Well, dear readers, has anyone else noticed that it is November? Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is November. Can you believe it? October flew by, like a gazelle with a ruptured spleen. And now it is November and may I just say that it is my fervent hope and prayer that November will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. I mean, honestly, where has this year gone? We’re now in the final two months of 2013 and then it will be 2014 and I will be younger than springtime and older than just about everyone. I tell you, time is like a river – all wet. No, that’s not right. Time is like a river – it flows and it goes and it goes and it flows. Conversely, a river is like time – it ticks away and if you set an alarm it goes off. No, that’s not right. A river is like time – it’s occasionally late but it eventually gets where its going, thanks to ebb and flow, not to be confused with ebb and kander or even kander and ebb or even flow and eddie. What the HELL am I talking about? Don’t I have November notes to write? I do and I shall, not necessarily in that order.
The final day of October was extremely restful for the likes of me. I got about nine hours of sleep overall, but not all at once. I didn’t actually get out of bed until after eleven and once out, I just answered a few e-mails. The telephonic device rang intermittently but I’d made the decision not to use my voice at all during the day and I stuck to it like glue on a semi-colon. Glue on a semi-colon is fine – on the other hand, glue on a colon, well, that can be very unpleasant. In any case, somewhere around two I finally left the home environment, went to Gelson’s and bought a LOT of candy – about ten bags of different assortments, for over six hundred pieces, and then I picked up no packages. I then had a spot of lunch – my new favorite, the chili, cheese and onion omelet with no potatoes and an English Muffin, about six hundred calories all in. After that, I came back to the home environment and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I finished doing the comparison between the Twilight Time and Arrow presentations of The Fury. I can tell you that watching it side by side was fascinating. And here is my opinion of what I saw: As most here know, I thought the Twilight Time Blu-ray was excellent – it very much represented what the film looked like in theaters and that includes the occasional flecks of dirt which are printed into the opticals, of which there are many in this film. I don’t believe I saw any instances of dirt in the non-optical shots. I thought detail was excellent. And over at the Home Theater Forum, Mr. Robert A. Harris in felt the same and gave the transfer his highest grade of five stars. At the time I had no idea what or which element was used, although if I’d had to hazard a guess I would have guessed an internegative, but certainly not an ancient one from a decade ago. An internegative would yield a transfer that resembled what a release print would have looked like – in other words a generation or so away from the camera negative.
Along comes Arrow, and with several other companies in tow to split the cost, they ask Fox to do a scan off the camera negative, or so their literature tells us and I’m happy to take them at their word for now. Instantly on other boards people loudly start saying hooray because in their perception this automatically makes Twilight Time look bad – what they live for. Then the first reviews appear online and they are raves, absolute raves. Interestingly, not ONE of those early reviews had seen the Twilight Time disc so there were no comparisons made – in essence the raves were very much like Mr. Harris’s rave for the Twilight Time disc – his rave obviously not having had the benefit of seeing the Arrow transfer. Caps were soon posted – carefully chosen caps that showed a few of the dirt or scratched sections of optical shots – very easy to choose single frames to illustrate but a little biased in that those frames are few and far between, only in the optical sections, and pass by instantly. But we know what’s at play here. And then Arrow caps are posted that are supposed to show us that the Twilight Time disc is now rendered completely useless. Only the caps are apparently not full rez or whatever that all is about and there is no detail in them whatsoever. But on the pundits go about how beautiful those low-rez ill-done caps are. In fact, if those caps were from another film and if Twilight Time were not in the equation, I can assure you the outcry of DNR would have been very loud and very clear. But we know what’s at play here. But again, I took everyone at their word that those ill-done caps were not really a fair representation of the Arrow disc, because I just don’t do the caps game, no matter how perfectly or imperfectly they may be taken. A gentleman who sometimes works for Arrow posted on one of the boards that there was nothing wrong with the Twilight Time disc and that it was perfectly decent, but basically saying the Arrow was much better because it’s off the camera negative. End of preamble.
Here’s what my eyeballs tell me: The biggest difference between the two transfers is the color. Not the sharpness, not the quality, the COLOR. The Twilight Time disc is a bit on the orange side – you don’t really notice that a lot until you watch them side-by-side. The Arrow disc has removed the orangey look and made their color bluer. Now, normally on those boards anytime a new transfer takes a turn to the blue, people automatically assume the older transfer was correct and that the new one has had a “blue push.” Over and over they say this. But not now. Now the blue push is good. But we know what’s at play here. For me, the color on the Arrow disc is more pleasing. I cannot say it’s more accurate, but it’s a look I like better than the orangey hue. In some scenes the color difference is not as pronounced, especially in scenes with a lot of brown. The opticals still look like opticals, and a couple of them look just as bad in the Arrow as in the Twilight Time because they ARE bad.
I’m afraid to say that the Twilight Time disc, to my eyes, has more detail. Sorry. Some will say that’s because of sharpening, and I wasn’t there when the transfer was made and have no idea what was or wasn’t done, I can only tell you that for me the skin and clothing textures have more detail on the Twilight Time disc. That is not to say that the Arrow disc is not pleasing, because it is – but when viewed side-by-side it’s very clear. Arrow has chosen to clean up the occasional dirt flecks built into the opticals. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing in terms of leaving films the way they were is up to the individual, I suppose. Obviously there are some who want the film as it was, warts and all, because that’s what it’s always been. Others don’t mind the cleanup, but if you want what’s accurate to the way the opticals were made, then the Arrow is revisionist and the Twilight Time isn’t. But that’s minor stuff. Now we get to the famous car scene, which was shot in low light and has always had that super grainy look because the film was pushed. Many on the boards have called that “noise” not grain. And yet on those same boards they LOVE the look of The Driver – a film with sequences very similar, shot in low light with pushed film and which have that exact same look – not noise – grain, and the look of pushed film. How does Arrow deal with that shot? The way they’ve dealt with several others in the film – they make it dark. REALLY DARK. The car shot is so dark now that, yes, it hides the overt grain of the pushed film (but not quite) but in so doing you can barely see Mr. Douglas at all and it is in no way representative of what that scene looked like in the prints. Sorry. There are other shots that are darkened like that where you lose too much of the face – it happens early on with a close shot of Cassavetes. But one “reviewer” raves that the car sequence is a revelation and what the scene originally looked like. I think we all know that he probably has no idea what the scene really looks like as he probably wasn’t born when the film came out or, if he was, he probably didn’t see it. Because no major studio would have released a print with shots that dark.
To sum up – in the end, I was very happy with the Twilight Time disc. If I loved The Fury, I’d probably want the Arrow disc, too, and for some, the Arrow transfer will be more pleasing, while for some others they will continue to lambast the Twilight Time disc without having actually seen the Arrow disc. I’m of a like mind to the person who occasionally works for Arrow – there is nothing wrong with their disc and it’s perfectly decent. Just as the Twilight Time was. For me, darkening the car shot was not the option I would have chosen because it’s not true to the way that scene looked – ever. But the colors are nice, it’s super clean, and if one isn’t comparing it side by side, it’s got decent detail. Is it the absolutely stellar, most amazing transfer that the reviews imply? Not for me. It could be viewed as better, as a step up in quality, but it’s not THAT much better – only in the color, at least for me. I know many people who were very happy with the Twilight Time disc – and I’ve seen many nice comments posted about it, although those are usually derided by the usual suspects. And I’ve now read enough comments here and elsewhere, that many are super pleased about the Arrow disc. For me it’s a toss-up – I prefer the unmolested car sequence in the Twilight Time, I give the color to the Arrow, and I could watch either and be perfectly content – I’m not in love with the movie, but it’s enjoyable on certain levels. The much talked about extras on the Arrow seem to be making people happy. For me, a snooze fest – a long interview with the cameraman and a short interview with a supporting player. And some middling short film by someone who interned for De Palma. Bottom line, the Twilight Time is a moot point – the disc is sold out – so there’s only one choice right now and that’s Arrow (or Carlotta or the Australian company) – so buy away and be happy and enjoy a very nice transfer. If you own the Twilight Time disc, then you have to decide if its worth also getting the Arrow, which is, of course, Region B and not playable on American players unless you have a region free player.
Then the trick or treaters began arriving around six-thirty. I would not even think about missing a Halloween here in the City of Studio. The kids are so adorable and some of the costumes are just precious and/or very creative. I saw some folks I know, like Kritzerland performers Kim Huber, Shannon Warne and Kirsten Chandler (her son plays Danny in the Outside the Box The Shining episode), and a few neighborhood folks I recognized. I gave out all but two bags – over five hundred pieces of candy. But the most amazing Halloween visit was when a nice dad came to the door with about ten children in tow – I immediately got busy handing out candy to each, and as I was doing so I heard the dad talking to one of the kids and I recognized the voice instantly. I looked up and indeed there was Matt Damon. If I hadn’t been a fan before (I’ve always liked him), I certainly became more of one in that moment, because he was just a dad, just a regular Joe out with kids for Halloween and how wonderful to see that kind of normalcy. I must say, it went on later than it ever has – till after nine. I was up and down a lot in those two-and-a-half hours. The most popular candy I gave out, one that got squeals of delight from several young girls, were little candy bracelets you could both wear and eat. They LOVED those. I wish I’d gotten more of them – I had two bags and probably gave out fifty or sixty, but boy were they popular with the populace.
After all was said and done, I watched about twenty minutes of the new Blu and Ray of the MGM film musical, Jumbo. It looks terrific so far and I really love the first big number in the film – Over and Over Again – one of my favorite Richard Rodgers waltzes with one of his great melodies. And the staging, with all the circus performers, is wonderful and colorful. And that was basically the day and evening.
Today, I shall be up by nine-thirty, and Sandy Bainum and Lanny Meyers will arrive at ten-thirty and we’ll run the new act or as much as we can, because at noon Brent Barrett arrives and we have to run his three songs. After that, I have stuff to do, hopefully some packages to pick up, and then I’ll mosey on over towards the Monica of Santa, but since I won’t have eaten, I’ll stop somewhere for a light but fun meal. Then we have rehearsal with the full cast and I’ll begin putting all the pieces of the show together.
Tomorrow, I have to be up early (I would so love to sleep in but alas she of the Evil Eye will be here), I’ll jog, then relax till our stumble-through, after which I’m taking Jenna Lea Rosen and family for her birthday dinner at The Smoke House. Sunday, I’d love to sleep in, but alas we have a matinee, so I have to be at the club at noon. I’ll try to get a jog in, but that’s iffy. Then it’s sound check, matinee and evening shows. Next week is insane, beginning Monday morning at six with our new CD announcement.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, work with Sandy and Lanny, work with Brent Barrett, hopefully pick up some packages, eat, then rehearse. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, too many to name. Blu and Ray, Jumbo, then The Haunting. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to greet November – and it is my fervent hope and prayer that November will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.