A PLEA FOR WARNER HOME VIDEO TO REVISIT CERTAIN BLU-RAY TITLES (1 Viewer)

[Nick*Z]

No one has more respect and admiration for the work and efforts Warner Home Video and, in more recent times, the Warner Archive (WAC) have committed to hi-def remastering of vintage deep catalog titles. Warner Home Video, as most of us know, continues to be a treasure trove of priceless entertainment, culled from their own, as well as the MGM and RKO studio catalogs. And while Warner’s efforts of the last decade or so speak to the highest level of quality afforded such movies in hi-def, there are a few early misfires in their mastering that behoove the studio, possibly, taking another look and stab at doing right by these releases. Titles listed below are just a sampling of movies, with major drawing power, that I believe ought to receive an upgrade.
1) Doctor Zhivago – a few years ago Zhivago was shown theatrically in a sparkling new restoration that unfortunately leaves its Blu-ray counterpart looking very much like the poor cousin. One of the crown jewels in Warner’s back...

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[willyTass]

Zhivago as a sparkling new restoration? That would be a sight for sore eyes with so much drivel being released on UHD 4k

but I guess we’ll have to wait for the tie in with the 2021 release of the Revisioned version of Doctor Zhivago starring Rami Malek as Yuri
and Kieran Shipka as Lara

 

[Alan Tully]

Yup, that's the trouble with famous & obvious film choices, they get released on Blu-ray first, & quite right too, but in the long term it becomes a bit counter-intuitive. As the years go on & the technology improves & the studios get better at scanning & all the other stuff involved in bringing these films to Blu-ray, it's the lesser known films that reap the benefit. Anyway, three obvious choices for me:

Mutiny On The Bounty (1962)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Where Eagles Dare (1969).

 

[Astairefan]

Personally, I'd throw in the likes of Gigi, which seemed to get decent reception at first, but has over time gotten poor reception here, and, for that reason (since I was late in the game switching to HD and Blu-ray), I haven't gotten it yet in the hopes of seeing it redone (and I've been surprised it got nothing in 2018 for its anniversary). Also, I recall seeing their 2015 releases of Anchors Aweigh and On The Town being poorly reviewed (and they must have sold poorly, too, otherwise why did those two end up being the last pre-1954 MGM musicals to come out on Blu-ray until last year's WAC release of Summer Stock).

 

[aPhil]

Revisit
Horror of Dracula

 

[Ed Lachmann]

Guess I just wish they'd "revisit" the hundreds of wonderful classic titles in blu-ray that they've left in low resolution SD hell first.

 

[Joel Arndt]

I'd add An American in Paris to this list. I believe further restoration was completed after the Blu-ray release.

 

[John Hermes]

Rio Bravo and The Searchers.

 

[Alan Tully]

Rio Bravo and The Searchers.

Yup, these two must be top of the list. Classic films that for me are just unwatchable.

 

[Robin9]

Yup, these two must be top of the list. Classic films that for me are just unwatchable.

I wish I'd kept my DVD of Rio Bravo.

 

[Worth]

Rio Bravo and The Searchers.

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with The Searchers? It was the first film I watched on blu-ray in 2007 or 2008 and I was blown away by how good it looked then, but that was a while ago and I'm not familiar with how the film is supposed to look.

 

[MLamarre]

I second The Wild Bunch as desperately needing a new release and add the following early format releases:

-Dark City (1998)
-The Dirty Dozen (1967)
-A History of Violence (2005)
-The Assassination of Jesse James (2007)

 

[Dave B Ferris]

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with The Searchers? It was the first film I watched on blu-ray in 2007 or 2008 and I was blown away by how good it looked then, but that was a while ago and I'm not familiar with how the film is supposed to look.

Too yellow, or too brown (or maybe both). There were lots of contentious threads here. I think at least one member was banned,

 

[John Hermes]

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with The Searchers? It was the first film I watched on blu-ray in 2007 or 2008 and I was blown away by how good it looked then, but that was a while ago and I'm not familiar with how the film is supposed to look.

It suffers from what RAH calls "yellow dye failure" in the original negative, which affects the color. The sharpness of the Blu-ray is out-of-this-world but the color needs a lot of modern digital tools to correct.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/site_archive/articles/robertharris/harris082106.html

 

[anorthosite]

Given the weak catalog classics market, it'd be surprising to see many re-dos for films that have had releases already owned by most of the consumers who care to have them. The best hope might be Criterion, which has done some re-dos, since Warner has licensed some films to them. I wonder how well the recent 2001 remaster did on Blu. I count myself lucky to have the Blus I've got.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Do they have the rights to the theatrical cut of Amadeus? If so, I'd like that on 4k UHD/Blu-ray alongside the Director's Cut.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I second the call for Warners to revisit Gigi. And I'd like them to cast an eye over the beautiful short features in their catalog. I've mentioned in another thread the most outstanding one due for Blu ray redemption -- the wonderful 1941 'Gay Parisian' ballet by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, directed by Jean Negulesco (whose credits include 'Daddy Long Legs'). This does exist in a good transfer on the Warner DVD of 'The Maltese Falcon'. It's also on the Blu ray of that title but the transfer was botched and it's unviewable.
A Blu ray sample from the best of the Warners short features would make a fabulous Archive disc, if the transfers were done with care.

 

[Peter McM]

I, myself would be perfectly happy with a better treatment of Blake Edwards' 10.

 

[JPCinema]

4K Grand Prix and 4K Mutiny on the Bounty ( 1962)

 

[FanboyZ]

Superman The Movie needs a better 4K edition.