Laura (1944)

This could be great. Though the prints I have seen usually aren't awful, on the other hand, I have never seen one that remotely looks the way a top-notch 35mm print should look. The cinematography in this is astonishing (it won the oscar).

And then there are the short little bits of added footage that turned up in the seventies.

Looking at the screenshots on DVD-Beaver I'm very disappointed,
the image is much too bright especially for a Film noir.

The image is also notably cropped on the sides and the top.
The Blu-ray only has slightly more image at the bottom.

I have the R1 and R2 DVD editions of Laura and they are both excellent
so I will stick to them.

I'm also not planning to buy all 26 Fox Noirs again on Blu-ray, I'm not a millionaire...

Furthermore I'm not yet totally convinced that 4:3 black 'n' white movies
look great on Blu-ray.
They are certainly not as big an improvement as Cinemascope color westerns from the 50's!

And the cover art is really bad, I mean REALLY bad!
Edited by zetmoon - 1/31/13 at 1:01pm

I suspect the mid-tones where lifted, at least that's whats in the caps, other then that it appears promising if the brightening does not bother you, but it does me. The Friday the 13TH (1980) I bought seems to have lifted mid-tones as well, after all nothing says disturbing movie like TV lighting.

I have many 1.33:1 (4:3) b&w BDs and they have quite a detail increase over any SD version, granted I avoid over processed crap.
Edited by wuther - 1/30/13 at 4:50pm

Yes, let's all keep looking at the Beaver's screen caps even though they never look like what's on the disc. Zetmoon, you may have missed a board or two to post this same post. I have no doubt this disc will look wonderful.

Sure enough compared to previous dvd the transfer appears to have been brightened and more then just a little:
http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?cID=1541

Yet again a conspiracy theory blaming beaver for everything is dis-proven.

But what is quite apparent is just how filtered the DVD Beaver caps are compared to Caps-a-holic's. Gary Tooze should be shamed.

The Amazon link indicates some sort of problem with the disc. Perhaps they're fixing it?

me too,thank you,pre-ordered it regardless. It's got to be better than what I have now

Yeah, some conspiracy theory. Unlike you, I have now seen the disc. It is NEVER too bright and looks pretty good - not the best black-and-white transfer ever done, but very nice, and the photography looks just as it should. You may continue to play the fool's game of looking at the Beaver caps and gleaning from those inept things whatever you will - and I will continue never to make with the pronouncements until I've actually seen the disc. Over at the HTF, where people DO post AFTER seeing the disc, you will find the reaction from Mr. Harris and others to be very good.

So, just to set you straight - nothing was "dis-proven." In fact, it was proven once again you can never go by those caps (and, as far as I'm concerned, any caps).

Nothing.

Amazon has a long standing practice of suspending sales of a disc with just one or two ridiculous complaints.

Honestly, I wouldn't be half-way surprised if amazon is reacting to the fact that three people are convinced that the picture on the cover isn't Gene Tierney (it is, but it's a poor likeness).

I got this at Costco for $8.99. Watched it last night, JVC RS35, 92" Stewart ST 130. Once I turned down the contrast several clicks the picture was outstanding. I almost never change the settings on my projector which has been ISF calibrated. But in this unique case the image had whites that were blown out of control. I've been picking up the other Fox releases from the 1940's and 1950's and this is the only one with this look.

A truly great film.