High Noon - R4 SE (Paramount) REMASTER

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 13 Nov 2006, 10:20

From the Paramount remastered SE available in R4 land and parts of Europe (French and Dutch releases have been confirmed). Reportedly the Artisan R1's and the Universal R2UK releases look like absolute shit in comparison.

EDIT: I should note that this Paramount SE features a restored DD2.0 mono track and a DD2.0 surround track (which I suspect is really just centre-channel mono, but I didn't bother to listen to it). They've also ported over all the extras from the R1.

They've applied minor windowboxing to the opening credits sequence as you can see from the first two caps.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 13 Nov 2006, 10:29

Looks incredible for a film made in 1952 (it was 1952 right?)

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 13 Nov 2006, 10:42

grim_tales wrote:Looks incredible for a film made in 1952 (it was 1952 right?)

Fo sho.

It's an outstanding film in all respects too - the acting, the script, the direction, the editing, the cinematography, the score. I shouldn't have put off seeing it for so long.

After seeing the film I can definately see that good chunks of Leone's OUATITW were homages to High Noon.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 13 Nov 2006, 11:25

One of the greatest Westerns ever, period - and there's been a fair share of great ones!

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 13 Nov 2006, 13:55

Universal UK is terrible with treating its archive material - shoddy prints for King Kong and Fort Apache, pan and scan for The Birds. This Paramount disc looks good. This is one of those films I keep meaning to see - and it's got Lon Chaney Jr so I MUST get it!

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 13 Nov 2006, 18:35

Ah damn... I keep meaning to see this film and those grabs have persuaded me. It looks incredible! While I'm at it, may as well buy Once Upon a Time in the West...

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 13 Nov 2006, 18:41

OUATITW is slightly compromised on DVD by changes to the score but it's such a damn fine film I had to get it

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 13 Nov 2006, 18:48

The R1 Mono OUATITW should be unchanged, no?

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 13 Nov 2006, 19:28

bradavon wrote:The R1 Mono OUATITW should be unchanged, no?

Done a bit more research and it seems the music change is to do with the US version of the film, not a DVD tech goof

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 13 Nov 2006, 21:05

How is the music changed? I never noticed that.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 13 Nov 2006, 21:14

The Italian version closes with the end theme whilst the US version begins with the end theme and fades into Cheyenne's theme. The way some people had talked about it implied a goof on the DVD personell's part. I stand corrected

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 13 Nov 2006, 22:11

That's great and all but the Italian DVD(s) lacks the English track so it's useless in most people's books. The R1 of OUATITW is fantastic anyway.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 13 Nov 2006, 22:31

Yeah, it's a pity the extra scenes from the Italian version didn't make it to the Paramount DVD

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 13 Nov 2006, 23:15

Ivan Drago wrote:Yeah, it's a pity the extra scenes from the Italian version didn't make it to the Paramount DVD

Yup, I would've liked to have seen the longer opening sequence with more Jack Elam fly-play. The opening sequence is one my fave parts of the film.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 23 Jan 2007, 02:43

It seems that this SE is now OOP and is unavailable from most Austrailian Etailers. I dunno of that's a sign that it's recieving a cheapo re-issue or not, but DVDCrave still have a few copies in stock - less than 10 though!

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 23 Jan 2007, 03:25

Shingster wrote:It seems that this SE is now OOP and is unavailable from most Austrailian Etailers. I dunno of that's a sign that it's recieving a cheapo re-issue or not, but DVDCrave still have a few copies in stock - less than 10 though!

Identical Dutch or French discs are good alternatives. Dutch disc can be bought from Mediadis, probably.

Ivan Drago wrote:The Italian version closes with the end theme whilst the US version begins with the end theme and fades into Cheyenne's theme. The way some people had talked about it implied a goof on the DVD personell's part. I stand corrected

Italian disc has no English audio, so it is redundant.

captainjoe · Post by **captainjoe** » 23 Jan 2007, 04:58

That's a great transfer!

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 23 Jan 2007, 12:35

captainjoe wrote:That's a great transfer!

Which North America won't see any time soon!

The best/original elements for the Republic catalogue films are held/owned by Paramount. The Republic films (sans It's a Wonderful Life) have been licenced out to Lionsgate who hold fairly good (eg Rio Brande, The Sands of Iwo Jima) to utter shit prints (eg The Quiet Man, High Noon).

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 24 Jan 2007, 00:13

EvaUnit02 wrote:Identical Dutch or French discs are good alternatives. Dutch disc can be bought from Mediadis, probably.

Aye they do, price is around the same as the R4 from DVDcrave IIRC an all. 8)