Once Upon a Time in the West 4K UHD (1968)

[MifuneFan]

A couple weeks back, Kino's official Twitter account confirmed that Paramount will be releasing Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West on 4K for its 55th Anniversary!

This has been strongly suspected for a while now, and I also recently spotted a Paramount employee watching, and rating it on his Letterboxd account, which has happened leading up to eventual Paramount releases. Obviously this is Paramount, so we have to be cautiously optimistic here. I'll update the post once more details comes out.

Credit to MovieDood for the heads-up

[Geoff D]

oooh Spencer gonna have a field day

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

oooh Spencer gonna have a field day

[captainsolo]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

oooh Spencer gonna have a field day

You know me too well...I just captured the pan and scan LD analog mono to check out...

Originally Posted by Macatouille

Hell yes.
(Please God, don’t let Paramount screw this up.)

True, but it actually has been screwed up slightly ever since the 80's US reconstruction of the 165m cut. The end credits have completely wrong music.
That's the one error I keep hoping they'll fix and what should be done by Paramount this time around. But I'm sure they didn't and have no knowledge of this. Just like I'm sure it'll be the same lossy and somewhat noisy copy of the LD mono they've ported over to the DVD and BD. And like I'm sure there will be no sign of the alternate Italian cut that has never been released here.


With Kino handling this release I feel better than if Paramount was doing it themselves. Fingers crossed they didn't fubar the master before handing it off.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

And like I'm sure there will be no sign of the alternate Italian cut that has never been released here.

Paramount does not own the Italian cut and only controls distribution in most places. A firm called Euro International Films owns distribution rights in Italy and holds the OCN (which Paramount uses for constructing their restored international versions). The new 4k HDR restoration is of the 168 min cut and was carried out by Ritrovata (though Paramount handled the color grading).

[Macatouille]

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

Paramount does not own the Italian cut and only controls distribution in most places. A firm called Euro International Films owns distribution rights in Italy and holds the OCN (which Paramount uses for constructing their restored international versions). The new 4k HDR restoration is of the 168 min cut and was carried out by Ritrovata (though Paramount handled the color grading).

Well thank God for that.

[captainsolo]

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

Paramount does not own the Italian cut and only controls distribution in most places. A firm called Euro International Films owns distribution rights in Italy and holds the OCN (which Paramount uses for constructing their restored international versions). The new 4k HDR restoration is of the 168 min cut and was carried out by Ritrovata (though Paramount handled the color grading).

Yeah it’s always been right holders not agreeing or making deals with one another that have held up the Italian exclusive footage from appearing elsewhere. I’m happy it’s new work that has been done and when not doing their color tomfoolery Ritrovata can do well. Though if this is like when Kino stepped in on FAFDM we might see a few things pop up like hairs and frame wobble.

I always think with an archival dream mindset first and then remember all the practicalities. Hopefully someone will address the mono and fix the end music.
It would be cool if a featurette was included about the edits and release versions. In addition to the branching of the footage added back to the Blu-ray it would be super cool (and of course ultra nerdy) to somehow have a second branching option with and without the Harmonica rising scene.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

Yeah it’s always been right holders not agreeing or making deals with one another that have held up the Italian exclusive footage from appearing elsewhere. I’m happy it’s new work that has been done and when not doing their color tomfoolery Ritrovata can do well. Though if this is like when Kino stepped in on FAFDM we might see a few things pop up like hairs and frame wobble.

I always think with an archival dream mindset first and then remember all the practicalities. Hopefully someone will address the mono and fix the end music.
It would be cool if a featurette was included about the edits and release versions. In addition to the branching of the footage added back to the Blu-ray it would be super cool (and of course ultra nerdy) to somehow have a second branching option with and without the Harmonica rising scene.

As Paramount are allegedly releasing this then you can pretty much kiss the mono goodbye. Then again, even Kino would prolly stick a downmix of the 5.1 on there as the 'mono' and then tell you to **** off and don't buy it if you don't like it.

[The Rider]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

Yeah it’s always been right holders not agreeing or making deals with one another that have held up the Italian exclusive footage from appearing elsewhere. I’m happy it’s new work that has been done and when not doing their color tomfoolery Ritrovata can do well. Though if this is like when Kino stepped in on FAFDM we might see a few things pop up like hairs and frame wobble.

I always think with an archival dream mindset first and then remember all the practicalities. Hopefully someone will address the mono and fix the end music.
It would be cool if a featurette was included about the edits and release versions. In addition to the branching of the footage added back to the Blu-ray it would be super cool (and of course ultra nerdy) to somehow have a second branching option with and without the Harmonica rising scene.

What is the problem with the music at the end and is there a source here?

What does the correct music sound like?

[The Rider]

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

Paramount does not own the Italian cut and only controls distribution in most places. A firm called Euro International Films owns distribution rights in Italy and holds the OCN (which Paramount uses for constructing their restored international versions). The new 4k HDR restoration is of the 168 min cut and was carried out by Ritrovata (though Paramount handled the color grading).

I hope Paramount has done the colour grading. Unfortunately, Ritrovata always does a yellow or green tint in their colour grading, which is very ugly. Kino Lorber had to correct the colour grading of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

It would be nice if the colours of Once Upon a Time in the West resembled the Kino Lorber colour grading of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, it is perfect.

[bleakassassin]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

With Kino handling this release I feel better than if Paramount was doing it themselves. Fingers crossed they didn't fubar the master before handing it off.

[PullBackCamera]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

With Kino handling this release I feel better than if Paramount was doing it themselves.

All this fear of Paramount, yet I wouldn't be surprised if this release sends those raggedy SDR Kino discs packing.

[dunnbluray]

Kino's 4K releases haven't been including Italian audio as an option. An example is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The blu-ray included Italian and the 4K didn't.

If Paramount would include the Italian audio part of this release, I would rather have them release it.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by PullBackCamera

All this fear of Paramount, yet I wouldn't be surprised if this release sends those raggedy SDR Kino discs packing.

And all because the lady loves HDR?

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

.. I also recently spotted a Paramount employee watching, and rating it on his Letterboxd account, which has happened leading up to eventual Paramount releases.

Got a link?

[El Sleezo]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Got a link?

I was curious, so I found the official Paramount Letterboxd page, which gives all their new releases 5 stars along with the blurb you’d find on a sales page lol.

https://letterboxd.com/Paramount/

At the bottom it links to a team member who recently rated Once Upon this month.

[Bostonyte]

Saw the title and instant wood! After reading thread, like a wet noodle with no official date

[El Sleezo]

The official Paramount Letterboxd also rated There Will Be Blood 5 stars 3 days ago

Edit: maybe false alarm lol.

https://letterboxd.com/paramount/sto...5-years-later/

[Mister_Kidd]

My third favorite movie of all time. Day 1.

[Gacivory]

Fantastic!