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Kubrick, on BluRay


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I'd be very surprised if any re mastering was done, after all WB are well known to be lazy as far as their catalog titles are concerned. They are still releasing titles with DD 5.1 and not loss less audio. They seem very unwilling to re release older titles with Loss Less audio (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang- Please)

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Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging have been involved with a large number of recent restoration projects, including Blade Runner, The Godfather Trilogy, How The West Was Won, The Red Shoes, A Star Is Born, Doctor Zhivago, to name but a few. Audiowise I don't know, but I imagine they'd do the same as for picture. They probably have a lot of stuff on the go, so they may not have gotten around to your favourite film yet. I'll be happy with seeing Barry Lyndon on Blu-ray at last.

 

Disclaimer: I don't work for WB MPI, but I do work for one of their suppliers.

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Almost all of these titles were restored years ago in some form or another, the last DVD release was pretty pristine, I don't think a lot of work is needed to make decent blu-rays.

 

Warners is one of the best studios for restoration work on their titles, and one of the first to be committed to archiving their movies in 4K.

 

Using DD 5.1 audio for a video release doesn't have much to do with restoration work, that's a release format decision, not a preservation decision. None of Kubrick's movies used digital sound as far as I know.

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Not only did none of his film use digital audio, but most are not even stereo. I'm pretty sure that's the case even with Full Metal Jacket (not sure about Eyes Wide Shut).

 

There has been some work done on the films I know, but I am not sure of the extent. I know that Doug Trumbull had some involvement with the work on 2001, and I had the extremely pleasurable task of assisting him for a day here in our office as he shot a few closeups of the movement to his personal 65mm camera for material to go with a Making Of doc that I believe is to be included in this collection. I had to keep myself from kneeling before him.

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Probably the only multi-track soundtracks for his movies were "Spartacus" and "2001", which were both released in 6-track mag 70mm prints... I don't know about "Eyes Wide Shut", his last movie, but it was probably a digital stereo mix, maybe multi-track. Before that, his other movies were mono analog as far as I know.

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Not only did none of his film use digital audio, but most are not even stereo. I'm pretty sure that's the case even with Full Metal Jacket (not sure about Eyes Wide Shut).

 

There has been some work done on the films I know, but I am not sure of the extent. I know that Doug Trumbull had some involvement with the work on 2001, and I had the extremely pleasurable task of assisting him for a day here in our office as he shot a few closeups of the movement to his personal 65mm camera for material to go with a Making Of doc that I believe is to be included in this collection. I had to keep myself from kneeling before him.

 

Wow, that's a privilege! I assume you read that he came out of retirement for The Tree of Life recently. That's sure to be another milestone in cinema. I enjoyed his own film "Silent Running"; one of the best sci-fi endings ever.

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Not to thread-hijack, but I just found out that if anyone wants to see some of what Mr. Trumbull has been up to recently, they could swing by the AbelCine booth at NAB, Central Hall. :rolleyes:

 

Well S**t, shooting for 32 days instead. Can you post a followup afterward? (or email me!)

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Found this article in Blu-ray.com.

 

Rumor: Kubrick's The Killing Blu-ray Coming Up

 

Posted March 18, 2011 04:48 AM by Juan Calonge

 

The Criterion Collection's monthly newsletter includes an illustration hinting at an upcoming, unannounced title. This time it features a poodle running with a cloud of banknotes swirling around it. Film buffs have been quick to point out that it is a reference to the withering finale of Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, which would be hence slated for a Blu-ray release in the near future.

 

It is also being speculated that Criterion will also release Killer's Kiss, and even the ultra-rare Fear and Desire, Kubrick's feature debut which has never received a home video release.

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I have to admit that I don't have much experience with Kubrick's work, I have only watched Spartacus (a classic) and Full Metal Jacket (superb). I think it may be time for me to maybe rent some of his movies out.

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Technically Spartacus was reportedly directed by Kirk Douglas and not Kubrick.

 

No that's not true -- Kubrick did not have the total control he usually had because Douglas was a strong producer-star, but that didn't mean that Douglas directed the movie.

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Anthony Mann was the original director. He did pre-production and the first week of filming. Douglas had a dispute with him over creative direction of the film and had him replaced with Kubrick. There is much of Stanley Kubrick in Spartacus, but when one climbs onto a moving train it can be hard to change direction much. After Spartacus kubrick moved to England and decided to only make movies in which he had total creative control.

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Anthony Mann directed the opening scenes , i first saw a stunning 70mm print of Spartacus those opening shots looked wonderful proper 3D without it being shot in that dodgy format . Kubrick did direct the remaining 3 hours .

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Anthony Mann directed the opening scenes , i first saw a stunning 70mm print of Spartacus those opening shots looked wonderful proper 3D without it being shot in that dodgy format . Kubrick did direct the remaining 3 hours .

 

Yes, though I am a huge Kubrick fan I also think Mann was a great director technically and think his opening of "Spartacus" is amazing, I don't even know how he got a crane on that narrow ridge in Death Valley. Must have been some sort of personal disagreement with Douglas because there was nothing wrong with the directing. That opening by Mann and the gladiator training sequence by Kubrick are the best things in the movie, once the slaves escape from the gladiator school the movie becomes less interesting.

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