The paper frills don't have 1/10th the effort put into them as the booklet for the 1997 Rhino edition of the HTWWW 2-disc CD complete soundtrack.



See: http://www.amazon.com/How-West-Was-W...0654561&sr=1-1

Baracine,

Once or twice a year our tastes align and you have an interest in a title that I also have interest in. I'll just say I dread these annual moments. Your comments are constant and obsessive, and you are frequently rude. Chill out and have fun with your hobby. Enjoy watching the film.

For every nickel (or Looney or whatever you Canuks call it) you got burned on this deal, you saved ten-fold by utilizing the bargains found on this site. Relax.

Mabuse,

This may come as a shock to you but I don't join these forums to look for deals and save a few pennies. I have no idea what stores or websites most of you are talking about most of the time. I only deal with local stores (in Toronto) and with Amazon, which I know even if I don't trust it. I probably bought less than 6 titles this year. I join those discussions because I like the films and I know them. As 95 % of posters are mainly after trading information about deals, I find it a bit surprising that a forum on HTWWW would contain so little factual, trustworthy and useful information about how not to get cheated by the product's maker. I'm not angry at the money I wasted. I'm angry at the lack of information available on this product from its maker and from this forum. Most of the interesting information about the film and its restoration I provided myself. I'm also angry at the waste of space this boxset represents.

If that sounds rude to you, I can't very well apologize as I don't know you from Adam except for the fact that you occasionally ask an interesting question that I'm the only one to answer.

P.S.: "Canuck" is a racist and/or derogatory expression, originally directed at French Canadians, which happens to be my ethnicity. Please note the proper spelling for future reference. If you can't be nice, you can at least be a good speller.

A. Let's look at the original link to DVDActive that was posted in this thread, before this release was changed from a 2-disc set to a 3-disc set.

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releas...t-was-won.html

The press release states that:

-Both the regular edition and the Ultimate Collector's Edition would be 2-Disc sets, with the only difference being the packaging and the extra "paper crap" as you call it.
-The first disc would be for the movie, the second disc would be for the extras.

B. Let's look at the next article posted in this topic, courtesy of Giles.

This just emphasizes that, again, both the SE and the UCE are identical in disc content, and again, the only extras in the UCE were the "paper crap" that you loathe so much.

C. Lastly, the next item posted was the back cover, showing that this had become a 3-Disc set.

The features are identical to what had been originally stated in previous press releases, the only difference is that the movie had been split up onto two discs.

One could deduce from the information here that both editions would be 3-Disc sets, simply based on the facts that both sets were planned to have identical disc content from the start, and that the only difference between the original 2-Disc set and the final 3-Disc set were that the movie was split up on two discs.

You're complaining about the lack of information you're getting in a "timely manner", when the fact of the matter is that the information you wanted could have been found in this very thread. Again, you made an impulse buy...

...that you could have completely avoided, had you actually read this thread, instead of expecting everybody else to spoon-feed you the information you wanted.

Thank you for setting the record straight so articulately and so thoroughly. I should have followed the original link and kept up with all the new, almost weekly developments. I had no way of knowing whether chris_sc77's post was about the UCE, the SE or both, UPC Code notwithstanding. My confusion stemmed from the original press release not having been reproduced in the forum and the fact that 2-disc and 3-disc versions seemed to be promised at the same time, even on Amazon, and even to this day. I concluded erroneously that the SE was 2-disc (while the UCE was 3-disc) and that it therefore didn't contain the documentary.

Two remarks:

1. I think I can be forgiven for not trusting the press releases completely. Besides the 2-disc/3-disc flip-flop, those announcements are still not completely accurate as (in my Canadian set at least) the behind-the-scenes vintage featurette didn't make it to the final product. (It's contained in previous DVD editions and I grant you it's no great loss.)

2. The Blu-Ray 32-page hardbound digi-book appears to be a much more readable and much more worthwhile extra than the flimsy paper frills in the UCE. That and the SmileBox feature may make me want to move on to Blu-Ray sooner than I expected. Not just for the higher definition but because it now appears that DVD producers are increasingly dedicating their best efforts to the Blu-Ray presentation and treating SD consumers as second-class citizens.



For your effort, MTRodaba2468, someone should offer you this new CD as a gift:



http://www.screenarchives.com/email.cfm?eid=8

I'm not saying you have to constantly keep up to date with all the latest developments that come up with these releases, I'm just saying that if you are confused about something, then you should do the research ahead of time instead of jumping the gun without all the information. You might not have gotten the movie before the release date as a result, but you could have avoided picking up the version that, in retrospect, you didn't want.

True, what's stated in the press releases are subject to change when the product is actually released (remember when Warner first mentioned their plans for a 2-Disc 25th Anniversary Edition of Poltergeist?). At the same time, though, I don't think Warner should be accused of false advertising because sites like Amazon are two slow to update their listing for it.

Newer technologies will always have advantages over the older technology, and companies will try to capitalize on it. Does it suck for those like you and me that haven't upgraded? Yes, it does. But look at it from a business stand point. The set Warner released is a 3-Disc set now. To include the SmileBox feature (which could be included on the Blu-Ray because of the extra space on the disc), they would probably have to push it to five discs, to avoid over-compressing the movie on the first two discs. I could see why they'd just go with including it as a Blu-Ray extra only.

And again, while you don't find the paper extras in the set worthwhile, others do. Again, that's why other people have bought it as well, knowing full well that the disc content is the same. One person's trash is another person's treasure.

Perhaps I'd appreciate it more if I was a native Kentuckian and not a New York transplant. I appreciate the thought, though.

The folks in Vancouver must be really pissed, eh?

Not to worry. The film is set in a time when there were very few native Kentuckians.

Vancouver is in British Columbia, a province where very few citizens are French-speaking. As recently as 40 years ago, migrant French-speaking workers to BC were sometimes killed in their sleep by English-speaking farm workers who considered them foreign job stealers. The hockey team's name was chosen by English-speaking team owners, of whom many were Americans or born in the UK, and all of whom were totally insensitive to what the name may mean outside the US or its long history as a cuss word. They thought it was "cute".*

This is not without precedent. The Montréal Canadiens hockey team has, as a second name, since the 1900's, "Habs", which is short for "habitants", the name given the French Canadian farmers who stuck to the land under British occupation (and which the English can't even pronounce correctly).

Among Quebeckers today, the name has approximately the same connotation as "lazy, shiftless nigg*r" would have among Black people or "raised in a barn" everywhere else. It is not a name French-speaking people like to use about themselves in polite society or like people from other ethnic backgrounds to use about them. Today's hockey fans who use the slogan "Go, Habs, Go!" are either part of the ignorant, insensitive English-speaking minority or French-speaking people who are totally disconnected from their own history and culture (we call them "assimilated"). Needless to say, that name was also given by English-speaking owners, some of whom were American, who were totally contemptuous of the social reality of the French-speaking province where they lived and prospered. They thought it was "quaint".

Remember the stink about the old Cleveland Indians logo?


Now, try to imagine how native Americans would feel if they were the most important ethnic group in Ohio.

*Also see: http://www.answers.com/topic/canuck

I believe Wolverine has made the canuck term into a badass essence of being. You don't fuck with the crazy canuck....

To be honest, the Ultimate edition was available for preorder for months on Amazon for only $19.99 - only four bucks more than the regular edition. So I'm not sorry I went for it.

I watched 'Cinerama Adventure' last night and was very impressed with the doc

[now please release The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm - any word if a restoration or plans to release this on hidef is in the forseeable future?]

I had forgotten Cinerama had seven channels of sound (five in the front, two in the rear - the surround channels were split stereo, as the home video 5.1 soundmix suggests - right?) Why hadn't split stereo surround sound become a trend? Even as Cinerama set the standard for future widescreen films 2.40 and wider aspect ratio films, sound over the years and specifically those with discrete 8 and 6 channel sound, is very erraditic. 70mm films for the most part were five channels, one mono surround channel in the rear, that changed (back) with the release of 'Superman' in 1978 featuring stereo surround sound. Even the current 8-channel Sony Dynamic Digital Sound has become elusive to the masses, since so few are mixed or released as such, a shame really since the five speakers behind the screen can reveal an extremely wide and powerful soundfield/experience.

Last night I checked out the Blu-Ray and compared the flat widescreen with the Smilevision version. On a large screen (I'm using a 106" front projection system), the Smilevision effect is quite good. The illusion of a wide curved screen works well.

I then popped in the regular widescreen version and I must admit it looked very flat. Smilevision on a large screen is definitely way to go.

For the most part, the seams are gone although sometimes they can be seen especially during scenes with blue skies. Overall, the picture is stunning. Excellent detail with not a single scratch. Looks like the movie was filmed yesterday.

Kudos to Warner for finally "fixing" this movie.

Good god man! Open your acquisitions and enjoy them. It breaks my heart seeing such wonderful books hoarded, sealed up and put away as commodities instead of the wonderful pieces of entertainment they're meant to be.

Those new early issues of Sandman are great looking compared to the originals and previous collections. I keep getting these Absolute editions super cheap from Amazon Warehouse deals. I got one without a slipcase and DC sent me a new slipcover after a simple email.

I think you mean Warner.

-beebs

Okay, Smilebox is fucking awesome! I think they call it that because I had a smile on my face the whole time I was watching it. I don't have too huge a screen (46"), but I just sat close enough for the image to take up most of my field of vision, and it was more than a little effective.

I ordered the UCE for in-store pick up at BB yesterday for $29.99. Looking forward to checking it out this weekend. All of the great reviews of the film and transfer are what convinced me to blind buy it.

DVD Savant (Glenn Erickson) has a review about the Blu-Ray edition and an article about the Cinerama showing at the Dome Theater over at Film.com.

Review: http://www.film.com/dvds/story/dvd-w...sized/22903290

Article: http://www.film.com/dvds/story/ciner...toric/22903460

Savant doesn't seem to realize that the picture's three-frame geometry has been altered but he does like the SmileBox presentation a lot.

DVDTalk review of the three sets: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/34612...-west-was-won/

Don't forget Jeffrey's excellent take on the Blu-Ray version: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/34637...-west-was-won/

Question about the blu-ray version: Is the disc containing the documentary Cinerama Adventure a blu-ray disc or is it standard DVD?

Both discs in the Blu-ray set are BD discs. The first one has the movie in letterbox along with it's commentary and the documentary. The second disc only has the smilebox version of the movie.