The Black Stallion

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by widegambler2012

The not so good news is that it has no special features outside of the theatrical trailer.

No surprise. Unless we're talking Criterion or a major release like Star Wars, the studios aren't spending money producing supplemental content for older titles. They'll rehash DVD extras, but that's about it. Sad, but true, sign of the times. We're lucky to be getting these discs in Blu-Ray at all the way things are going.

Good to hear the transfer is good. The MGM HD print looked great, I'm sure this is solid also.

[MattGuyOR]

Just watched it. Lovely as always. The picture quality is a strong 4/5. Some heavy grain in sections, but that's just due to the original photography and use of natural light. Many shots are simply stunning.

I heard some echoing of voices at times in the second half, not sure why that was. The music sounded good, though. 3.5/5 for the sound.

Great overall, though. A must buy.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

No surprise. Unless we're talking Criterion or a major release like Star Wars, the studios aren't spending money producing supplemental content for older titles. They'll rehash DVD extras, but that's about it. Sad, but true, sign of the times. We're lucky to be getting these discs in Blu-Ray at all the way things are going.

Good to hear the transfer is good. The MGM HD print looked great, I'm sure this is solid also.

Shout/Scream Factory disagrees with that statement.

[shamus]

Originally Posted by rickah88

Shout/Scream Factory disagrees with that statement.

but shout/scream isnt charging $8.99 for their movies

[Buffalobison]

Originally Posted by MattGuyOR

Just watched it. Lovely as always. The picture quality is a strong 4/5. Some heavy grain in sections, but that's just due to the original photography and use of natural light. Many shots are simply stunning.

I heard some echoing of voices at times in the second half, not sure why that was. The music sounded good, though. 3.5/5 for the sound.

Great overall, though. A must buy.

Yes, I just watched it last night, too, and agree with your comments. I picked up some of the voice echo here and there, too, but it wasn't a major distraction.

I was really expecting to be blown away by the PQ in the island scenes, but it turned out that the image in the 2nd half of the film was possibly more impressive. Part of that is just that the island scenes are more stark - a boy and a horse on a rocky, sandy island.

And sparse extras (the trailer, direct play), but, yep, overall a keeper for the movie itself. Ballard's visual storytelling is so great in this film. That wonderful stretch on the island where nothing is said is just about perfect, but really the whole film is a great lesson in keeping dialogue to a minimum.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by shamus

but shout/scream isnt charging $8.99 for their movies

Yeeeeah, and we all should know by now you get what you pay for.
So I really don't know what your post has to do with my comment about "Criterion or SW" being the only releases with extras nowadays.

[MattGuyOR]

Originally Posted by Buffalobison

Yes, I just watched it last night, too, and agree with your comments. I picked up some of the voice echo here and there, too, but it wasn't a major distraction.

I was really expecting to be blown away by the PQ in the island scenes, but it turned out that the image in the 2nd half of the film was possibly more impressive. Part of that is just that the island scenes are more stark - a boy and a horse on a rocky, sandy island.

And sparse extras (the trailer, direct play), but, yep, overall a keeper for the movie itself. Ballard's visual storytelling is so great in this film. That wonderful stretch on the island where nothing is said is just about perfect, but really the whole film is a great lesson in keeping dialogue to a minimum.

Yeah, maybe the natural lighting or the elements from shooting in that environment had something to do with it.

I was shocked the island scene was so much shorter than I remembered it. It really is like 25 minutes from landing until he's swimming in that one scene (don't want to reveal too much).

I wish it was much longer, actually. It was poetry.

[shamus]

review up!

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-B.../94109/#Review

[tenia]

Originally Posted by ArnoldLayne56

Thank god for the direct play!

I love having the movie starting before I'm able to select the proper audio and subs...

[Sheriff Hobbes]

Can anyone confirm that the Audio entries on this site are correct?
They state among others German: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono, but when I look at the picture of the back cover, only English, Spanish and French are mentioned.
Thanks!

[Supermartyoh]

Anyone notice a pitch issue on the English 5.1 track? It sounds like they used a sped up PAL source but stretched it back to 24fps NTSC without pitch correction, resulting in vocals and music that sound "strained". Oddly enough, the Foreign dubs are in the correct pitch.

While some say the Criterion DVD & BD release (that came out one year after MGM's BD) is kinda redundant, the transfer is a little better and the 2.0 LPCM stereo is miles ahead of this 5.1 hack job!