Blu Ray "Gone With The Wind"

[Bob]

Big disappointment. Not only was the picture worse than the DVD I already own, the sound as very muffled.

When we watch TV the volume level that shows up on the screen is usually around 14. For DVD's we up it to around 18. For this Blu Ray DVD we had it all the way up to 65. Not good.

[George Bellefontaine]

Wow, glad I stuck with my DVD copy.

[HDBLU]

I have the BD Copy and it way better then the dvd.

[Bob]

I have the BD Copy and it way better then the dvd.

It surprised me to read this. So, I did a little searching on the web to see if other people were disappointed in the Blu Ray version. What I found was just the opposite. People that claim to have seen several versions of the film on DVD say the Blu Ray one is the best.

The one I watched was a rental from Netflix. If I had purchased it I could have exchanged it for another in hopes that it was simply a defected disc. I hope that it was a bad disc and that the people that purchase the Blu Ray version are getting their money's worth.

[Ovation]

There is a film restorer (he is responsible for the 1991 restoration of Spartacus, as well as overseeing the restoration of the Godfather Trilogy and a host of other classics--Robert A. Harris) who praises this release on BD. I have it (though I've not yet watched it--recent acquisition and I haven't had a 4 hour block of time to watch it) and look forward to seeing it.

He does point out that film restorations have to deal with a number of factors and that audience expectations change over time about what looks "right". He does not advocate making old films look like Pixar cartoons (as some "reviewers" seem to want) but there are certain limitations to what can be restored and as to how such restorations balance between "original look" (with old films, that is often a "best guess" as pristine copies from the era no longer exist) and current sensibilities. Film restoration is a fascinating topic and as I learn more about it I've come to appreciate the complexities and contradictions involved.

As far as the picture seeming different from previous releases, that is likely true (for reasons I mentioned above and a host of others). As for the sound, I can only guess you had a defective copy.

[impala454]

The volume thing Bob mentioned was a red flag for me as to possibly an issue with that particular disc and maybe not the transfer to BD in general.

[Bob]

I hope it was a defective disc. I was very surprised and disappointed because the DVD I already had was reference quality and I couldn't wait to watch a version with a higher resolution and better sound.

From a visual standpoint Technicolor 3 strip films are the easiest to restore. If, all the masters still exist. It was the best film that movie makers ever used in regards to color retention over time. Many of these films are hard to restore because during the days of black and white TV many of the masters were thrown out and only one color strip was kept in order to transfer it to video.

Being a classic, Gone With The Wind was carefully stored and the master film is intact. So, a digital version should need very little manipulation.

I have a small amount of knowledge about film restoration and digital manipulation. I have spent hours, days, weeks, going to DI sessions on films that I have worked on. I wanted to be a colorist at one time and attended classes at the DaVinci factory in Florida. I also spent over a year going to Claremont Camera on my own time studying Sony's professional HD cameras and the math behind them. With that little bit of knowledge I couldn't help but be disappointed in the Blu Ray I saw.

But, I am also very aware of the economics of the film business. What happens when film libraries change hands. And, the natural desire to try to make money each time a new medium comes along.

Anyways, bottom line is Gone With The Wind is a great movie to study if you like film history and have an interest in making films. I am glad to hear that I simply had a bad disc. Maybe I will see if Blockbuster's has it. There are many scenes in it that I like to study and try and figure out how it was shot. Of course, I could get books on it or watch the commentaries but, I get a kick on trying to figure out how someone accomplished a complex shot or lighting.
I wish I knew someone from the original shoot because I have wanted to know for years how they managed to have silhouettes with either Wilfried Cline or Natalie Kalmus standing right there at all times. Most cinematographers hated the two of them.

[HDBLU]

The BD is Far Better with it been restored at 8k res and the amount of work that gone in the to Blu-ray is amazing. I watched the short and how they resorted it on the blu-ray box-set only and it crazy on what they did to it.

[impala454]

HDBLU are you saying there's different versions out there, with one being the best quality?

[Ovation]

There are different BD editions with varying numbers of discs and extras, but the feature film disc is the same for each release. No matter which BD release you get, you get the same quality for the film.