New to Blu: September 9 – 22

September 8, 2020 0 Comments

The first batch of Blu-ray releases in two weeks is dominated by vintage TV series and movies making their debuts on the format.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus: The Complete Series Restored comes with extraordinary extras and was highly praised for the quality of its HD mastering given the four series were made between 1969 and 1974.

Reports The Digital Bits:

Network presents these fully remastered episodes in pillar-boxed HD at the original 1.33:1 TV broadcast ratio. Two versions of this Blu-ray release have been created: 60i (59.94i) for NTSC countries and 50i for PAL … The overall level of quality is certainly remarkable, not just the newly film-scanned material but even the original PAL video. Colour is more vibrant, accurate, and stable than ever before. Clarity is impressive too, with little to complain about but the odd bit of analog contrast haloing or aliasing, both relatively minor. Video material obviously isn’t as good as native HD; it certainly retains its soft, analogue SD character, but the upsampling is impressive—enough so that when the image cuts to film, the transition isn’t jarring at all. As for the film-based content, there’s detail in the animations you’ve never seen before. I’ve been watching these episodes on a 110″ projection screen and I am really impressed.

Also faring remarkably well are the Sharpe telemovies, the first 14 of which are spread across the seven-disc Sharpe’s Classic Collection. They were broadcast in 4:3 on ITV in the 1990s; the two BBC sequels made in the late 2000s aren’t included.

Notes distributor Madman Entertainment:

In mastering Sharpe to HD the original film negatives have been used to ensure the ultimate HD viewing experience. On rare occasions within the series, the original negatives were either not available or in too poor a condition to use–in these instances standard definition content has been upscaled to complete the narrative. This up scaling effects less than 5% of the content.

Said Blu-ray.com of the set’s 2011 US release: “The collection’s video transfers are surprisingly strong, its lossless stereo tracks are fit and faithful and, while commentaries and production documentaries would be more appreciated, the set’s pack-in collectibles will leave a smile on quite a few faces.”

Madman’s also releasing five more titles in its Imprint series of collective Blu-ray movies that have been hard to source:

A Place in the Sun
The Carpetbaggers
No Way to Treat a Lady
Night Falls on Manhattan
When Worlds Collide

Each includes at least one commentary and Worlds also boasts 90 minutes of extended Interviews with Gene Roddenberry, Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, Roy Edward Disney, Wah Chang, Russ Tamblyn and Duke Goldstone that were recorded for the 1985 documentary The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal.

Also due this week are Sum Of Us – Special Edition, a re-issue of Hatfields & McCoys, the obscure thriller The Postcard Killings and anime newcomers: