[versions] Vintage Clint Eastwood films original audio preservation

[Stamper]

I forgot about it, but hearing it again, I say it was heard in the theaters, at least in foreign countries.

[Plissken1138]

One of the few changes that Clint Eastwood made to Peoples' script was to remove the opening voice-over and replace it with text.

only mention of a voice-over in imdb trivia

[Stamper]

As a rule I never trust IMDB. I know people who directed films, and can't fix some fake info posted there (someone, from the crew probably, always fixes it back to the wrong info and even the film credit doesn't seem to be proof enough to prove their info is false).

There are also tons of people who had small jobs on films, who add themselves as "uncredited" to big blockbusters credits to boost their resume.

Maybe what happened is the same as Top Gun, where the voice over of the french dub has disappeared over the years.
If anybody has the US LD (the current available rip is the JP LD), it could be good to check if the voice-over is there too.

It's certain however that the voice over existed at one point, the JP LD is proof!

[BDgeek]

Hi Stamper, yes Alinskey and I, provided Sertoli with the the US and JP LD captures.

I'll send it to you by PM, so you can check this info.

[Stamper]

Thanks, there is actually no voice over on the US LD!

This is where the plot thickens!

In other info, The Beguiled Kino Lorber disc is in sync with the old discs. That means if you're foreign, you can remux any subs or dub track you want from the old discs to it without any fix.

[BDgeek]

So indeed it must be the case where originally, the US version was mute and the international versions had the voice over

[Stamper]

Probably, there's no other explanation. Some countries may have done the voice over, one would need to check the foreign languages tracks on the DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

On another note, I was just comparing the soundtracks on Dirty Harry between the foreign dubs, and the Stereo LD from 1992 [12483].

Although LDDB list it as reprocessed, my feeling is the transfer is just the audio stems as they were mixed originally on the tapes, in stereo.

What probably happened is that they put those stems in stereo on tape, knowing they would be folded down. I read some liner notes from Lalo Schifrin, where he explained he recorded the music in stereo, knowing it would be folded down, but mixed it in stereo nonetheless.

I think it also applies to those so called "reprocessed" tracks (foley, dialogue etc.). They are not reprocessed, they are as they were on the stems, in stereo thus for the first time. I'll check on Magnum Force and The Enforcer, but I'm guessing it's the same thing.

[BDgeek]

Good news!

What's your opinion on the oversall quality of this LD track for Dirty Harry?

[Stamper]

The stereo track we have here is as good to me as the mono version.

I understand the mono is the original deal, but I'm pretty certain the later stereo LD versions were not 90's reprocessed newly made remixes, just the original mixes before the fold down to mono offered as they were.

IMHO, they are as important as the mono versions. in fact, Kchrules who is probably the most knowledgable on all things Dirty Harry, went on record as saying the stereo tracks folded down sounded very close to the mono tracks. (He even offered them folded down as an extra track in his releases).

The liner notes to the DH soundtracks, have Lalo Schifrin saying he recorded and mixed in stereo, knowing it would be folded down, but preserved stereo nonetheless. It's hint that this probably applied to all the other Effects + dialogues stems.

[Stamper]

Some interesting stuff about the Dirty Harry LD box set stereo remixes from the stems:

Magnum Force 1973

Widescreen - Letterboxed - 2.35
Stereo
CLV and CAV - 3 Sides - Number 3, 4(CLV) and 5(CAV)
Runtime: 123 min [51:54 A, 52:05 B, 19:02 C]
Misc: The original Warner Communications Company logo was removed from this edition of the film, and replaced by the late 80's and early 90's WB logo. The music in the first car massacre scene when the cop kills Ricca and his lawyers and bodyguards, is missing in this edition of the film.


Sudden Impact 1983

Widescreen - Letterboxed - 2.35
Stereo
CLV - 2 Sides - Number 9 and 10
Runtime: 117:32 min [60:02 A, 57:30 B]
Misc: The original Warner Communications Company logo was removed from this edition of the film, and replaced by the late 80's and early 90's WB logo. The logo has a 1.33 AR despite the movie being 2.35 AR. The music in the barscene where Callahan meets Parkins for the first time, is missing in this edition of the film.

My guess would be that the remixes were made the old school way, on a mixing console, and that the engineer would mute the music stems at different intervals to reduce tape noise when the music is not playing, but that he forgot to put it back on in these two instances where the cues are missing on Magnum Force and Sudden Impact.

Instead of rewinding, and starting over, he just let it at it was (or maybe he didn't notice).

Doing detective work (no pun intended), it looks like there are two sets of Stereo remixes from the stems for the first three films: the Pan & Scan LD stereo releases, and the widescreen LD releases.

- Dirty Harry Pan & Scan Warner LD [1019] from 1990 (1st stereo mix)
- Dirty Harry widescreen Warner LD [12483] from 1992 (2nd stereo mix)*
- Dirty Harry widescreen in the Dirty Harry Collection box set 1994 (probably the same master)

- Magnum Force Pan & Scan Warner LD [1039 A/B] from 1987 (1st stereo mix)*
- Magnum Force widescreen in the Dirty Harry Collection box set 1994 (2nd stereo mix w missing cue)

- The Enforcer Pan & Scan Warner LD [11082] from 1987 (1st stereo mix)
- The Enforcer widescreen in the Dirty Harry Collection box set 1994 (2nd stereo mix)

- Sudden Impact widescreen Warner LD [12233] from 1991 (mono mix as it wasn't remixed for P&S in 1987/1990)
- Sudden Impact widescreen in the Dirty Harry Collection box set 1994 (only stereo mix w missing cue)

* are the mixes we have synced from bit perfect captures.