Product: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Rating: 3.0
Wonderful program, disappointing audio
This is one of the most wonderful programs ever put on TV. However, the DVD has some very disappointing sound problems that make me hope that this treasure has not been lost forever, and that maybe there is a better version in our future.The program, particularly the audio, seems like it has been poorly "restored." However that restoration is more like amateurish remodeling. Old programs are always a little scratchy sounding. That's OK. However, when an bad effort is made to hide that fact, it can spoil the program. Here is what you get in many instances in this DVD, to distacting annoyance:The children are speaking, with soft jazz music in the background. Where there is a moment without a syllable, the sound level drops, like the volume was turned down for just that moment. Not only does this suck the atmosphere out of the program, and generate noticable odd silent spots in a program with acceptable old fashioned tape hiss at all other moments, but it spoils the wonderful musical background, making it go quiet when you are supposed to hear it. This occurs throughout the program.Less of a concern is that there are a few "glitches" where several frames seem to be lost, which is jarring, especially when the music jumps. Also, at the end, the final credits music awkwardly fades out before it is over. I understand that there had been a commercial logo originally that they did not want to include, but they should have let the music continue. Perhaps someone just chopped it off of the print, and the fade is to avoid the chop.I hope that somewhere there is a better print to work with, so that the full joy of this program can be savored.Until then, I'll enjoy the wonderful Vince Guaraldi music on the CD, which has excellent sound quality.