Dressed to Kill (1980)

[BrandonJF]

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.

Man, I wish my life was like yours if a squeezed image on a Blu-Ray is the worst possible thing ever. I have OCD, so a crushed corner on a slipcover would be the "worst possible thing ever".

[diceman89]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

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.

I actually love the remaster. The stretching/squishing is the only thing keeping me from pre-ordering this again. I'll wait and see.

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

Discovering that the stretching issue kicks in after the 21 minute mark could be an important step in getting Criterion to acknowledge this problem. The clear lack of consistency is harder to write off as artistic judgment, as the visual math is demonstrably and persistently wrong after those first 21 minutes.

I doubt De Palma will enjoy having this thrown entirely in his lap, nor would it encourage his future involvement in Criterion releases. Maybe this was--in part--actually his oversight, maybe it wasn't. By not stepping up and admitting the issue...and attributing the state of this master solely to a consultant makes Criterion look delusional and prone to scapegoatery.

Without a fix, this is MGM's dream scenario: they get a licensing fee from Criterion...and retain most of the videophile sales of Dressed to Kill on blu-ray.

[Sinep]

Can they fix this ? I would be willing to wait a long time if it is done properly

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by 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?

The bigger problem is that nobody noticed. All the way through color grading, dirt cleanup, adjustments, etc... so the problem HAD to happen in the later stages, or maybe even in authoring somehow. I fail to see how this could slip by EVERYBODY at every stage.

[ambient_indie]

These kinds of problems are another nail in the coffin for physical media.

[JohnnyF]

Originally Posted by ambient_indie

These kinds of problems are another nail in the coffin for physical media.

It doesn't help, but at the same time, how many studios would go back and redo a faulty digital file/stream? How many times is a cropped to 1.78 version the only hi def master for a scope film? How often will horrific DNR be used on a scan?

I'm willing to bet that having the collectors of physical media are the primary reason new scans are made in the first place. Would a 2nd edition of The French Connection happen without the fan outcry? If no disc were ever made and it were strictly streaming on Netflix, would people be anywhere near as upset? I doubt it.

[Bob Kramer]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

The bigger problem is that nobody noticed. All the way through color grading, dirt cleanup, adjustments, etc... so the problem HAD to happen in the later stages, or maybe even in authoring somehow. I fail to see how this could slip by EVERYBODY at every stage.

Once-respected book publishers now send books to press riddled with typos and other errors. I mean constantly. All media is suffering from a lack of proofreading and general editorial oversight. I blame cell phones and millennial retardation. It does not bode well for civilization.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by ambient_indie

These kinds of problems are another nail in the coffin for physical media.

Well, if it were a digital download, it would still have the same problem.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by ambient_indie

These kinds of problems are another nail in the coffin for physical media.

How are you connecting this to that? This is either De Palma being weird or Criterion making an authoring error. Either way it has little to do with the "death of physical media," which is more just "the waning mainstream attention toward physical media," which will exist a long ass time as a niche market.

[ijustblumyself]

Originally Posted by Bob Kramer

Once-respected book publishers now send books to press riddled with typos and other errors. I mean constantly. All media is suffering from a lack of proofreading and general editorial oversight. I blame cell phones and millennial retardation. It does not bode well for civilization.

'Millennial retardation'

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by ijustblumyself

'Millennial retardation'

It was a misstep for Criterion to outsource QC to tumblr.

[LordCrumb]

Originally Posted by ambient_indie

These kinds of problems are another nail in the coffin for physical media.

Trollin' or serious? Can't tell...

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

The bigger problem is that nobody noticed. All the way through color grading, dirt cleanup, adjustments, etc... so the problem HAD to happen in the later stages, or maybe even in authoring somehow. I fail to see how this could slip by EVERYBODY at every stage.

And yet.....it did. As said above, it kinda makes you wonder just who's QC'ing stuff these days.

[Bob Kramer]

Originally Posted by kidglov3s

It was a misstep for Criterion to outsource QC to tumblr.

I know a few people who work(ed) at Criterion, and there's more truth to your statement than you may realize.

[BTSMGL]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

The bigger problem is that nobody noticed. All the way through color grading, dirt cleanup, adjustments, etc... so the problem HAD to happen in the later stages, or maybe even in authoring somehow. I fail to see how this could slip by EVERYBODY at every stage.

"accidents in a very busy place" as Kurt Vonnegut put it once. It happens. It's happened before, it'll happen again.

[Todd Tomorrow]

Originally Posted by Bob Kramer

Once-respected book publishers now send books to press riddled with typos and other errors. I mean constantly. All media is suffering from a lack of proofreading and general editorial oversight. I blame cell phones and millennial retardation. It does not bode well for civilization.

There is less money in these industries now and there is a lot of competition and the same amount of work is now expected to be done by fewer staff for less money and frequently interns get drafted in as well. Everything has to be as cost effective as possible because we expect everything to get cheaper or stay cheap and there is a price to be paid and it's in the product.

Companies like Criterion are small and they operate on a narrow profit margin. I expect they do the best they can under the circumstances, so when the occasional mistake happens, let's not all behave like some war crime has been committed and cut them some slack, especially when like in this case, there are decent alternatives available.

[snipemonkey]

Well, this is a bummer. First Criterion I've ever skipped due to poor authoring, and for one of my top-five favorite films. Oh, well. Hopefully they'll do the right thing and recall/redo the whole batch.

[MTRodaba2468]

Originally Posted by Todd Tomorrow

Companies like Criterion are small and they operate on a narrow profit margin. I expect they do the best they can under the circumstances, so when the occasional mistake happens, let's not all behave like some war crime has been committed and cut them some slack, especially when like in this case, there are decent alternatives available.

This. I'm certainly not happy about what's happened with the Criterion release, but it's not a "war-crime level offense" either. I can stick with the Arrow release that's in the mail. If Criterion fixes it, great. I'm interested in the extras they're offering, so I may check it out then. If not, oh well. There are more important issues to worry about in life.

[timothy ramzyk]

I hope Criterion pulls this one back and corrects t. They must have been contacted by many and have seen reviews by now. Maybe no news is good news in terms of them evaluating where this went astray and what to do about it.

With Arrow's import and MGM's previous release already out there, all that's in the offering is some new extras, and that won't sell a botched transfer.