Stanley Kubrick on DVD

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by GP, Jan 9, 2004.

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  1. GP

    GP Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lynbrook, NY
    I don't own any of Kubrick's films on DVD yet, but I'm wondering if any recent Hi-Def transfers have been done or are on the way that I should look for. I think Criterion did Spartacus, but I'm not aware of anything else. I've heard of "Special Editions" here and there, but I'm not sure what's so special. These films are classics, but I'd like to have the most definitive transfers I can find. DLP can be mighty picky.

    All suggestions and opinions are appreciated.
     
  2. teaser5

    teaser5 Cool Rockin' Daddy

    Location:
    The DMV
    Kubrick

    I saw a special on the guy recently on DirecTV. He was a flipping genius. His films had a very distinctive feel about them. I recently re-watched Eyes Wide Shut for example and was amazed how it reminded me of The Shining in the way the scenes were laid out. Everything very deliberate; nothing by chance. There's a certain weirdness and tension in those frames. I would love to see Barry Lyndon on a high quality DVD cut and see those candle lit scenes again.

    Cheers-
    Norm
     
  3. GP

    GP Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lynbrook, NY
    No arguement here...his sense of composition was awesome, his vision is always captivating to the viewer, in an almost hypnotic way. His films deserve the best transfer possible, and it doesn't seem as if anyone has been really proactive about it. Maybe I'm wrong.
     
  4. jdw

    jdw Senior Member

    Warner Bros. released a box set of Kubrick films right after his death (cashing in on the the new DVD craze) in 1999. Several of the films were sourced from laserdisc masters and were poor quality. These inferior versions were also available as separate releases at the time...

    There was an uproar among critics, historians, and collectors, so Warners remastered the box set and added the "Life In Pictures" documentary to the package.

    If you're looking for Kubrick DVDs, the most important thing is to make sure that you get the remastered versions of the films. They are identified as "New 2000 Digital Master From Restored Elements" on the back of each DVD case. The old (inferior) versions are still floating around in bargain bins and on e-bay...

    "Dr. Strangelove" is included in this new series even though Columbia owns the rights to the film. I think 3 DVD versions of this film have been released over the years, but the best one is the new edition with the extra documentaries and interviews.

    The remastered editions of the Warners films were prepared by Kubrick's friend and producer, Jan Harlan, and others that worked with Kubrick.
     
  5. Paul C.

    Paul C. Senior Member

    Location:
    Australia
    I recently saw Eyes Wide Shut for the first time on DVD - it was the region 4 PAL version. I thought it was an excellent transfer, allowing the viewer to fully appreciate the great cinematography. You are right Teaser about the similarities to other films such as The Shining - while the stories and subject matter are completely different, Kubrick has a very deliberate pacing to his movies, and he is one of the best directors at creating a three dimensional sense of space in his movies, using different angles and tracking shots. I enjoyed Eyes Wide Shut as a mystery, and for the images - but I found it very unerotic, thought Nicole Kidman's performance was not convincing, and found aspects of the story a bit ludicrous. I would still watch it again.

    Also watched Days of Heaven on DVD the other day (PAL version again), A good transfer - not obviously totally digitally cleaned - there were specks here and there, but overall a very nice DVD. The visuals on that film have haunted my mind for over 20 years since it first came out.
     
  6. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    I was just about to post a thread about Stanley Kubrick! I was at a discount store and almost picked up FULL METAL JACKET. I didn't, because I saw the DVD was full screen. If any director needs to be seen in widescreen, it's Kubrick. Are his films available in widescreen, where appropriate to the original release?
     
  7. jdw

    jdw Senior Member

    Also, I believe the PAL version of this DVD features the original Kubrick cut of the film. It features shots in the "orgy" scene that were altered (after Kubrick died) for the North American film release and the Region 1 dvd.
     
  8. jdw

    jdw Senior Member

    Actually, full-screen aspect ratio was Kubrick's preferred format for several of his films. Warner Bros. respected his wishes for the DVDs.

    The story is quite complicated, and there might be a Kubrick expert around (where are you Ken?) who can explain it better than me...
     
  9. greg_t

    greg_t Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    Quite right. The Full Metal Jacket and The Shining are released full screen according to Kubricks preferrred format for those films.
     
  10. MagicAlex

    MagicAlex Gort Emeritus

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    The box set is a mixed bag...some are fine and some just simply don't cut it. I couldn't stand the transfer of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest! Skip it if quality is an issue. Let's hope this one is done right someday.
     
  11. Claviusb

    Claviusb A Serious Man

    MA, you'd better check that box set! Stanley Kubrick didn't make One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Milos Forman did. ;)
     
  12. Gardo

    Gardo Audio Epistemologist

    Location:
    Virginia
    Not Ken, but I do know a little bit about this issue. I hope Ken will chime in and correct anything I get wrong.

    Here's the story I've read from several sources, including Jan Harlan and Leon Vitali, the man who supervised the remastering for the 2000 box set. Kubrick's last super-widescreen movie was 2001. One day he saw it on UK television in a pan-and-scan format (not letterboxed). He was so horrified by the mutiliation of the image that he never shot anything wider than a 1.66:1 aspect ratio (formerly the standard UK widescreen aspect ratio) after that. A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon are both in that aspect ratio, and while they really ought to be seen in that aspect ratio they don't suffer the same level of degradation when they're shown on 1.33:1 television.

    Then things get even more confusing. The last three films, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut, were all shot "full frame," i.e., the entire negative was exposed, yielding a roughly 1.33:1 aspect ratio. They were usually projected, however, in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Things like visible shadows and helicopter blades in aerial shots at the beginning of The Shining suggest that these "full frame" movies were actually framed by Kubrick at 1.85:1. I'm quite certain that the screenings of Eyes Wide Shut I saw when it was released were projected at that aspect ratio. Nevertheless, Vitali says that Kubrick wanted the video transfers of the final three to be full-frame so that there was no chance of messing up the framing from what he saw in the viewfinder as he composed the shot.

    Lots of scholars and fans don't buy Kubrick's reasoning here and argue that the final three benefit visually when they're seen in a 1.85 frame.

    It seems that from late 70s onward Kubrick tried to make movies for the cinema and protect movies for TV and later video showings. James Cameron and other have tried to do the same thing with Super 35 and the idea of shooting for multiple aspect ratios simultaneously, something that most scholars are dubious about.

    If this isn't confusing enough, consider that Dr. Strangelove was shot at times in a 1.66:1 hard-matted aspect ratio ("hard-matte" means the image is letterboxed in the camera at the time of shooting--"soft matte" means the letterboxing occurs during projection and the whole frame is exposed during shooting) and at times in a full-frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Some video versions matte the whole thing to 1.66, and some just let the variable aspect ratio go, as Kubrick apparently wished it to be. The Criterion laserdisc of Strangelove has some revealing interviews with one of Kubrick's assistants who relayed these wishes to the laserdisc producers. Kubrick told the Criterion people to "show as much of the frame as possible" in every shot.
     
  13. lsupro

    lsupro King of Ignorers

    Location:
    Rocklin, CA
    correct.
     
  14. MagicAlex

    MagicAlex Gort Emeritus

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    We have a winner! Just testing to see if everyone was on his toes! :laugh:

    I don't know why I associated this film with Kubrick! :rolleyes: It is a terrible transfer by the way!
     
  15. jdw

    jdw Senior Member

    Thanks Gardo - very informative. I finally understand all the changes to the "Strangelove" aspect ratio!

    I tracked down an interview with Leon Vitale (Kubrick's technical assistant) that discusses the aspect ratios of the theatrical releases and the dvds, as well as other technical concerns.

    http://www.dvdtalk.com/leonvitaliinterview.html


    Somewhere on the same site there once was an interview with Kubrick producer Jan Harlan from around the same time period (ca. 2000). I have a copy archived, so if I can't find the proper www link I will post it in this thread for everyone to see...
     
  16. Gardo

    Gardo Audio Epistemologist

    Location:
    Virginia
    That's the interview I was remembering, all right. It's a little easier to understand Kubrick's wishes after you read what Vitali says, though it doesn't necessarily make those wishes more logical. But for all his technical perfection, Kubrick wasn't always a strictly logical filmmaker--and for me, that doesn't hurt the films one bit.

    The only thing I regret from that interview is that it's clear Kubrick had approved a plan to rush a DVD set onto the market to capitalize on the release of Eyes Wide Shut, knowing that the source material was often mediocre and knowing that there'd be a hi-def restoration a couple of years down the road. That doesn't seem quite fair or honest. And as the owner of a copy of the original DVD of Barry Lyndon, I can tell you that the MPEG-2 compression at times exhibits some of the most atrocious artifacts I've ever seen. The remaster, by contrast, is just fine. I've kept the original just as a demo of what happens when venal "businessmen" don't care about quality as much as they should.:realmad:
     
  17. jdw

    jdw Senior Member

  18. guy incognito

    guy incognito Senior Member

    Location:
    Mee-chigan
    Not to veer off-topic, but are you referring to the old Cuckoo's Nest DVD or the 2-disc SE that came out last year? I've been meaning to pick up the latter for some time but if it's a lousy transfer I may skip it.
     
  19. proufo

    proufo Forum Resident

    There are about 20 minutes of 2001 that were edited out after the first screening in NY.

    There's also an X-rated Clockwork Orange.

    I'd love to see both.
     
  20. GP

    GP Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lynbrook, NY
    I have the 2 disc SE. On my Sammy DLP it looks like a pretty clean transfer, especially if the outtakes on disc two are any indication of what the interpositive used to look like, which appear as if they were rescued from the floor of the men's bathroom at Grand Central Station.

    The only problem is, I have two newly restored Milos Forman films--this one and Amadeus, and both of them seem to have flesh tones that seem a bit much on the red side, but I'm not sure if this was done on purpose in telecine or if it's just my monitor. All films look different on DLP, and compared to my Superbit verson of The Fifth Element most transfers don't seem to stack up, including new films.

    Great info on this thread BTW. Glad to see Kubrick is not forgotten here.
     
  21. Re: Kubrick

    Norm, the box set is excellent. The candle scenes in Barry Lindon are amazing. Only wish Warner would release the "uncensored" version of Eyes Wide Shut in North America on DVD. When specialty TV shows the film in Canada, we always get the real deal. I'm thinking of getting a region 2 version of the DVD from eBay or amazon.co.uk, if the price is fair.
     
  22. daveman

    daveman Forum All Star

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Re: Re: Kubrick

    Yeah, I hate to say it, but the US alawys is overly-sensitive to that sort of stuff. I don't know why they can't release it.

    Roger Ebert said once, and it was SO true, that with regard to something like "Eyes Wide Shut", that, and I paraphrase, by editing it down to an "R" level movie instead of just making it NC-17, they are at the same time altering the director's vision, AND allowing more kids access to the film than they would have if it was NC-17. Totally self-defeating.

    A shame :rolleyes:
     
  23. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    Re: Re: Re: Kubrick

    My guess is that for the producers/financial backers, this was probably a necessity. I don't believe the nationwide theater chains will run any movie with an NC-17 rating, regardless of its critical reputation. Presumably, EYES WIDE SHUT was too expensive to restrict to the art house circuit in the U.S.

    All speculation, however . . .
     
  24. daveman

    daveman Forum All Star

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Re: Re: Re: Re: Kubrick

    I agree, you're definitely right. An "NC-17" movie cannot and would not gross as much as an "R".
     
  25. Mike B

    Mike B Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    I've read that there isn't even that much of a difference between the two differently rated versions of Eyes Wide Shut. Sure I want to see the NC-17 one, but it's not that big a deal.

    The 9-disc box set is a must for every serious movie collection.

    To answer the original post, yes, Criterion did release Spartacus. It's a wonderful 2-disc set.

    I can't even imagine a P&S 2001. *shudder*

    Kubrick is my favorite of all time.
     
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