HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bill@bilver.uucp (Bill Vermillion)
Subject: Re: New "White Christmas"
Organization: W. J. Vermillion - Winter Park, FL
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 01:57:22 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.082301.25709@netcom.com> bverreau@netcom.com (stargazer) writes:

>I just finished watching what was billed as a 'restored' version of
>"White Christmas" on local broadcast.   ....

>Then I got to wondering - this was a 1954 technicolor production.
>Could it be they used the old 3-strip film process to make it?  I don't
>know all the details, but essentially, the original technicolor process
>involved photographing on black and white film using special cameras
>with primary color filters.  A color internegative was generated with
>some kind of dye transfer method.  The method became obsolete in the
>Fifties when color film came of age.  Ironically however, color movies
>from the earlier period are better preserved today than more recent
>technicolor works because color dyes are more subject to aging than
>the silver nitrate in b&w.

The technicolor 3-strip system was not abandonded "in the Fifties when
color film came of age."  It was abandonded when the studio were run by
the accountants and not the movie makers of the original era.  It was
not "quality at any cost" but, "that's good enough .. who'll notice the
difference".  The last technicolor film was "The Godfather" - decidedly
much later than the 50's.    Technicolor production lent itself to
massive print distribution - eg 2000+ prints of a film.  With the
inroads of TV, print runs of 1000 became the norm, and after the
Godfather, the last plant cabable of producing Technicolor prints was
dismantled and shippee to China, where massive print distribution was
still quite normal.

>This could explain the improvement in the new "White Christmas".  The
>LD release might have been transferred from an old color print or
>negative while the new version could be remastered from the original
>3-strip film.  Does anyone know if that's the case and if so, is an
>upgraded LD release in the works?  If they did as good a job on this
>one as Criterion did on "The Adventures of Robin Hood", I'd buy it.

The restoration that Turner did on the '50s' version of Showboat was
equally spectacular.    


-- 
Bill Vermillion - bill@bilver.oau.org  bill@bilver.uucp
                - ..!{peora|tous|tarpit}!bilver!bill
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases,rec.arts.disney
From: wbarnes@sura.net (Bill Barnes)
Subject: Re: Found -- Little Mermaid & Cinderella LDs
Keywords: Little Mermaid, Disney, LD
Organization: SURAnet, College Park, MD, USA, NA, Earth, Milky Way
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 16:06:44 GMT

Addendum to my post-

In article <1992Dec15.011200.4865@sura.net> I wrote:
>They're listed at about 5900
>yen, which will cost something over 60 bucks - not too bad considering
>there's someone who wants $100 for the domestic release.

After checking their conversion chart, the LDs will cost you 70 bucks
each - pretty hefty, but still less than the $100 someone else wanted
for the Little Mermaid and, if you're interested enough, you'll get
them anyway...8->
-- 
-----------------------
William Barnes		SURAnet Operations
wbarnes@sura.net	(301) 982-4600 voice  (301) 982-4605 fax
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: cal@gsbux1.uchicago.edu (Cal Lott)
Subject: Re: ALIEN 3 - terrible video noise
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 19:53:52 GMT

wlrc@uhura.neoucom.edu (William R. Cruce) writes:

>In article <11DEC199213380205@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov> kimnach@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov (GREG KIMNACH) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec10.205404.1222@njitgw.njit.edu>, meg5184@hertz.njit.edu (Starman) writes...
>>>YES! I posted a message five DAYS ago about this and nobody seemed to
>>>pick up on it. (oh well).
>>> 
>>>My copy of Alien 3 looks like absolute SHIT! Now granted, it was a
>>>Christmas present, but I was all ready to go out and buy it myself, so I
>>>still feel like this is definitely something to complain about. I
>>>thought it was my copy. I got it excahnged. Same problem. On my 3090,
>>>when I do a freeze field, I get diagonal lines on the screen; about 4 at
>>>once. Call Image!
> 
>>the movie was filmed in relatively low-light conditions, and the graniness 
>>was a result of that.  The theatrical release was grainy!

>I have seen the movie.  I have seen the disc.  I have seen grainy movies.
>I have seen grainy movies on disc.  I have seen grainy movies poorly
>transfered to disc.  Now I have seen a grainy movie REALLY BADLY transfered
>to disc and its name is ALIEN 3.  Actually it is not so grainy but it
>has one hell of a lot of video noise: streaks and coloration across the
>areas of red in the image.  This gets especially bad at the end of s.2.

	Is it just me, or does it always seem that dark, low-light films
such as the Alien and Batman films always get complaints about graininess?
Why does low-light photography lead to this? I know that laserdisc
consumers are more picky than most when it comes to image quality, but it
seems that everybody starts complaining as soon as they see their release
of a dark film.

>-- 
>'Fold, Spindle, Mutilate'                              #35/37 for BRAZIL

>    Bill Cruce, INTERNET: wlrc@uhura.neoucom.edu, VOICE: 216-325-2511
>   N.E. Ohio Univ. Coll. of Medicine, Box 95, Rootstown OH 44272-0095

	And if anybody has seen the various releases of Alien, Aliens,
Alien3, Batman, and Batman Returns and would care to critique them (or
any other "dark" film) in terms of their image quality, I would be
interested.

						-Cal
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cal Lott          "Oh, I see-- I thought 'no' meant 'spoon'!" --Dan
Email me, baby!   cal@gsbux1.uchicago.edu   cjl1@midway.uchicago.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: bryce_jasmer@next.com (Bryce Jasmer)
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail info
Date: 18 Dec 92 06:55:20 GMT

Scott Streeter writes
>>  1974/R/89 minutes. 
>kuchar> ^ I thought this odd when I read the listing in Laser Flash.
>kuchar> The movie was PG when it was released.
>
>Maybe the extra footage is something to merit the R rating. Nudity?

"Ooh! Spank me!"
"Spank me too!"

Bryce
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: wallace@titan.trl.OZ.AU (Glenn Wallace)
Subject: Re: Blade Runner Director's cut (LONG)
Organization: Telecom Research Labs, Melbourne, Australia
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 20:02:00 GMT

KCSCHIE@vm.cmp.ilstu.edu writes:

>In article <1992Dec10.224821.2172@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov>
>Stephen Jonke <jonke@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov> writes:
 
>The voiceover most strongly links the film to the detetcive genre. I can just
>see Bogart playing the part. It's like a combination of The Big Sleep, The
>Maltese Falcon and a Casablanca where Victor Lazlo is left in the hands of the
>Nazis and Rick and Ilsa escape with the letters of transit on the plane to
>America.

This is something that Dick didn't want to see happen, the story
'degrade' itself to being something that simple.

He saw an early script treatment, which thankfully was trashed, that had
a intro voiceover like "It was a dirty job, but someone had to do it..."
fairly cliched.

Dick only ever saw a rough cut, I believe, before he died. I'm sure he
would have been happy with the 'director's cut' version, with the
unicorn scene and no voice overs.

There is a good Starlog article around that time of Dick on the set.

The look of the film, the acting, pacing, directing all fit well with
his book, I think (as well as they can).

Glenn

Glenn Wallace (g.wallace@trl.oz.au)  == A Man Without a Country

"Could you please direct me to my own reality? I seem to have misplaced
it...."
From: tron@uophys.uoregon.edu (Ronald Te)
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: Sight & sound phone #
Followup-To: rec.video.releases
Date: 12 Dec 1992 03:51:59 GMT
Organization: MSI- University of Oregon
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: teatime.uoregon.edu

Can anybody please email me the phone number of S&S ? Preferably their 800
number if they have one. Thanks.

Ron
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster)
Subject: Re: The Prisoner
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 14:50:22 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix & Internet, NYC

In article <BDJ.92Dec16081906@muon.med.ge.com> bdj@muon.med.ge.com (Brian D. Johnston) writes:
>
>Does anybody know where I can get the laserdisc copies of The Prisoner
>episodes 8 and 17 to complete a collection.

Image no longer has the rights to the series, so for the moment you'll
have to check dealers for leftover stock.

There was a rumor of a Japanese re-issue of this series, with 2 episodes
per diskc, but I haven't heard anything in quite a while.


-- 
_______________________________Mike Schuster________________________________
NY Pub. Access UNIX/Internet: schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM
The Portal (R) System: schuster@shell.portal.com | MCI Mail,GEnie: MSCHUSTER
From: isbell@ai.mit.edu (Charles L Isbell)
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: Aspect ratios
Date: 14 Dec 92 15:53:56
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: panther.ai.mit.edu


Does anyone know the aspect ratios of:

-Do The Right Thing
-Godfather I
-Godfather II


Hmmmm?  Any help appreciated.  Please post replies.
--
Peace.
                     "There is a level of cowardice lower than that 
                      of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist."
                                               - Ayn Rand
                                   -\--/-
    Don't just adopt opinions     |  \/  |       Some of you are homeboys
          develop them.           |  /\  | but only I am The Homeboy From hell
                                   -/--\-
From: "eric walker" <eric.walker@channel1.com>
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: thief of baghdad
Date: 16 Dec 92 07:28:33 EST
Reply-To: "eric walker" <eric.walker@channel1.com>
Distribution: rec
Organization: Channel 1 Communications

AK>Any of the well informed folks here know if there ever was or still is an
AK>LD version of the 1940's _Thief of Baghdad_ with Sabu? It's a very

     A laserdisc of this version of the movie was pressed several years
     ago.  It's hard to find now, but the larger laserdisc rental outfits
     may have it in their rental section.
---
  SLMR 2.1a  "I'll be Bach." - Johann Sebastian Schwarzenegger
--
Channel 1 (R)   Cambridge, MA

Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: dave@imax.imax.com (Dave Martindale)
Subject: Re: Imax
Organization: Imax Corporation, Mississauga Canada
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 19:32:17 GMT

Mike_Quigley@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley) writes:
>Hey, Dave at Imax, can you answer a question? In Vancouver right now, they're
>showing this film which was a big hit at the recent Expo in Madrid. It's an
>Imax film which is projected at a considerable faster rate than normal, very
>much like Showscan. Are we the only place that's showing this film at
>present? Do they use the normal projector for this, or is there some special
>equipment.

It's "Momentum", the first "IMAX HD" film.  IMAX HD runs at 48 FPS
with a single-shuttered projector (each frame is flashed just once),
compared with normal IMAX at 24 FPS and double-shuttered projector.
Showscan is 60 FPS, almost certainly single-shuttered, but uses only
1/3 the film area per frame of all IMAX variants.

The Seville (not Madrid) Expo may have used a projector that runs at
48 FPS only, but a number of Canadian theatres have recently upgraded
their systems to 24/48 FPS dual-mode projectors so they can show
Momentum as well as regular IMAX fare.  A number of pieces of the
standard IMAX projector have to be replaced to produce a convertible
projector.  Once that is done, conversion between the two rates takes
some work on the part of the projectionist, but I understand the
process takes only about 10 minutes.

I know that Toronto and Hull and Montreal theatres also have 24/48 projectors;
I don't know about the rest of the Canadian theatres.

>By the way, the last time I went to this Imax theatre, quite a while ago, I
>was quite disappointed that there was some big stain in the upper left hand
>corner of the screen. Perhaps one of the loonies who went to the Rolling
>Stones Imax movie threw something at it? Just wonder if it is difficult to
>fix a problem like this... is the screen in one piece or in sections?

The screen material originally comes in strips, but it is then bonded into
one big single piece and painted.  Fixing a problem like that requires
cleaning the whole screen, or repainting the whole thing.  I don't know
how difficult cleaning is, but repainting would be an enormous job.
The Vancouver screen might show junk on the screen more readily than
most theatres, because it is a "silver" screen (needed for 3D) rather
than white.

	Dave
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: avatar@wings.micro.umn.edu (Timothy Fay)
Subject: Re: Blade Runner Director's cut
Organization: University of Minnesota
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 00:06:34 GMT

My $0.02:

BLADE RUNNER (the "original" Harrison Ford voice-over version) was the
film that sold me on the laserdisc format.  A friend showed it to me
in 1983 and I was so impressed that less than a year later I bought an
LD player (the one that I still use to this day).

As for the "director's cut," I eagerly await a CLV (or CAV) letterbox
edition that I'm sure _someone_ will release.

--
		Reply to:  avatar@wings.micro.umn.edu

  "My mental facilities are TWICE what yours are -- you pea brain!"
			-Percival MacLeach

Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: rjn@FC.HP.COM (Bob Niland)
Subject: Re: Technodeath
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 02:15:05 GMT
Reply-To: rjn@FC.HP.COM
Organization: Hewlett-Packard/WSY Ft.Collins,CO,USA
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.8 PL6]

Stephen Jonke (jonke@kong.gsfc.nasa.gov) wrote:

> Have there been ANY good pressings by Technodisc?  Excalibar is bad, it
  sounds like Alien^3 is bad, and I've read there name almost every time
  someone mentions a bad pressing -- why do they continue to give work to
  these bozos?

I haven't any problems with Technidisc since the Prisoner series in early
1989.  I worry more about WEA these days than Technidisc.

Regards,                                              Hewlett-Packard
Bob Niland      Internet: rjn@FC.HP.COM               3404 East Harmony Road
                CompuServe:  71044,2124               Ft Collins CO 80525-9599

This article represents only the opinion[s] of its author, and is not an
official or unofficial position of, or statement by, the Hewlett-Packard
Company.  The text is provided for informational purposes only.  It is
supplied without warranty of any kind.
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: wlrc@uhura.neoucom.edu (William R. Cruce)
Subject: SOLARIS on LD - Need Help Finding
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 17:51:09 GMT

The Russian science fiction film SOLARIS was released on laserdisc
(LBX) last month but apparently Image underestimated its popularity.
All of the large mail order dealers (Sight & Sound, Laser Craze, Ken
Crane's) were sold out immediately.  I am working through a list of
other mail order dealers, but I thought I would put out the call:

If anyone sees an extra copy of SOLARIS in a local laserdisc store
I would greatly appreciate it if you would email me the relevant
Store name and phone number.  Thanks in advance.

-- 
	The answer is never simple and is always changing.
    William L.R. (Bill) Cruce       INTERNET: wlrc@uhura.neoucom.edu 
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: bdj@muon.med.ge.com (Brian D. Johnston)
Subject: The Prisoner
Organization: GE Medical Systems, Waukesha, WI, USA
Date: 16 Dec 92 08:19:06


Does anybody know where I can get the laserdisc copies of The Prisoner
episodes 8 and 17 to complete a collection.


Thanks,

--
		     Brian D. Johnston, PET Team
   GE Medical Systems, W641, P.O. Box 414, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0414
	     (414) 548-5189 : EMAIL -  johnstonb@med.ge.com
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: Mike_Quigley@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
Subject: Spartacus LBX (MCA)
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 04:41:34 GMT

I got my copy today. The color and image are fantastic, a great improvement
over the previous P&S edition. However, why did they have to start the
overture with this stupid picture of Kirk Douglas when he is chained to the
rock at the beginning of the film? Talk about dumb! The P&S edition had a
very nice poster of the film showing during the overture. I was also very
disappointed in the side break at the end of side one. It occurs after the
slaves escape and are running up the hill. The next scene (now the beginning
of side two) is of "ROME"... This cut comes right in the middle of a musical
cue! Idiots! There is plenty of extra room on side two to break the first
side a little earlier. At least the break on the end of side three lets the
music before the big battle scene fade out correctly. In the P&S version, the
music faded out too soon, depriving us of a few seconds of Alex North's great
score.
From: long-morrow@CS.Yale.EDU (H. Morrow Long)
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: Re: The Jungle Book
Date: 11 Dec 1992 14:55:59 -0500
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sparky.cf.cs.yale.edu


In article <1992Dec11.084948.16015@syma.sussex.ac.uk>, markf@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Mark Foster) writes:
|> Is it ? or Isn't it ?
|> 
|> I was looking through my copies of 'Movies on TV and Videocassete' and
|> the other Movie guide (both lastest copies) and I haappened to see that
|> they both claim 
|> 
|> Walt Disney's The Jungle Book is availalable on Videocassette.
|> 
|> Shock to the system or what??? I have scoured several video guides over
|> here and have NEVER seen it listed as available.

The Jungle Book was released earlier (late spring?) this year (1992) 
on both videocassette and laserdisc.  There were still copies of the
videocassette (for around US$16) in department stores here.  
I got my laserdisc from Sight & Sound.

I don't know about a UK PAL release though or what Disney's policies
are on releasing domestic and international versions simultaneously
(Disney is paranoid about video piracy overseas from some of the
statements I have seen released in this newsgroups).  Some Disney
videos are delayed due to the need to translate (dubbing or 
subtitles?) the dialogue into foreign languages.  I don't think
that they would need to translate American English into British
English though....  Perhaps the Disney folks just thought that the
British market wouldn't be interested in a tale by Rudyard Kipling
because he was ...well....British :-????  Doesn't make sense.  Hmmm.

|> Are these other guides correct ? can someone please give a definite
|> answer as to wether or not I can buy a copy.

The guides (if they say 1992) were probably written and printed in
1991 or before and probably don't reflect this years releases.
Possibly a guide marked 1993 would although I have the Maltin 'Movies
on TV & Video for 93' guide and it doesn't list a lot of recent (91
and 92) releases - I wonder when it goes to press?

					- Morrow
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: rjn@FC.HP.COM (Bob Niland)
Subject: Re: Criterion's CLV/CAV releases
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 17:40:42 GMT
Reply-To: rjn@FC.HP.COM
Organization: Hewlett-Packard/WSY Ft.Collins,CO,USA
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.8 PL6]

Bill Barnes (wbarnes@sura.net) wrote:

> I've noticed that a number of Criterion's releases are listed as being in
> "CLV/CAV" format.  ...  I'm interested in some recent Criterion releases
> (Spartacus, Jason and the Argonauts, and The Fisher King)

"Jason" is 4 sides, side 1 in CLV, sides 2-4 in CAV.  Side 4 has
supplements.  It was made by 3M.  Side one is mostly non-F/X live-action, so
CC saved an extra platter by doing partial CAV.  I haven't watched it yet,
but applaud CC for taking this sensible approach.

Regards,                                              Hewlett-Packard
Bob Niland      Internet: rjn@FC.HP.COM               3404 East Harmony Road
                CompuServe:  71044,2124               Ft Collins CO 80525-9599

This article represents only the opinion[s] of its author, and is not an
official or unofficial position of, or statement by, the Hewlett-Packard
Company.  The text is provided for informational purposes only.  It is
supplied without warranty of any kind.
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: fag2@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Farul A Ghazali)
Subject: Re: ALIENS
Reply-To: fag2@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Farul A Ghazali)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 21:09:43 GMT

In article <SS.92Dec11184822@bigwpi.WPI.EDU> ss@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Scott Streeter) writes:

>baldwin> Is the CLV LBX version of ALIENS as grainy as the CAV LBX
>baldwin> version ?
>
>Is there one?
>--
> Scott Streeter                             Visit the Star Wars Archive at
> ss@wpi.wpi.edu                             wpi.wpi.edu       130.215.24.1

Columbia House does list Aliens as LBX and CLV. Does anyone have this?
How good is it? I definitely cannot afford the CAV version! :-(

     -- farul ghazali.
        columbia university in the city of new york.
From: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: Re: What is CAV ?
Date: 12 Dec 92 05:22:08 GMT
Reply-To: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Organization: Vidiot's Hangout

In article <1992Dec10.174355.9538@spider.co.uk> colint@spider.co.uk (Colin Tinto) writes:
<
<Any other acronyms I should know for LD's ?  (I know that one - Laser Disks :-)

Technically you got that one wrong.

It is: laserdisc or LaserDisc
It is not: laserdisk, laser disk or laser disc
-- 
      harvard\                          spool.cs.wisc.edu!astroatc!vidiot!brown
Vidiot  ucbvax!uwvax..........!astroatc!vidiot!brown
      rutgers/            INTERNET:vidiot!brown%astroatc.UUCP@spool.cs.wisc.edu
                                   brown@wi.extrel.com
From: kuchar@buast7.bu.edu (Tom Kuchar)
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: Re: Monty Python and the Holy Grail info
Date: 11 Dec 92 13:21:33 GMT
Organization: Astronomy Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

In article <1g4rsbINNjci@bigboote.WPI.EDU> ss@wpi.WPI.EDU (Scott Streeter) writes:
>
>Here is what Sight & Sound has to say on the Holy Grail from the
>latest issue of Laser Flash....
>
>CC1311L      Monty Python and the Holy Grail      S   CX  DS  $49.95 VOY
>                    (LBX Criterion)

BTW, this is CLV (if you can't tell by the price ;-) and is discounted
20% if ordered before 31 Dec.

> 1974/R/89 minutes. 
       ^ 
I thought this odd when I read the listing in Laser Flash. The movie
was PG when it was released.

-- 
Tom Kuchar			  
kuchar@buast7.bu.edu		  -or-                      kuchar@plh.af.mil
Department of Astronomy                              Phillips Laboratory/GPOB
Boston Univerity		                                  Hanscom AFB
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
From: lazlo@triton.unm.edu (Lazlo Nibble)
Subject: Re: Leonard Maltin is immortal
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 08:21:55 GMT
Organization: Usenet Power Elite: Crush-The-Innocent-Newbies Strike Team

kimp@rpi.edu (Phil Kim) writes:

> I am puzzled.  Leonard Maltin is 42 years old today.  He reviewed  over
> 19,000 films in his _Movie_and_Video_Guide_1993_.  That means he 
> watches about 450 films per year! 

Maltin makes it pretty clear in the introduction to the edition I have that
the reviews are written by him and his *staff*.

--
Lazlo (lazlo@triton.unm.edu)
From: kimp@rpi.edu (Phil Kim)
Newsgroups: rec.video.releases
Subject: Leonard Maltin is immortal
Date: 19 Dec 92 00:32:07 GMT

I am puzzled.  Leonard Maltin is 42 years old today.  He reviewed 
over 19,000 films in his _Movie_and_Video_Guide_1993_.  That means he 
watches about 450 films per year!  I know it's possible, but that's 
sick.