Female Prisoner Scorpion Box set from Arrow in July

[Adrian Jones Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Adrian Jones]

Has anyone got screencaps from the image dvd of 'Female Convict Scorpion:Jailhouse 41' [title on the cover], i lost this in a recent house move but it's from a print, quite dark but NO BLUE TINT!

*Apparentely the UK Eureka dvd used the same source.....so that explanation from Arrow is frankly b*llocks*

[Jason C Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jason C]

I know nothing about such things. I only know that once you watch a film a certain way you get used to seeing it like that. There is no "horrible" like people are saying. As long as it looks like a bluray colours etc play second fiddle. I would rather it was true to the original but I would leave stuff like that to the experts because I would be none the wiser anyway most likely.

I try not to get nerdy about color timing since its way above my film knowledge, but I had an experience that proved to me such things do matter. I was thrilled with the Terminator Blu-ray that came out in 2013. The picture looked good to me and I enjoyed the viewing experience. About a year later I was offered a fan color-timed Blu-ray. Watching this "de-tealed" version was a revaluation. I was giddy almost every moment. I felt like I did when I was watching it back in the 80's. I didn't notice the teal when I watched the 2013 Blu-ray but it did negatively effect my experience. Color timing doesn't bother me in an obvious way but it seems to affect me on a sub-conscious level. Since then I've got my hands on more fan color-timed Blu-rays and had a similar experience.

I guess we can hope that the fan color timing community will fix the FPS films.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

I just took a look at the Image Jailhouse 41 disc and there isn't a blue tint compared to Ian's caps from the Arrow disc.

[Lalala76 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lalala76]

All restoration work was completed at Pinewood Studios.

AAARGH Pinewood!!! These guys are supposed to be experts in their field and yet my heart drops everytime I hear the words "restored at Pinewood" or "Colour graded at Pinewood". A lot of Uk blu's get the Pinewood treatment and I must say quite a few of them have been not very good. The UK blu of Dr Terrors house of horrors and its bizarre yellow tint was a product of Pinewood for example.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

I know nothing about such things. I only know that once you watch a film a certain way you get used to seeing it like that. There is no "horrible" like people are saying. As long as it looks like a bluray colours etc play second fiddle. I would rather it was true to the original but I would leave stuff like that to the experts because I would be none the wiser anyway most likely.

I guess it just depends as to whether you think the directors original intentions matter. This print doesn't look anything like it was intended to so whether it "looks like a bluray" isn't really a consideration to me. Who cares how many pixels it's got if those pixels are totally the wrong colour? Japanese films from the 70s didn't shoot through a cyan filter to make the film look a shitty 2000s low budget Matrix wannabe. I've got the old Image DVD. The print is beaten to shit but it looks a Japanese film from the 70s which is what it is so I'll stick with that. It's a shitty explanation from Arrow. No way they are looking at that and thinking it's correct.

But hey, it's not like there aren't other options out there.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Just dicking around in photoshop with the old blu to see how much work you need to put in on it to make it look like the new one. It's a fair bit. Here's two screen grabs of the different versions where I've clicked on the chin on both to see where the skin tones sit on both.

and here it is on the older blu

[47lab Guest Find all posts View Profile Close 47lab]

no, they haven't.

ah ok, guess Arrow is my only option.

Well, the good news about his whole FPS debacle is that once word gets around that this box set is shit in terms of image quality, the price of the R1 DVD set should go through the roof for those of us who own it. Especially the OOP Jailhouse 41 from Eastern Star/Discotek which is superior to the Image Entertainment one & was fetching a high price already. I imagine now is a good time to pick it up since the used market is probably saturated with copies from people who ditched them in favor of this blu ray box set.

[Keeth Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeth]

I wonder how the hell I missed the Jailhouse 41 dvd from Discotek?!? I'm not sure I knew about it; the MB box, I remember, putting off then I just forgot about it, I guess. I do have one of the films I found used for $1.99 (Grudge Song).

I have the Image dvd, MB Grudge Song, & the other two on dvd-r I bought from Cannibal King (I don't remember his label's name but CK was his name on an old forum), which, he released long before the MB box.

[Maito Guy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maito Guy]

Thankfully I only preordered those at Amazon UK, so no money paid yet. Not sure wether I will cancel my order though. While the screens and the trailer look horrible I still have some hope left for the bonus material. On top of that I also have already sold my old German R2 DVDs. Guess I will at least wait until the first reviews come out.

Kind of reminds me of the Criterion Lady Snowblood release which also looked way off for a Japanese film of the early 70ies. Not saying the Arrow one was much better though ...

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

Managed to cancel mine. Arrow were really helpful.

[enandalusiskhund An Andalusian Dog Find all posts View Profile Close enandalusiskhund]

Arrow's (among others) superstar encoder David Mackenzie has this to say on Criterionforum:

Arrow used low-con prints (what they were given by Toei); my understanding of this is that since they're a few generations away from the OCN, there's very minimal room for the colorist to make changes. The look is already present in the material.

Which makes me ask the question: Why didn't they reject the mediocre materials given to them by Toei? And why in the world did Toei supply them with these materials when a normally graded HD master apparently exist?

[Adrian Jones Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Adrian Jones]

Arrow's (among others) superstar encoder David Mackenzie has this to say on Criterionforum:



Which makes me ask the question: Why didn't they reject the mediocre materials given to them by Toei? And why in the world did Toei supply them with these materials when a normally graded HD master apparently exist?

I've posted this on their Facebook page, no doubt they will delete it like some of the other comments regarding this debacle, have to say i'm edging closer to cancelling my order. This would also explain what went wrong with Criterion's 'Lady Snowblood'.....so it looks like the only way we will get decent blurays of these films is if someone uploads a fansubbed blu of the inevitable Japanese releases from the OCN!

[Terry C Tiger Fists Find all posts View Profile Close Terry C]

Arrow's (among others) superstar encoder David Mackenzie has this to say on Criterionforum:



Which makes me ask the question: Why didn't they reject the mediocre materials given to them by Toei? And why in the world did Toei supply them with these materials when a normally graded HD master apparently exist?

Those are the Million Dollar questions. Hard to believe that these things still happen when there's elements and releases already out there that give off complete flesh-tones that don't look like they were dipped in the ocean. I know Japanese companies like Toei can be hard to get buddy-buddy with, but if the elements that are handed to you aren't up-to par with an older(or an even more recent) release I would at least put my foot down with a high-cult title like this series.

[Derrick King Waterfall Puncher Find all posts View Profile Close Derrick King]

If Toei said it is this or nothing, Arrow likely had too much money invested to walk away, so they had to accept these newly graded 35mm low-contrast prints.

(and since it has been mentioned a few times, the perceived issues with Criterion's Lady Snowblood are nothing like this. Save for some slight black crush, as a result of coming from a 35mm low-contrast print, I don't think there is anything wrong with that transfer, it has an appropriate range of skin tones, the image isn't washed in teal or yellow or green or blue (save the night scenes) or red. It is more colorful compared to earlier dull brown/grey DVD transfers, but really nothing out of the ordinary [side by side comparison between the two make the Criterion look like it pops more than it actually does.])

I figure any future Japanese Blu-rays will look like the Arrow releases (and Snowblood will look like Criterion's]

[Keeth Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeth]

Is there a theory as to why Toei is so difficult to deal with?

I would think companies would ask to see elements before handing over cash & signing contracts.