It Happened One Night (1934)

[toyota884huntn]

this transfer does not look very good from the screen captures it looks smoothed over and flat. was the dvd that bad of a transfer?

[whiteberry]

Originally Posted by toyota884huntn

this transfer does not look very good from the screen captures it looks smoothed over and flat. was the dvd that bad of a transfer?

bruceames already reported earlier in the thread that he saw it on Sony's 4k service and wasn't impressed. I agree some of those screen captures don't look very good. I don't know how it got 4 1/2 stars for the transfer.

[WorkShed]

What do you mean it doesn't look very good? It's a very old film and looks fantastic to me.

[EVERYONE LIES]

Originally Posted by WorkShed

What do you mean it doesn't look very good? It's a very old film and looks fantastic to me.

People must not be very familiar with how film from the early to mid 30's looks.

[imsounoriginal]

Not sure where people are getting "smoother over" from, looks like there is grain aplenty in Blu-ray.com and DVDBeaver screens.

[joie]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Not sure where people are getting "smoother over" from, looks like there is grain aplenty in Blu-ray.com and DVDBeaver screens.

Fake grain? Some euphemisms may be phrases like: managed grain, evenly distributed grain, ... . I don't know.

add: A "layer of grain" can be a euphemistic way of describing fake grain, too. Grain is easily layered onto a digital image. It may even be "real" grain, but not the image's original, real grain.

But it's a good movie.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by joie

Fake grain? Some euphemisms may be phrases like: managed grain, evenly distributed grain, ... . I don't know.

Well I'm not an uber-videophile so if it's fake grain, I probably would never have known. I will say that for a film from 1934, the screens look quite nice.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by joie

Fake grain? Some euphemisms may be phrases like: managed grain, evenly distributed grain, ... . I don't know.

add: A "layer of grain" can be a euphemistic way of describing fake grain, too. Grain is easily layered onto a digital image. It may even be "real" grain, but not the image's original, real grain.

But it's a good movie.

No need to speculate. There are no such digital anomalies on this release. There are some density fluctuations -- and there are examples in the review -- but they are source related. (ON and a print were used).

This is a very fine presentation of the film.

Pro-B

[Akijama]

For what it's worth, Robert Harris also gave the disc high marks.

Quote:

The work is perfect.



One of the greatest romantic comedies in the history of film, finally makes it way to home video on Blu-ray with absolute perfection.



One my very short list for Best Blu-ray Classic release of 2014.

[tylergfoster]

Originally Posted by whiteberry

I love the movie and will buy the blu-ray but the extras are very disappointing especially considering this is coming from Criterion. It seems it won't have any of the extras from the DVD except for the trailer. Most of Criterion's extras are about Frank Capra and not the movie itself. Criterion should have included the Lux Radio Theater radio broadcast of It Happened One Night (with both Gable and Colbert reprising their roles) at a bare minimum.

For those that don't own the DVD, this is what it had for extras:
-Frank Capra, Jr. audio commentary
-Frank Capra, Jr. Remembers..."It Happened One Night" [11:16]
-Vintage Advertising - A gallery of lobby cards and posters.
-Live Radio Broadcast - The March 20, 1939, episode of Lux Radio Theater. Gable and Colbert perform It Happened One Night [59:36]
-Theatrical Trailers - It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, and Lost Horizon.
-Talent Files - Biographies and filmographies for Capra, Gable, and Colbert.

It does actually have the featurette and the trailer. I agree, I never expect galleries and bios to be preserved. I'm most irritated by the disappearance of the audio commentary.

Originally Posted by toyota884huntn

this transfer does not look very good from the screen captures it looks smoothed over and flat. was the dvd that bad of a transfer?

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

No need to speculate. There are no such digital anomalies on this release. There are some density fluctuations -- and there are examples in the review -- but they are source related. (ON and a print were used).

The two separate sources are probably the reason, yes, although neither was actually the OCN. Most of the disc looks great.

[zman73]

Looking forward to getting this at christmas from my wife... she already placed the order last week for it

[KilloWertz]

Just waiting for another 20% off coupon on Thursday and then I'll place my order for this...

[RetroGuy]

Picked this up today at my local Barnes & Noble for $19.99.

[Scottie]

Just watched it. Great restoration!

[Musicguy]

When the film elements are good the film looks great (The hitch hiking scene) but when the film elements are poor the film looks it. The breakfast scene looks good until they zoomed in for a closer shot (I'm guessing it wasn't filmed like this and was zoomed in post production) There is a lot of soft focus and the river scene is a mess - but those are the film elements

There are a lot of scenes which look terrible - but always have - and that's what survives from 1934 (Columbia didn't think this was going to be an "A" picture, plus they were a second rate studio at the time and the budget shows)

Some of the Warner films from around the same time look remarkably better.

[Martin_31]

Can't wait. I saw this movie in my first film class, and I loved it.

[tylergfoster]

Originally Posted by Musicguy

The breakfast scene looks good until they zoomed in for a closer shot (I'm guessing it wasn't filmed like this and was zoomed in post production)

I suspect all of the soft shots are not optical zooms but just the two separate print sources they had, one far softer than the other.

[jmbenesh]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

Can't wait. I saw this movie in my first film class, and I loved it.

Funny enough, that's how I first saw the film as well. I watched it in a class last fall, and pretty much fell in love with it, and hopefully I'll get a chance to pop the new Criterion edition of it in my blu-ray player in the near future -- very much looking forward to revisiting it!

[geekesmind]

hope to watch this soon.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by jmbenesh

Funny enough, that's how I first saw the film as well. I watched it in a class last fall, and pretty much fell in love with it, and hopefully I'll get a chance to pop the new Criterion edition of it in my blu-ray player in the near future -- very much looking forward to revisiting it!

And me to that list, as well. Had it foisted upon me in a film class, rolled my eyes at what I just knew would be two wasted hours of my life, then proceeded to immediately falling in love with it.