Ford at Fox: 24 Film Boxset

[Erikht]

I got this set, and it is wondreful. I am going to buy the Borzage/Murnau set, which I am sure is awsome.

Now I got a shelf wot FatF and B/M in it. It is an empty shelf. Does anybody know about more boxed sets this size worth
buying(Apart from 50 Arthaus)? So that I can fill my shelf?

[Erikht]

I have never bought DVD's by the meter before.

[movielocke]

for those who didn't see in the filmmakers thread, another Ford/Fox silent film has been found, Upstream, the restoration will premier in LA in september.

I just watched 3 Bad Men. What a movie. What a grand western. I think this is a better western than Stagecoach, actually. Funnier, better characters, more subversive, more action. It's a great story with a bang-up ending, and quality wise its the best I've seen from early Ford. I think you have to move ahead to Lost Patrol to get another film where he just casually throws great composition after great composition into the film, rarely lingering on his pictorialism, and I think you have to get to Prisoner of Shark Island and Informer before there's another film this good.

Also I LOVED the score on this disc, fantastic music throughout. the only thing it needed was a harmonica. Why the fuck did we get saddled with Donald Sosin again? hackhackhack.

[perkizitore]

Curiously enough - this used to be an Amazon UK special - there was a Universal 20 plus disc boxset of Laurel and Hardy which was going for something like 12 quid!! (And the postage to Oz for this behemoth was 4 quid! It's a really loaded set with most of their best work, and I can assure you it occupies a lot of shelf space. Over 60 Cms wide.

This was never less than 25£ in the last 2 years.

[zedz]

Curiously enough - this used to be an Amazon UK special - there was a Universal 20 plus disc boxset of Laurel and Hardy which was going for something like 12 quid!! (And the postage to Oz for this behemoth was 4 quid! It's a really loaded set with most of their best work, and I can assure you it occupies a lot of shelf space. Over 60 Cms wide.

That colossal Marlene set rivals it, but these two are a different shape than the Ford and Murnau sets (more like coffins), so it might just end up giving Erikht a new set of shelving hassles. Reitz's Heimats? Three big faux books, every one of which arrived on my doorstep distressed in a different way.

[Erikht]

I was planning to buy Heimat, so that is a very good suggestion, zedz.

I looked into the Laurel and Hardy box as well, david. Thank yu for the tip.

[colinr0380]

Remember to add the 38 disc BBC Shakespeare box to your enormous packaging pile too!

[domino harvey]

What about that MGM/UA box that came with a metal frame and wheels? There was a hilarious thread about it somewhere on here

EDIT: Two years early!

[Erikht]

Hmmm... maybe some of this should be moved to a new thread in the DVD discussion section: "Mammoth Boxsets."

[matrixschmatrix]

Hmmm... maybe some of this should be moved to a new thread in the DVD discussion section: "Mammoth Boxsets."

What, like this?

[Erikht]

Touchè.

[movielocke]

it was mentioned at the academy screening of upstream last night that a new release--possibly under the ford at fox banner--on dvd of upstream was underconsideration. He went on to say that it was possible it could be released just by itself or in combination with a few other films that didn't make the Ford at Fox set. No titles were mentioned though, and he didn't sound tremendously hopeful as it seemed internal discussions about such a release were still in their infancy. But it was mentioned that internally a lot of people within fox are now mad about John Ford due to the enormous effort that went into this box set.

[carax09]

I don't understand. Are you saying the people at Fox are angry about something?

[movielocke]

"mad about John Ford" is a direct quote.

In this context, 'mad' is used idiomatically and should be interpreted as 'extremely enthusiastic about John Ford'

[manicsounds]

The Grapes Of Wrath BD review

[hearthesilence]

Is the original camera negative for The Grapes of Wrath still lost? (I guess that's the case for most, if not all, of his Fox films.) I'm just wondering if they used the same film materials for the Blu-Ray, which wouldn't be bad, a lot of those elements look excellent, but I remember a few scenes looking a few generations removed, and it would be pretty cool if they found better sources for those portions of the film.

[Drucker]

David just out of curiosity, the Beaver review seem to make the Grapes blu ray look pretty noticably better. Better grayscale and such. I popped my Ford at fox version the other day and it certainly does seem really, really dark (which I suppose isn't impossible for a Toland film). do you still stand by the statement you made in April? Just curious..

[kingofthejungle]

I'll let David speak for himself, but I agree that the Blu, while a step up from the DVD, could be improved upon. My biggest complaint is that for large sections of the film, the left 1/3rd (or so) of the frame is visibly softer than the rest of it, and it kinda pulsates in and out of focus. If you look at the title card and the first three captures on the Beaver review, you can see what I'm talking about. Interestingly, this effect isn't present on the previous DVD version. Compare the telephone wires on the left side of the frame of Tom Joad walking down the road. On the DVD, they're nice and crisp, on the Blu, a fuzzy mess. Yet the distant trees on the right side of the frame show far superior detail on the Blu. It looks like the Blu-Ray is harvested from a new transfer, but a deficient one.

[Drucker]

Thanks for pointing that out, hadn't noticed it. The greyscale certainly looks nice, but in your opinion, is it perhaps...brighter than it should be? Certainly it seems feasible that Toland shot the preacher, for example in the 4th Beaver caps, with all that darkness intentionally, right? The first 20 minutes of the film where Joad gets home are just so dark, and it seems like it could be similar to The Long Voyage Home where it really should be extremely dark. I could be way off, but that's just been my thoughts on it.

[kingofthejungle]

It's certainly brighter than what we see on the DVD, though I suspect that has more to do with the DVD being contrast-boosted than anything else. I suspect the Blu-Ray is pretty close to what we're supposed to see, as there are still some very dark sequences in the film. For one thing, the beginning of the scene in the Joad homestead was total (flickering) blackness on the DVD, but on the Blu you can see the very faint silhouettes of Tom and Casey as they move about in the dark. It has an effective ghostly quality that I assume was intentional.

[michaelgsmith]

My review of the Fox Grapes of Wrath Blu-ray, which is STUNNING.

[domino harvey]

In case you don't check the bargains subforum, this is on sale for $49.99 from FoxConnect today only with code GRAPES

[Yakushima]

Thank you, domino harvey! I ordered one. This is certainly a case when a long wait paid off!

[Jack Phillips]

Holy discount, Batman! I had to order one too! Thanks, Harv!

[Zaki]

God bless you, Domino!