64 The Third Man

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aox
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#151 Post by aox » Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:07 pm

Did Jeffrey Wells oversee this 'restoration'?

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Feego
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#152 Post by Feego » Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:27 pm

The Studio Canal image, like their edition of The Graduate, is also cropped.

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movielocke
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#153 Post by movielocke » Thu Aug 12, 2010 12:08 am

ugh, the studio canal one washed away all the fine detail, look at Cotton's coat near his neck in the second image, in the criterion you can see the texture of the coat, in the studio canal it looks like a dvd, textureless gray.

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tojoed
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#154 Post by tojoed » Thu Aug 12, 2010 4:48 am

Those caps have already been posted in the Studio Canal thread.
Pro-B wrote:I don't have any of these discs yet so I cannot comment on the quality of the high-definition transfers, but I can assure you that what you see posted on the site are very heavily compressed JPEG files - which is the reason why I never judge quality by random screenshots.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: 64 The Third Man

#155 Post by Matt » Thu Aug 12, 2010 10:13 am

They may be heavily compressed, but they're still native size, and if they were captured and posted by the same person, each set will have had the same compression applied. Even with all these ifs, and, and buts, it's still clear the Criterion has more detail.

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denti alligator
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#156 Post by denti alligator » Thu Aug 12, 2010 4:12 pm

I guess my sealed Criterion Blu will be worth something after all.
This is a realm shame, and a bad bad sign of things to come from SC.

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ShellOilJunior
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:17 am

Re: 64 The Third Man

#157 Post by ShellOilJunior » Tue Sep 07, 2010 8:27 am

I can count my blessings I own the Criterion disc.

Going off the Beaver caps there's a huge difference between the versions. The colors on SC disc are just all wrong. A total abomination.

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tenia
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#158 Post by tenia » Tue Sep 07, 2010 12:55 pm

ShellOilJunior wrote:The colors on SC disc are just all wrong.
The what ? :shock:

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cdnchris
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#159 Post by cdnchris » Tue Sep 07, 2010 2:06 pm

I figure he means the gray levels, which are different in comparison. What bugs me more is the lack of detail. They all look fuzzy. Based on those caps I'd even say both Criterion DVDs look sharper, again based only on the grabs. I'm hoping the SC BD would still look better than the DVDs on an HDTV.

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tenia
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#160 Post by tenia » Tue Sep 07, 2010 4:52 pm

As someone who is not a professionnal, what strikes is that what is good on Breathless disc (less contrast) is wrong here. Breathless disc which I bought a couple of days ago, and indeed, look quite sharp but a bit too clear (white skies...).

But anyway, the lack of details on the SC disc is striking.

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Matt
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#161 Post by Matt » Tue Sep 07, 2010 5:51 pm

What's going on with the contrast in the two BD releases of Breathless is a different issue to what's going on here. In terms of contrast, these two Blu-ray releases are about the same. It just looks like SC went so overboard with the grain reduction and "unsharpening" that they eliminated all detail and clarity.

tstutzman

Re: 64 The Third Man

#162 Post by tstutzman » Thu Oct 21, 2010 10:17 am

How long do you think this is going to stay at Arm & Leg pricing on Bluray? Is it kind of like Rebecca's flash in the pan, now it's back to manageable pricing, or do you think it'll be more like Ran, slowly increasing as more and more people realize it's greatness so the cost just continues to rise.

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Napier
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#163 Post by Napier » Thu Oct 21, 2010 11:55 am

tstutzman wrote:How long do you think this is going to stay at Arm & Leg pricing on Bluray? Is it kind of like Rebecca's flash in the pan, now it's back to manageable pricing, or do you think it'll be more like Ran, slowly increasing as more and more people realize it's greatness so the cost just continues to rise.
Well, look at this.

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Tom Hagen
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#164 Post by Tom Hagen » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:13 pm

I though I was selling high at $100 with my excess copy a few months back.

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mfunk9786
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#165 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:59 pm

It is shocking to me that the Criterion has shot up so high in value with the StudioCanal disc out there. It bums me out that I sold my extra copy for $60 a little while back.

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Murdoch
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#166 Post by Murdoch » Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:18 pm

Napier wrote:
tstutzman wrote:How long do you think this is going to stay at Arm & Leg pricing on Bluray? Is it kind of like Rebecca's flash in the pan, now it's back to manageable pricing, or do you think it'll be more like Ran, slowly increasing as more and more people realize it's greatness so the cost just continues to rise.
Well, look at this.
Makes me regret selling my copy for a mere 40

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domino harvey
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#167 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:17 pm

What the actual fuck

i love activia

Re: 64 The Third Man Plastic Case Packaging

#168 Post by i love activia » Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:27 pm

Does anyone happen to know/remember if all or only some of the copies of the Third Man in the plastic case came with the sticker label on top with the name of the film? I really need to know and would appreciate any and all help.

Thanks!

Jeff Bannow
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#169 Post by Jeff Bannow » Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:50 pm

I just saw this film for the first time last night, and was absolutely blown away. I will need to see it a few more times to be sure, but this could easily make it into my personal top 10 list.

Looks like I will have to start looking for a used copy of the Criterion release (currently selling for $100-150 unfortunately) - the StudioCanal version looks terrible! I look forward as well to diving into the extras for this title. It's really a shame that Criterion hasn't renewed / been able to renew the rights to this title - it definitely belongs in the collection.

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Roger Ryan
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#170 Post by Roger Ryan » Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:12 am

Jeff Bannow wrote:I just saw this film for the first time last night, and was absolutely blown away. I will need to see it a few more times to be sure, but this could easily make it into my personal top 10 list.
I sometimes feel that THE THIRD MAN is the finest film ever made. It certainly is a once-in-a-lifetime combination of a director at the top of his game making the most out of a sublime, literate script with perfect casting throughout. While it treads in similar territory as Hitchcock, the film's depiction of the naive dope caught up in something he can't fully understand still feels startlingly fresh. Suspenseful, philosophical, romantic, nostalgic, horrific, heartbreaking, and remarkably funny in a covert way.

krislandis
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#171 Post by krislandis » Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:04 am

Does anyone know what version (restoration or unrestored) the version of the film that shows on TCM is? It's the only version I have (I DVRed it.) and would like to know what I'm missing.

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Roger Ryan
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#172 Post by Roger Ryan » Sat Feb 25, 2012 5:24 pm

krislandis wrote:Does anyone know what version (restoration or unrestored) the version of the film that shows on TCM is? It's the only version I have (I DVRed it.) and would like to know what I'm missing.
TCM shows the original full-length U.K. version so you're not missing anything. The subsequent U.S. release trimmed the film by ten minutes (excising much of the footage where characters speak languages other than English) and had Joseph Cotten read the opening narration instead of director Carol Reed (Reed's third person narration is droller and fits the film's tone better since it's important that Cotten's Holly Martins not telegraph the significance of his experience in Vienna himself). Happily, the original U.K. edit appears to have replaced the U.S. one in most instances (home video release, retrospective screenings, TV showings).

krislandis
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#173 Post by krislandis » Sat Feb 25, 2012 5:36 pm

Excellent. Thanks for the info!

uebetan12
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Re: 64 The Third Man

#174 Post by uebetan12 » Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:26 pm

When will there be a re-issue of The Third Man on Blu-Ray? Any news?
Last edited by uebetan12 on Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 64 The Third Man

#175 Post by knives » Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:28 pm

This is the best you'll be able to get in print. Criterion can no longer release the film.

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