This release makes me so sad. I’m not even sure where to start commenting on it. I had decided previously that all reviews on the site would fit a format, with portions devoted to story, video and disc features at the very least. That format just won’t work for what I have to say about Koch‘s release of Gulliver’s Travels.

It’s pointless to review the story here. It’s a classic book (or chapter of a book, as the case may be) adapted into a classic animated film. It would be like critiquing Wizard of Oz. There’s no point. It is what it is – a 1939 animated feature film produced by the Fleischer Brothers in answer to Disney‘s success with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It’s far from perfect but the animation, rushed as it was, stands the test of time.

At issue here is the quality of the Blu-ray disc versus the claims made by the distribution company, Koch and the people from Cartoon Crazys who are responsible for the restoration. I think it’s fantastic that they’ve attacked Gulliver’s Travels with such enthusiasm, doing what they perceive to be the best they could with the materials at hand. Also, I’m incredibly thankful that they made a screener copy available to us, enabling me to write this review and inform you of the contents of the Blu-ray. What makes me sad is the result of their efforts and the fact that they don’t see what a travesty they’ve created, that what they’ve released is such a misrepresentation of the original film print and the artists’ intent.

Let me put it in bold, certain terms: Gulliver’s Travels has been stretched and cropped to fit your 16:9 widescreen display. This is unacceptable under any circumstances. Need proof? Here you go. I took a trip into Photoshop and merged a couple of screen-grabs – one from an old 4:3 public domain copy I downloaded and another from Koch’s 16:9 Blu-ray disc presentation.

In the first image you can clearly see that these two frames don’t line up (I tried to match them by keeping the facial area parallel, having lowered the opacity on the Blu-ray screen-grab to make it slightly see-through). The 16:9 version from Koch has clearly been stretched, despite their claims to the contrary. Note how the faces line up for the most part, but the further you move from them the further from congruent the images become. That stretching has also made the Blu-ray frame slightly more squat. Observe the water line in both images.

This second image sees me distorting the 16:9 of the Blu-ray frame to match the 4:3 of the older release. They line up almost perfectly, with slightly more information on the left side of the screen, less on the right and tons cropped off of the top and bottom of the Blu-ray frame.

Koch claims in their press info that the remaster process was performed,

“…frame-by-frame without stretching characters or losing any image beyond standard vertical safe areas – and the use of proprietary techniques actually enables more picture to be visible on the left and right sides of the frame than ever before”

I cry foul. This is either the press folks completely unaware of what was happening in the lab or an out-and-out untruth. There’s the evidence, staring us in the face in the images above.

I’m further disturbed by the claims made by Peter Rosenberg of Cartoon Crazys, the company responsible for the restoration, in comments over at Cartoon Brew. He asserts,

“It wasn’t a 4:3 movie on the film print, it was 35 mm. and the 4:3 version seen on tv was panned and scanned and had image removed for the tv safe area’s.”

And,

“The original was in 35mm and cut to fit tv screens in the 60’s but we restored all the lost images and safe area’s and it really looks terrific. We took over 12 months to do it and make sure it was right and as i said Tom discussed doing a wide screen version on film with Richard (Max Fleischer’s son) and he thought since the Fleischers were innovators in their own time Max would be delighted by our innovations and he trusted only us to do it right.”

Not only is it ridiculous to contend that the 35mm print was anything but 1.37:1, essentially a 4:3 aspect ratio, but it’s further insulting to maintain that the Fleischer‘s would have appreciated an alteration of their work that would include the cutting and distortion of the film frame. If I could, I would direct Rosenberg and his entire crew to read the transcript from the Home Theatre Forum’s discussion with the restoration team responsible for the current release of Fox‘s The Robe. Now, there’s restoration done right and with respect for the filmmakers’ original intent! If Cartoon Crazys and Koch truly care for this film and have a desire to bring a properly restored version to the home video market, they’ll have to cut a deal with Viacom who currently own the rights and have the original nitrate successive exposure negatives, backup positives, optical soundtrack negatives, and isolated Main Title elements in the vaults of the UCLA Film & Television Archives in Hollywood. Now that would be impressive indeed!

(Allow me to qualify the above criticisms of Koch’s Gulliver’s Travels by saying that I would have little to no problem with this release had the studio and the “restoration” team not made claims that didn’t hold true. The disc still wouldn’t have won a purchase recommendation from me but I wouldn’t have taken issue with their interpretation of a public domain film. It’s out there for anyone to do with as they please. This version is just as valid as any other. It’s the contentions made by Koch and Cartoon Crazys regarding the transfer and restoration of Gulliver’s Travels that make this Blu-ray a questionable release.)

Aside from aspect ratio/stretching issues, the image on the Blu-ray disc is a bit of a mixed bag. It appears equivalent to a poor standard definition transfer on screen: hazy with severe colour bleed and lack of detail, leaving the impression that most of the clean up was rendered with heavy-handed use of digital noise reduction tools, affecting the look of a dirty, old still taken into Photoshop and posterized, with some Gaussian blur added for good effect. On a positive note, the colours are quite vivid here, possibly even more accurate than ever before, creating what might be the brightest and most brilliant presentation of Gulliver’s Travels seen in years.

Without going too deeply into the rest of the issues plaguing the feature on the Blu-ray disc (film judder, jerky movement, poorly assembled and static menus, thin and unnecessary 5.1 surround mix) I’m forced to recommend giving Koch’s Gulliver’s Travels a pass. If you must own a copy of the film now, you would be better served tracking down the long out-of-print Hal Roach studios Image Entertainment DVD release.

PS: There are two bonus cartoons and a brief vintage documentary on the Blu-ray as well as the feature. Not that these additions alter my opinion in the least.

The Robe looks better than ever after a timely rescue

The Home Theatre Forum hosted an amazing chat with Fox restorationist Schawn Belston on Monday night, regarding his work on the newly released version of The Robe. As the very first Cinemascope film ever made, it represents a landmark in film history as well as a substantial challenge for the restoration team. If you’ve ever wondered what goes into rescuing, restoring and bringing a classic film to Blu-ray, be sure to give the transcript a read. Schawn is very candid about everything outside of the exact dollar amount that went into restoring The Robe. I’m particularly amazed and delighted at the fantastic effort made to remove the offensive “WOW” effect from the existing versions of the soundtrack. Great work by Lowry Digital, Audio Mechanics, Schawn and his team!

Check out the Lowry Digital site as well for images and a detailed look at the process.

Chat transcript via TheDigitalBits.com

Criterion has announced two more fantastic European classic films for release on Blu-ray.

THE SEVENTH SEAL (16 Jun 2009, 1 Disc SRP: $39.95)

Disc Features

* New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
* Introduction by Ingmar Bergman, recorded in 2003
* Audio commentary by Bergman expert Peter Cowie
* A new afterword to the commentary by Cowie
* Bergman Island (2006), an 83-minute documentary on Bergman by Marie Nyreröd, featuring in-depth and revealing interviews with the director
* Archival audio interview with Max von Sydow
* A 1998 tribute to Bergman by filmmaker Woody Allen
* Theatrical trailer
* Bergman 101, a selected video filmography tracing Bergman’s career, narrated by Cowie
* Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
* New and improved English subtitle translation
* PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Gary Giddins

LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (23 Jun 2009, 1 Disc SRP: $39.95)

Disc Features

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

* New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Alain Resnais (with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
* New audio interview with Resnais
* New documentary on the making of Last Year at Marienbad, featuring interviews with many of Resnais’ collaborators
* New video interview with film scholar Ginette Vincendeau on the history of the film and its many mysteries
* Two short documentaries by Resnais: Toute la mémoire du monde (1956) and Le chant du styrène (1958)
* Theatrical trailer
* Optional original, unrestored French soundtrack
* New and improved subtitle translation
* PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critic Mark Polizzotti and film scholar François Thomas, and Alain Robbe-Grillet’s introduction to the published screenplay and comments on the film

Wonder Woman (2009 – Blu-ray)

The Story:

Pretty good. Exactly what I was expecting. Not as focussed, structurally sound or iconic as i’d hoped but completely serviceable. To be fair, nearly every single criticism I can throw at producer Bruce Timm, director Lauren Montgomery and crew’s animated Wonder Woman film can be explained away by it’s two most villainous foes – budget and running time.

Scribe Michael Jelenic by way of Gail Simone‘s story makes a grand effort of attempting to tell the definitive origin of DC Comics‘ Amazonian princess by amalgamating and slightly reshaping the best and most iconic elements found in the comic book series and on television. This Wonder Woman can’t fly like the comics or Justice League cartoon incarnations and won’t fight in heels like Linda Carter but is steeped in the Greek mythological background stuff that makes the modern DC version of the character feel timeless. In fact, the film skews heavily toward the sword and sandal tone, only allowing a hint of what Princess Diana’s adventures in “Man’s World” might feel like. And I think that’s where it fails for me.

This fable feels most at home when exploring the lives, characters and mythology of the Amazonian world. It spends a glorious amount of its brief seventy-odd minute run-time focused on the toga/sandal crew and reasonably little on our protagonist’s fish-out-of-water, island girl in NYC arc. A grave mistake, if you ask me, as that’s where the character really shines, where she becomes the Wonder Woman that we all know and love. That version, the ideal status quo for the character is what the whole narrative leads us to in a denouement which really pays off. But along the way, the rush to explore every nook and cranny of the Amazonian plight leads to a juxtaposition of tone and style that doesn’t always work, as if the climax of of Frank Miller‘s 300 was randomly staged in downtown Washington DC without much explanation. In fact, a lot of things get glossed over or unexplained in this story. Like the Invisible Jet that suddenly appears on the primitive Amazon island, for instance.

And, if the production team’s comments are to be believed that sloppiness comes as necessitated by restricted budget and time. Sadly, it seems this vision for Wonder Woman was simply too epic to be contained in a short DTV feature. This is meant to be storytelling writ large and long. The music cues, riffing heavily on Shore’s Lord of the Rings (with a little of Kilar’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula thrown in for good measure) tell us as much right off the top. But you can feel the edits, the glossed over details, the deleted dialogue and scenes, the moments you were meant to love that ended up on the cutting room floor or the directors storyboard pages, as it were. I mean, this thing works well and looks good for a short, modestly budgeted video project. But ultimately, it serves best as a blueprint for Hollywood to follow and expand upon as they bring Wonder Woman to life, live-action on the big screen.

The Disc:

Wonder Woman hits Blu-ray on a BD-25 with a VC-1, 1080p encode that averages 17mbps. Audio is encoded as Dolby True HD 5.1 48 kHz 1641 kbps. The movie, featured on disc one of the two disc set, looks and sounds quite average. Video is softer than it should be, most likely as a result of the diffusion filters used by Moi Animation Studio – a stylistic choice – and exhibits some occasional mild compression artifacting. On the plus side, the film appears vibrant with deep blacks and an over-all pleasing visual experience.

Extras on disc one include a stellar commentary track from Bruce Timm, Lauren Montgomery and crew where they speak candidly and in depth about the production. Also, two featurettes provide insight into the history and social relevance of the character. Four hand-picked episodes of Justice League featuring Wonder Woman heavily in the plot round out the extras of interest. The remaining features are all promos for other DC and Warner discs. What’s missing, in this reviewer’s opinion, is a doc outlining the creation of the film. I would love to see some production art and meet more of the team responsible for the film, outside of what little is shown in the old promo.

Disc two provides a digital copy of the film, compatible with mac and PC. That’s all folks!

The Final Word:

I really love that Warner is putting it’s muscle behind these DTV releases. Despite any criticisms that I might have, i really enjoy the DC heroes in their various animated incarnations. And I can count this Wonder Woman film among my favourites. With a decent transfer and a handful of compelling features I can’t help but give this disc a recommendation. As a PG-13 film, it’s clearly focussed at fans and certainly not made for children but most viewers who enjoy animated adventure films will get a kick out of it.

Learn more about the animation of Wonder Woman in my review over at Frames Per Second Animation Magazine.

Buy the Wonder Woman Blu-ray Disc on Amazon.com
MSR List Price: $29.99
Amazon Price: $21.99
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The Prisoner is one of my all time favourite television shows. I picked up the A&E DVD releases a number of years back and have been reasonably pleased with them despite the obvious condition of the original prints they were mastered from. I never thought we’d see a Blu-ray version as, on the list of shows that would see benefit from a new high-def transfer, the Prisoner would most likely rank quite low. Imagine my surprise when I discover this amazon listing for the entire series on Blu-ray! I’m willing to give Network the benefit of the doubt, give the discs a buy and chime in on their quality after the April 27th release date.

On a related note, AMC is remaking the series as a six-hour television mini-series to air in the summer or fall of this year. Here’s a look at a behind the scenes promo, starring Ian McKellen as Two and Jim Caviezel as Six :