Gallipoli (1981)

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Watched this release last night. Old master, but better looking than the DVD for sure. I haven't watched this in a dogs age, but a really good film and glad it's finally on Blu-ray, but just don't expect this to be a stunner visually.

Hmm... I wonder how it will compare to the Aussie BD.

I'd hate for the 2015 Aussie BD to have superior image quality, while it also has the audio flaw.

[moviemaker]

My Paramount copy arrived today. Don't know when I'll have a chance to compare the actual film to the Aussie one, but it's nice that Paramount included 6 documentaries.

Here are some pix of the Australian and US editions side by side:

[Show spoiler]

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by moviemaker

My Paramount copy arrived today.

Same. Never seen the Aussie BD nor digital, but I’ve taken a quick peek and the source appears to be in solid shape so I’m certainly looking forward to revisiting for the first time since it screened theatrically.

[KevinStriker]

I found this movie on DVD for a toonie maybe a month before a North American Blu-ray was announced, go figure.
Good one to upgrade though, WWI is one of my favourite subjects and I've researched it for pleasure since I was in elementary school reading Horrible Histories. As far as I know, Gallipoli still remains a footnote in the public consciousness despite the brutal conditions there.

[James Luckard]

Got my disc from Amazon tonight.

Good news and bad news.

Good news:
- The audio doesn't seem to have the flaw the Aussie Fox disc did, crackle/distortion under the dialogue in certain scenes, like 32:50-33:25. Audio seems clean here.
- extras from the Paramount DVD ported over

Bad news:
- ancient HD transfer
- only 5.1 track. The Aussie had 5.1 and 2.0. That said, I don't know if the 2.0 on the Aussie disc was the original mono track, or a stereo remix. Either way, the awful audio flaw on the Aussie disc, which was present on both tracks, makes the audio on the Paramount disc vastly superior.

I don't currently have a functioning BD drive so I can't take comparison caps, but this looks relatively similar to the 2015 "remastered" BD from Fox Australia. That disc looked fine on my old TV, but on my current 4K OLED, the transfer's weaknesses show. It looks digital, it doesn't look at all like film.

The new Paramount disc also looks like a dated master.

Shame this hasn't ever had a proper restoration. I somehow thought the 2015 effort was that, but it clearly wasn't.

[Krynoid-Man]

Can anybody confirm if this is region free or not?

[quirkmanly]

Ok, three screenshots -- take these however you like. My observations are:

• Darkened
• Framing
• Saturation
• Sharpening

Screenshots, Australian release is first:

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

Listening with headphones, I'm going to stick my neck out and say the issue with the audio is still present. There is a static "crackle" detectable in some scenes which manifests itself on dialogue. I had to crank the volume, but it's more evident on certain words. In the conversation with the cattle driver, it is obvious at 37:10 ("German ally") and again at 37:15 ("Still, can't..."), and you can pick out other instances during that conversation too. It's absolutely not disastrous, but it is there.

Edit: I'm no longer convinced about the audio problem - it definitely is nowhere near as pronounced as the Australian disk. Probably a non-issue.

[peacekeeper]

They’re different transfers/masters, you can see it by the framing of shots, more info on all sides on the USA release. Color/saturation is also much better on the USA release.

[quirkmanly]

Originally Posted by Krynoid-Man

Can anybody confirm if this is region free or not?

It's locked.

[James Luckard]

Wow! The American disc does look a LOT better. Thanks for the caps!!!

The colors on the Aussie disc are truly hideous once you can compare caps directly.

The Aussie disc has a card at the beginning saying it was remastered by the National Film and Sound Archive. I can only imagine it was remastered from a laserdisc master or something. It doesn't look filmic at all.

The American disc is a very old master, probably the one created for the remastered Special Edition DVD in 2005:


Still, it definitely beats the Aussie disc.

That's good news for fans of the film. There's no need to pay a fortune for the Aussie disc anymore. It's entirely obsolete.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by quirkmanly

Listening with headphones, I'm going to stick my neck out and say the issue with the audio is still present. There is a static "crackle" detectable in some scenes which manifests itself on dialogue. I had to crank the volume, but it's more evident on certain words. In the conversation with the cattle driver, it is obvious at 37:10 ("German ally") and again at 37:15 ("Still, can't..."), and you can pick out other instances during that conversation too. It's absolutely not disastrous, but it is there.

I'll check them out again, but I A/B'd them with headphones.

The audio flaw on the Aussie disc is truly awful, but I didn't notice it on the American disc at all.

Maybe the flaw is somewhat inherent in the mix, and because it was so hideous on the Aussie disc, I didn't notice it on the American disc when I went back and forth.

I'll compare a few more scenes tonight at home and I'll check out the lines you mentioned.

I'll also pull out my old 2005 Paramount DVD and compare the audio there.

Do you have the Aussie BD too? Are you able to compare them and see how they sound side by side?

[jonathanjao]

Watched half of the new Paramount disc last night. It looks better than the Australian blu - the screencaps posted above accurately reflect the differences I saw. Color timing seems to me a lot better on this US disc. It's not perfect, but it's a real improvement, and a relief. And the movie gets better and more devastating on each re-watching.

[James Luckard]

I'm shocked by how atrocious the Aussie disc looks against the American disc in caps.

I truly believed they looked more alike. This just shows how misleading it can be to A/B discs when you have to switch them out and spend minutes sitting through forced menus, etc, before you can see the actual images side by side.

I assumed the negative was in Australia, because Rupert Murdoch and a partner financed the film directly, it didn't originate with Paramount. However, if that 2015 BD is the best they could do in Oz, and this 2005 master looks so much better, maybe Paramount has the negative.

I made an incorrect assumption about King Kong 1976, where Paramount turned out to have the negative there, even though it wasn't originally their film worldwide. Maybe this is the same. Paramount definitely seems to have this film in a lot of territories when I check the database for DVD releases here.

[quirkmanly]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I'll check them out again, but I A/B'd them with headphones.

The audio flaw on the Aussie disc is truly awful, but I didn't notice it on the American disc at all.

Maybe the flaw is somewhat inherent in the mix, and because it was so hideous on the Aussie disc, I didn't notice it on the American disc when I went back and forth.

I'll compare a few more scenes tonight at home and I'll check out the lines you mentioned.

I'll also pull out my old 2005 Paramount DVD and compare the audio there.

Do you have the Aussie BD too? Are you able to compare them and see how they sound side by side?

Yes. I will say that, having listened to it again, it's far less pronounced. Being honest, listening via my DAC and speakers, I'm not sure you would necessarily hear it if you weren't blaring the audio. I'm inclined to walk back on this.

Thanks!!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by quirkmanly

Yes. I will say that, having listened to it again, it's far less pronounced. Being honest, listening via my DAC and speakers, I'm not sure you would necessarily hear it if you weren't blaring the audio. I'm inclined to walk back on this.

Thanks!!

I'll still check it out tonight, to be sure I wasn't a bit off too.

I'm shocked by how different the transfers look, when I thought they looked similar.

I think I assumed they were the same just because they're similarly ancient and pixely, totally un-filmic. But the US disc does look miles better than the wretched Aussie disc once you see the caps.

[quirkmanly]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I'll still check it out tonight, to be sure I wasn't a bit off too.

I'm shocked by how different the transfers look, when I thought they looked similar.

I think I assumed they were the same just because they're similarly ancient and pixely, totally un-filmic. But the US disc does look miles better than the wretched Aussie disc once you see the caps.

I definitely prefer the saturation and the darkening of the overall picture, but as you say it's hardly the most exemplary source. There's some fringing that is not present on the Australian release, which is mostly evident in the desert scenes. I think certain scenes have definitely seen some sharpening.

[quirkmanly]

A couple more - Aussie release is first again.

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by quirkmanly

I definitely prefer the saturation and the darkening of the overall picture, but as you say it's hardly the most exemplary source. There's some fringing that is not present on the Australian release, which is mostly evident in the desert scenes. I think certain scenes have definitely seen some sharpening.

The colors look super wonky on the Aussie disc too in your cap of the pyramids. The faces have a reddish tinge and everything looks really off.

The Paramount looks a lot more natural. It's still a 2005 HD transfer, intended only for a DVD, but it's the best we have. Considering it took all these years for the film just to reach BD in the US, I doubt we'll ever see anything better, sadly.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by quirkmanly

A couple more - Aussie release is first again.

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

Yep, the Aussie disc definitely looks way too red.

I'm really grateful for these caps!

[Surge92]

Welp, I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon.