Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

From classicflix.com:

Taking a cue from Warner Bros., Fox announced today they will be using the Manufacture on Demand (MOD) process to distribute some of their more popular titles on Blu-Ray. The first four entries are below:

Coney Island (1943) - Betty Grable, George Montgomery, Cesar Romero

Sentimental Journey (1946) - John Payne, Maureen O'Hara, William Bendix, Cedric Hardwicke

Sitting Pretty (1948) - Robert Young, Maureen O'Hara, Clifton Webb

Woman's World (1954) - Clifton Webb, June Allyson, Van Heflin, Lauren Bacall, Fred MacMurray

Western Union (1941) is also being released via Fox on MOD, which curiously coincides with Kino's new Blu-Ray release of the same film tomorrow (we will carry the Kino release).

All four will be available here at ClassicFlix on November 22nd.

https://classicflix.com/FOX-ARCHIVES...ampaign=buffer

Would take a couple rounds of releases to see if they're on par with Warner Archives. I hope, just hope, they release a quality product!

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

Well, WOMAN'S WORLD trumpets "In Cinemascope" on the poster art, but the BD-R specs say 'Fullscreen', so that's not very promising, but hardly surprising, either, considering their DVD-R of the same title was 4:3 letterbox to boot. The other four titles pre-date widescreen, so I suppose that's something.

Can't imagine their reasoning for this -- especially Western Union -- outside of the belated realization that Kino's titles are perhaps selling better than predicted when Fox started handing over the licenses? Hope they don't start shafting Kino on access to the catalog.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

It's probably in Cinemascope. Can't imagine anybody making a new HD master in pan/scan.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

Considering how many 'scope pictures they rolled out in pan/scan on the DVD line -- and continue to roll out -- I wouldn't put it past them, but it'll be a nice surprise if they make the effort.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

But DVD is an SD format. They could use whatever they have as a master. Since BD is HD, they are forced to make a new hi-def master. I can't imagine they'd make a brand new HD master in pan/scan. Neither do I think they'd just put SD content on a BD disc.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

They may have made the new master cropped from scope to 16:9.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

Hey, I'm as hopeful as the next guy, but there are precedents out there. And in fairness, SD should not have been an excuse in 20 for a major studio to just slap whatever they had laying around onto discs, especially when the people who bought them at over-inflated prices are precisely the kind of people who would expect and appreciate proper presentations. Warner Archive figured this out from the beginning -- in 2009, no less -- and even used it to correct some of their full-frame blunders from the early days of DVD. And yet the consistent poor reviews of Fox's MOD product here and elsewhere had virtually zero effect in improving the process. But, if Fox MOD is turning a new leaf -- and maybe taking a hint from Kino's apparent success with the catalogs -- and Woman's World and other 'scope shows do indeed turn up in their proper ratios on these new HD discs, count me in (well to the degree that I can possibly support BD-R), but I'll still feel a bit sad for film buffs who supported the generally mediocre SD line because they felt these often overlooked films might never see the light of day on disc in either HD or their proper aspect ratios.


That's certainly a legitimate concern.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

Well, the cue seems to have come from Sony rather than Warner Bros since these are BDRs. None of these titles are "must own" for me but I suppose others will greet this news with joy. But even if they issue titles I would like to own, I'll pass unless they press 'em.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

Many of these older movies circulate on FXM in the early morning hours. The channel recently upgraded to HD. So catch the HD versions on it to get an idea of the HD transfers likely seen on these BDs.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

The channel has been available in HD for awhile.

Your provider may have just made it available.
Unfortunately Directv hasn't added the HD version yet.

Re: Fox Archives MOD BD - Debuts 11/22/2016 With 4 Titles
 

Just reviving this thread to point out that these Fox archive Blu-rays are, as per reviews, pressed, not burned, which makes them much more tempting in my eyes. Apparently they're also in the appropriate aspect ratios where necessary. Not sure if we'll get any more of them considering how lightly promoted they are, but we can always hope.