Getting It Right the First Time

You’d think the producers of Blu-ray Discs would have learned from the mistakes they made with DVD releases, but apparently not. There have been some very good Blu-ray releases thus far, but there have also been some real misfires -- discs that include no extras whatsoever, even though their DVD counterparts had plenty; discs that don’t contain all versions of a film, or even the most popular one; discs slapped together from already released material that seriously needs to be revisited.

The latest flap about versions concerns two of the most popular franchises in the galaxy: Star Trek and The Lord of the Rings. A boxed Blu-ray set of the first six Star Trek films, released last month, contains the theatrical versions rather than the new directors’ cuts already released on DVD. In this case the differences are relatively small, yet when Sony can put out a magnificent Blu-ray edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind that includes three different versions of the film on one disc, why can’t Paramount do the same?

Worse is New Line’s upcoming winter release on Blu-ray of the three films of The Lord of the Rings -- but only in their shorter theatrical versions. This is a slap in the face to fans, who know that the much longer Special Extended Editions of all three have been available on DVD since late 2004. But New Line apparently plans to milk the public for as much money as they can, doing with Blu-ray what they did with DVD: release the theatrical versions first, wait a year, then release Extended Editions -- in a sense, reselling the films to the same audience. That worked with DVD because no one knew about, or had seen, the longer versions. But to not release them on Blu-ray smacks of price gouging, or being seriously out of touch with fans, or just plain stupidity. At Amazon.com, dozens of people have posted comments swearing that they won’t buy the theatrical-version Blu-rays, and I hope they stick to their guns. But my guess is that they’ll cave in at the last moment, just to have some version of LOTR in hi-def. You can bet that New Line is banking on it.

Another glaring example of noses thumbed at fans is the recent Blu-ray release of William Friedkin’s The French Connection. Friedkin played around with the movie to come up with a look that wasn’t at all like the original, and yet it was the only version included on this set. This is the equivalent of releasing a classic black-and-white film only in a colorized version.

Following are some examples of Blu-ray editions that were done right the first time.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Sony Blu-ray)

This set includes all three versions on one disc, as well as cleaned-up audio and video, and enough extras to answer almost any questions you might have about this classic.

Dark City (New Line Blu-ray)

This complete re-editing of the film by its director can be easily compared with the original theatrical version, because that’s included here as well -- not to mention more than a dozen extras that enhance the viewer’s enjoyment of the movie.

The Godfather Trilogy (Paramount Blu-ray)

Painstakingly restored, these films look as good as they probably ever will. It’s evident that everyone concerned treated these classics with the care they deserve.

How the West Was Won (Warner Blu-ray)

After much effort was expended to get rid of the vertical lines that betrayed the presence of the three original Cinerama film strips, two versions were created for Blu-ray: one in 2.55:1 widescreen, and one in the "Smile Box" format, which approximates the Cinerama experience.

Pinocchio (Walt Disney Blu-ray)

The colors in this very impressive restoration are vivid and true, but the idea was to create a master that would look exactly like the original.

The Third Man (Criterion Blu-ray)

This is black-and-white done exactly right, with significant extras that greatly enhance enjoyment of this classic. It’s difficult to think that any better version might come along.

There are others, but if you don’t have these half dozen, you haven’t experienced all the wonders of Blu-ray Disc. Unfortunately, such treatment is still more the exception than the rule.

. . . Rad Bennett
radb@hometheatersound.com

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