TCM Vault: The Lady From Shanghai

[connor]

My copy arrived today. Popped it in the player, goes straight to TCM logo, then...nothing. Tried my other player...exact same thing.

Wonderful. Hats off, TCM!

[captveg]

Ugh, compatibility issues are the worst.

[FrauBlucher]

"Excellent" marks for video/audio from Glenn Erickson at dvdtalk

He is by far the least informative and least discerning of any reviewer I read. What makes me laugh, is when the companies (e.g. Twilight Time, Olive, among others) link his reviews on their twitter feeds or FB pages. Who do they think they're fooling.

[chatterjees]

My copy arrived today. Popped it in the player, goes straight to TCM logo, then...nothing. Tried my other player...exact same thing.

Wonderful. Hats off, TCM!

What's the size of the packaging (DVD size or BD)? Just curious

[captveg]

DVD size. The packaging can be seen here

It also appears to be easily adaptable to a Criterion Blu-ray case by slighty shaving down the cover art as one person has done here

[chatterjees]

DVD size. The packaging can be seen here

It also appears to be easily adaptable to a Criterion Blu-ray case by slighty shaving down the cover art as one person has done here

The 2nd link doesn't work for me, as I am not a member there. Its asking me to log in. Thanks for the DVD packaging pictures though. I really appreciate it.

[manicsounds]

Lady From Shanghai will be released in Italy in March

Although it says "4K" on the cover, beware that is the name of the company releasing it. It's not coming from Sony who also released the DVD years ago in Italy.

[chatterjees]

I wish that Eureka/MoC could announce this title tomorrow

[rwaits]

You're lucky. I live in the city they ship out of and they refused to cancel mine. It arrived today. I guess I'll wait for another review or two before sending it back but I'm not expecting much.

I just can't understand the decision making that went into this release. You have a pristine 4k scan and you can't even give it uncompressed audio? That doesn't make sense to me.

[chatterjees]

I sent back mine today. They told me that they will only refund the item price, not shipping. Its funny that it should not have been shipped at the beginning. I contacted them 10 days ago requesting cancellation. They replied me back 7 days ago saying it might be too late to cancel and ask me to "return to sender" when I receive it. I received a shipping confirmation email 2 days ago. Why couldn't they cancel my order when they had 5 days between replying to me and the actual shipping from warehouse? Is there any contact between the TCM shop (in CA?) and their warehouse (KY)?

Finally, I hope they receive it back. The return address on the envelop was half faded. Now I remember, the T of TCM was missing, there were only 00 as the numbers in the address. So, I might not get any money back.

[eerik]

Lady From Shanghai will be released in Italy in March

Although it says "4K" on the cover, beware that is the name of the company releasing it. It's not coming from Sony who also released the DVD years ago in Italy.

There's a bunch of "companies" in Spain and Italy that simply port over foreign releases, add local language options and burn them to BD-R, i.e. bootleg them. This looks like one of those.

[Drucker]

So while I can't speak on behalf of the blu-ray, I just did catch the screening of the restoration at Film Forum. Comparing it to the Columbia DVD, the image (again, of the restoration, not necessarily blu ray) is noticeably superior. As good as the DVD is, there are a lot of specs littering the disc which are definitely absent in the restoration. That's not the kind of thing that bugs me, per se, but should that matter to you the restoration will be better. Further, the grain is very visible and in my opinion, and more noticeable and stronger than on the DVD.

[mistakaninja]

There's a bunch of "companies" in Spain and Italy that simply port over foreign releases, add local language options and burn them to BD-R, i.e. bootleg them. This looks like one of those.

Yeah, looking at all their releases there appear to be a few that look unlikely as official releases, especially the Warners stuff.


http://www.amazon.it/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1 ... Astudio+4k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[chatterjees]

This is pain to get this DVD returned to TCM. So, according to the TCM CS guy, I wrote "Return to Sender" on the envelop and put the package in an out going mailbox 10 days ago. The return address on the envelop was for their warehouse in SHEPHERDSVILLE, KY 40165. These guys did not accept my return, they refused it and the package is on its way to me again. I called the TCM number today and talked to a guy. He gave me a different, a CA address and ask me to ship it to the new one. Off course I have to pay for the shipping. Now, I hope, in this east coast weather, I will get this package back safely, so that I can ship it again back to them.
I lost my original shipping because they will not refund that amount. Now, I have to pay one more shipping to get the money back for the item. I will definitely stay away from TCM store in future.

[EddieLarkin]

Those of you who actually bought this may want to press TCM for a replacement:

Finally received this today from Movies Unlimited after having it on pre-order for months. The packaging has now been changed to Blu-ray, Also, there is about a 20 minute feature by Eddie Muller, don't know if that was there before or not.

p.s.
Just noticed also that the audio is now Dolby TrueHD instead of Dolby digital.
Also the bit rate now averages close to 30 Mbps, it is dual-layered and AVC encoded.

[matrixschmatrix]

Damn, had I known they were going to make a for-real release of this, I would have picked it up during the Memorial Day sale.

[isakborg]

Sorry for being so dense, but does this mean that the TCM Lady from Shanghai was redone with a higher MBS? This is the first I've heard of it - or was I asleep at the wheel?

[EddieLarkin]

Assuming the poster hasn't confused himself, then yes, apparently TCM have issued a new dual layered disc, in a Blu-ray case, with the missing Eddie Muller video, lossless audio, a higher bitrate, encoded in AVC.

[albucat]

That's some craziness, though for once in a good way.

[Michael Kerpan]

I wonder how one ensures getting the good version?

[EddieLarkin]

Unknown. A poster on Blu-ray.com states that he only recently received a copy from TCM that was still in the old style DVD packaging. Ideally someone needs to contact TCM and ask if a new pressing has indeed been done, and if having a copy that comes in a Blu-ray sized case is a guarantee of the new disk. Then enquirers can be made with Movies Unlimited to confirm if they are only carrying the Blu-ray case version.

[domino harvey]

If they did listen to consumer/online complaints and correct things, you'd think they'd send out new review copies and get the word out, especially with the extra expense of doing so

[isakborg]

For what it's worth, I just emailed TCM customer service and was emailed back that a new disc of Lady would be the same as the Lady I had received when it was first released. However, since I was asking for an exchange, which would be a cost to TCM, it might very well be that the upgrade is not being advertising. Which would make no sense if so - why would you go to the expense of an upgrade and keep it quiet?

[domino harvey]

TCM CS reps have absolutely no idea what they're talking about when it comes to any of their products, FYI, so that doesn't mean anything one way or the other. It's likely that TCM may indeed still be distributing its preexisting initial stock and Movies Unlimited got newer pressings, but I'd first want confirmation that these changes are real before doing anything

[albucat]

I think I'm going to wait a few months before making a purchase, as it seems like there's no way of telling. It's such a weird thing to have happened that I have to wonder what happened behind the scenes.