Pre-Order Foul Play (1978) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[David Norman]

Multiple people in the thread already said they though it was.

The folks with positive reactions to the BD seem to far outnumber those who don't like it (here and elsewhere).

 

[Worth]

I've had the DVD of "Foul Play" for years and just watched it about a year ago and thought it looked pretty good upscaled on my 4K Sony TV. Is the Blu Ray a huge improvement over the DVD?

There's no question the blu-ray is superior to the DVD. The DVD also had excessive DNR. It's just disappointing because the blu could have easily been much better.

 

[Garysb]

That's a very good question, Sam.

With almost all these films we get on Blu-ray the transfer is pretty damn good and then they include a trailer that just looks a mess.

With that in mind, I really don't think there has been any effort to preserve movie trailers and this is the first time in my long history as a collector that I have heard anyone bring that topic up. Congrats! But, really, it's an interesting question.

Could it be that trailers aren't restored because they can't be protected by copywrite and are therefore in public domain? I know there have been many documentaries where clips from trailers are used because the makers ether couldn't afford or were refused licensed clips. There is usually a disclaimer stating the clip is from a trailer.

Update. Apparently I am incorrect. Trailers can be subject to copywrite . Its just that since they are promotional the owners don't enforce their rights or give their rights for free. From the internet:

Copyright for movie trailers is exactly the same as the copyright for movies, it is held by the copyright owner. Copyright owners are, however, far more interested in licensing movie trailers for the low, low price of 'free'.

I guess the fact that trailers don't generate income is a reason not to spend money on restoration.

 

[Tino]

I've had the DVD of "Foul Play" for years and just watched it about a year ago and thought it looked pretty good upscaled on my 4K Sony TV. Is the Blu Ray a huge improvement over the DVD?

Yes Imo.

 

[Sam Favate]

I've had the DVD of "Foul Play" for years and just watched it about a year ago and thought it looked pretty good upscaled on my 4K Sony TV. Is the Blu Ray a huge improvement over the DVD?

As someone who owns both, I’d say yes.

 

[lark144]

That’s too bad because one person said what you wanted to hear you are denying yourself the movie.
Everyone else says it looks just fine.

It’s $14. Just buy it and enjoy it.

Tony, with all due respect, it's not just "one" review.

It's a review by someone that I've read over time and whose opinion, as far as technical matters are concerned, I trust, reinforced by a poster here that I also trust.

It's not about whether the Blu-Ray looks "good" or not, it's whether or not it has had DNR applied.

I'm sure it looks fine, and perfectly watchable, and better than anyone here expected, but as far as I'm concerned, and as I explained, I want this film to look EXACTLY the way it did in a theatre the first time I saw it, and that means film grain, NOT DNR. I want the images to have depth. It's the way it looked AS FILM that interests me. I used to collect prints. I screened this film many times when it was new, and I want it to look the same, NOT PRISTINE, NOT CLEANED UP, but a bit grainy, like a 35mm release print ca. 1979.

I'm not criticizing your view of the Blu-Ray, for your purposes I'm sure it looks really good.

I'm not saying it's "bad" or unwatchable.

It's just for me, IT HAS to look the way it did when I saw it for the first time, that is, like FILM.

I bought the Blu-Ray of "THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE" a few years back and I hated it. It doesn't look like film. There's no grain or depth of field or sense of reality about it. It's no longer the film I saw many times in a theater when I was growing up. I threw the disc away. And I have a feeling "Foul Play" has a lot more DNR, and is a lot more electronic looking then "Liberty Valance" was.

So, though I thank you for your recommendation, and your post, I think I'm going to pass on this

 

[TonyD]

Tony, with all due respect, it's not just "one" review.
"

So, though I thank you for your recommendation, and your post, I think I'm going to pass on this

 

[Malcolm R]

Wait! I think you spell that word with a hyphen.

I think it was the Scrabble ladies that stole the film.

I had never seen this film, but the disc was pretty reasonably priced and folks around here talked it up so I made a blind buy. Very fun film. I've never been a big fan of Chevy Chase, or films of the 70's in general, so may have overlooked this in prior years (I would have been too young at the time to be aware of it when it was in theaters). Great cast and old-fashioned car chases with actual cars ("Far out!"). Also loved the snake "laugh" when the macguffin cigarette pack goes up in flames (at least I think it was supposed to be a laugh?).

I thought the disc looked fine on my projector and was rather impressed considering this is a 70's film, a time when most every film seems to have that dim, dingy, grungy look (one of the reasons I don't care for many of the films of that decade). There were a few softer shots, but it was mostly very nice looking. As noted, I have no idea what it looked like in theaters, but it's hard for me to imagine it looked much better than this given the technology of the time.

So many great scenes and lines, I need to watch it again.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I bought the Blu-Ray of "THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE" a few years back and I hated it. It doesn't look like film. There's no grain or depth of field or sense of reality about it. It's no longer the film I saw many times in a theater when I was growing up. I threw the disc away. And I have a feeling "Foul Play" has a lot more DNR, and is a lot more electronic looking then "Liberty Valance" was.

At least we're getting a new 4K of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Wait! I think you spell that word with a hyphen.

I think it was the Scrabble ladies that stole the film.

I had never seen this film, but the disc was pretty reasonably priced and folks around here talked it up so I made a blind buy. Very fun film. I've never been a big fan of Chevy Chase, or films of the 70's in general, so may have overlooked this in prior years (I would have been too young at the time to be aware of it when it was in theaters). Great cast and old-fashioned car chases with actual cars ("Far out!"). Also loved the snake "laugh" when the macguffin cigarette pack goes up in flames (at least I think it was supposed to be a laugh?).

I thought the disc looked fine on my projector and was rather impressed considering this is a 70's film, a time when most every film seems to have that dim, dingy, grungy look (one of the reasons I don't care for many of the films of that decade). There were a few softer shots, but it was mostly very nice looking. As noted, I have no idea what it looked like in theaters, but it's hard for me to imagine it looked much better than this given the technology of the time.

So many great scenes and lines, I need to watch it again.

Wow, Malcolm! It really put a smile on my face that you discovered this film that you never had seen through the forum, took the chance, and enjoyed it.

And the disc transfer does look quite good, but I respect anyone that wants to hold on to their memories of a specific presentation.

 

[Justin Ray]

Wow, Malcolm! It really put a smile on my face that you discovered this film that you never had seen through the forum, took the chance, and enjoyed it.

And the disc transfer does look quite good, but I respect anyone that wants to hold on to their memories of a specific presentation.

Guess you could say Malcolm was “ready to take a chance… again”

 

[Malcolm R]

Guess you could say Malcolm was “ready to take a chance… again”

Just let me spiff up my swingin' pad before anyone comes over.

 

[lark144]

At least we're getting a new 4K of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance?

That what they advertise. Since it's Paramount Presents, I expect it to be a new scan. I'm planning on getting it, but will wait for reviews. The last time i saw in in 35mm, at MOMA, I think, back in the 1970's, it was really luminous, with a richness to both the blacks and whites that took the film to a whole other realm, and transformed those standing sets into something magical, a very Fordian once upon a time, which made me realize how great the film really was. I haven't seen a decent version of it since, but I'm hopeful.

 

[bujaki]

That what they advertise. Since it's Paramount Presents, I expect it to be a new scan. I'm planning on getting it, but will wait for reviews. The last time i saw in in 35mm, at MOMA, I think, back in the 1970's, it was really luminous, with a richness to both the blacks and whites that took the film to a whole other realm, and transformed those standing sets into something magical, a very Fordian once upon a time, which made me realize how great the film really was. I haven't seen a decent version of it since, but I'm hopeful.

That show might have been during the Ford retrospective in 1976. What a glorious time!

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

My copy arrived recently and I watched it for the first time and really enjoyed it. I immediately put on Seems Like Old Times, which made for a great double bill. I think I like Seems Like Old Times more but I am glad I picked this one up!

 

[lark144]

That show might have been during the Ford retrospective in 1976. What a glorious time!

I can't remember if it was the Paramount retro in the summer of 1972 or the Ford in '76. But the quality of the blacks and whites have stayed with me all these years.

Previously, I had thought "Liberty Valance" was entertaining but minor Ford. But because of that print, the clarity of it, and the intensity of the tones, my views changed. Those pools of darkness the characters came out of, only to be swallowed by them again soon after, like a harbinger of defeat, with an undertone of regret. Those faces, the creases in them, the way torches or candlelight shifted upon them. We now think of Ford as the poet of Monument Valley, but it was in the studio, using the play of shadows he got from Murnau where Ford really excelled. Think "Three Sons" or "The Informer", and here it was again, deeper and more poignant than I could possible imagine, all the way to the end, that last image of the smoke coming from the engine of the train as it rounded a bend, slowly dissolving over a landscape deep with the taint of memory, and the measure of a man's life, and then the words, "The End" superimposed over it, and I realized I had seen a masterpiece.

 

[bujaki]

I can't remember if it was the Paramount retro in the summer of 1972 or the Ford in '76. But the quality of the blacks and whites have stayed with me all these years.

Previously, I had thought "Liberty Valance" was entertaining but minor Ford. But because of that print, the clarity of it, and the intensity of the tones, my views changed. Those pools of darkness the characters came out of, only to be swallowed by them again soon after, like a harbinger of defeat, with an undertone of regret. Those faces, the creases in them, the way torches or candlelight shifted upon them. We now think of Ford as the poet of Monument Valley, but it was in the studio, using the play of shadows he got from Murnau where Ford really excelled. Think "Three Sons" or "The Informer", and here it was again, deeper and more poignant than I could possible imagine, all the way to the end, that last image of the smoke coming from the engine of the train as it rounded a bend, slowly dissolving over a landscape deep with the taint of memory, and the measure of a man's life, and then the words, "The End" superimposed over it, and I realized I had seen a masterpiece.

I'm calling a Foul Play here! It's Four Sons, not Three.

 

[lark144]

I'm calling a Foul Play here! It's Four Sons, not Three.

Ah, sweet memory! Apparently one of them got lost.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

I watched this movie for the first time tonight and enjoyed it, but the frozen grain is apparent right from the start with the Paramount logo. There's a good transfer somewhere in here but something must have gone wrong.

 

[JPCinema]

Foul Play HD now available to stream on iTunes and Vudu