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Posted: |
Apr 15, 2020 - 4:12 PM
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By: |
dragon53
(Member)
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Criterion is releasing the original George Pal THE WAR OF THE WORLDS on bluray.
Synopsis: A mysterious, meteorlike object has landed in a small California town. All clocks have stopped. A fleet of glowing green UFOs hovers menacingly over the entire globe. The Martian invasion of Earth has begun, and it seems that nothing—neither military might nor the scientific know-how of nuclear physicist Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry)—can stop it. In the expert hands of genre specialists George Pal and Byron Haskin, H. G. Wells's end-of-civilization classic receives a chilling Cold War–era update, complete with hallucinatory Technicolor and visionary, Oscar-winning special effects. Emblazoned with iconographic images of 1950s science fiction, The War of the Worlds is both an influential triumph of visual imagination and a still-disquieting document of the wonder and terror of the atomic age.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
NEW alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, created by sound designer Ben Burtt and presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
Audio commentary from 2005 featuring filmmaker Joe Dante, film historian Bob Burns, and author Bill Warren
Movie Archaeologists, a new program on the visual and sound effects in the film featuring Burtt and film historian Craig Barron
From the Archive, a new program about the film's restoration featuring Barron, Burtt, and Paramount Pictures archivist Andrea Kalas
Audio interview with producer George Pal from 1970
The Sky Is Falling, a 2005 documentary about the making of the film
The Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds from 1938, directed and narrated by Orson Welles
Radio program from 1940 featuring a discussion between Welles and H. G. Wells, author of the 1897 novel The War of the Worlds
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by film critic J. Hoberman
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I nearly posted info about the Australian one a while back. Must have forgot. The wires issue is something I would think about sitting back and seeing both these discs reviewed before going any further. I remember seeing a one day cinema revival in the 80s after seeing it for years and tv, and being horrified at seeing those wires! It's very rare I'd sanction messing about with a classic like this but on this occasion...
If Ray Harryhausen can sit and supervise the colourisation of his black and white movies, I'm sure George Pal would pretty much insist on the removal of those wires. It's a simple job surely with today's technology. I'm sure we all agree that they would NOT want the wires on show.
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In 2018, Itunes had a streaming restored HD version (and WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE) which finally removed the damn wires holding up the martians ships.
I hope they haven't done that for the Blu-ray. The film is, and every film should be, a product of its times. If wires are indicative of the limits of special effects technology as it stood in 1953, then that's where it should stay, because the film is not only a mechanism for the telling of a story, but testament to the skills of those who did the story-telling.
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Posted: |
Apr 16, 2020 - 10:54 PM
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By: |
Octoberman
(Member)
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I hope they haven't done that for the Blu-ray. The film is, and every film should be, a product of its times. If wires are indicative of the limits of special effects technology as it stood in 1953, then that's where it should stay, because the film is not only a mechanism for the telling of a story, but testament to the skills of those who did the story-telling.
I understand your point about retroactive tampering, but you can bet that the FX team were pretty damn glad that the wires didn't show up too clearly on the standard film stock of the era.
If they could have made sure that the wires didn't show up, they would have.
Actually, come to think of it, it would be cool to have 2 versions of the film on the Blu--the original and the tweaked.
Kinda late for that, I guess.
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Posted: |
Apr 17, 2020 - 8:18 AM
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By: |
jackfu
(Member)
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Excellent summary, Solium, thanks!
I do like the idea of the options for both versions. I’m not all that worried about the wires, but I’d like to see it without them as well.
I just don’t want the changes, even for the better, to take me out of the film. Some films have done that, even improved visuals.
ST:TOS is a good case in point. While I really like the updated versions, the contrast between the great, real-scale looking spaceships and all, compared to the obvious fake boulders, etc., can be disjointing. That may simply be due to me having grown up watching ST:TOS and having it etched in my mind as to how the ships looked.
I’ll still order this, as it’s still the standard for me as far as TWotW.
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Posted: |
Apr 17, 2020 - 11:39 AM
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By: |
riotengine
(Member)
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Well, the Criterion blu is not porting over the Gene Barry/Ann Robinson commentary from the DVD. Guess I need to decide on getting the Criterion disc, and keeping my DVD, or getting the Australian blu-ray.
Such conundrums tax my brain. 
But this is good to know...
"Speaking of a Paramount title, we’ve confirmed with our friends at Via Vision Entertainment that their forthcoming line-up of Impact Films limited edition Blu-ray titles will NOT be region locked. That means War of the Worlds (1953), The Duellists (1977), Waterloo (1970), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), and I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)"
Greg Espinoza
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