Review Wanted: Last of the Mohicans DC
11-21-99, 12:44 AM
#1
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Has anybody recieved the director's cut DVD of this film yet? It's one of the DVD's I've been anticipating the most lately. Also please don't post spoilers to the things that are added to the movie, just a review on the overall feel and the image and sound quality would be nice
12-03-99, 08:05 AM
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What a disappointment. I love this movie but the transfer just sucks. Lots of artifacts. The sound isn't very good either. I had to turn the volume WAY up to hear much of anything it it still sounded compressed. Some of the added scenes are very jerky and I didn't think they added anything. I haven't seen the VHS version in a while but I had a hard time telling what the new material even was. I'd skip this one or (horrors) stick with VHS. THX certified? I wouldn't want my name on this version.
12-05-99, 02:45 PM
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I'll start by saying that I love this movie, but I agree, the transfer was absolutely horrible, so much so that I am writing my first review. I have seen the VHS version several times and have always been immersed by the dynamic score and sounds of the movie. The DVD audio transfer failed to capture this at all - the music sounded very "compressed" and not at all dynamic. There were several artifact defects and motion artifacts in the video transfer as well, prompting a friend of mine (not at all a "videophile") to say that many scenes seemed animated. I only hope that they re-release this movie fixing all these mistakes.
12-09-99, 07:24 PM
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That's funny. I didn't really notice much artifacting, but the transfer did seem pretty dark to me. But then, it's a dark movie. I actually thought it looked pretty good (I don't have a widescreen TV, so non-anamorphic pretty much looks like anamorphic to me) for an older film. And the sound has been remastered in 5.1, and sounds pretty good. The bass in the fort attack was just tremendous (of course, part of that could be because I had just purchased a new sub and LOTM was the first "test" case).
As for the new footage, I've only seen the film a few times and didn't really feel much was added. Those of you who've seen the film 10 times might be more impressed.
--Apparition
As for the new footage, I've only seen the film a few times and didn't really feel much was added. Those of you who've seen the film 10 times might be more impressed.
--Apparition
12-12-99, 10:08 AM
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I thought the video was OK. The dark scenes are kind of hard to look at. But not that bad. The print did look old. It might of helped if they made a new one if possible. but I don't remember that much artifacting at least not enough to complain about. I thought the sound was pretty good too. The bass was pretty good in the fort scene.
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12-12-99, 12:07 PM
#7
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My wife and I really enjoy this movie, so
it was a no-brainer to buy. We have the
VHS Widescreen and I did a little comparison.
The DVD is at least 10 times better than the
one on tape, visually. Sure the DVD could
be better, but saying that it isn't better
than the VHS version is simply not true.
The Sound is the big improvement. It
defaults to dolby surround. You have to go
in to the options and pick DD 5.1. It
sounded great on my system. The only thing
was that I had to raise the volume on the
center channel to hear the voices a little
better.
As far as the cut scenes, I wasn't sure which
they were...I think the ending added a little
but I'm not sure. Also there were no extras
to speak of. I'm sure at some point in the
future, this will be done again, but until
then, I'm happy with this version.
Jason
12-13-99, 02:41 PM
#8
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I have always liked this movie but I too was disappointed in much of the quality. A few brief scenes toward the beginning were added, hence the jerky motion, a few more scenes at the fortress siege, and they got pretty preachy there at the end. But what is up with that waterfall scene!?!?!? 
It was terrible. No extras on a great movie like that!!! Once again FOX talks the talk but fails to walk the walk.
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It was terrible. No extras on a great movie like that!!! Once again FOX talks the talk but fails to walk the walk.------------------
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Jim's DVD Tracker list
02-27-00, 06:32 PM
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I have to say that this DVD has to be the most dissappointing DVD's I've purchased yet. The movie itself is awesome, but the transfer is horrible. The movie seems choppy, jumpy, and sometimes I see faint trails. And MSRP of $34.99? What were they thinking? I mean, I'm sure they thought people would pay that for such a good movie, but at why did they have to muff it up? Geez louise. I also own the Widescreen VHS and I'm pretty sure there isn't too much of an improvement. VHS might sound a little worse, but it might have smoother video.
02-27-00, 08:40 PM
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About the new footage....I thought the new footage kinda sucked, and wasn't needed. The most noticeable at the end where Chingachgook make some statements on what he thinks the outlooks about the frontier will be. I thought that was kinda cheesy. And to add this stuff in, they also removed some scenes. Which would have been alright, then I found out that they removed some gore. Most noticeable in the last fighting scene with Chingachgook and Magua. I would definately look for a rerelease of the original, and maybe a section with deleted scenes. But none of this remove scenes, to add crap stuff. Definately not worth MSRP $34.99. It should be MSRP $9.99 to $14.99 at most.
02-27-00, 08:45 PM
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well as you know Fox is charging 34.99 SRP for all their top DVD, even some WITHOUT anything new or special, like NEVER BENE KISSED, BROKEDOWN PALACE! But now Disney and Miramax will be charging 32.99 SRP for all their future releases, like new films to even OLDER titles like WHAT ABOUT BOB! YIKES!!!!
02-28-00, 06:39 PM
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This is one of my favorite movies, and I have mixed feelings about the new director's cut. The additions don't change the movie that much, but anyone who knows the film well will notice them. I liked the addition to the fort battle with the infantry volleys, as it painted Major Hayward in a better light. Some dialog was taken out that made the relationship between the two men less hostile. I haven't quite made a decision on this yet. The speech at the end was totally unnecessary and heavy handed. That really detracted from the film, I thought, and much prefer the original ending. I wish Mann had added some material to help develop the two romantic relationships more, especially the one with the younger daughter.
As for the transfer, considering that the film isn't that old, the transfer is horrible. The dark scenes (most of the movie) are grainy with tons of artifacts. The only shot that I remember the movie looking good was at the militia council at the Cameron's farm. That outdoor scene with the red coats looked superb, but every other scene looked like crap. The music sounded pretty bad, although the recording wasn't exactly steller to begin with, at least based on the CD. Also, you have to turn the sound up really loud to understand the dialog. There is a lot of bass in the waterfall scenes, but that's about it. Nevertheless, the DVD is a big improvement, both sound and video, over my VHS version, and if you like the movie, it's a must have. Still, considering the youth and importance of this film, Fox did a bad job. Patton looks and sounds far superior to The Last of the Mohicans. Good luck!
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As for the transfer, considering that the film isn't that old, the transfer is horrible. The dark scenes (most of the movie) are grainy with tons of artifacts. The only shot that I remember the movie looking good was at the militia council at the Cameron's farm. That outdoor scene with the red coats looked superb, but every other scene looked like crap. The music sounded pretty bad, although the recording wasn't exactly steller to begin with, at least based on the CD. Also, you have to turn the sound up really loud to understand the dialog. There is a lot of bass in the waterfall scenes, but that's about it. Nevertheless, the DVD is a big improvement, both sound and video, over my VHS version, and if you like the movie, it's a must have. Still, considering the youth and importance of this film, Fox did a bad job. Patton looks and sounds far superior to The Last of the Mohicans. Good luck!
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03-03-00, 01:44 PM
#13
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I thought that it was good overall, but there are a couple of scene injections into the waterfall scenes that look like they were photographed with a betamax camera onto a dirty used cassette. A couple of other random cuts that make you shake your head, but there is a little inset card that explains that this would happen.
