182 Straw Dogs
- andyli
- Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:46 pm
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Some screenshot comparison between the UK and US blu-ray. Already stirring up some controversy... most people seem to dislike the contrasty look of the new restoration done by Fremantle. Am I the only one to feel the UK one is more filmlike than MGM?
- hearthesilence
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
- Location: NYC
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
No way, the Fremantle UK disc boosted the image, blowing out a LOT of detail that's clearly seen in the MGM disc.andyli wrote:Some screenshot comparison between the UK and US blu-ray. Already stirring up some controversy... most people seem to dislike the contrasty look of the new restoration done by Fremantle. Am I the only one to feel the UK one is more filmlike than MGM?
To be fair, I've never seen this movie, so maybe this was how it's supposed to look, but I seriously doubt it.
- skuhn8
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:46 pm
- Location: Chico, CA
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
I can't help but wonder whether andyli is comparing the US blu with the UK DVD--there's simply no way that the UK blu can be considered anything other than an abomination. Not an 'IMHO' matter either; it was mis-handled--this is a quality control issue. Completely blown out. Looks like a public domain handling of an Italian horror film. The UK DVD is pretty true.hearthesilence wrote:No way, the Fremantle UK disc boosted the image, blowing out a LOT of detail that's clearly seen in the MGM disc.andyli wrote:Some screenshot comparison between the UK and US blu-ray. Already stirring up some controversy... most people seem to dislike the contrasty look of the new restoration done by Fremantle. Am I the only one to feel the UK one is more filmlike than MGM?
To be fair, I've never seen this movie, so maybe this was how it's supposed to look, but I seriously doubt it.
- Minkin
- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Beaver on the Freemantle Blu..... Uhh,
Perhaps the best part of the review (leave it to either a Gary Tooze-ism or creepiness on Freemantle's part for highlighting it)... but apparently film restoration has the added effect of augmentation.
Perhaps the best part of the review (leave it to either a Gary Tooze-ism or creepiness on Freemantle's part for highlighting it)... but apparently film restoration has the added effect of augmentation.
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
So glad I didn't order that.
- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Although there is a surprisingly large amount of extra information at the top and left side of the frame (EDIT: and the right - in the capture of Susan George at the church social you can see both eyes of the woman in the background to the right of the frame) of the Freemantle Blu captures, just as there had been on the Freemantle DVD.
- RossyG
- Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 5:50 pm
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
I dislike it too, but I saw the film theatrically from a restored 35mm print in Brighton in 1995 and that's pretty much how it looked.andyli wrote:... most people seem to dislike the contrasty look of the new restoration done by Fremantle. Am I the only one to feel the UK one is more filmlike than MGM?
- MichaelB
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
- Location: Worthing
- Contact:
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
So not only did they do the transfer from a theatrical print (as opposed to a low-contrast print specifically designed for the purpose), but that theatrical print was too contrasty to begin with?RossyG wrote:I dislike it too, but I saw the film theatrically from a restored 35mm print in Brighton in 1995 and that's pretty much how it looked.andyli wrote:... most people seem to dislike the contrasty look of the new restoration done by Fremantle. Am I the only one to feel the UK one is more filmlike than MGM?
No wonder it's such a disaster - this should have been seen coming a mile off.
Incidentally, can anyone confirm whether the MGM release really is region-free? I've had my fingers burned too often trusting the Beaver on this issue.
- fdm
- Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
blu-ray.com is good about this type of thing, it says "Region Free".MichaelB wrote:Incidentally, can anyone confirm whether the MGM release really is region-free? I've had my fingers burned too often trusting the Beaver on this issue.
- cdnchris
- Site Admin
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
- Location: Washington
- Contact:
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Yeah, Blu-ray.com is usually always on top of it when it comes to region coding. I recall it having the ABC logo on the back when I saw it at Best Buy, but haven't picked it up yet so can't confirm.
-
- Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2009 8:07 am
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
I can certainly understand about Beaver - Planet Axel confirms Straw Dogs as region free, but there is an "A" logo on the back cover displayed there.MichaelB wrote:Incidentally, can anyone confirm whether the MGM release really is region-free? I've had my fingers burned too often trusting the Beaver on this issue.
- Graham
- Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:50 pm
- Location: London
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
It's definitely region free as I played it in my Sony SDP370 here in London.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Reading over this thread after having seen the film again (what better to watch after Puss in Boots?) I feel like bringing up something that's always bothered me over the initial reaction to the feel (as demonstrated by Ebert's comment quoted on the previous page), but how could anyone feel that Pechinpah is sympathizing with David when from frame one he is comparing Hoffman's acting to George's (easily the most complex character of the film)? George gives a typical performance (of absurd quality) of naturalism and what would seem like a normal performance while Hoffman is almost bad. He's robotic in even his most emotional scenes and moves like he's a robot or just following stage direction. David's this passionless thing. Even more than the climax or rape I find one of the shots in their sex scene to be the most disturbing. George is there like a blanket loose and comfortable and than in the background Hoffman comes up angular and robotic like a rusted stick figure.
- bainbridgezu
- Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:54 pm
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Has anyone heard about Hoffman's feelings towards this film? At the rate Criterion is issuing both previous MGM blu-rays and Dustin Hoffman movies, I'd be surprised if this didn't rejoin the collection, hopefully with a new interview. Their original edition is among their best, but I've always wondered about his absence. Though it could simply have been a matter of scheduling, as they barely slipped through the licensing window.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
- Contact:
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
a little NSFWShow
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
- The Elegant Dandy Fop
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:25 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Worth the price for that Stephen Price commentary. Hopefully the Peckinpah doc includes all the clips from his films that were excised for rights reasons from the original DVD release. My only complaint is that it still includes the Joshua Clover essay from the original release that's a real stink-o. Otherwise, a previously perfect set made somehow better.
- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Great to see Mantrap on there - this was the Channel 4 documentary produced to tie in with the first (and so far only) screening of Straw Dogs on UK television back in 2003. Probably its main purpose was to 'contextualise' the difficult material and prepare the audience for the content of the film which followed (Channel 4 did the same thing a few years earlier when they screened The Devils with that Hell On Earth documentary presented by Kermode, in 1997 they showed Reservoir Dogs with a half hour piece preceding it, and again when Film4 showed Salo with the Mark Kermode documentary (that is on the Criterion edition of that film) just beforehand. I guess it makes sense to prepare viewers for it, though in all these cases it always seemed strange to me to have a film spoiled in detail just beforehand like that! (Plus it could be argued that the documentary followed by the film meant that the rape scene ended up being shown twice over in relatively quick succession. I guess however that it made a change from the rape scene being the only scene of the film shown in isolation during television programmes about censorship (and therefore able to be interpreted wildly by different parties because of that lack of context), as was the case in the decade before that)
Anyway, the documentary is worth watching, if just for Dustin Hoffman's final comment about Peckinpah at the end of the programme!
Anyway, the documentary is worth watching, if just for Dustin Hoffman's final comment about Peckinpah at the end of the programme!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Mon Jul 03, 2017 6:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- FrauBlucher
- Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
- Location: Greenwich Village
- solaris72
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:03 pm
- Location: Baltimore, MD
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
According to DVDBeaver the "Man of Iron" doc is 12 minutes longer, so I guess the clips are back in?The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:Worth the price for that Stephen Price commentary. Hopefully the Peckinpah doc includes all the clips from his films that were excised for rights reasons from the original DVD release. My only complaint is that it still includes the Joshua Clover essay from the original release that's a real stink-o. Otherwise, a previously perfect set made somehow better.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Maybe but now it's missing another 8+ hours.
- Malickite
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2016 5:47 pm
- Location: United States
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
Disappointed the "Dustin Hoffman on the Set of Straw Dogs" vintage featurette was dropped. I don't know why it would be, unless the Simon & Garfunkel music featured was too expensive to reacquire? Which doesn't really make sense since it's, I believe, the Graduate soundtrack versions which Criterion must have rights to since they have The Graduate. How would that work?
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
To my eye, the Criterion looks substantially better than the MGM
-
- Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:33 am
Re: 182 Straw Dogs
But does it look substantially better than the Criterion DVD?mfunk9786 wrote:To my eye, the Criterion looks substantially better than the MGM
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA