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A pretty random release. Wish it was Guns of Navarone. But I look forward to picking it up nonetheless-

from thedigitalbits.com

Some quick announcement news: MGM has just revealed four new catalog Blu-ray Disc titles for release in May (distributed by Fox): Fargo, Force 10 from Navarone and The Good The Bad and The Ugly will all street on 5/12, followed by Lions for Lambs on 5/19. Additional details will follow.

I'm DEFINITELY picking this one up. I remember trying to find a copy way back when...on VHS. It was out of print for YEARS. Then the non-anamorphic DVD came out.

I'm surprised this is getting such an early release. It's been out in other regions as an anamorphic DVD but it's still NON in R1.

A pretty random release. Wish it was Guns of Navarone. But I look forward to picking it up nonetheless-

Yea,how do they decide on what to release ?

Art

Two different studios -- MGM only has Force 10, Sony has the original. Force 10 had a slight head start on DVD too (March 2000 for Force 10, May for Guns), so I'm hoping history will repeat itself. A man can dream...

Two different studios -- MGM only has Force 10, Sony has the original.

Sony actually owns the rights to this in other regions. They've released an anamorphic version elsewhere while MGM hasn't done a thing about the non-anamorphic release.

I always dug this flick as a kid. Im anticipating this release with some enthusiasm. Hope its all good! :D

It is weird I just did a search for The Guns of Navarone and came across this link that says it was supposed to come out in the first wave from Sony. I don't see it listed any where, so I wonder what happened to it, and if Sony has been reworking it and will be pushing it out soon. I won't buy Force 10 till I can get The Guns as I would want to watch them in order.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054953/news#ni0083548

I think Barbara could look pretty good in HD.

Give us the original!!!

I just picked this one up and am fairly unimpressed. This encode is likely an old one as it is MPEG-2 at 19 mbs and barebones with only a theatrical trailer. The opening shots (taken from the original) are fairly noisy but the rest of the film is better in this regard (although noise pops up sporadically). Fine detail is almost non-existent, even in close ups, and the shadows contain very little detail. One good thing is that it has little to no EE, but I'm having a hard time telling whether it has DNR or not. I realize the cries of DNR have been frequent so I don't wish to cry wolf, but as stated there is very little detail. The only things I can think of is that either A) DNR was applied or B) the bitrate is just not high enough to resolve the detail. What causes me to lean towards the former is that night shots are relatively grain free which has me suspicious as they should contain more than day shots. Also skin tones seem overly red and saturated and not terribly natural.

So a long story short, it's likely an old encode that's likely sourced from an old master and has no detail or extras to speak of. I would recommend renting this first if you're interested. (And yes I picked this up largely because I love WWII films and because of the star studded cast, including Barbra Bach).

So a long story short, it's likely an old encode that's likely sourced from an old master and has no detail or extras to speak of. I would recommend renting this first if you're interested. (And yes I picked this up largely because I love WWII films and because of the star studded cast, including Barbra Bach).

Doubtful that it's an old encode, as i've said there's no anamorphic version out there (unless they're using Sony's master).

Who the hell knows what happened? I NEVER expected to see this movie on blu so soon. Just boggles my brain.

my bad Digitalfreak, I missed that post. regardless it's a poor transfer. I'll try and post some screenshots tonight once I've finished watching it in it's entirety. While I don't dispute that the anamorphic master might be relatively recent, the fact that it is MPEG-2 (the same as Ronin and a Bridge Too Far and Battle for Britain) and the fact that the trailers on the disc are for Rocky, Hart's War and Hoosiers make me think that the disc was held back a year or two.

Just watched the movie tonight along with "The Good The bad the Ugly" both are mediocre transfers at best.

Ok, here's some screen caps for people to judge for themselves. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the dvd so I can't do any comparisons.
Group #1:

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6530/71157105.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/585/95460609.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/1091/50730626.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/7088/96529847.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5284/50680981.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)


Group #2:

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/7167/55894938.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/6725/81661377.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1037/77163592.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/9991/18749988.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1974/54291151.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)


Group #3:

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/4847/68018956.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/918/88538063.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4645/24532302.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/9039/67531615.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6493/60815165.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)


Group #4:

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/3577/39167269.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2373/69751306.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/7505/86513318.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/3922/96953924.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/5008/83514037.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)

I don't give a s#it about its bitrate or the codec used. The image here is not splashy and vibrant, but it does seem to have retained a grainy film-like appearence and is unquestionably a monumental leap in quality over the 4:3 letterboxed R1 DVD. This is the first issue of this particular film that has been at all watchable on a large screen. Looks fine to me (as does TGTBATU) and I don't regret the purchase one bit.

^^^^ Yes. This is an old favorite of mine and I'll have it tomorrow.

larry

Fair enough. I enjoyed the film myself and don't doubt that it is a phenomenal improvement over the dvd, I guess I've gotten spoiled by other films of a similar age that have been given a little more TLC. And at $20 CDN I don't feel like I threw my money away.

I was wrong. The disc is at my front door! I'll should be able to watch it tonight.

larry

I watched this last night. It was nice to see the movies again. PQ looks like the screen caps. It looks like they just used the master that was laying around and AVC encoded it. No "monkey business" trying to "fix" things that leads to issues (as opposed to restoring the film elements, making a new DI, etc.). Don't know if it was my imagination or not but the PQ seemed to get better later in the movie. May have been due to more daytime/lighted scenes or getting used to it, don't know. :) It's the best disc so far we have to see the movie.

larry

Just saw it on my 92 in. FP set-up. Definitely looks like a fairly recent transfer (this decade LOL - and definitely NOT the master used for the DVD). Not an eye-popping image, but IMHO it is source and optics-related from the anamorphic lenses. Grain was visible at times, which was welcome as I didn't see a Madame Toussaud/DNR smearfest. I agree - poor shadow detail and crushed blacks, but very watchable on larger screens IMHO.

The first 30 min or so are night scenes and/or day-for-night (along with stock aerial combat footage and footage from Guns of Navarone that's a few generations removed), so it does get better as the film progresses.

Cracking good yarn, although it's no Guns Of Navarone. Love seeing Robert Shaw and Harrison Ford together.

I Netflixed it, but will pick it up - best I've ever seen this film on home video (and probably looks about as good as the print I saw back in '78).

I watched this last night. It was nice to see the movies again. PQ looks like the screen caps. It looks like they just used the master that was laying around and AVC encoded it. No "monkey business" trying to "fix" things that leads to issues (as opposed to restoring the film elements, making a new DI, etc.). Don't know if it was my imagination or not but the PQ seemed to get better later in the movie. May have been due to more daytime/lighted scenes or getting used to it, don't know. :) It's the best disc so far we have to see the movie.

larry

Wait...so is it AVC or MPEG2?

Since I said AVC already, I guess it was but I could have not remembered correctly.

larry

The package says MPEG-2 and that's what Powerdvd 8 says it is.

The package says MPEG-2 and that's what Powerdvd 8 says it is.
No surprise I remembered wrong. Getting old, ya know.. :)

larry

It happens to the best of us. Heck I have those moments and I'm only 21. Out of curiosity, did the dvd version have any special features? Or was the film really so unpopular that the studio didn't feel that it was warranted?
Edit: Checking out the wikipedia page I see that since the film is 125min long it is the restored version and not the shortened theatrical version, thank god for that.

It happens to the best of us. Heck I have those moments and I'm only 21. Out of curiosity, did the dvd version have any special features? Or was the film really so unpopular that the studio didn't feel that it was warranted?
Edit: Checking out the wikipedia page I see that since the film is 125min long it is the restored version and not the shortened theatrical version, thank god for that. LOL! I doesn't get better as you get older. :) I'm pretty sure I have the DVD, I'll have to pop it in if I think of it this weekend.

larry

It happens to the best of us. Heck I have those moments and I'm only 21. Out of curiosity, did the dvd version have any special features? Or was the film really so unpopular that the studio didn't feel that it was warranted?
Edit: Checking out the wikipedia page I see that since the film is 125min long it is the restored version and not the shortened theatrical version, thank god for that.

Actually...there are still scenes/shots in the shortened version that are not in the longer version. One of the actors voices is COMPLETELY different in the longer version. I tried to snip out the scenes from the shortened version that weren't in the longer one when I got the anamorphic DVD and it was impossible. The editing is almost completely different in some scenes.

I had a cool action figure play set from this movie when I was a kid. I barely remember it but do remember it was my favorite thing at the time. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

ahhh here it is:


http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc113/zep33/fortnaveroneset.jpg

ahhh here it is:


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_idzsaV6c7aM/SMcnbR3EPxI/AAAAAAAAB_w/mx2R1d531Lg/s1600/fort%2Bnaverone%2Bset.jpg

Picture not working :(

pic works fine now. Nice! That reminds me of some of the "army men" sets I had as a kid in the early 60's.

larry

Having never seen this one, is it a good movie?

Compared to Guns of Navarone or Where eagles dare?

The two movies you mention are better. Although Force 10 is very entertaining, especially if you like movies of this genre.

larry

Thanks digitalnyc for the info, I thought Shaw's voice sounded different.
And I like that GoN toy. I never had anything that cool when I was a kid.

Wait...so is it AVC or MPEG2?

The package says MPEG-2 and that's what Powerdvd 8 says it is.

I'm wondering if there are 2 different encodes floating around? I'm in Texas & my copy is mpeg4 avc. I just checked with TMT2.

Is the Canadian version Mpeg-2?

Thanks digitalnyc for the info, I thought Shaw's voice sounded different.
And I like that GoN toy. I never had anything that cool when I was a kid.

It wasn't Shaw's voice that was re-recorded. It was Nolan, I believe.

Ok, I've now learned not to type things early in the morning or late at night when I'm apparently not coherent. You and pooperscooper are right, it is AVC mpeg-4, and encoded at a fairly high bit rate. I guess any perceived inadequacies in the transfer can't be attributed to bit starvation or a poor codec. Thanks for correcting me digital NYC. And the reason I thought it was Robert Shaw's was due to the wiki page which said that some of his lines were done by someone else do to his death.

Thanks for correcting me digital NYC. And the reason I thought it was Robert Shaw's was due to the wiki page which said that some of his lines were done by someone else do to his death.

I'm not talking about a couple of lines. I'm talking about the entire performance. It's mildly amusing. I have no idea which is the actual actor.

Ok, I've now learned not to type things early in the morning or late at night when I'm apparently not coherent. You and pooperscooper are right, it is AVC mpeg-4, and encoded at a fairly high bit rate. I guess any perceived inadequacies in the transfer can't be attributed to bit starvation or a poor codec. Thanks for correcting me digital NYC. And the reason I thought it was Robert Shaw's was due to the wiki page which said that some of his lines were done by someone else do to his death.
LOL! I'm not losing it as fast as I thought after all! :D I had watched Dog Soldiers recently and it was AVC and the PQ is so-so, that's why I thought I may have made a mistake. I didn't bother going down and putting the disc in the player.

larry

Here's the blu-ray.com review with a few more screencaps:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=4353&show=review

I think he was a little hard on (I really only trust Ken brown's reviews over there), and he also states it's a 20 year old film when it is in fact a 31 year old film. Oh well.

Here's the blu-ray.com review with a few more screencaps:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=4353&show=review

I think he was a little hard on (I really only trust Ken brown's reviews over there), and he also states it's a 20 year old film when it is in fact a 31 year old film. Oh well.

Their reviewers apparently aren't very good at hearing or math.

I hope they're good looking. ;)

Their reviewers apparently aren't very good at hearing or math.

I hope they're good looking. ;)

LOL, best comment of the day.

So is this a longer version of the movie ?

I love this film and may rent it first and then buy it later if i like what i see ( transfer )

Unless you really like the film I would stick with renting it. As the screenshots that I posted (and at blu-ray.com) show, it's not a reference transfer and the lack of special features is shameful. And yes this is the longer version of the movie, it was originally shown in North America with a running time of 118min, but the version on this disc is 126min, there is no seamless branching. For more info on the film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_10_from_Navarone_%28film%29

Despite all that I still enjoyed the disc and it is certainly the best it will look short of a dedicated restoration.

Here's the blu-ray.com review with a few more screencaps:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=4353&show=review

I think he was a little hard on (I really only trust Ken brown's reviews over there), and he also states it's a 20 year old film when it is in fact a 31 year old film. Oh well. He has no idea what he is looking at from what I can tell judging from reading a couple of his reviews.

larry

Finally got around to popping this in. If anyone else cares, the trailer on this one is completely different from the trailer that is on the DVD version. Never seen this one before but heard about it (mentioning Harrison being from Star Wars).