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Grapevine Video has issued WILD HORSE MESA (1925) in a new upgraded version on both DVD and Blu-ray. This film has been available only in a washed-out version as far as I know. The cast is fine with Jack Holt, Billie Dove, Noah Berry, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Another Grapevine Blu-ray is EAST IS EAST (1916) with Florence Turner. Among the other DVD releases is THE GRAND DUCHESS AND THE WAITER (1925) with Adolphe Menjou.

Here's a link for WILD HORSE MESA:
http://www.grapevinevideo.com/wild-hors ... luray.html" target="_blank" target="_blank

Can anyone who has the BD comment on the picture quality?

Bob?

Gaucho wrote:Can anyone who has the BD comment on the picture quality?
Bob?

I watched the first 30 minutes of WHM this morning while on my treadmill. Watching films on the treadmill is a great antidote to the dread malady of film buffs - couch potato-itis (aka big rear-end syndrome). But I digress. I am happy to report that Grapevine Video has hit a home run right out of the park! The image quality is stunning in Blu-ray so I have to assume it is also excellent in regular DVD. And I watched it on my big screen TV, not my PC monitor. Even the needle-drop vintage orchestral score seems synchronized with the picture. This is like seeing this film for the first time if you've only seen the washed out edition with all details blasted white. Even the opening scenes with an unbilled Eugene Pallette that seemed rather slow work much better now.

Bottom line - run, don't walk, to your PC and order this one!

I reviewed the DVD in the section "What Have You Watched Lately" in the silents section. I made the assumption that the Blu-Ray was decent because the DVD is absolutely superb! Watched it last night and could easily watch it again very soon. It's that good!

bobfells wrote:

Gaucho wrote:Can anyone who has the BD comment on the picture quality?
Bob?

I watched the first 30 minutes of WHM this morning while on my treadmill. Watching films on the treadmill is a great antidote to the dread malady of film buffs - couch potato-itis (aka big rear-end syndrome). But I digress. I am happy to report that Grapevine Video has hit a home run right out of the park! The image quality is stunning in Blu-ray so I have to assume it is also excellent in regular DVD. And I watched it on my big screen TV, not my PC monitor. Even the needle-drop vintage orchestral score seems synchronized with the picture. This is like seeing this film for the first time if you've only seen the washed out edition with all details blasted white. Even the opening scenes with an unbilled Eugene Pallette that seemed rather slow work much better now.

Bottom line - run, don't walk, to your PC and order this one!

Thanks for following up on this, Bob. I placed an order last week, so my anticipation of this title has been upped as well. Gaucho should have no reservations about purchasing this given your stellar review. For a $5 fee over the DVD-R price, the BD-R seems to me like a no-brainer. Besides PQ, from a longevity standpoint BD-R should exceed DVD-R by many years.

Note: If Grapevine were to select their most popular titles (with decent PQ) for BD-R release ...perhaps upgrading with a modest amount of clean-up and/or restoration where needed... they could have a significant impact on the collector market. Doing a little research into BD-R progress over the past 10 years, recent price drops in recordable BD media may have motivated Grapevine in this direction. I applaud their perceptiveness!

One caveat ...and I'm not singling out Grapevine for this..., I wish all PD film services utilizing DVD-R or BD-R technology would clearly disclose it. It's possible that some folks might be hesitant buying on demand write-once media, but given the relative obscurity of many silent films I suspect that resistance to recordable medium wouldn't amount to a hill of beans for any collector.

Ordered. I've never seen this film (hadn't even heard of it, truth be admitted), but Bob and Michael's yee-ha's were enough to send me galloping over to Grapevine, six-shooters ablaze. Much obliged, pardners.

I bought the regular version DVD from Grapevine a few months ago - excellent, excellent, excellent movie.

Will see about upgrading it to Blu-Ray.

MaryGH wrote:I bought the regular version DVD from Grapevine a few months ago - excellent, excellent, excellent movie.

Will see about upgrading it to Blu-Ray.

Received the Blu-Ray today. The transfers for DVD and BD are bound to be similar if the same source materials were used. If the source print is of good quality and the tools used capable of mastering to higher resolution then there should be an uptick in BD image quality.

Plus I bought the DVD a few weeks after I finished the book - the silent film remains fairly true to the story.

Just my 2 cents.

Many thanks to all those who replied.

Will pick this up.