Olive Films thread

TOO LATE BLUES is winging it's way toward me at this moment (well, actually, it's wheelin' it's way here...I'm too cheap for winging). Should be here tomorrow and it got a pretty good review.

PROJECT X is on pre-order. I saw that review earlier and I'm very impressed with those screen caps. I've got several Olive BDs and the posted caps are usually pretty accurate.

I've also got THE SPACE CHILDREN and COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK on pre-order for the same day so mid June is rife for some heavy sci-fi genre viewing.

The week after that I've got THE SPIRIT IS WILLING and TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS on order. In fact, of the twelve items I have in the mail or on pre-order, ten of them are from Olive.

Because of the SuperScope optical conversion, I have doubts that Invasion of the Body Snatchers can look as good as we might like. It's too bad the original negative is lost and that we can't get a transfer at the original 1.85 aspect ratio instead of the cropped 2.00 (and, of course, the original version without the wrap-around footage).

Don Siegel intended it for 1.85 but it was released at 2.00 so the SuperScope is still the original theatrical ratio. We are seeing it the way audiences originally saw it in the theaters and that's good enough for me.

Personally, I prefer the original theatrical ratio and, even if there were a case to be made for 1.85, the differences between 2.00 and 1.85 aren't big enough to really be an issue.

I agree re: the differences and I've seen IotBS theatrically and it looks OK at 2:1.

But sometimes the theatrical aspect ratio is not the correct one. "Shane" came out as a widescreen film in its original theatrical release but was clearly shot for Academy ratio, for just one example. A widescreen video release would be incorrect.

It has been many, MANY years since I saw THE SPIRIT IS WILLING (which I have on pre-order). I'm 53 years old and I'm guessing I was in my early 20's when I last saw it. I recall it as very much a product of it's time. "Horror comedy" was not a well-developed or well-understood genre. As others have suggested, THE SPIRIT IS WILLING has the vibe of an old TV sitcom. It has the same "things floating in the air...held by wires" special effects that you might find in BEWITCHED or I DREAM OF JEANNIE.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I view all movies as period pieces that reflect the time they were made. THE SPIRIT IS WILLING has the good-natured, family-friendly hokiness that was common when I was kid. Some people absolutely will NOT get it and will NOT like it. If your sense of horror comedy is defined by SHAUN OF THE DEAD (which I love and own on BD), then this is a tough sell. But if are open to a gentle, lightweight flick that provides a window into the 1960's middle class America, it's worth having in your collection.

The screen caps look good.

I want to post a note here about TOO LATE BLUES (posted a similar comment on another forum but I'll mention it here too).

TOO LATE BLUES has an absolutely first class transfer. I'm tempted to say that it's a stunning piece of Black and White. It even surpassed the Olive release of IT'S ONLY MONEY which has an excellent B&W transfer.

If somebody were too ask me to show them what B&W looks like on Blu-ray, I would feel confident using TOO LATE BLUES as my demo piece.

Of the (approximately) nine Olive Blu-rays I own, this might be the best transfer (with the exception of AMER which is a contemporary film).

I'm a huge fan of Westerns, so I picked up Denver & Rio Grande, Run for Cover, and Silver City. Run for cover was the best PQ, not surprising as it was filmed in VistaVision 1.85, the others are 4:3. But very pleased with all 3. Looking forward to High Noon and Rio Grande. And I have Amazon Prime but Amazon's prices are awful for most Olive Films BDs, especially the first 3. ImportCDs.com has them for around 14 bucks.

Of course, Olive Films have nothing to do with the transfers, which are handed them by Paramount, which is why their releases are always a crapshoot. Too Late Blues is a lovely transfer of a really interesting film. Paramount didn't do any cleanup, so there are occasional scratches and negative dirt - those could have easily been cleaned-up but it's pretty clear that Paramount is not spending any money outside of making the hi-def transfers from whatever element they are working from (I'm only talking about what they license, not what they put out themselves). I recommend Too Late Blues very highly - it also has an amazing amount of great David Raksin music, most of which is used as jazz source music, with only two long actual score cues where the music functions dramatically. And the musicians are amazing - the creme da la creme - it's really surprising there was no LP release back in the day, given the names on the soundtrack, but that's about to be rectified all these years later.

You should have bought Journey - it's a very good transfer and the caps have no relationship to what's actually on the disc, I'm afraid, at least not in motion. I'd have to go back and read the review again, but isn't the reviewer talking about the opticals when he says it's very grainy? They would be, of course. I don't remember him complaining about it, just mentioning it. As to Spirit is Willing, it looks like it's off a faded element - that's the big problem I see, but again, I reserve judgment until I actually see it for myself.

Wow, Olive Films is going gangbusters!

A New Leaf (1971)
Child's Play (1972)
Man on a Swing (1974)
Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
The Dark Mirror (1946)
Man-Trap (1961)

All releasing on BD & DVD Sept. 14.

Note that http://www.classicflix.com/ will have the pre-1970 titles for rent.

-Bill

September 18th BD/DVD releases:

Welles' Macbeth (1948)
George Cukor's A Double Life, with Ronald Colman (1947)
Cyrano de Bergerac, starring José Ferrer (1950)

...and the odd man out, Sono Sion's Love Exposure (previously released by Olive on DVD).

Fantastic lineup, they're really getting the Blus out there!

Damn, you got that one early. Where did you order it from?

Ah, I see. I thought you had actually viewed the disc.

Since we know that caps are generally not very reliable for showing how a disc looks when played, your strong proclamation that the disc is "disappointing" should really be qualified with the information that you haven't viewed it yet.

Ya think? I'm afraid this sort of thing runs rampant on this and other boards.

Are you thanking yourself in regard to the tired old rhetoric? Rush to judgments by the DNR and EE brigade is the tiredest rhetoric of all. Keep it up! We would expect nothing less of you. Why bother to even get the disc when you get so much enjoyment without ever actually seeing the movie.

Well, you did say "finally" and then made claims about the grain, compression, and the shape of the source. All things that are misleading on most caps, so I figured you are smart enough not to make such claims based on caps. It sounded like you might have actually reviewed the disc since it has made it into people's hands already. I'll be certain to regard any further reviews as being made from caps unless you state otherwise.

And knowledgable readers will ignore. Have a good night.