Olive Films

[TMDaines]

I've never understood why they don't use the space. I've got a one release that proudly boasts a BD50 but for some reason they only decided to use 27GB of the disc.

[eerik]

I've never understood why they don't use the space. I've got a one release that proudly boasts a BD50 but for some reason they only decided to use 27GB of the disc.

That sounds like Warner, they often only use only few gigabytes of the second layer.

[captveg]

Blu-ray.com on Johnny Guitar

Bob Furmanek's research here suggests that this should probably be matted 1.66:1, but for those OK with the Academy unmatted framing this looks to be a quality HD version of what was done for the R2 DVD.

[Fred Holywell]

Based on the screen caps, "Johnny Guitar" looks like a zoom-in with cropping on all four sides. I'd prefer an orthodox 1.66 crop, myself, but it still looks pretty nice.

[dwk]

According to a couple posts over at the HTF by our friend Mr. Lime, Olive is no longer going to release the following films:
Baja (1995)
Black Day Blue Night (1995)
Bulletproof Heart (1994)
Count Dracula (1970)
Dorian Gray (1970)
Fear is the Key (1972)
Femme Fatale (1991)
The Final Cut (1996)
The Long Day's Dying (1968)
Macaroni (1985)
Promise Her Anything (1965)
The Proud and the Profane (1956)
The Savage (1952)
The Savage Innocents (1960)
The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954)
Shanks (1974)
The Turning Point (1952)
Warpath (1951)
Witchboard III (1995)

[What A Disgrace]

The Savage Innocents (1960)

I can't cry enough tears.

[Askew]

The Savage Innocents (1960)

I can't cry enough tears.

I'm surprised and disappointed by this one too. Surely they know that since the MoC release has gone out of print people would pick this one up if they could.

[dwk]

They dropped most of those titles because the film elements available to Olive were not good enough.

[knives]

The version of Shanks they showed on TCM looked good to me. I really would love even just a DVD of that masterpiece even if it were wrapped in a ball of dog doo.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

That's interesting but I suspect unlikely. It was very obviously shot open matte for Academy and very obviously pesents in that ratio for the discs. There are no horizontal cropping compositional issues. None. Any grain or "Zoom" problem you refer to is almost certainly the color process, Trucolor which was a three strip multi neg, like Tech. It was less quality controlled than Tech and there is inevitably more grain in the matrix neg strip and thus the positive.

Agreed. Most theaters that would've played a Republic Picture probably wasn't even equipped to screen in widescreen. Two small scans (one never even mentioning Johnny Guitar) isn't convincing to me one bit. Looking at each framegrab, nothing seems cut off and everything seems beautifully framed for the 1.37 format.

I'd also like to say I saw an archival print of the film last year at the Aero Theater and can say it was projected beautifully in 1.37 with nothing cut off from the frame.

[Noiradelic]

I guess a little culling is to be expected, but am a little surprised they're dropping The Turning Point, just because it's a William Holden noir (a pedestrian one, but then many lesser-known noirs are).

[htdm]

I've been waiting for even a decent copy of The Turning Point for years - one of the best films showcasing old Los Angeles.

[eerik]

DVDBeaver:
Johnny Guitar
Force of Evil
Body and Soul

[Fierias]

Gary endorses the Johnny Guitar release, but his screencaps don't look so great. This one in particular.

[knives]

To be honest I don't think that he knows how to properly take images.

[Fierias]

To be honest I don't think that he knows how to properly take images.

I'd like to believe that, but most of the time his grabs look mostly decent/close to what I see when I watch the discs on my system. Force of Evil, for instance, looks great.

[ShellOilJunior]

To be a fair, taking blu-ray caps is not easy at all with all the security in place by the BD disc association. Any idea what software he's using to take caps?

[TMDaines]

What do you mean "not easy"? It's no more trouble than taking a screenshot of a DVD, is it? Most Blu-ray drives come with a free copy of PowerDVD that will do the basics. I use VLC + AnyDVD.

[ShellOilJunior]

Not easy in that Blu-rays contain security encryption which works in tandem with a computer's graphics card to disable any form of screen capping when a blu-ray disc is playing.

Essentially, Any DVD seems to decrypt the BR but the downside is the film is capped at the resolution of one's monitor. Not everyone is working with a full HD monitor. I have no clue what Beaver uses or if they state it on their site?

[eerik]

but the downside is the film is capped at the resolution of one's monitor

Not really. Screen resolution is completely irrelevant if you use proper software and capturing methods.

[ShellOilJunior]

but the downside is the film is capped at the resolution of one's monitor

Not really. Screen resolution is completely irrelevant if you use proper software and capturing methods.

Please explain "proper software and capturing methods".

[eerik]

Good video players, such as VLC Media Player or Media Player Classic - Home Cinema, have built-in functions for taking screenshots. They can save the frame exactly as it is on the source file as uncompressed BMP or lossless PNG file, regardless of what monitor or screen resolution is used. This is a good and proper method.

Then there is special screen capturing software, such as FRAPS, that captures/saves what is shown on the screen in the resolution that it is shown. This is not a good method for taking screenshots.

[knives]

I don't this has been mentioned yet, but the Gaumont releases seem to be the first region locked releases by Olive.

[FilmFanSea]

To be honest I don't think that he knows how to properly take images.

That kind of unsubstantiated, hit-and-run statement is both patently absurd and offensive (towards Gary).

[eerik]

October 2nd - four westerns by George Sherman, starring John Wayne:

Overland Stage Raiders (1938)
Red River Range (1938)
The Night Riders (1939)
Three Texas Steers (1939)

All four are Blu-ray and DVD.