What Blu-Ray did you watch last night?

[Graham Ritchie]

I agree Ed its not aged well like a few others from that era, if I remember right the 35mm feature cinema run came out before the TV series.

Interesting enough Doug the blu-ray does say English DTS-HD Master Audio 2:1 with Sensurround, in saying that the Yamaha amp only played it at DTS 5:1 and in saying that, what I heard a mono track would have been just as good . Interesting enough, we had a number of amps that were once used at that time to give that Sensurround which originated from cinemas that used them for that effect in NZ. They must have bought them second hand when Movieland opened. They were really nice high quality amps, I think each had a rating of 750 watts. I should have bought some them when the place closed, they were going for less than a couple of hundred dollars each.

[Ed Gordon]

I enjoyed the original Battlestar Galactica TV Series, but it has not aged well. The 2004 - 2009 TV series was superior in many ways, albeit very dark.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Graham,

Did you have someone come by to shake your chair to approximate that Sensurround feeling?

[Graham Ritchie]

Tonight it was a blast from the past, I still remember going to the cinema when it first came out, the years all 45 of them has certainly passed quickly. The blu-ray image and sound are both very good with a running time of 2hrs 5 minutes, if you like being time warped back to the 70s like I did tonight, it does make for a good nights entertainment. Projected using the Epson VP. I notice the 4K version for sale at the moment. I have no idea if its better than the Standard blu-ray I watched tonight, anyone watched the 4K?

[Steve Klare]

There's No Business like Show Business!

1954, Ethel Merman, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor

We're kind of big on the Golden Era Hollywood musicals here, so I picked up the disk for There's No Business like Show Business and we watched it for the first time tonight.

It's a Big Movie, so we let it get a Big Movie presentation: a couple of trailers and a cartoon before we roiled the feature. (-all Super-8)

It gave me some technical angst! I was back at the audio controls and I heard popping in the speakers!
-not cool: I just replaced some cabling to avoid that exact kind of thing!

(It's OK: on-screen they were tap-dancing!)😀

[Mike Newell]

Breakheart Express Great Western with Charles Bronson supported by talented support cast. Brilliant soundtrack from Jerry Goldsmith with matches train action. A point of interest is that it was one of the few movies that featured Scott Newman son of Paul. He played the trooper who helped in the engine.

[Ken Finch]

I tend to agree with you Ed. I recently screened the dvd of Operation Mincemeat on my home cinema but felt there was too much talk. Ken Finch.

[Ed Gordon]

A very good film Graham. It was remade in 2021 as "Operation Mincemeat" The original, "The Man Who Never Was" remains the best.

Another interesting bit of trivia from IMDB:

Ian Fleming has been said to be the author of this operation which was detailed, and Fleming was given credit for, in the television mini-series Fleming (2014).

[Graham Ritchie]

This film caught my attention around twenty odd years ago, when we were invited to a 16mm Scope screening of the 1955 film "The Man Who Never Was", the print itself that I remember was in very good condition with no fade at all, watching it in Scope really added to the viewing experience that night.

Jump forward many years to tonight, and watching the blu-ray, not as good as the 16mm print that I remember, but it will have to do. The story itself is based on a true story, very well acted out and well worth watching.

[Ed Gordon]

Last evening I re-visited the iconic 1953 film Shane. The Technicolor production was filmed in 1951 in the standard 1.37 : 1 aspect ratio and monophonic sound. Paramount wasn't sure what to do with the film, and planed to release it as a "B" western. They tried to sell it to Howard Hughes, but he turned it down. When George Stevens completed a rough cut Howard Hughes changed his mind and offered to buy it from Paramount. Paramount declined and proceeded to premiere it at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Although the film was shot using the standard 1.37:1 Academy ratio, Paramount picked Shane to debut their new wide-screen system because it was composed largely of long and medium shots that would not be compromised by cropping the image. Using a newly cut aperture plate in the movie projector, and a wider-angle lens, the film was exhibited in first-run venues at an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. For its premier, the studio replaced the 34-by-25-foot screen in Radio City Music Hall with one measuring 50 feet wide by 30 feet high.[20][21] Paramount produced all of its subsequent films at that ratio until 1954, when they switched to 1.85:1.[11] Shane was originally released in April 1953 with a conventional optical soundtrack, but as its popularity grew, a new three-track, stereophonic soundtrack was recorded and played on an interlocking 35 mm magnetic reel in the projection booth.

Source: Wikipedia

The Bluray version sadly is presented in the original flat aspect ratio, but the 3 track stereo is preserved in the 5.1 audio track. The last time I watched Shane was on a 19" color TV screen, so seeing it on a big screen brought out details I had missed in previous viewings. As the films ends and Shane rides off, I noticed that he is suffering from the gunshot he took in the saloon fight. Apparently this has been a subject of debate since the film's premiere, and most believe he is riding off to avoid dying in little Joe's presence.

The IMDB article on the movies is full of interesting trivia such as:

In the funeral scene, the dog consistently refused to look into the grave. Finally, director George Stevens had the dog's trainer lie down in the bottom of the grave, and the dog played his part ably. The coffin (loaded with rocks for appropriate effect) was then lowered into the grave, but when the harmonica player began to play "Dixie" spontaneously, the crew was so moved by the scene that they began shoveling dirt into the grave before remembering the dog's trainer was still there.

Jack Palance had problems with his horse during filming. When Shane and Jack first look each other over at the Starrett Ranch, Palance was supposed to dismount for a minute, then remount his horse. He could not remount, so the director had Jack dismount his horse slowly, then ran the film in reverse for the remount.

Having witnessed during his WW2 service the profound effects a bullet could have on a man, realism was important to George Stevens during the making of the film. This therefore is one of the first movies to use stunt wires to pull the actors or stuntmen backwards to simulate when they've been shot.

The Bluray is available online now. Derann released a 6x400'Color, Magnetic Mono version of the film.

[Joerg Polzfusz]

The 3*120m version:
http://www.super8rezensionen.de/rezent190.htm

It was also sold by „Quelle“ under their „Revue“ label:
http://www.super8rezensionen.de/revzent78.htm

The trailer:
http://www.super8rezensionen.de/trailer93.htm

[Brian Fretwell]

I remember it having a German Super 8 release 3x400ft (?) and some did get dubbed into English.

[Graham Ritchie]

Saturday tonight at the movies with this one, I have to be in the right frame of mind to sit through 3hrs and 25min, tonight was one of them. Its been a while since I last watched the blu-ray, both picture and DTS 5:1 are excellent. In particular the sound, which is pretty amazing. I explosions through the speakers especially the sub-woofer is very very effective. Regarded as one of the best submarine films to come out, its highly recommend. I don't ever remember if it ever was released on Super 8 as either feature or digest, anyway that's tonight screening using the Epson VP.

[Graham Ritchie]

Tonight needs no introduction, screen shots taken tonight, hard to imagine its just over 40 years since we watched it at the cinema.

I mentioned a while ago about "Imprint" of Australia releasing a lot of blu-ray titles, well this link should give you an idea of some of the titles so far. I myself have about five Imprint titles, and the quality of the transfers so far have been very good.

[Graham Ritchie]

I usually only watch this one on New Years Eve, but tonight I thought I would make an exception of all the 1970s disaster films that came out, this one still sits at the top of my list, second is Airport 75. I never tire of watching it, its one of those films that have not aged at all. The cast, the story, all perfect in my book which makes a great nights viewing, tonight being one of them

Anyway here are a couple of previous screen shots, no need to take any new ones.