Giles

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961) Blu-ray specs:

Video: 1080p High Definition / 1.66:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English Original Mono
Subtitles: English SDH, Castilian Spanish
... Special Features: Isolated Score Track (2.0 Stereo) / Original Theatrical Trailer / TV Trailer Spot #1
RT: 101 Minutes
NOT RATED
Region-Free
3,000 Unit Limited Edition
Release Date: November 8th, 2011
Pre-Order Date: Oct 10th 2011
Only from http://www.screenarchives.com

manicsounds

Very disappointed that this is so expensive, limited, and lacking extras. I wish Sony had released this on their own.

Hammer99

Outstanding, thanks for the heads-up, on my way to pre-order now!

Superdaddy

Just pre-ordered mine.

I am among those who worship Harryhausen, and I want any of his work on BD that I can get, costly or not.

NoirFan

I'll wait until Fright Night is up for pre-order to save on shipping. As The Egyptian included a commentary track, I had assumed their other releases would as well. It's a shame that this is bare-bones, as all of the other Harryhausen Sony discs have been stacked.

Pizza

I'm in! I'd rather pay a little more and get this on Blu-ray than to have it offered as an MOD. It'll be interesting to see if this stays an exclusive for long. Hopefully this doesn't pop up as a $10 Sony title in a year. If I don't buy it, guaranteed it'll never see the light of day on home video again. You can never win in this stuff. I'll be grabbing Fright Night too.

Living Dead

I would buy this and Fright Night if they had enough features to justify the ridiculous price. But as it is... no.

Superdaddy

I'm with you on this. I find it's the stuff I miss out on that I regret. While it would kind of suck if this comes out at a lower price later, I find that I never regret paying more for something that may not come around again, even if I turn out to be wrong on that. I feel good about getting it while I still can. And while there is a very interesting MOD market emerging, I really prefer to buy pressed discs for all physical media: CD, DVD, and BD.

Besides, I usually don't have a high per-disc average on BDs, so I have no qualms about the occasional splurge. And my birthday is Monday, and that always brings cash to cover some "little extras."

Steve

I thought I remember reading that Harryhausen's work do not do well with Blu-ray, as the high definition only highlights the difference between his effects and the background/added live actors that ultimately take away from the movie experience.

Has anybody seen one of his films in HD and can hopefully tell me that this is not so??

Pizza

They can get pretty grainy. Seventh Voyage of Sinbad on blu-ray really showed this. He's filming film on film when he does his animation. Doesn't bother me though and I want to get the highest quality I can for his amazing films. Those who don't understand/appreciate the process may raise an eyebrow at all the added grain it can add. But you know, people complain that he does stop-motion animation and that it doesn't look real enough, like today effects. I absolutely love the look of stop-motion animation.
Mysterious Island is one of my favorites of his. Surprised it didn't become a classic. Of course, Jason and the Argonauts did poorly when released theatrically. I still remember when I was a tiny kid in a theater getting mad at the audience laughing when the skeletons grew from the ground. It's grown into a true classic since those days.

Superdaddy

There is no getting around the fact that the compositing of the live-on-set footage of the actors with the animated miniatures amped up the graininess of the opticals in Harryhausen's films. It doesn't bother me personally; the films have pretty much always looked that way, and it didn't bother me when I watched them theatrically (for the ones I saw theatrically).

Does BD emphasize the "multigenerational look" of the footage and make it more obvious? Maybe, but the trade-off is that we are able to see the wonderful details on these miniatures much clearer. And of course, the transfer looks like film! Case in point: Jason and the Argonauts which has really fabulous, filmlike picture quality.

I still have no trouble suspending disbelief when watching Harryhausen, even on BD. His films are fantasies, and to me, in the context of these particular films and these imaginary worlds, this simply must be what these imaginary creations look like.

bse

Harryhausen shaped my childhood and now with a son of my own I can't wait to share all these films with him, the price is higher then I'd normally pay for a blu-ray, but I must own.

NoirFan

Blu-ray.com review

NoirFan

DVD Beaver - a robust 32.28 movie size bodes well for Fright Night! The Egyptian was 43.9, but it's 39 minutes longer than Island.

Paul_SD

went to bed last night and the site was showing 170 available (you have to add the title to your cart and then enter an arbitrary large number for the quantity, and it will show how many are actually left to purchase).
Earlier today they were down to 127 so I decided to finally order it as the units seem to be moving faster now that some sites have reviews up.
Just checked again and they were down to 87.

If there isn't a hidden stash somewhere, this looks like it could sell out by the weekend.

MTRodaba2468

I just had to read this post. That scared me into placing an order, even though I REALLY shouldn't...

Mr. Cinema

I also just placed an order.

JackBurton

Just when I think I'm out... they pull me back in. I almost bit on this and Fright Night yesterday but backed out when I found out I was ineligible for the $10 discount code. The combination of watching the "making of" featurette on the Golden Voyage DVD last night and reading the low inventory post above finally did me in.

obscurelabel

Down to 43. Buy! Buy! Buy!

NoirFan

38 now. I had ordered a copy along with Fright Night to save on shipping, but I went ahead and ordered a copy now will full shipping just to be on the safe side, since this one (unlike The Egyptian) won't likely last until December 13th.

milo bloom

Isn't Brendon Fraser doing a remake of this? I find it hard to believe the rights holders would limit this to such a small number when they could ride the coattails of a big-budget remake.

Mr. Cinema

From what I've read on blu-ray.com, Twilight Time doesn't ship their entire stock to Screen Archives. So although SA may be down to under 50 copies, it's most likely they'll get replenished again.

Paul_SD

To be honest, I think it will get replenished eventually too. Don't know how that will affect demand once it happens either, as the mad rush at the moment is being driven by the perception that "it's now or never!"

I'm really in no great hurry to see this and would have preferred to wait to bundle this into a pre-order with Picnic to save on shipping. In the future, I'll definitely be waiting to bundle releases, as there doesn't seem to be anything on the horizon that is likely to move units as fast as something like this.

MTRodaba2468

Well, Sony didn't do their own release of Fright Night to tie in with the remake, and according to the Twilight Time people, they had zero interest in doing so before the remake came out. The fact that it flopped makes it even less likely they'd do so.

Lesson of the story is, even in a case where there appears to be a perfect tie-in opportunity, that still doesn't guarantee anything...

NoirFan

Yeah, I noticed that after I had placed my order. I figure that I can always sell the sealed second copy down the line on Amazon for a decent profit.