Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)

[50strat54]

Poor John Doe...

[SeanJoyce]

Can we get a thread title change reflecting the actual year this movie came out?

[T.H.E. Cat]

Back in 1941, my dad was in a college production of Arsenic and Old Lace in his sophomore year. Here are two pictures from that particular production of my dad portraying Officer O'Hara and a third picture of the curtain call with all of the corpses taking their bows.

[DWeickerSr]

Not that I question you, but there were already college productions in 1941, even though the play only opened on Broadway January 1941?

That is very quick.

[T.H.E. Cat]

Yes, Arsenic and Old Lace opened on Broadway in January of 1941. My father was in this college production in October of 1941 at a major Midwestern university.

[Psychosmeg]

I am so excited for this release as it's one of my favourite films, I would love to see Criterion release Oliver Twist and Freaks.

[lilboyblu]

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Arsen.../43671/#Review

Review is posted. Very much improved over old releases, but the macro-blocking is disappointing since it's an issue that could have been easily avoided with higher bitrates.

Originally Posted by Dr. Svet Atanasov

Unfortunately, on my system, I noticed quite a bit of annoying macroblocking sneaking in. Virtually all of it appears in dark areas with prominent black(s). Obvious examples can be seen in screencaptures #26, 27, 29, and 30. Can the macroblocking be missed? Possibly if you have a smaller screen, but on a large screen, I think that you will easily notice its presence.

[Rayjg]

We need a NYT article complaining about Criterion's compression issues.

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Arsen.../43671/#Review

Review is posted. Very much improved over old releases, but the macro-blocking is disappointing since it's an issue that could have been easily avoided with higher bitrates.

I am only going by that review. When I read "you may want to preview this before you purchase" that does not make me feel good. I am getting tired of paying $20+ for releases with these issues that - from what I understand - could have been avoided.

[BluProofie]

I wonder what Criterion did to Svet to piss him off. He used to just give a pass to all of their releases and totally ignore issues with the encode. My Own Private Idaho is supposed to be one of the worst discs and Svet gave it high marks.

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by BluProofie

I wonder what Criterion did to Svet to piss him off. He used to just give a pass to all of their releases and totally ignore issues with the encode. My Own Private Idaho is supposed to be one of the worst discs and Svet gave it high marks.

Probably got too "woke" for him, his eventual Mai Zetterling review is probably going to be a hoot.

[Hammerlover]

Well, that's a shame about the macro-blocking, though it's hardly surprising.

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by Hammerlover

Well, that's a shame about the macro-blocking, though it's hardly surprising.

Ok. I'll bite.

Why is it not surprising?

btw - it turns out I will be getting this as a gift so will have a chance to see for myself.

[Nocheduro]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Arsen.../43671/#Review

Review is posted. Very much improved over old releases, but the macro-blocking is disappointing since it's an issue that could have been easily avoided with higher bitrates.

This is a 2 hour B&W movie on a BD50 with hardly any extras. Bit rate isn’t the problem, they just don’t know how to set the encoder up.

[dressedtokill]

I usually try to steer clear of releases with bad encoding, but I love this film too much and it's not like it will get another release unfortunately. Hopefully it won't be as noticeable in motion.

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by dressedtokill

I usually try to steer clear of releases with bad encoding, but I love this film too much and it's not like it will get another release unfortunately. Hopefully it won't be as noticeable in motion.

It's still going to look better than my DVD. But yeah, hoping it's better in motion.

[mclellandj]

Sometimes I wonder if y'all are film fans or crisp encoding fans

[fred25_Ca]

I'm sorry if I sound dumb but what is macro-blocking? I'm looking at these screenshots and they look great to me?

Edit: I checked on google but while I sort of understand what it's supposed to mean, I can't see it in those screen grabs. :/

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

I'm sorry if I sound dumb but what is macro-blocking? I'm looking at these screenshots and they look great to me?

Edit: I checked on google but while I sort of understand what it's supposed to mean, I can't see it in those screen grabs. :/

"Macroblocking is a video artifact in which objects or areas of a video image appear to be made up of small squares, rather than proper detail and smooth edges."

i.e. not a smooth image.

[mclellandj]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

I'm sorry if I sound dumb but what is macro-blocking? I'm looking at these screenshots and they look great to me?

Edit: I checked on google but while I sort of understand what it's supposed to mean, I can't see it in those screen grabs. :/

IMO it's almost never actually visible and not a real concern. Clearly some people get very upset about it, but ymmv.