Universal Monsters . . . In HD!7258
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
This box set just arrived. A 30 film set of the original Universal Monsters on Blu-Ray! This set came out on DVD in 2014, I’ve been waiting for this version to pick it up. I’m planning to watch them in chronological order & review them, one movie a week for 30 weeks. Let’s make this a general Universal Monsters thread. What’s your personal favorite? Do ya have any cool collectibles from this genre? Etc. |
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daywalker private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Frankenstein is my favorite! | ||
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Frontier2Xterra private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Wolfman. Hands down my fav. | ||
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by daywalker A friend of mine genuinely thought Mel Brooks’ ‘Young Frankenstein’ was Part of the original franchise. I’ll say this, Mel did an amazing job of imitating the look of the original film. |
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Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user | |
I have this oil painting on my wall. I'd LOVE to get some statues, but they always seem to be just beyond the reach of my wallet!! LOL!!! And Wolfman is my favorite character!!! But the Creature from the Black Lagoon is a close second.  |
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
| That painting is awesome, @Jesse_O! I missed my local Con last week because I sprained & possibly fractured my ankle a few days prior (CT scan results pending). To make myself feel better, I went ahead & pulled the trigger on this Alex Ross “Creature” lithograph from Sideshow. I’ll be taking it in to be framed soon.  |
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VaComicsGuy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @00slim Nice lithograph. Hope the ankle is better soon. |
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Much appreciated @VaComicsGuy. It doesn’t give me much trouble, considering. But I still gotta be careful. | ||
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Despain private msg quote post Address this user | |
Frankenstein is my favorite followed by Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein. |
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Foghorn_Sam private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have this Legacy edition of Dracula. It also includes the Spanish version in which the whole movie is re-shot with Spanish speaking actors, no dubbing. Very cool to watch. I've added some stills from the Spanish version so you can see the different actors in familiar scenes. Actually, I think the Spanish actress plays a better Mina. Does your Blu-Ray edition contain the same presentations as on this regular DVD version?     |
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dielinfinite private msg quote post Address this user | |
Awesome! I have the original Essential Collection. Not nearly as complete (only includes 8 movies) but I love the book-like presentation. I’ll probably buy the individual legacy sets that make up the complete collection separately so I can spread the cost around a little:  I also have the old 75th Anniversary DVD of Dracula. I absolutely loved the sepia-toned art direction and subtle leather-like texture on the cases they took with this set (and the others that accompanied it), moreso than any other release of these movies since:    And forget the naysayers! I loved Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It! @Foghorn_Sam Yes, Universal has been good about keeping the Spanish-language Dracula as a special feature alongside the Lugosi version in subsequent releases along with most, if not all the special features |
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by dielinfinite This was the set I upgraded from. A very cool presentation for sure! I think I’ll be selling mine now that I have this set. That 75th Anniversary Dracula Box is sweet! @Foghorn_Sam This set does include the Spanish version. Appreciate the screen shots. This set has a lot of extras, it doesn’t list all the alternate scores that yours does. The alternate one by Philip Glass is included, though.  |
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Foghorn_Sam private msg quote post Address this user | |
I just did a little research on the actress who played Mina in the Spanish version of Dracula. She was a Mexican/American named Lupita Tovar. She was 20 years old when she shot Dracula and died just a few years ago in 2016 at the age of 106, WOW!!! Here is a beautiful picture of her from 1931 for another picture she did called Carne de Cabaret. |
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Shes stunning for sure. It’ll be interesting to compare the English language version to the Spanish version. Especially since it isn’t just a re-dub, but an actual re-shoot. |
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mrelowe private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by 00slim Walt would be proud! LOL That's awesome. |
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 I bought a meat grinder on amazon for $60 and it's changed my life.
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kaptainmyke private msg quote post Address this user | |
| How do you "HD" movies that are so old they were filmed with the mindset of being on a 20" black and white screen? | ||
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 Beaten by boat oars
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Studley_Dudley private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by kaptainmykeFilms that are not meant as widescreen generally become cropped in order to achieve the widescreen effect. It wasn't until the 1950s that widescreen was widely used in Hollywood because it was considered expensive. TBS and FXX commonly crop shows that are upconverted to a widescreen format. As far as making it HD, the print will go through an upconvert process. As long as the master print is still good, then it will look HD but it can also make it not look good, since some things just aren't meant for HD. |
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by kaptainmyke And they did play in theatres. It’ll be interesting to see how they look. |
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I bought a meat grinder on amazon for $60 and it's changed my life.
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kaptainmyke private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I understand the letterbox and widescreen format so I am more asking the question about dithering and image quality | ||
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 PEDIGREED... Again!
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martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
| It was very difficult to locate a 35mm print of FRANKENSTEIN for this promotion...it took weeks to track down a copy that we could rent for the show and we had to ship it out right after to another theater.  mm |
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Beaten by boat oars
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Studley_Dudley private msg quote post Address this user | |
| If the print is clean and of good quality, there shouldn't be many artifacts or visible scratches. I suppose some of it can be cleaned digitally when it goes through the upconversion. | ||
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canadianryan private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'll need to get this set! What a great catalogue! | ||
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dielinfinite private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Studley_Dudley Correct, the 4:3 aspect ratio was standard for film from its onset. Once film started getting competition from TV (which was also 4:3 to match the film ratio) they introduced the widescreen format to provide something tv yet couldn’t. Once video came on the market widescreen films were cropped on the sides, losing a significant part of the image but bring it down to a ratio that would fit the screen. The framing was of course affected but they did have leeway to pick what was cropped by moving the image within the 4:3 frame, hence the format being called Pan & Scan. As widescreen tvs became standard, many people hated when content didn’t fill the screen, specifically old movies in 4:3 ratio which would leave black bars on either side. To address this, a lot of dvds were released with the too abd bottom of the 4:3 frame trimmed to create a widescreen ratio that would fill the screen. A neat fact is that film is actually higher resolution than HD. Well it’s a little more complicated than that but the basic idea is that a cell of film has more detail than we’ve managed to capture in a 1920x1080 (HD) scan, to say nothing of a 720x480 (SD) scan, which is how most of these films had been experienced on tv since they left theaters. As we keep improving digitization technology with 2k, 4k+ scanning that may change. The point is that these old films, if scanned from their original film elements, have more than enough detail to present well on an HD blu-ray. What really keeps a lot of these old films from looking their best is that the film elements are old and thus need a proper restoration to mitigate the damage caused over time which is not cheap. Additionally, its a significant investment to do a proper HD scan of the film. Many budget video publishers, which thrive on cheap and public domain content, may just reuse an old SD scan from a damaged print and use digital tools to upscale it quickly and cheaply to release a blu-ray. Basically the same thing as if you found a low-res comic image online and used Photoshop to blow it up to poster size. You’d get a blurry mess. But if you got the actual comic and did something like an 1800 dpi scan, you could have a pristine looking poster. |
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Foghorn_Sam private msg quote post Address this user | |
Let's not forget the beautiful art work presented on the boxes of Aurora's Universal Monsters model kits as done by James Bama. Who is also famous for doing stunning Doc Savage paperback covers among other things.  |
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I did post my ‘Dracula’ (1931) review earlier today: https://silveragecentric.tumblr.com/post/177630166145/before-we-begin-our-first-foray-into-the-world-of |
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 Pictures? We don't need no stinking pictures.
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brysb private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I have the "Essential Collection" Blu-ray set plus "Dracula Legacy Collection" DVD & "Frankenstein Legacy Collection" DVD. I would love to own the "Complete 30 Film Collection" on Blu-ray but I have never seen it for sale locally. I am hoping that Best Buy will sell it this year during the Halloween holiday. | ||
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00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Amazon is your best bet. I got a $13 refund because I pre-ordered it & they automatically matched the lowest online price. | ||
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dielinfinite private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by brysb It should also be noted that the “Complete Collection” is a boxed collection of several sets that are available individually, in case you don’t want to lay out that much cash in one go. Typically, the full box set will be cheaper than if you were to purchase all the individual sets at once but prices fluctuate. Additionally, several of the individual sets included Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and the duplication remains in this set (so you can give away copies of the movies to people at your Halloween party this year). Finally, there’s a bit of a controversy with the 3D presentation of Revenge of the Creature (both as in the individual set and the complete collection) as it is in the widely unpopular Side-by-Side 3D format instead of the standard Blu-Ray 3D format. Universal has indicated that they are “looking into it” but whether anything substantial will come of it is to be seen. Of course, if you don’t care for 3D it’s a non-issue.: Invisible Man Creature from the Black Lagoon Wolf Man Frankenstein The Mummy Dracula Phantom of the Opera (not a set) |
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Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user | |
I'm getting a betta tank tomorrow. It is 10"x10"x10". I'm going to put this dracula figure in it (minus the salt and pepper shakers. I am also going to print out a background. I figure if I put in 2" of gravel, I can print an 8"x10" photo for it. I haven't found the right one yet, but I did run across this cool gif.  |
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dielinfinite private msg quote post Address this user | |
Not Universal but the original Castlevania games were greatly inspired by those movies with many of the classic monsters, like The Mummy and Frankenstein’s mosters serving as bosses with Dracula as the big bad. I’ve always thought the art for the firat several games was amazing. After that, the art took a more baroque approach, still beautiful, but a completely different fee from the original titles:         |
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