'That's Entertainment!' -- High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Peter's review of 'That's Entertainment! The Complete Collection' is up. While not an all-out win for musical devotees, he says Warner has done a fair job on the video and audio for all three films (though none appear to have enjoyed a full-fledged remaster), and this box set does retain all of the extras included on the previous DVD releases of the series.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1134...ment_coll.html

[Arkadin]

It's hard to understand how the other review I read about this release could rave so much about the quality of the older material, when it is obvious now that Warner did NOT restore any of this. hard to believe all the build-up for this? you gotta be kidding. shame on you Warner. This could be the first REAL sad effort on Warner's part. They should have just waited if they were not prepared to give this project the attention it obviously deserves.

[z-man]

With all due respect to Peter, this review is not exactly his finest hour as a reviewer and had a number of inaccuracies in facts . He cites a tribute to Ethel Merman who is nowhere to be found in any of the three TE films as she never made a single film at MGM ! I'm assuming he has confused her with Eleanor Powell, but who knows ?

It has been widely reported on other boards that MGM did do some work on these titles by inserting replacement footage for some of the musical sequences that have had restoration work done to them, such as the ultra-resolution versions of Singin' In The Rain and The Bandwagon. True, many sequences still vary from clip to clip but once you see the high-definition sequences from High Society ( shot in the large-format VistaVison process ) you will know that some very nice work has been done.

[mistermono]

Sorry to cross-post:

I was a bit let down by this set too (though I love the films), but according to Robert Harris there was work done on these clips:

In many cases, the only easily accessible film elements available when the films were created have been upgraded on a clip by clip basis to current standards. This doesn't mean that Every clip is new, but where work has been performed, higher quality elements have been substituted.

The full review with additional comments is here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...ion-bd-hd.html

[MNTWISTER]

Peter, while I agree with your review as a whole, I disagree completely with the audio section. It's very unfair, maybe due to lack of experience on soundtracks of classic stereo films. Being a fan of these musicals for years and owning almost every version of many of them included as clips, I am surprised by your saying that there is no benefit at all to the Dolby True. Any segment in stereo has vast improvement in the aurial experience over previous releases. Take the orchestral themes of the films, and the stereo clips of the post-1954 stereo films, to me, an experienced listener to these films, a big improvement in timbre, bass clarity and crispness and even in some cases, separation.

Many of these movies had very little surround information when they were released. I am surprised you would say that when you get a Dolby True release you expect more from the surrounds. This is not always the case, especially for films from this era.

For those that love these films and know them well, you will definately hear an improvement in the audio and they sound better than any release before this, just don't expect massive surrounds because the films never had that in the first place.

[Arkadin]

interesting info about the restoration work. so apparently SOME work WAS done. that's pretty confusing, but I guess I may have to check this out now. Hmmmmmmmmmmm...............
good points mntwister.

[Dark_Tower]

Hello there,
does anyone know if this BD-Set is "All" region coded like all other Warner BDs?

Thanks for your help + best regards,
Uwe

[mistermono]

I don't see the hexagon with an 'A' on my set, does that mean it's all-region?