I’m as normal as a Blu-Ray Pie… | Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter |
| Written by: Stefan Adler, Swedish Widescreen Pages, Sweden | Date: 10.08.2009 |
 Since it’s all over – I mean the glorious hayday of 70mm Roadshows and lavish, bright and sharp Todd-AO productions, one simply have to manage with what’s out there.After a most horrible and rainy Swedish summer I surrendered and finally got myself a BIG plasma full HD TV-screen – and eventually after a browsing the entire net; a region free really, really, really expensive Dune Blu-Ray player. The later would show itself unnecessary, since the movie which started this urge was without regional coding, though stated otherwise on the cover. After what seemed a long wait it arrived in the mail, my copy of "South Pacific" on Blu-ray. So what’s there to say? Why write about this? Well, primarily to state that it swept me off my feet! For the first time since I left my 70mm projection rooms at Draken and Victoria in Gothenburg, Sweden, there was at least a fair simulation of a good picture. The vivid colors and blacks were there as well as a resolution good enough to see background action, faces and defined oceans and vegetation. It was on the whole good enough to make me remember how good it actually was back then, if you know what I mean. I could see the things in the image on which I used to focus. That wasn’t the case on the DVD. The DTS soundtrack sounds a bit too “wet” and with too much surround, compared to the original, but still gives a good hint of how the original 6-channel mix sounded. So 70mm and Cinerama friends – buy it together with the smilebox edition of "How the West was Won". The two best titles so far for remembrance by means of discs and home theatre gear. | More in 70mm reading: The Passing of Stefan Adler So, what about the Sound of Music on Blu-Ray? Draken - A Brief Technical History Me and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - a 50 year Love Story. "How the West Was Won" now re-issued on DVD "Where Eagles Dare" - 40th Anniversary 1969 - 2009 Internet link: Swedish Widescreen Pages |
 Mitzy Gaynor and, ehh, Stefan Adler??? Lovingly composed by StefanWhile "HTWWW" is released in Blu-ray for region B here in Europe, "South Pacific" isn’t. I could have saved a considerable amount of doe had I known that the A-region marking in listings and on the cover is a fake. Most American Blu-rays still seems to be without regional coding. After vacuuming the net I found this website, trying to keep an up to date list of this A-B-C blu-ray region nonsense: That’s it for now I guess. I have an appointment with Nellie and she is still as gorgeous as when I first met her 49 years ago, dancing on the beach, in love with a wonderful format. And I am too – with both of them. | |
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