Saturday, November 27, 2004
Member since:
November 2004
November 2004
BUYER BEWARE!
Two comments about Mr. Puccio's DVD review: First, "Guys and Dolls" is a truly great musical, one of the best. Make no mistake about that. I don't know how anyone, including Mr. Puccio, whose opinion I usually adhere to, could ever think otherwise or have any reservation whatsoever about this production, which is one of those rare instances where a Broadway musical was recreated almost as is for the screen, even with the few cut songs. And these omissions are nicely compensated by the extension of the Cuba scene with its pervasive "Woman In Love" theme that couldn't have been as good on the stage.
Second, and most important: This tranfer is non-anamorphic, which makes a great deal of difference to widescreen TV owners who have to zoom in on the picture. Therefore, the definition is not the best it could be, even for 4:3 TV owners. The colours don't bleed (much), it's true, but the definition is barely above the laserdisc level, which is simply unacceptable in this day and age. It also means that if you buy this DVD now (like I just did on Nov. 26, 2004), you will have to replace it eventually with the anamorphic collector's edition with oodles of gorgeous extras - at a hefty price, no doubt - that is bound to come out eventually and that, let's face it, you won't be able to resist.
My understanding is that this DVD was put out in 2000 and reissued in 2003, probably by popular demand - in a still un-anamorphic low-price version, which compounds the crassness of MGM and its inability or unwillingness to do the right thing by the consumer.:@
And this only happened because not enough reviewers raised hell about this issue back in 2000 when widescreen TVs were still considered "exotic" and Mr. Puccio probably had no idea what they were about.
Two comments about Mr. Puccio's DVD review: First, "Guys and Dolls" is a truly great musical, one of the best. Make no mistake about that. I don't know how anyone, including Mr. Puccio, whose opinion I usually adhere to, could ever think otherwise or have any reservation whatsoever about this production, which is one of those rare instances where a Broadway musical was recreated almost as is for the screen, even with the few cut songs. And these omissions are nicely compensated by the extension of the Cuba scene with its pervasive "Woman In Love" theme that couldn't have been as good on the stage.
Second, and most important: This tranfer is non-anamorphic, which makes a great deal of difference to widescreen TV owners who have to zoom in on the picture. Therefore, the definition is not the best it could be, even for 4:3 TV owners. The colours don't bleed (much), it's true, but the definition is barely above the laserdisc level, which is simply unacceptable in this day and age. It also means that if you buy this DVD now (like I just did on Nov. 26, 2004), you will have to replace it eventually with the anamorphic collector's edition with oodles of gorgeous extras - at a hefty price, no doubt - that is bound to come out eventually and that, let's face it, you won't be able to resist.
My understanding is that this DVD was put out in 2000 and reissued in 2003, probably by popular demand - in a still un-anamorphic low-price version, which compounds the crassness of MGM and its inability or unwillingness to do the right thing by the consumer.:@
And this only happened because not enough reviewers raised hell about this issue back in 2000 when widescreen TVs were still considered "exotic" and Mr. Puccio probably had no idea what they were about.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Member since:
November 2004
November 2004