What a great set!
Everything that I've been hearing is that Warner Home Video is in a huge upward move toward higher quality, and more rational packages of films, when in boxed sets.
This may be one of the final sets to emerge, the concept of which comes from the old, as well as new management team.
To stick to absolute facts, if this set were not all 1939 productions, with 1.37 aspect ratios, there might be problems.
But fortunately, there aren't.
Four extraordinary films, from what is generally recognized as the most critically acclaimed year in American film production, plus a leftover, which I cannot image is not owned by everyone interested in film, now relegated to being on the lower half of the bill.
The four films are:
Dark Victory (WB), directed by Edmund Goulding, with Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Ronald Reagan;
Dodge City (WB), directed by Michael Curtiz, with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan and Bruce Cabot;
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (RKO), directed William Dieterle, with Charles Laughton, Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O'Hara and Edmond O'Brien, and;
Ninotchka (M-G-M), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, with Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi, and Sig Ruman.
Technically, for this set, they differ in several ways.
The images of all but Ninotchka are harvested from original camera negatives, as that single production was lost in a fire.
The scan used is derived from a very high quality fine grain master.
Dodge City is derived from an IP, produced from the original camera negatives. While a set away from Warner's ubiquitous Ultra-rez process of recombine, the IP was beautifully made, and represents the original colors and textures of the film beautifully.
Dark Victory and Hunchback are original nitrate negative harvests.
Here's where it gets interesting, and might have been problematic.
Beyond that fifth film, Hunchback is the only title to be released on a BD-50. Dodge City was set to be on a 50, but didn't make it in transition.
I bring up the BD-25 vs. BD-50 question, as inquiring minds will want to know, but beyond that simple point of reference, it makes very little difference in the final product, unless you begin to dissect the imagery, and do a grain comparison.
One of the things that I'm hearing about the new way things are being done at WB, is that BD-25s can be used for reproduction -- there is a small cost savings -- but only if the average data rate is a minimum of 30 kbs.
Dark Victory, Dodge City and Ninotchka don't make that number.
Since Ninotchka is off a fine grain, we'd probably see little difference. But William Daniels cinematography still shines.
Dark Victory is a magnificent looking film, shot by Ernest Haller, with rich, nitrate-like blacks, extraordinary shadow detail, and an overall luster that shines on the screen.
Dodge City jumps toward you, with brilliant hues of true Technicolor, gorgeous blacks, and the requisite shadow detail to go with them. Flesh tones are absolutely perfect. Sol Polito's work comes to the fore in brilliant color.
Since Hunchback is the one on the 50, you'll get a bit more crispness to the grain structure, and Joseph August's work behind the camera will at times look otherworldly. His work on Hunchback, reminds me in several ways of the way he handled imagery on Selznick's Portrait of Jennie (1948), his final film.
The bottom line is simple. Things are changes for the better at WB. We're getting down to the last of those strange boxed sets, mixing and matching films new to Blu-ray with those already in release. What that means to the consumer, is that you won't be forced to re-purchase titles you already have, in order to obtain new releases.
Quality will continue to rise, as the last of the releases on BD-25s, which make little difference for 1.37 films, but can make a huge difference for color productions in 1.78.
Dark Victory...
Image - 4.75
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Dodge City...
Image - 4.25
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
Ninotchka...
Image - 4.25
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
The Hunchback of Notre Dame...
Image - 5
Audio - 5
Pass / Fail - Pass
As an extra you'll find a documentary on the films of 1939. Not just those in this package, but the entire industry. It's a worthwhile, high quality extra, that runs 68 minutes.
The street price of The Golden Year is just over $50, which is a bargain. $12.50 per film, with a free documentary, and a fifth film that you can give to an indigent friend.
This is what home video on Blu-ray is all about, and for those potentially waiting for 4k, this is not a series of films that will be affected in any major way by the higher resolution.
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
I wasn't aware that there is a new management team running WHV. That explains Warner going deep into the vaults for upgrades, as well as licensing out titles. I thought new folks needed to get in there to make things happen.
