Marx Bros on Blu-Ray

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Hard Panner, Jul 14, 2015.

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  1. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    This guy hasn't posted his review yet. This guy still needs to play the audio commentary before he finishes his review. This guy will let you know when that happens, but this guy can say he thought "Crackers" looked pretty damned good! :D
     
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  2. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Yeah, I thought Cocoanuts was vastly improved, but still sadly has some bad spots.
     
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  3. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    From what I understand, unless someone miraculously finds a long-lost pristine print, that's about as good as it's gonna get. Some really ugly bits but most of the movie looks pretty darned positive! :)
     
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  4. Nice review as usual Colin. My only disagreement is that I liked the song and dance sequences in this movie quite a bit more than you (Irving Berlin originals, I believe). I remember the old DVDs had an issue with some of the dialog being hard to here/understand. I hope this has been fixed (I just received my set but have not watched it yet).
     
  5. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Finally cracked this set open since I'm home with the flu. Watching Cocoanuts and loving it. Saw it in 1971 with the worst print imaginable at a makeshift "theater" in SF. So great to see it looking so much better. And it's really funny!
     
  6. fr in sc

    fr in sc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hanahan, SC
    When I look at the "kids" I work with today who are covered with tats, I think of this song......
     
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  7. fr in sc

    fr in sc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hanahan, SC
    Now, if somebody somewhere could miraculously dig up a copy of A Night At The Opera with all the references to Italy restored.....:sigh:
     
  8. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    My nearly 34 year-old son has a lot himself.
    .
     
  9. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    If you own this please give an opinion!
    The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection The Cocoanuts / Animal Crackers / Monkey Business / Horse Feathers / Duck Soup

    Restored Edition
    Blu-ray


    [​IMG]
     
  10. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

  11. Matt Richardson

    Matt Richardson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suburban Chicago
    I'm very glad to have it and it's the best way to see these classic films. I just wish the quality was a hair better. I guess pristine source materials just don't exist. Anyway, it's always good to have the brothers on blu-ray.
     
    longdist01 likes this.
  12. Antifrodis

    Antifrodis Forum Resident

    This is the best available way to watch the films. The uncensored Animal Crackers is worth the price.
     
  13. GregM

    GregM The expanding man

    Location:
    Bay Area, CA
    Vhy a duck? Vhy not a goose?
     
  14. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    better quack value...
     
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  15. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    "Horse Feathers" has many shots where the picture bounces up and down noticeably. Every version I've ever seen, film or tape or disc, (but I have not seen the Blu-Ray), bounces the same. The bouncing is not in every scene. It doesn't seem to be film shrink or warp. It looks like during filming they used two or more cameras, for different scenes, and one of the cameras had something wrong with it. It's possible that the available version was assembled from two sources where one source was a bad copy job, but I think it is a camera problem.

    Whatever it is, today those bouncing shots could be stabilized to be virtually rock steady.

    Have those scenes, or the whole movie, been stabilized on the Blu-Ray?

    This is the scene where I first identified that, many years ago. Even the insert shots bounce. But all of these video clips were probably made from the Blu-Ray.


    This scene does not bounce:
    Horse Feathers (7/9) Movie CLIP - Three's a Crowd (1932) HD

    Then back to bouncing on the canoe:
    Horse Feathers (8/9) Movie CLIP - Romance on a Canoe (1932) HD

    Then the football scene does not bounce.
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2017
  16. Jerry Horne

    Jerry Horne WYWH (1975-2025)

    Location:
    NW
  17. Over all it's a pretty good set. There are some flaws but, unless they find pristine prints buried in a fault somewhere that haven't turned to vinegar, these are probably the best they are going to look. Now when we invent a time machine and can go back and get the original nitrate negatives....
     
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  18. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    so they are better than the DVDs at least...
     
  19. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    10 times better, and currently on sale.
    .
     
    Benno123 likes this.
  20. Yes, they did a much better job cleaning these up and repairing--where possible--damaged footage but, given the care of their early catalog at least and it's age, there are going to be limitations. I'm honestly happy that these have survived this long. We are lucky that restoration has come as far as it has while we have these. We've lost so many films over the years. When I look at how "The Old Dark House" was saved, for example, it's a minor miracle that occurred.
     
  21. Rick Bartlett

    Rick Bartlett Forum Resident

    A bump for the ol' Marx fellas, and a nod to the extra that made their movies as great as they did.
    Margaret Dumont. it would be her 136th birthday this year! :eek:
    She was such a great actress that deserves so much more credit for her roles. What a woman!
    What would those films be without Mrs. Claypool/Mrs. Upjohn/Mrs. Rittenhouse.......
     
  22. telliott

    telliott Senior Member

    I finally got the Silver Screen collection on Blu ray. What's the best source for the later movies? The most complete collection I've seen is the "The Marx Brothers collection" green and yellow box. No sign of a Blu ray version yet.
     
  23. Matt Richardson

    Matt Richardson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suburban Chicago
    I think that’s the best (and only?) collection of the later MGM features. There’s s blu-ray of Love Happy, but it’s a poor transfer from what I remember (sampled it and shelved it a while ago).
     
  24. Marry a Carrot

    Marry a Carrot Interesting blues gets a convincing reading.

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Jerry Horne likes this.
  25. Matt Richardson

    Matt Richardson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Suburban Chicago
    Wow!
     
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