Conquest of Space (1955) coming 12/2

[John_Drake]

Byron Haskin's entertaining film is Conquest of Space is being released in a limited edition by Endless Classics in Germany on December 2.



Details have yet to be announced.

[bellyflop]

My copy was posted today to the UK by Amazon Germany.

[Aclea]

They've also released Pal's Atlantis, The Lost Continent, but sadly that's an obvious but mostly decent upscale taken from what looks like a PD print in good condition with the MGM logo removed. It's not terrible once it gets past the very soft prologue but it is fairly inconsistent and fares better on medium shots and closeups than long shots.

[John_Drake]

Disappointing--and yet still better than MGM's DVD-R I suppose.

[John_Drake]

Can anyone comment on the quality of this disc?
Aclea?

[Paul Tilburgs]

It looked very nice to me.

[Monroville]

I have the blu-ray and it is I would say about 90% true HD. There are a few processed shots that are a bit fuzzy (the majority are a few shots while they are on Mars), but overall I would say that it is a good transfer (some grain and good detail, so no heavy DNR like the THIS ISLAND EARTH release).

[BillMasen]

It looks great - Of note, the Paramount logo itself is missing at the beginning and the end (though the music exists against blackness), but the color and the resolution are terrific. Notable for sci-fi buffs is that the earth (with "The Wheel") in space - had never been seen by human eyes before, when the film was made - and look just like images from space really look. The film was shot in three strip Technicolor - one of the last before the conversion to Eastman monopack - and the saturation is beautiful. The registration is excellent too, though obtained from three records. The film is 1.78 - 1, and may be the premiere presentation of the film as widescreen in home video. It's not a perfect film, Producer Pal had a lot of trouble getting it made, and it went through many script revisions, mostly at the expense of any real star in the cast. Unfortunately the script is still problematic, with a Brooklyn idiot-mechanic, a carry-over from "Destination Moon" (this time played by Phil Foster), and an obnoxious Irish mother hen-astronaut, played by Mickey Shaughnessy, who will delightfully fall to his death from a bat guano bucket over the Grand Canyon in "Edge of Eternity" (just now available from Twilight Time). A trivia note is that Walter Brooke - the relentless pain-in-the-butt father of the other lead, Eric Fleming - made his mark on cinema history by uttering the word "plastics" to Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate". Fleming himself died tragically by drowning while making a movie in the early sixties

There are some imperfection issues - holdout mattes on The Wheel flicker and various rotoscopes are sometimes ragged - but the film is very imaginative, a final Paramount tribute to George Pal, the father of modern science fiction movies. And for those that love his masterpiece "The War of the Worlds", this film reunites not only Pal, but his director Byron Haskin, and the great Paramount effects team, including the amazing space artist, Chesley Bonestell, one of the actual authors of the book on which the movie was based.

[Simon Lewis]

Ordered my copy, cant wait for this.

[Professor Echo]

Are there any extras on this Blu?

[surfinhank]

DVD Beaver review:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...ce_blu-ray.htm

[Member-320773]

Originally Posted by BillMasen

The film is 1.78 - 1, and may be the premiere presentation of the film as widescreen in home video.

The US DVD release from Paramount is widescreen 1.78:1.

The back of the German Blu-ray however says erroneously 1.33:1.

The film looks fine on Blu-ray, as others have stated. However, it has dated badly IMO. The main characters really behave stupidly and it's hard to believe these are the pioneers to conquer space with. It somewhat sucked the joy out of watching the move for me. I know George Pal didn't wanted to go in that direction but after some time I desperately was looking for a space monster to pop up and go after the crew.

[DaViD Boulet]

Is the Imprint version really Region B? Any "best" way for a US-based consumer to order?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f_=as_li_ss_tl

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Is the Imprint version really Region B? Any "best" way for a US-based consumer to order?

All the Imprint discs are region free, you can order with confidence there.

The best Imprint prices tend to be from Deepdiscount, especially when they have a 10%-15% off coupon and you can get them under $30. For some titles like CONQUEST OF SPACE, there are some Amazon 3rd party sellers there (scroll down) selling in the $30ish ballpark, Deepdiscount included.

[T. Warren Scollan]

Amazingly, the outer packaging is specifically marked region "2" and "B" and the DVD is specifically marked region "2" while the Blu-ray is specifically marked region "B". But it's all region free! However, watch out as the DVD is Pal.