Old films on Blu-ray

[Queneau]

I read yesterday that Chaplin's films The Kid and The Great Dictator are getting a Blu-ray release tomorrow. Now, I'm a massive fan of his films and have his collection on DVD. However, it still looks likely that I might buy these Blu-rays, and I'm not even sure why. Do films of that age (The Kid was made in 1921) look noticeably different on Blu-ray?

EDIT: Sorry, this was meant for Picture Box.

[Slaaaaabs]

iMDB says it was filmed on 35mm so by rights it should be possible to scan at a resolution far greater than Blu-ray's 1080p. The quality of the master they use is the bigger factor I believe, and if they try and fanny about with post-processing filters like noise reduction or edge enhancement.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Older films generally don't look as striking on Blu-Ray as more recent films (presumably to do with the quality of the masters), but there is definitely still a difference.  I rented Fritz Lang's M on Blu-ray, and it looked nice, but not as nice as The Third Man.  The Battle of Britain and The Ipcress File both looked nice as well, but not as nice as I expected - they look much flatter than films made in the last ten years.  I don't really know much about quality of film stock, colour technology etc over the years, but I assume it's as much to do with that as anything.

(A friend of mine insisted that Michael Caine was wearing lipstick in Ipcress File.)

[biggytitbo]

It entirely depends on the film. The Italian Job from 1969 is crystal clear in HD, whereas Baron Munchhausen from 20 years later is noise-o-vision.

[Blumf]

whereas Baron Munchhausen from 20 years later is noise-o-vision.

Not just me who's disappointed with that transfer then. It looks to me like a very shoddy encoding rather than a problem with the original film stock though.

I rented Fritz Lang's M on Blu-ray, and it looked nice, but not as nice as The Third Man.

IIRC M was shot on some odd, almost 1:1 ratio film stock (ah, IMDB says 1.20:1), did the BR version have the entire frame scanned?

[mobias]

I bought the Blu-ray version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind a few months ago a thought it was a bit of a waste of money, better than the DVD version but not worth £30.  I decided after that that I would only buy films that I know have an amazing transfer or that were shot digitally in the first place. Danny Boyle's Sunshine is amazing in high def, well and truly made for the format. The only reason I can see for going out and buying older films on Blu-ray  is if you have a serious home cinema set up and want all the extra sound quality Blu-ray can bring.

[TotalNightmare]

A few Disney classics are AMAZING in BluRay... The most striking example i can think of at the moment is the famous PInk Elephants sequence in Dumbo.

Its truly fantastic when you see it in HD - the colours and bizarre imagery literally pops out from the screen.. bright neons on a black background...

Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are also stunning to watch. Disney REALLY put the time in on remastering their classics - and a wealth of great extras too.

[SavageHedgehog]

Aren't the Disney films quite heavily tampered with though? I've heard that one of the surviving nine old men (surviving at the time of the quote anyway) said about one remastered film "that looked very nice, but those weren't the colours we used". Still I have seen the remastered versions of Sleeping Beauty and Dumbo and revisionist or not they do look amazing.

On the subject of men wearing lipstick in 60s spy films, I've also heard the Blu-Ray of From Russia With Love reveals Connery's secret indulgence

[Queneau]

Thanks for the various comments here.

but not as nice as The Third Man.

I didn't know that was even on Blu-ray. I've just had a look around online, is it only available from America?

[Santa's Boyfriend]

No, I rented it from Lovefilm.  It's here on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Masters-Cinema-Blu-ray-Peter-Lorre/dp/B0030GBSSY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1273514759&sr=1-2

(Will the affiliates scheme work if you click and buy through this link?)

As far as I remember it was in a 4:3-ish ratio.

[wasp_f15ting]

Like others have said it all depends on the transfer. I have got in a few criterion releases and they are bloody amazing.

If you haven't seen Kubricks 2001 on Blu-ray I highly reccomend that. This film alone shows how much of an OCD fuck up Kubrick must have been to make something as stunning.
Even now there are only a handful of films which match the film quality of this epic.

I got belle de jour on blu-ray and its poo.. £25.00 too. I need to get on this lovefilm malarchy to weed out the shitters.

[mcbpete]

2001: A Space Odyssey on Blu Ray is absolutely stunning. I guess digitising the massive 70mm print helped somewhat to the image quality !

EDIT: Damnit Mr.F15ting got there first ....

[mobias]

2001: A Space Odyssey on Blu Ray is absolutely stunning. I guess digitising the massive 70mm print helped somewhat to the image quality !

2001 was scanned with the same high resolution film scanner as Baraka, which is the only other 70mm film to be transferred to Blu-ray at maximum resolution. There's only one scanner is the world capable of doing it and it was built specially for getting Baraka onto Blu-ray. The finished RAW file of the entire scan was apparently 30TB  in size.

If you haven't seen Baraka on Blu-ray on a big high def TV you're really missing out. Its truly jaw dropping. 

[Queneau]

I got belle de jour on blu-ray and its poo.. £25.00 too.

It was £22.06 for both of the Chaplin titles I just ordered. They have a wealth of extras too (though, it looks like they are the same as the ones on the two disc MK2 DVD releases).

[Delete Delete Delete]

It was £22.06 for both of the Chaplin titles I just ordered. They have a wealth of extras too (though, it looks like they are the same as the ones on the two disc MK2 DVD releases).

Those MK" DVDs are great, i got them all for about a tenner, one of the best purchases i've ever made there.

[Queneau]

Those MK" DVDs are great, i got them all for about a tenner, one of the best purchases i've ever made there.

All? Do you literally mean all of them for a tenner, or is that the individual price you got them at? I paid a fair amount for the boxset when it first came out. When Zavvi went bust a while back my friend picked it up for under £30. That is unbelievably great value.

[Delete Delete Delete]

All? Do you literally mean all of them for a tenner, or is that the individual price you got them at? I paid a fair amount for the boxset when it first came out. When Zavvi went bust a while back my friend picked it up for under £30. That is unbelievably great value.

A fiver each for the two smaller boxsets. Needless to say the shop I got them at dosn't exsit now. Can't rember what it was called though.

[Queneau]

A fiver each for the two smaller boxsets. Needless to say the shop I got them at dosn't exsit now. Can't rember what it was called though.

Blimey. I'd have bought many many copies.

[Delete Delete Delete]

Think the shop was called MVC. Also got Differetn Seasons by Stephen king for a £1 brand new there.

[mcbpete]

If you haven't seen Baraka on Blu-ray on a big high def TV you're really missing out. Its truly jaw dropping. 

I've been meaning to get that for a while now. I'm a big fan of the Qatsi trilogy (oddly the most recent one from a few years ago has dated the quickest !) so I have no idea why I haven't picket up a copy !

Oh my, Koyaanisqatsi on Blu-Ray would be incredible ....

[mobias]

I've been meaning to get that for a while now. I'm a big fan of the Qatsi trilogy (oddly the most recent one from a few years ago has dated the quickest !) so I have no idea why I haven't picket up a copy !

Definitely give it a go. I got my copy brand new and quite cheaply off ebay. Roger Ebert described the Blu-ray version of Baraka as  "the finest video disc I have ever viewed or ever imagined."

Apparently they're making a sequel to Baraka at the moment entitled 'Samsara' 

[Glebe]

Just watched One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest on Blu the other day. Lovely, detailed picture. 2001 looks unreal on Blu-ray, I don't think they did any Digital Noise Reduction (which I hate) on it, but it's an incredibly clean, clear transfer.

[wasp_f15ting]

This thread is bloody great. Keep the recommendation coming.

Chunking Express is a gorgeous blu-ray. The artificial eye release is £10.00 in HMV and 8 quid online.

Cheers for the info on Space Odyssey I knew it must have had something about it.

Here is a list for us to keep an eye out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_70_mm_films

I am gushing to think what Lawrence of Arabia will look like on Blu-ray..

Das Boot is something to look forward to..

Has anyone heard anything about War & Peace the Russian epic coming on Blu-ray? I remember reading about it a while back and now see it is on the 70mm list.. 

[El Unicornio, mang]

They did a pretty recent restoration of all the Bond films, and apparently they look awesome on Blu-Ray. Ditto the Godfather trilogy.

This site http://www.blubeaver.ca/ is probably the best around, it gives very detailed information about the technical aspects of the Blu-Ray, and screenshot comparisons between different formats such as "US Blu Ray vs. Dutch Blu Ray vs. Japanese DVD vs. UK DVD vs. UK special Edition DVD", etc. It's actually quite alarming though that different versions can vary wildly, not only in picture quality, but in framing, brightness and color filtering. The recent Withnail & I Blu Ray, for instance, has a really odd green tint to it:





It's a Wonderful Life is a good example of an old film that looks good on Blu-Ray, and that site has screenshot comparisons for six different versions

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare/wonderfullife.htm

[Glebe]

Chunking Express is a gorgeous blu-ray.

Been wanting to check the film out for a long time, the BD is definitely on my hit list.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I have to concur with both 2001 and Baraka, both look absolutely stunning on Blu-Ray.  In fact in 2001 you can actually see the paintbrush marks on the painted backdrops in the Dawn of Man sequences.  (It doesn't detract in my opinion.)

The Ghostbusters transfer is fairly poor I thought, but most films I've seen have had pretty good transfers.  Master and Commander had a huge amount of ghosting in it, but that might have been a fault on the disc I rented - it looked pretty dirty.

Films I'm looking forward to revisiting on Blu-Ray (off the top of my head):  Akira, Get Carter, Taxi Driver, Schindler's List, Seven Samurai, The Wicker Man.

I'd love to see a high-res version of Mick Jackson's Threads, but I seriously doubt that'd ever happen.

[An tSaoi]

Das Boot is something to look forward to.

Was the picture quality on Das Boot ever that good? It's the only fault I have with the film.

[Queneau]

See I've been putting off buying the 2001 Blu-ray, my reason being that the DVD is stunning enough - and I'm more than content watching that. Now it looks like I'll go for it. This is getting expensive. Close the thread!

Actually, £8.99 on Play and HMV isn't that bad.

[batwings]

They did a pretty recent restoration of all the Bond films, and apparently they look awesome on Blu-Ray.

I've seen Dr No and From Russia With Love and they both look amazing.

[Queneau]

http://www.blubeaver.ca/

That site is brilliant. Thanks.