Universal are now listing
Vertigo as anamorphic:
http://homevideo.universalstudios.com/d ... ldId=35678
But they are still only listing that
fucking horrid 5.1 remix that has awful new foley sound effects (the gunfire in the opening is embarressingly anachronistic and is
way too loud, compared to the original mono mix) and loads of needless sounds effects were ADDED to the mix , ie. chirping birds in the forest scene, where there were none in the original mono mic, in fact, that scene was eerie and still, originally, with only the dialogue and music present. The scene near the ocean was, again, quiet and eerie in the mono mix: in the 5.1 mix, the ocean waves crash like in
Ryan's Daughter and are as loud as cannons. Awful. All of the new foley sounds modern, 'digitally-sharp', like all well-done foley in modern films, but it doesn't befit a moody, eerie film from 1958.
Most people will be ecstatic at getting a new anamorphic transfer of what is one of the greatest films of all time, but I won't be joining the party until that the original mono track is included. The existing audio elements are in poor or barely adequete condition, but all I ask is that Universal do their best. None of the other Hitchcock DVDs in this set will have 5.1, so it will already look out of place in buyers eyes.
Also, shouldn't
Psycho be an anamorphic 2-disc now? A 109-minute film with a 90-minute documentary, plus about another 15 minutes of video (the long trailer, etc) about to well over 215 minutes of video is crazy in this day and age. Mind you, the transfer of the remastered, anamorphic edition of
The Thing doesn't suffer and that disc contains almost the same amout of video information and a 5.1 track and has
very careful encoding (as does the new
12 Monkeys disc) so maybe I'm getting my knickers in a twist for no reason.
Cineon digitally restored the VistaVision
Man Who Knew Too Much last year, I believe and they also digitally restored
To Killl a Mockingbird, which is now recieving a new 2-disc set with a new transfer, so that restoration muct surely have been used for
The Man Who Knew Too Much? And if it was, perhaps
all fiilms have been digitally restored.
Time, as ever, will tell.