Moby Dick [ November 11th 2019 ]

[tob]

I didn't see a thread for this and in case some people do not know Moby Dick is coming to Blu ray from Studio Canal on November 11th 2019.
I leave a link below thanks.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moby-Dick-Blu-ray/dp/B07YN5XPVV?SubscriptionId=AKIAIY4YSQJMFDJATNBA&tag =bluraycom-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creative ASIN=B07YN5XPVV&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

[Fnord Prefect]

Artwork and database link (click on image)

[Lea74]

Currently available for pre-order at Hive.co.uk for £10.05

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by Lea74

Currently available for pre-order at Hive.co.uk for £10.05

Thats probably the DVD price

[Lea74]

Originally Posted by Si Parallel Universe

Thats probably the DVD price

No it's not.

[Aclea]

Since they're including the 'Bleached Whale' featurette and audio commentary, it sounds like this will be using the Twilight Time transfer and adding the interview with Angela Allen - ironic, since SC wouldn't give TT access to their transfer of the Lion in Winter when they had the rights.

[Big-D]

Originally Posted by Lea74

Currently available for pre-order at Hive.co.uk for £10.05

It's £10.05 for the Blu-ray indeed, just preordered it, thanks.

[Levon]

Preorder locked an' ready cap'n!

[CouncilSpectre]

Love the movie but that master isn’t great.

Went from day one to pick up in a sale.

[StarDestroyer52]

Interesting, even if the same old transfer I've been wanting this film, so I will be getting this since I missed the TT release. Maybe not Day 1, but down the road for sure. Maybe Studiocanal can release Lilies of the Field in the UK?

[Aclea]

No, that's MGM/UA. It looks like EMI picked up the UK home video rights in perpetuity back in the late 70s (it was one of the very first VHS releases) and SC inherited them.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by Aclea

No, that's MGM/UA. It looks like EMI picked up the UK home video rights in perpetuity back in the late 70s (it was one of the very first VHS releases) and SC inherited them.

In my best Dick Dastardly voice "drat, double drat, and triple drat!", I was hoping maybe they would have the other too. Though, Moby Dick is still good news since I never did manage to get that one.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

I thought this was also MGM in the UK but they're now licencing some things to StudioCanal like they did with Teen Wolf in Germany. I did some further digging and there was an Optimum Releasing UK DVD that used the same 4:3 MGM DVD master but did not have MGM's logo on he back case. Apparently, it seems that EMI (which StudioCanal owns) handled one of the 1970s UK theatrical reissues and home video distribution, explaining how StudioCanal has it in the UK

As to the odd distribution history, the film was produced by Moulin Productions (run by the Mirisch brothers, who later ended up with United Artists) and Warner as distributor for 7 years. Moulin Productions later became The Mirisch Company and after United Artists acquired them March 1963, they also assumed Moby Dick outright as Warner's rights had just ended. This explains how MGM controls the film today and owns it in almost all territories.

[BigNickUK]

In HMV's 2 for £25

[mattyl149]

Originally Posted by BigNickUK

In HMV's 2 for £25

I would've got this with Terror Train, but I'd picked that up last Wednesday. There was another item I did get which was Diego which I hadn't even realised was in the 2 for £25 offer until I got home. Upon checking the receipt, it hadn't gone through with the discount, so I'll have to go back. I thought it would've been automatically discounted

[KJones77]

Nick Wrigley hates the transfer:

Was hoping this might look better than a compromised, 15yo-looking transfer riddled with speckle and all the grain structure of an uprezzed SD master —but it doesn’t. Does the neg survive and, if so, where is it?

Definitely one of the worst-looking Blu-rays I’ve seen in the last decade, which isn’t saying much because I don’t normally buy bad ones, but this feels like it shouldn’t have been released at all. The format is capable of much more than this.

https://twitter.com/shittydeath/stat...367739392?s=19

Any truth to this or is he overstating how bad it looks?

[rip63]

I don't know about the rest of the new transfer, but wasn't this film intentionally shot with subdued, almost drained colour and then later transferred using the old three-strip process? That's how the Twilight Time release looks.

[Modman]

Originally Posted by rip63

I don't know about the rest of the new transfer, but wasn't this film intentionally shot with subdued, almost drained colour and then later transferred using the old three-strip process? That's how the Twilight Time release looks.

The TT release included the featurette A Bleached Whale - Recreating the Unique Colour of Moby Dick where they talk about recreating the original muted look and the Studio Canal release includes the same featurette so i can only assume the release uses the same transfer? (maybe slightly tweaked)

[starbuck9]

Originally Posted by Modman

The TT release included the featurette A Bleached Whale - Recreating the Unique Colour of Moby Dick where they talk about recreating the original muted look and the Studio Canal release includes the same featurette so i can only assume the release uses the same transfer? (maybe slightly tweaked)

I have now done several comparisons direct ripped from the disc of the Bleached Whale restoration featurette and the actual Studio Canal movie and one comparing to a Twilight Time screencap from DVDBeaver, and I can confirm the Studio Canal is a completely unrestored copy, probably the same as the Australian disc. So either it is incompetence and they put the wrong master on by mistake, or incompetence or deviousness in putting the restoration documentary on but including a completely different master. I tried to post my comparison links but unfortunately they have not yet been approved by mods.

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by rip63

I don't know about the rest of the new transfer, but wasn't this film intentionally shot with subdued, almost drained colour and then later transferred using the old three-strip process? That's how the Twilight Time release looks.

The subdued colour was obtained through process work on a limited number of prints. I saw the film on first release but I think all UK prints had normal colour. I don't think anyone knows exactly what those subdued prints looked like. The TT is an approximation of what they may have looked like but that, and the Studio Canal version, don't look great.