Dracula | Horror of Dracula (1958) pre-order March 17

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

There's a crazy detailed review here with a load of screen caps.

http://www.cathoderaytube.co.uk/2013...la-3-disc.html

Those caps don't look as blue as the earlier ones did? This is worth a read.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Huh. The caps still look way too blue for my liking, but I'll wait and see what others have to say when it comes out. Great article, anyway.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Taking Frank Collin's screen caps at face value, Jack Asher never, never flooded his sets with a blue light that cast a blue pallor on faces, and he never, never imposed a blue tint over his footage in post. There is not one instance in his 8 Gothic films where he does that. The IB Tech prints from 1958, which contain the color timing and density that Asher and Fisher decided on, does not have this blue tint. I know because I've seen many of the prints over the years. And I seriously doubt if the OCN or the 2007 interpositive check print have the blue tint, either.

The blue tint in this blue-ray is wrong.

It's wrong, and that's all there is to it.

Further, some of the footage is too dark, much darker than the IB Tech prints.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Yeah I get all that and I agree. I'm simply noticing a difference in the caps in that particular review versus the ones posted earlier.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Well, the color is shifted toward green. I remember greys and black with some green costuming, props and furnishing, but nothing like the green hue that seems to permeate until the blue tinting shots arrive.

This is one badly screwed-up blu-ray and I'll stand on the console in Ben Thompson's edit bay at the BFI and tell him so.

[bgart13 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bgart13]

This is one badly screwed-up blu-ray and I'll stand on the console in Ben Thompson's edit bay at the BFI and tell him so.

Ok, now you're just being weird.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Ok, now you're just being weird.

Maybe, but it made me laugh. I thought it was funny.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Yeah, I chuckled.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Hammer responds on their blog today to the whole blue tint controversy.

http://blog.hammerfilms.com/?p=366

"Please rest assured that there has been no “tinting” or “darkening” of the DRACULA restoration. And there has certainly been no attempt to make the film look more contemporary. The 2007 grade is the best possible attempt (albeit with entirely different technology) to emulate the grade of an original print. Also, the grade of the release versions is identical to that of the BFI screenings in 2007 (and for that matter the VAULT screening in 2012, which played very well indeed to a screen full of fans)."

More details at the link. Worth a read.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Well, I didn't expect that they would say "ooops, we messed up", but they do make a few valid points, I suppose.

I like in the comments, though, somebody says something about "How is this right but everything for the past 50 years is wrong?"

Guess we'll just see what we see.

[bgart13 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bgart13]

That was me, Mark. :)

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

Let's everybody watch a Jack Asher / Terence Fisher marathon this weekend in preparation for the new blu-ray of Horror of Dracula. Here are the editions I'll be watching:

1960 The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll -- Columbia's Icons of Hammer set
1960 Brides of Dracula -- Universal's Hammer set.
1959 The Hound of the Baskervilles -- WB DVD
1959 The Man Who Could Cheat Death -- blu-ray
1958 The Mummy -- WB DVD
1958 The Revenge of Frankenstein -- Columbia Sony DVD but the VHS and laser-disc have better color.
1957 The Curse of Frankenstein -- WB DVD

Take note of color and light.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

That was me, Mark. :)

Well done. :-D

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Hammer responds on their blog today to the whole blue tint controversy.

http://blog.hammerfilms.com/?p=366

"Please rest assured that there has been no “tinting” or “darkening” of the DRACULA restoration. And there has certainly been no attempt to make the film look more contemporary. The 2007 grade is the best possible attempt (albeit with entirely different technology) to emulate the grade of an original print. Also, the grade of the release versions is identical to that of the BFI screenings in 2007 (and for that matter the VAULT screening in 2012, which played very well indeed to a screen full of fans)."

More details at the link. Worth a read.

The stuff on the Hammer blog about the CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN aspect ratio debacle was utter nonsense, but this makes sense to me. I saw DRACULA projected at about the same time as the Warner Terror Vision tape was released (which, for all intents and purposes is virtually identical to the Warner DVD) in the mid(?) 1990s, and I remember noting that the 35mm print (from the BFI, as I recall) had a much 'cooler' palette than the Warner VHS. I'm not saying it was identical to this release or not, as I haven't seen the new BD - only screencaps from it. However, it was considerably different from the Warner VHS (and therefore the subsequent DVD) and the television screenings I'd encountered before. (In fact, I've still got the poster that the cinema used to promote that screening, which I blagged from the cinema owner - or slipped him a fiver for it.)

I think this is a case of emotions running high and judgements being made, based partly on Hammer's cock-ups with the CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN disc and the expectation that this will be a similar situation to that release.

I'll reserve judgement till I've seen it with my own eyes, and this may indeed be a case in which a modern restoration (with modern processes) adds a different 'spin' on the material; but I'm fairly certain that the previous DVD/VHS releases can't be used as a benchmark for this title.

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

AmazonU.K. notifies me the blu-ray has shipped. ETA in the USA: March 26.