MGM Catalog Titles on Blu

[domino harvey]

Two Walmart exclusives on May 24:

the Big Country (William Wyler)
Quigley Down Under (Simon Winder)

[Feego]

So are they ever going to put out "Sons and Lovers" (Fox) or "A Thousand Clowns" (MGM)? Apart from "The Emigrants," they're still the only Best Picture Oscar nominees from the past 50 years that have not yet made the leap into the digital age.

A Thousand Clowns has just found itself a home in MGM's video-on-demand service.

[domino harvey]

And another Western on June 7:
Vera Cruz (Robert Aldrich)

[domino harvey]

Got my Horse Soldiers Blu today and, well, no one's going to accuse this one of DNR! Big crazy grain ala Rio Bravo. Also, there's not even a menu (!), the feature just plays on a loop. As though anyone would watch it twice...

[Jeff]

I got Some Like It Hot today, and it doesn't have menus either. It's doubly strange here, because the Blu-ray carries over all of the special features from the Collector's Edition DVD. You have to access them via pop-up menu during the feature. I've just glanced at a couple of scenes to check out the transfer. It too is grainerific, looking reasonably sharp and solid overall. There's some background shimmering in a few spots, but I'm no expert on such things. It appears to be framed at 1.66.

[dx23]

Aren't menus supposed to be a standard feature on a Blu-ray? It's pretty weak that FOX/MGM is not including them on their latest releases. It reminds me of DVD companies back in the day that thought that a menu was a special feature.

[Jeff]

Aren't menus supposed to be a standard feature on a Blu-ray? It's pretty weak that FOX/MGM is not including them on their latest releases. It reminds me of DVD companies back in the day that thought that a menu was a special feature.

Yeah, I'm not sure how long they've been at it. I just tried The Manchurian Candidate ('62) and The Thomas Crown Affair ('68) that were released a few months ago as Best Buy exclusives. They have the exact same menuless interface.

[Flike]

Blu-ray.com reviews Some Like It Hot. Very positive, but no mention of it being menu-less.

[Roger Ryan]

I really dislike Blu-rays without menus. Warner does this a lot and I always have to pause the film to make sure the settings are accurate (you sometimes find that the HD audio option is not the default one). The worst example of this is THE WIZARD OF OZ: you can only turn on the commentary track by selecting it on the special features page via a pop-up menu after the film has begun - by the time you get to it, the commentary is already in progress and you have to back up the film to hear it from the beginning!

Anyway, the Fox/MGM BDs I own all have menus, but it sounds like that may be changing with the recent releases mentioned.

[zedz]

Well, I prefer 'starting straight away' to 'starting after 25 minutes of ads', but how hard is it for studios to make the format they're trying to encourage punters to adopt actually user-friendly?

[domino harvey]

A Fish Called Wanda is out via MGM France in June, an American release is no doubt imminent

[swo17]

Consider yourself upstaged, Out 1!

[Jeff]

Some more Best Buy exclusive Blu-ray MGM catalog titles will supposedly arrive in stores this Sunday: Midnight Cowboy, Casino Royale (1967), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Back to School and City Slickers. Looking forward to Pelham as the DVD was non-anamorphic, and Midnight Cowboy, as all DVD transfers were sub-par. All are up for pre-order on the BB site.

[souvenir]

I saw MGM and One Two Three and jumped to the wrong conclusion. Oh well.

[Finch]

Some thoughts on the Pelham Blu would be appreciated, Jeff, when you have it.

[Graham]

I'd also appreciate feedback on the Pelham disc. Is it a permanent BB exclusive or just for 3 months or so? They don't ship to the UK.

I'm also going to upgrade to the Midnight Cowboy blu, although the reviews on Amazon.co.uk aren't promising re pic quality.

[Finch]

The Manchurian Candidate was a BB exclusive albeit for a few months only (watched my copy from Amazon US yesterday and was very pleased with the image, less so with the sound). Pelham and co should be the same. Has anyone seen Walter Hill's The Long Riders (I loved The Driver), and is it any good? I ask because it's part of MGM's June line-up.

[Roger Ryan]

Has anyone seen Walter Hill's The Long Riders (I loved The Driver), and is it any good? I ask because it's part of MGM's June line-up.

Well, I saw it thirty years ago and remember it as a pleasant Peckinpah homage that benefitted from casting actual sibling actors to play the sibling characters. That, and some exciting action sequences, helped make up for a bit of self-importance that seemed to permeate the film. Again, my memory is based on one viewing thirty years ago, so take that as you will.

[Finch]

Thanks for that. I've added the film to my rental queue.

[Jeff]

Pelham looks as good as I've ever seen it. Like other recent MGM discs, it looks like they've taken a mostly hands off approach, and there's plenty of heavy textural grain. There is a lot more detail, even in very dark scenes, than I've noticed before. I don't think any sort of remastering has been done, but the elements look to be in decent shape.

I also picked up Midnight Cowboy, which I haven't looked at yet, but I assume it is the same as the UK disc, and Get Shorty, another MGM Best Buy exclusive that apparently also became available today.

[Joe Buck]

I got my Midnight Cowboy Blu-Ray tonight and watched it. I found the picture quality solid and certainly the best the film has ever looked in a home theater setting. Lots of audio and subtitle options (although I kinda wish they'd include the original mono English track). No real menu, hard to navigate to the extras. Still, I am not displeased and enjoyed watching my favorite film for the umpteenth time.

[Finch]

Jeff, thanks for the feedback. Am I right in thinking that Pelham should become available on Amazon and elsewhere in, say, August or September?

[Jeff]

Jeff, thanks for the feedback. Am I right in thinking that Pelham should become available on Amazon and elsewhere in, say, August or September?

I would think so. That's been the pattern with these Best Buy exclusives thus far. MGM certainly won't want to limit their sales opportunities forever.

[swo17]

Michael Ian Black's surprisingly good Wedding Daze coming July 5th.

[domino harvey]

Wow, who knew that was a big seller? And yeah, it is very funny