Howard Hawks

[Jonathan S]

1) On my TV, the 1946 version plays with some bad motion smoothing problems. These aren't present in the 1945 version. Do others experience this too? Why is it, and how can I fix it? Is it a mastering problem, or have I botched some setting?

It's definitely your TV. Since the 45 version is SD it'll play 60i, whereas the 46 version is HD and will play at 24p. You probably have motion smoothing enabled only when the latter is engaged, i.e. the setting may not appear unless the TV is in 24p mode.

My guess was it was something like that. Except it only affects this blu-ray and not others. Even the Warner blu-rays I tried play fine. Is there some setting unique to this one that could be triggering it? Or could I have gotten a bad copy somehow?

The other trick is that I can't actually check the settings on my TV until my replacement remote arrives in a couple of days. Apparently one of my kids spilled something on the one we have, which renders a few key buttons inoperative. (Or would there be settings on my blu-ray player that I also need to check? I glanced quickly, and video mode was set to "standard," and there didn't seem much else to mess with, but maybe I missed something.)

Weirdly, I have the opposite problem: while the 1946 HD version looks fine, the 1945 SD version (on the Blu-ray) has always looked jerky on three completely different systems I've used, two of which don't even have gimmicks like motion smoothing as an option. I compared it with the same version on the original Warner "flipper" DVD and found no problem with that, so I kept it. The Blu-ray ('45 version) also displays other faults on my systems, e.g. the panels in Sternwood's hallway in the opening scene have wavy or jagged horizontals, but not on the DVD.

I've noticed this jerkiness on SD content on a few other Warner Blu-rays, but not all. Maybe it is system-related in some way (I tried altering settings like 24p) but I've rarely encountered it on any non-Warner Blu-rays or indeed DVDs.

[domino harvey]

From Movie issue five (1962):

[Rayon Vert]

Thanks for sharing that domino. Never heard of those!

[Matt]

That Quixote project sounds like a real dodged bullet. Less than 1% chance of it being good despite the immense talents involved.

[Stefan]

That Quixote project sounds like a real dodged bullet. Less than 1% chance of it being good despite the immense talents involved.

Matt, that's not the way how this works. For (albeit age-old) news of this stature you should hit the ceiling in delight (for the idea of a "Don Quixote" with Cary Grant) and be doleful as hell (that it did not get realized).

It's also a pity that THIS variant of "Man's Favorite Sport" did not reach the finish.The idea of a black eye on a woman that is never explained (but this would have not allowed any allusions whatsoever) opens a whole new door.

Thanks for sharing this, Domino.

[FrauBlucher]

That Quixote project sounds like a real dodged bullet. Less than 1% chance of it being good despite the immense talents involved.

Matt, that's not the way how this works. For (albeit age-old) news of this stature you should hit the ceiling in delight (for the idea of a "Don Quixote" with Cary Grant) and be doleful as doleful as hell (that it did not get realized).

Thanks for sharing this, Domino.

[Stefan]

No, FrauBlucher, things are not that bad! I meant this in a much more cheerful way.
And also, we are talking Hawks here. Right? But you seem to know that.

[FrauBlucher]

Stefan, I was just summoning my inner Cantinflas to see his response

[Stefan]

Very good, FrauBlucher, I am quite positive he will appreciate this from high above.

[Matt]

I’m perhaps unfairly imagining it as a kind of Around the World in 80 Days-style madcap, episodic adventure, and that’s the last kind of film I would want to see Cary Grant make, even if it were directed by Howard Hawks. Cantinflas might have made for a fine Sancho Panza, even though I can’t think of anyone but Akim Tamiroff (who was Welles’s Sancho Panza) in that role.

[Stefan]

I’m perhaps unfairly imagining it as a kind of Around the World in 80 Days-style madcap, episodic adventure, and that’s the last kind of film I would want to see Cary Grant make, even if it were directed by Howard Hawks. Cantinflas might have made for a fine Sancho Panza, even though I can’t think of anyone but Akim Tamiroff (who was Welles’s Sancho Panza) in that role.

No, no, I am almost sad to say that you are wrong here. Tamirioff has been his own tragic self-reference, at least in his own later works (see "Alphaville"). You KNOW his character right away, and that's what makes him boring. Or sturdy all the wrong way. Cantiflas would have opened a whole other page.
What do the women have say to this?