I've been doing work on the computer, did the four-mile jog, picked up one package and but not the important envelope, which will hopefully be here tomorrow. There were a couple of other nice envelopes though. The package contained the new Blu and Ray of West Side Story the import from the UK (doesn't come out here for another three weeks or so). I've watched twenty minutes of it so far and it is not quite as brilliant as I was hoping it would be. There are problems from the first second, when the whistles are not directional as they were in the roadshow six-track stereo version - they came from all over the Chinese Theater. The second problem is in the overture - the DVD had some totally wacko and incorrect color shift just before the pull back that reveals the title - I was so happy this was going to be fixed, only it's not fixed - the screen literally fades to black then fades back in just before the pull back. That, for me, is a complete disaster - obviously the negative has a problem there and maybe no one is around who actually remembers what the correct color should be there (if they did, it could be fixed) - I don't think any of the IB Tech general release prints had the overture - only the 70mm and those would be completely faded by now.
Then we get the opening aerial shots, which are filled with shimmering and what MattH calls moire. I cannot imagine why that is happening when the transfer is from a large format element. There should be NOTHING like that. Then, when it cuts down to the Jets and they start walking, the chain link fences all have that moire or shimmering. It's truly baffling. The color is excellent and there's good sharpness, much better than the almost out of focus DVD.
