'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://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1135/...ment_coll.html

[HiDefBear]

I was looking forward to this release but skipped picking it up because of the lackluster nature of the original prints (even with the understanding that it would have cost a fortune to upgrade every single clip used in the films).

The most disappointing aspect though has to be the possibility that Warner Bros. might look at (what I expect to be) the poor sales of the set and opt not to release more classics on HD DVD. That would be extremely short-sighted of WB because I'm sure I'm not the only one who would pre-order a lot of older classic films the instant they were made available. Citizen Kane, The Wizard of Oz... The list is endless, and I want them!

[Arkadin]

WHY in the world would Warner release a pathetic version of a title that so OBVIOUSLY would need a major restoration?
Chalk up Warner's FIRST major blunder and total let-down.
What a crock of shit.
Shame on you Warner for treating the golden age of MGM like a old worn-out cheap knockoff suit.

[ben1080p]

Eh,, not my cup of tea.

[Arkadin]

and probably not 99.5% of anybody else's on here either.

[bluebird1111]

Originally Posted by HiDefBear

The most disappointing aspect though has to be the possibility that Warner Bros. might look at (what I expect to be) the poor sales of the set and opt not to release more classics on HD DVD. That would be extremely short-sighted of WB because I'm sure I'm not the only one who would pre-order a lot of older classic films the instant they were made available.

That's exactly my concern about this set. It seems to me an odd choice for release at this stage in the HD game, when there are so many catalog films in the MGM/WB library that could show HD off to its best advantage.

[Marky_D_Sahdd]

These are the pictures Hollywood spent $$$ on in the 30's-60's, most were epic spectacles and every dollar showed up on screen. This was the kind of release I had been waiting for, something to really show the capabilities of high def. But my gosh what a lousy picture, and the sound should have been much better! This is my biggest disappointment yet with HD! Hopefully Warner will do a better job in the future with Wizard of Oz, et al.

[mistermono]

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