hoDS/NoDS DVD Release?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Yes, when it comes to DVDs, it appears that it's typical for the widescreen version of a film to show less at the top and bottom but more at the sides than the full screen version does (and a VHS version would be comparable to a full screen DVD version). I've seen many complaints about that over the years - though as Gothick says, it also seems that the widescreen version is the way the film was intended to be seen. That would be why hoDS looks the way it does. However, with that example from NoDS, it seems as if we're not getting any extra width. Odd.

[KMR]

Sara, Gothick is right. We're seeing the picture the way it was intended to be seen. Normally for TV showings of 1.85:1 widescreen films, the top and bottom of the 1.33:1 frame of the film print are included (or a little bit all the way around is cropped).  These transfers are wonderful.  No, Gothick, the picture is not too dark now. If anything, it was too bright on the VHS and laserdisc.

[KMR]

MB, I think the earlier transfers of NODS used the entire frame. When I made a DVD of my laserdisc copy, I would sometimes watch it zoomed in on my widescreen TV, and the picture looked perfectly framed. With HODS, they had cropped a little bit all the way around for the VHS and laserdisc. I remember when HODS was on the CBS Late Movie, you could see a boom microphone in a drawing room scene and in the scene with the police car outside the front entrance of Collinwood; but when I got the home video releases, the microphone was gone...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I haven't received my Blu-rays of hoDS and NoDS yet, but I do own the Amazon Instant Video version of NoDS. I just checked it for that Alex scene, and the framing is exactly the same as Sara Monster's screen cap, which is strange because I know that when I first bought that version I checked some other scenes and they were definitely wider than they are on the VHS. How weird would it be for some scenes to be wider but others not to be...

[The Doctor and K9]

The Tower Room Flashback definately has dialogue that is not in any of my previous versions, bootleg VHS, Pro VHS, VHS dub from Laser Disk, and SP DVDr copy from TCM.
We hear a laugh and Charles saying "more of your dreary moralizing, brother?"
Then we hear Gabriel yell "open the door" and Charles responds with "trying my patience brother." The annoying thing about this added dialogue is the fact that it's not synced with the lip movements.
The scene ends with Angelique repeating her lines about bringing the painting to life as a voice over and we see the portrait. Very strange.

[Darren Gross]

The Tower Room Flashback definately has dialogue that is not in any of my previous versions, bootleg VHS, Pro VHS, VHS dub from Laser Disk, and SP DVDr copy from TCM.
We hear a laugh and Charles saying "more of your dreary moralizing, brother?"
Then we hear Gabriel yell "open the door" and Charles responds with "trying my patience brother." The annoying thing about this added dialogue is the fact that it's not synced with the lip movements.
The scene ends with Angelique repeating her lines about bringing the painting to life as a voice over and we see the portrait. Very strange.

It's one of about two dozen audio mistakes on the transfer.  The original audio source they used is of the 97min R version, and they had to make edits to it, in order to make it match the 94min picture.  The tower scenes is one where they made a few bad decisions about what was supposed to be in there and what wasn't.  The laugh and "moralizing" lines occur in shots from the R version where you can see the cast members saying them.  They should have been edited out.  The repeat of Angelique's "bring the painting to life, etc." at the end of the scene, does not belong in the 94min version- that should only be in a fully restored director's cut.  The same for the music that now plays during the dining room scene- Curtis and co, dropped it from this scene when they mixed the short version.  It should not be in the DVD transfer.

Previous video transfers were done "open matte" showing more on the top an bottom that was meant to be seen, theatrically.  On the older transfers, for a few shots, where boom mics or floor mics would have been visible because of the extra head and foot room visible, the framed them tighter, but just for those shots.

TV broadcasts in the late 70s and early 80s would actually have been of a film print, shown entirely open matte with every boom and floor mic, gloriously, and incorrectly on display...

I hope this makes some sense.

[Darren Gross]

I compared a handful of shots from the new DVD/Blu-ray transfer of HODS to the 35mm film frames from a print, and    the new transfer is zoomed in a little more than is preferable on the sides.  There is a sliver or picture information on all 4 sides that has been cropped off. 

The color is terrific on the new transfer for the most part, and some shots have an impressive amount of detail, but in my opinion, the framing is too tight.

[Gothick]

Thanks for the fascinating info, Darren.  I can't make up my mind whether to buy the DVDs or not.  The two snaps posted were not very impressive, but what you say about the color in the hoDS print makes me want to see for myself.

I really lack words to express the distaste I feel for the box cover designs, the same images repeated for those crap menus.

I'll stop now as I can feel a rant coming on.

G.

[dom]

I'll stop now as I can feel a rant coming on.

 

Maybe next time....

[Gothick]

OK, now THIS is exciting:  the fabulous RJ Jamison, author of the DEFINITIVE biography of Grayson Hall, has reviewed the hoDS/NoDS discs in the new issue of SCREEM magazine!  Yay!

cheers, G.

[retzev]

Yeah, the covers are weak, but I'll say in their defense that I like that DS12 is not mentioned anywhere on them. And the picture frame design they used, more so with DVD version, matches somewhat with the new covers for MPI's rereleases of the 40-ep sets. I'd have preferred original promotional art, of course, but it could've turned out much worse. .

[Philippe Cordier]

I received both DVDs, "House of Dark Shadows" and "Night of Dark Shadows" from amazon on October 30, delivered by UPS. I viewed "House of Dark Shadows" on a large screen, HD TV (not mine), and the print looked fantastic. I was especially taken by the depth of colors – the cinematography was superb for this film. Darren wrote "the framing is too tight," and I did somehow have the sense that the film had a broader scope (to use my own terminology) when I saw it at the Vista Theater in Los Angeles at the fest there a few years ago. The warmth of the fire in the several scenes with fireplaces was beautiful – I think that scene where Barnabas gives Maggie the music box is absolutely lovely. And I really liked the thick red glasses at the Blue Whale, or whatever that restaurant was. I like this movie more each time I see it, to my surprise. Of course there are flaws, but I think this is one of the best vampire movies I've seen. The performances are very good to excellent, beginning with Frid's. And Lyndhurst was breathtakingly beautiful.

[dom]

That was a pleasant read, thanx for that. I love this movie more for nostalgic reasons than cinematic reasons so it nice to hear positive points. I'd love to see the new print, but, I probably never will.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I think Amazon might have mailed them by way of Australia, but my Blu-rays finally arrived today. And what's funny (or perhaps not so funny) is that the Depp/DS film's DVDs/Blu-rays that I ordered last week as Christmas gifts arrived yesterday even though they were shipped by Amazon 6 days after the Blu-rays of the original films. You've got to love the USPS! 

But be all that as it may, I'm really looking forward to checking out both hoDS and NoDS. 

[Gothick]

Hey dom, you could try the local library.  Ask if they can get the discs via Interlibrary Loan (ILL) if the local branch doesn't carry them.  I would bet dollars to doughnuts they could get the films for you.

hugs, Tuffie