.

If Olive is not committed to a serious release of a 70 mm movie, they should clarify the reasons for potential consumers!