Dr No, FRWL and Goldfinger Criterion Laserdisc Restorations

[alleycat]

My next few projects will be restorations of the Criterion Laserdiscs of the first three Bond movies. I already have the laserdisc audio, the commentary and effects tracks and the extra features that were on the LD's, plus I've got the chapter timings so can present them with original Criterion chapter stops. 

One issue I am running into on this is this opening logos, the LD uses the MGM UA communications logo followed by the United Artists logo, whereas the Blu Ray uses the MGM roaring lion. The problem is the commentary track starts straight away, so to make it sync with the HD picture would require adding a black screen at the beginning of the blu ray or cutting off part of the commentary - neither of which I would like to do.

The ideal way would be to restore the original opening credits to the Blu Ray version - does anyone off the top of their head know of a blu ray/HDTV that uses the original MGM UA / United Artists opening logos? I only have the newest James Bond blu ray box set myself. 

Finally I wondered if anyone has already done a colour corrected version of these movies? 

Thanks

[Stamper]

Hi Alleycat, what do you want to do exactly? Use the HD image to restore the Criterion colors?

You might be better using the 4K rips that can be found on iTunes. They also come with extra space at the beginning.

I'm currently working on releasing all of those with the audio mono muxed (no 5.1), I'm done with Dr No.

[alleycat]

Hi Alleycat, what do you want to do exactly? Use the HD image to restore the Criterion colors?

You might be better using the 4K rips that can be found on iTunes. They also come with extra space at the beginning.

I'm currently working on releasing all of those with the audio mono muxed (no 5.1), I'm done with Dr No.

Hi Stamper, 

I'm looking to recreate the Criterion Laserdiscs, but with a HD picture and blu ray menus laid out the way that official criterion releases are done. So the same sound options, same extra features etc. Thanks for the heads up on the 4k rips, I didn't know about them but I'm downloading now. If the gap at the start is long enough it might accommodate the audio commentary. 

Thanks

[Stamper]

Sounds good. Yep, check them out!

[deleted user]

Are these commentaries the "banned" ones? If so, do you have them captured losslessly? Only seen them out as .mp3 and .ac3 files so far. Would be great having a flac or PCM of them.

[alleycat]

Are these commentaries the "banned" ones? If so, do you have them captured losslessly? Only seen them out as .mp3 and .ac3 files so far. Would be great having a flac or PCM of them.

Hi Tom,

Yes it's those commentary tracks and unfortunately they are ac3, as are the music and effects only tracks. I have the main audio PCM tracks though. I also have the other extras, such as the Bread commercial and image gallery. 

Thanks

[alleycat]

Unfortunately, whilst the 4K rip has a slightly longer logo intro, it's still not enough for the commentary track. Has anyone seen these MGM / UA logos in HD before? Maybe on a completely different movie? 




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuOeNJWNNEI

I fear that the logo changed long before HD was around so anything that has been released in HD has used newer style logos. 

Thanks

[deleted user]

Have you considered searching for a 35mm version of that logo on eBay and getting it scanned or seeing if there's a scan of it around somewhere on the internet, perhaps as a part of a different project? Like for example the Star Wars Silver Screen Edition and such.

[alleycat]

Yes I had thought about trying to find a project that uses it already, this is what I had to do with the Dead Presidents disc as the HDTV file started half way through the logo.

Found some more information on it:

Availability: Uncommon. The MGM/UA Communications-UA Swoosh mixture is seen on old TV, VHS and Laserdisc prints of several James Bond films, and movies from the Pink Panther series (and was used to plaster old UA logos, such as the "Transamerica T"). The version with the UA logo following it can be seen on Baby Boom, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!, Rain Man, Child's Play, and the 1998 DVD of The Great Escape. The version with the MGM logo following can be seen on Fatal Beauty, Moonstruck, and the VHS releases of Overboard, Poltergeist III, A Fish Called Wanda, and others. Recent prints of some of these films, such as the 2008 and 2012 Blu-Ray releases of Spaceballs, and the 20th anniversary DVD of Moonstruck, will have it replaced with a newer MGM logo. The black and white variant can be seen on the 1988 MGM/UA Home Video VHS release of The Manchurian Candidate and the 1989 MGM/UA Home Video Laserdisc release of The Apartment. The trailer variant can be seen on several MGM/UA Home Video releases, such as the 1988 VHS release of Spaceballs.

[deleted user]

I see. If you can find that logo in raw DVD quality, I could try running it through the AI upscaler that I trained on the Dark Knight IMAX DVD footage. Dunno if that would give good results, but I figure it's worth a try?