The Marx Brothers on Blu-ray?

[william...@aol.com]

Here is an excerpt from a recent article of Home Media Magazine;

George Feltenstein, SVP of theatrical catalog marketing at Warner Home
Video, said black-and-white films on Blu-ray are following the same
pattern they did with DVD

“If we want to go back 12 years, nobody wanted to go near the classics
for DVD,” he said. “We believe that Blu-ray is a transformational way
to represent these films. And the proof was in the pudding with
Casablanca.”

For Warner, cleaning up a black-and-white film for Blu-ray isn’t an
easy or cheap process. “There’s an extraordinary expense in bringing
these to Blu-ray,” Feltenstein said.

Next, Warner hopes to bring some of the Marx Brothers black-and-white
comedies to Blu-ray, as well as films starring Errol Flynn, Betty
Davis and Humphrey Bogart. Look for the 1941 The Maltese Falcon on Blu-
ray from Warner in 2010, Feltenstein said.

You can read the entire article;

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/blu-ray-disc/black-white-blu-17280

Of course the films Mr. Feltenstein are referring to are the
following;

A Night at the Opera (1935)
A Day at the Races (1937)
Room Service (1938)
At the Circus (1939)
Go West (1940)
The Big Store (1941)
A Night in the Casablanca (1946)

My question to group members; How many here are willing to up grade
any of these films to Blu-ray?

Cartoonguy

[Spike]

In article <f9547d5a-8547-4a69...@a7g2000yqo.googlegroups.com>,
william...@aol.com says...

>My question to group members; How many here are willing to up grade
>any of these films to Blu-ray?
>
>Cartoonguy

I don't see any reason why. Are they going to be any more pristine condition
than they are already. Also what additional extras can they offer? The only
one I know not in the current box set is Harpo's very brief appearance in the
Technicolor short "La Fiesta de Santa Barbara" which I dvrd the last time it was
on TCM. They could include the scene in "A Day at the Races" that was
originally tinted restored, but I don't think I'll part with my hard earned cash
just for that.

Now if Universal could get their hands on some of the Paramount promotional
films done to promote their films (most of that stuff was excerpted in the
excellent documentary "Marx Brothers in a Nutshell") they might have a better
chance of me parting with my money, especially if they could get better/more
complete prints of the early Paramount films.

My only Marx purchase of the year so far is the excellent value "You Bet Your
Life Groucho Marx Collection" from a company called Allegro which I picked up on
Amazon for $6.98 earlier this year. It has 30 episodes jammed on to 2 DVDs.
Unfortunately there are no episode descriptions, but I haven't noticed any
duplications with other sets I already own so far (I haven't watched the whole
set yet).

Spike

[Pete The Upstart]

On Oct 31, 5:54 pm, Spike <Sp...@Spike.com> wrote:
> In article <f9547d5a-8547-4a69-8e99-409668bde...@a7g2000yqo.googlegroups.com>,

I agree. The blu-ray discs would need some serious extras in order to
make an upgrade worthwhile.

[David]

I'll definitely buy whatever is released. Blu Ray releases typically
mean that great care has been taken to make the release worthy of a
the "Blu Ray" title.

To see what great improvement can be made, check out these screen
comparisons of the recently-released Buster Keaton classic The
General: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare5/thegeneral.htm

You wouldn't think that an improvement could have been made - but they
did it :)