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A MUST BUY. A classic. Charming movie that looked brilliamt in old 3 strip Technicolor. That score is one of the best things Rozsa ever wrote for Korda.
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A very odd choice for cover art, though. Huh.
One thing about the Criterion DVD's; their line consists of some really terrific cult films worthy of A plus attention and ammenities, but a lot of their covers leave something to be desired. I agree that that is an awful cover.
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And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?
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Definite must-have.
Most intrigued by new additional cues from Rozsa. Have heard rumors over the years that some of the tracks are available, like those of JUNGLE BOOK...
Speaking of JUNGLE BOOK, wish Criterion would do the same for that film, much misused on public domain releases.
As for the cover, it looks as if it was artwork commisioned for the DVD release. I usually prefer original poster art, but that's just my personal yen...
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Posted: |
Feb 22, 2008 - 11:47 AM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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I love THE THIEF OF BAGDAD and will undoubtedly be buying this.
But, at the same time, I will be very wary.
While it promises to be better than the MGM Home Entertainment DVD release of a few years ago, Criterion, for all the hype, doesn't always turn out the best quality transfers despite their effort, primarily because they own next to none of the material they release---they simply license it from others. For that reason they are usually stuck with the printing elements they are given or can turn up, and never do true restorations of their own, from scratch. That kind of from-the-original-source restoration can cost upwards of several million dollars to do well and I suspect that Criterion is not all that well-funded. This transfer will probably be based on the rather poor restoration done by the BFI in the '80s(?) which had a number of issues. (We'll be able to see if this is a new "restoration" if they have "found" the missing footage in the main title and fixed that jarring negative splice.)
Nonetheless, it will be wonderful to have this film back in DVD circulation again.
Incidentally, Criterion needs to re-do its THIEF OF BAGDAD information page and line-up the production staff names with their job descriptions for the film. Is Miklos Rozsa REALLY the "Technicolor Color Director" on the film? 
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Posted: |
Feb 22, 2008 - 12:02 PM
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By: |
Joe E.
(Member)
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I love THE THIEF OF BAGDAD and will undoubtedly be buying this.
But, at the same time, I will be very wary.
While it promises to be better than the MGM Home Entertainment DVD release of a few years ago, Criterion, for all the hype, doesn't always turn out the best quality transfers despite their effort, primarily because they own next to none of the material they release---they simply license it from others. For that reason they are usually stuck with the printing elements they are given or can turn up, and never do true restorations of their own, from scratch. That kind of from-the-original-source restoration can cost upwards of several million dollars to do well and I suspect that Criterion is not all that well-funded. This transfer will probably be based on the rather poor restoration done by the BFI in the '80s(?) which had a number of issues. (We'll be able to see if this is a new "restoration" if they have "found" the missing footage in the main title and fixed that jarring negative splice.)
As far as I can tell, their transfers have generally been the best done at the time they were done, but have frequently been superseded by later transfers by the rightsholders or other companies. I may be wrong, but I was under the impression they actually do a fair amount of restoration work on the films they present (or Janus Films does it, or they work in association with some other rightsholder to get it done).
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I'd actually be happier with a restored released of the 1961 version. We already have this one, and the '61 version, though inferior, is still fairly breathtaking in its color, and more of a fond memory of my youth.
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I love this movie and missed out on the original DVD release. Very glad to see it will be available again, soon.
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