Tweet The Big Trail and Bird of Paradise announced for BR in May

Fox is issuing a Blu-Ray edition of The Big Trail on 8 May; no word on whether it'll include both editions or only one:

http://www.classicflix.com/duke-trail-barbarian-geisha-a-1175.html

...and Kino is continuing its efforts on high-quality editions of public domain titles with Bird of Paradise on 1 May:

http://www.classicflix.com/kino-bird-paradise-1932-standard-a-1179.html

-HA

More El on Blu! Now, we need to get "Just Imagine" on Blu!

More El on Blu! Now, we need to get "Just Imagine" on Blu!

Word, kid.........word.

More El on Blu! Now, we need to get "Just Imagine" on Blu!

I have a 16m copy unspooled on two cores at my feet as I type, never screened. Seen footage on You Tube, though. Wonder how that one survived in good order after 1937?? But I would welcome a Blu Ray but not likely from Fox is it?

The Big Trail, I believe is for Walmart or Best Buys initially. It is coming from Europe also.

[Christopher Jacobs]

THE BIG TRAIL is now available on Blu-ray (exclusively at Walmart) for $12.96. It's actually a 2-disc set, with the Blu-ray including both the Grandeur version and standard version in high definition, along with the commentary and all the bonus featurettes from the previous DVD in standard definition. (I've read somewhere that the European Blu-ray release had the widescreen version only.) The second disc is a DVD of the Grandeur version only with optional commentary, as well as the same interesting bonus featurettes about the film, the Grandeur process, John Wayne, and Raoul Walsh. (The previous 2-disc DVD release had a second DVD for the standard version).

I've spot-checked the two HD versions of the feature, and both look quite nice, although the 70mm negative was preserved photochemically by making a 35mm "scope" finegrain positive and a new 35mm "scope" dupe negative from that. The current HD scan apparently seems to be made from a preservation print off that new negative, so is not quite as crisp and sharp as if it had been scanned directly from the 70mm negative (which likely would have been extremely costly). Also, although the boxcover states that the 35mm "Academy" version is in the standard 1.33:1 ratio, it actually measures more like 1.22:1, the short-lived "Movietone" format with extra image above and below the true Academy 1.37 ratio. It's been a few years since I've seen the film (when the DVD came out), but I'll get around to watching at least the HD widescreen version of the feature all the way through in a couple of weeks or so and report back.

Released at the same time as THE BIG TRAIL is another widescreen John Wayne feature from Fox, the rather off-beat (for Wayne, at any rate) and underrated John Huston production THE BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA (1958). It is also a Walmart exclusive for $12.96. I just got done watching that one a couple hours ago, and have a new review in the "Old Movies in HD" continuing thread under the "Talking About Talkies" subforum.

WOW I thought negative was lost over the year on Big Trail sweet

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm" target="_blank

It's been a while since I have seen the Big Trail.
I saw it on American Movie Classics when such
movies were being shown on that network.

With this Blu-ray version, I'll be revisiting it.

[Christopher Jacobs]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/blu-ray_reviews57/the_big_trail_blu-ray.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank

It's been a while since I have seen the Big Trail.
I saw it on American Movie Classics when such
movies were being shown on that network.

With this Blu-ray version, I'll be revisiting it.

I've now seen the complete widescreen version of THE BIG TRAIL Blu-ray, and it looks very nice indeed (as noted above when I'd just spot-checked it), especially projected over eight feet wide. Audio quality is pretty mediocre, however, and the actors are often shouting to be picked up by the outdoor microphones. One of the most impressive aspects of the film is the careful and brilliantly effective control Walsh had over staging the mise en scene for the camera's wide format, how fully-packed the frame is with information -- people, props, setting -- details that can now be made out much more easily in high definition on a big screen. Of course if the 70mm negative still exists and could be scanned directly, it would likely look much better.

My Grandfather - the late Karl Malkames - performed the painstaking conversion of the shrunken 70mm nitrate camera negative to 35mm anamorphic fine grain back around 1979-80. It took him a year to complete - from designing and building the printer to handle it to delivering the fine-grain. It was done at the behest of The Museum of Modern Art who housed the negative and found this to be the only option for preserving this at the time after checking with other labs who wouldn't touch it - due to the heavy shrinkage. Whether that original camera negative still exists - and is in any shape to be dealt with - and if so could be scanned using current technology, would of course be the next question (and then whether anyone would greenlight it).

When the standard DVD came out several years back - I thought it a shame that no one thought to contact my Grandfather (still alive at the time) and interview the man who in a very singular way is responsible for the Grandeur version's existence - for inclusion in the bonus extras

My Grandfather - the late Karl Malkames - performed the painstaking conversion of the shrunken 70mm nitrate camera negative to 35mm anamorphic fine grain back around 1979-80. ..When the standard DVD came out several years back - I thought it a shame that no one thought to contact my Grandfather (still alive at the time) and interview the man who in a very singular way is responsible for the Grandeur version's existence - for inclusion in the bonus extras

The trouble is that the people handling the packaging of these film classics do not do the research many times to find out such things. They "assume" that anyone connected with the film may have passed away, or take for granted the work that people such as your Grandfather did in order to make the film available for them. They certainly missed a Golden Opportunity.