Bond on 4K/UHD

So, I'm looking into logos on these 4K transfers.

MGM

DN-TND and DAD have replaced the 1987 MGM logo (featuring the tacked on website address) with the newer one that debuted with SKYFALL, zooming out of the lion's eye.

TWINE and the first four Craig films have retained their original MGM logos. Yes, you read that right, TWINE is now restored with the 75th anniversary logo. These five films hold the distinction of being the only Bond films to feature the original studio logos they were accompanied with in theaters.

United Artists

As DN, FRWL, GF, and TB did not originally open with any UA logo at all (they simply jumped straight to the gun barrel), the only logo featured for these films is the 2012 lion.

As with all previous home videos, the original Transamerica era logos that opened YOLT-FYEO are not featured in the 4K versions at all. Instead, it features the 2001 UA logo, now without the "An MGM Company" and the tacky website address bylines. Unless Transamerica decides to get back in the movie biz, these original logos will probably never see the light of day aside from an odd Criterion release.

OP, TLD, LTK, GE, and TND all feature the original UA logos.

Columbia Pictures

No surprise, the Torch Lady remains as she has theatrically in all the first four Craig films. I'm glad SPECTRE was spared of that awfully tacky Sony logo that that company has sullied their films since 2014. I swear, Sony is going to get rid of the Torch Lady in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to do that. At least we still have the original UA logos for those five films and interesting to hear TWINE got the MGM 75th 1999 logo back!!!
OP has always had the original logo intact with the plain white UA text logo. AVTAK usually did as well because of the Zorin disclaimer and had the 80's MGMUA lion logo.

Replacing original logos kills me. However the 1987 MGMUA logo and UA swoosh on all their video releases through the mid 90's will forever be associated with the series in my mind-even though those of course aren't accurate either.

I always thought it was peculiar that TLD had a unique UA logo that I've never seen in any other films. Turns out it was actually a placeholder logo for the eventual CGI version that was more commonly seen in other UA films included LTK. However, the placeholder logo was only seen theatrically in the UK. By the time it premiered in the states they replaced it with the CGI version. Also, it was originally silent in theaters. The synth music and the swoosh sound were likely just from an error in plastering the CGI logo.

Speaking of UA, I'm really curious to see if they actually return the logo for Bond. Likely after the MGM logo, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's relegated to the end of the credits.

TLD was the first to have the MGMUA silver metal looking letters logo and it was in scope. Then from what I can tell it on some prints had a silent plain UA logo as well.
On all pre-DVD home video versions the logos are standardized to the late 80's era MGMUA logos except for OP-LTK which have their original logos intact and of course the first releases of GE-TWINE.

Except for the initial CBS FOX releases which hilariously show a slightly sped up in pitch Fox logo before a badly recorded voice drones:Brought to you by 20th Century Fox...which as weird as it is to see happened again when they took over MGM's video distribution in 2006 aaaaaand of course now no longer exists. A kid who accidentally gets any old Bond release pre-DVD will be beyond confused.

Here's screenshots of the TLD sunrise shot. For sources: Both captures of the 1988 CBS/FOX VHS and 1992 MGM LD were dubbed via Sony RDR-VXD655 VHS-DVD Recorder. The MGM 2000 DVD is just a straight up screenshot on my desktop PC, the blu-ray provided via Screenmusings.com (which I used as the basis to have every screencap at nearly the exact frame at pause) and then a screencap of 4K iTunes on my desktop PC. Anyway, here's all the grabs.


1988 CBS/FOX VHS



1992 MGM LD



2000 MGM DVD



2012 FOX BD



2017 iTunes 4K

Thanks immensely for that comparison. Indeed the MGM LD does push the color a bit in some scenes and then the SE DVD went way further across the board.
Even in this capture you can see improvements and that we might finally be getting away from the old master of the UEDVD/BD.

Thanks. Now onto YOLT. For the 4K there's certainly a subtle upgrade in the color timing from the blu-ray, but even more so for the bluescreen composition shots like with the astronaut in space and Bond & Aki driving through Tokyo. I had to really restrain myself on this one because there's so many beautiful shots throughout the film and I was taking way too many screencaps, so this is my "condensed" version. Unfortunately I do not have earlier video editions of YOLT before the 2000 MGM DVD, so this isn't quite a complete picture like with TLD. I would have assumed the SE DVD is truer to colors, but since looking at the TLD screencaps I've started to become somewhat suspicious of those old DVDs. Soon I'll have to get the LD copy to add to this batch of screencaps. For now, it's just the SE DVD, blu-ray, and iTunes 4K.


https://007homemedia.blogspot.com/2019/12/you-only-live-twice.html

The 4K version certainly makes Connery look younger. There's still something about the graininess of the older releases that I like.

The SE DVD of YOLT is for some reason one of the most out there in terms of color changes. i used to wonder if it was some dye transfer print they dragged up and Lowry had bleached the color out of the UE but then I dug out my old VHS copies and realized they were somewhere in the middle and the LD is not like the SE either. I've also seen the IB dye transfer trailer and it's not like the SE.

And the teal is gone in the water on the last shot!

WOW they finally got rid of the purplish tint in the skin tones and it looks like some of the contrast problems have been fixed. The BD was much better then the UE but still had many issues and this 4K version looks much more balanced overall. YOTL is one where I just always watch the old 1989 letterboxed LD as it's darn near perfect.

I seen this film on VHS, 1992 and 1995 copies where the gunbarrel is misframed. I've seen the LD, the boxset LD reissue, the Japanese LD, the SE, the UE and BD and to be honest this looks like they might have finally nailed it.

The only other oddity is the CED version which oddly has the ABC edited for TV version.


For reference THIS is how the film should generally look-the 007 Dossier scan of a Ib dye transfer trailer:
https://vimeo.com/channels/1174003/356989352

Going all out for this one... GOLDFINGER, caps: 1991 Criterion CAV, 1999 SE DVD, 2006 UE DVD, 2008 BD, and 2017 iTunes 4K.

Mankind has achieved miracles in every field of human endeavor, EXCEPT CAPS!!!



https://007homemedia.blogspot.com/2019/11/goldfinger-1964.html

Here's THUNDERBALL. Going from blu to 4K, it no longer has that magenta push, more natural skin tones.




https://007homemedia.blogspot.com/2019/12/thunderball-1965.html

Whoever thought magenta would look good?

Wow!
Man, they seem to have finally started to sit up and take notice. I can't believe how awesome it is that they got rid of the magenta from the TB BD. GF is more subtle but much more filmlike in the new 4K version because the BD still showed the after effects of the godawful Lowry madness.

The SE DVDs of both show off the 1995 CAV boxset look which is when MGM spiffed up the transfers and made the new masters.
As for the Criterions for the first three:
DN and MGM LDs are the same source print. The former has CAV but the latter was only CLV but still appears sharper.
FRWL-Criterion used he print used on MGM's last full frame LD but MGM's widescreen disc either cleaned that print or used a new one so its better slightly.
GF-Criterion used a print which has slightly different color timing to the first MGM letterboxed disc which is a bit contrasty and washed out looking. They used this for the CAV box master and fixed the contrast and color much like they did on the LD box of 2001 which addressed the image issues of the first widescreen CLV release.

Going back to where it all started with DR. NO. This is gonna be a doozy. The colors look better than the blu-ray, again losing that magenta push, but the black levels are noticeably darker in the new 4K transfer to the point that details can get lost (look at Connery's suit when sitting with Taro).


https://007homemedia.blogspot.com/2019/10/home-media-comparisons-of-dr-no-1962.html


Next up will be FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY the color is bold and right!!!!
You can see the Criterion is very good but suffers from being the oldest and like most CC discs of the time is a tad soft and color can be slightly off. MGM's first widescreen version on the Connery box a few years later uses the same print and is a tad sharper. They eventually spiffed that up for the final THX LD/first DVD/SE DVD but added in all the edge enhancement and sharpening.

My god I think they're finally done it. The color in DN is supremely bold and Technicolor rich and is arguably the best color of any film in the series. The old transfers do it very well but with limitations of the time. I'd argue that the problem with using DL versions for comparisons is that they can suffer from such heavy compression and other issues that you can't really judge the transfer's merits until the eventual disc version arrives.

However I do note what you're saying about the black levels and each of the 4K shots so far do show very dark blacks. I can't say of course yet if any are clipped which would obscure detail.

DN is the one film I have seen most every variation of. The first ever VHS release, standard VHS, VHS remaster, VHS final release, analog LD, 1.33:1 LD remaster, Criterion CAV, Criterion CLV, MGM widescreen, THX LD final release remaster, SE DVD, UE DVD, BD, 35mm based on the 4K scan and Lowry work and a vintage 35mm IB Tech print. Of course nothing quite matches the brilliance of the IB Tech original-the old Criterion and letterbox MGM LDs come the closest in feel-but this new 4K version looks to finally do the job right.
The 35mm Lowry print was a mess as it showed all of their tomfoolery blown up and magnified on the big screen. It looked better than the BD due to better resolution and grain added but was still nothing like what the film should be overall.

BTW what do the itunes versions cost? I've never bought a DL version as I don't like not being able to have a physical file or disc.

Individually I think they were $15, but the bundle packs like the Connery and Moore sets are $49.99, which makes each film $7-$8. The Dalton and Brosnan sets are $19.99 and $39.99 respectively, making each film $10. Since Lazenby only had OHMSS, no bundle price for him.

Knowing you, I’d wait until the discs come out. My real concern is the original mixes. If the discs contain none of the original mono/stereo tracks then I’m definitely not double dipping. I’ve only bought these just so I could have them available to stream and was super curious of the new transfers. Right now only Craig’s set is scheduled for release next month, but I’ll bet the rest will all come out in time for the new film as EON always reissued the films every time a new one came out.

Ah. That's pretty steep still-especially considering that a good disc costs less once actually on sale. Physical media forever for me.

As far as the disc releases around the time of NTTD: that's what I've been counting on. Soundwise it will likely be the BD type with the remixes in lossless and perhaps the originals as lossy afterthoughts but since this doesn't always happen it may be like the foreign BDs which dropped the original tracks altogether.
Hopefully no revisionist Atmos remixes either.

Some of the lossy original mix UE and BD tracks can sound good-but none are as good as the LDs and some are painfully inferior. GE through DAD all sound fine across all releases so it's mainly DN-LTK I'm always referring to and most importantly the original early monos which have a crap ton of noise reduction and other crap applied on later releases.

Of course I will buy all 20 on 4K even though I have no player or display. Why in the world they didn't develop a way to properly display in SDR is beyond me and the studios are truly FUBARing the new 1080p BD discs of 4K masters.

Onto OHMSS. I was most curious about this, given the debacle that was the UE DVD.


https://007homemedia.blogspot.com/2019/12/on-her-majestys-secret-service-1969.html

Here's DAF, and more importantly Jill St. John, in 4K.




https://007homemedia.blogspot.com/2020/01/diamonds-are-forever-1971.html

Bloody hell it indeed looks like they've again fixed some of the nagging problems of them both. Color is improved, many of the old tints are gone from the problematic BDs. I don't know if OHMSS and DAF are 100% there but they're much closer. It looks as though they might have also addressed the contrast issue which plagued OHMSS and a few others on BD.
Hah yes, Miss Case dragged in by the 4K cat...

I'll see if I can make some UE caps of OHMSS. That one killed me back in 2006. Also of note is that the SE DVD used the a slightly cut version of the cut UK version missing the "closed shop line" while the LD was the first uncut release ever on video.

The caps show that for their time the LDs and the SEs were actually pretty good and can still look great viewed in good hardware/proper displays. Only trouble is that MGM was a bit cheapy and aliasing will crop up in some LD shots as evidenced in the cap showing Tracy's robe.

I mostly remember OHMSS looking really dull on the UE DVD, so much that it made the newer HD transfer feel like a revelation. As far as UE DVDs go, that and GE were probably THE worst of the lot.

I have the re-issue LD copy of LALD currently being mailed, so I'll soon provide caps of that along with other home video formats soon.

To be honest, I don't know what's sexier in 4K: Jill St John or those Ken Adam sets.

Onto Moore's LIVE AND LET DIE. The LaserDisc transfer seems to have a cooler color palette, while also being cropped on one side. One thing apparent about the SE DVD was that it was vertically stretched to a 1:78 aspect ratio, whereas later formats had it correctly at 1:85. The improvement from blu-ray to 4K is once again the loss of that magenta push. Curiously when you look at the gun barrel there are details on the BD that are lost in 4K, but then there are details in the 4K that are lost in the BD. But at least without the magenta the white of the gun barrel looks more accurate to previous editions, even if the blood seems a bit darker. Anyway, here ya go.



https://007homemedia.blogspot.com/2020/01/live-and-let-die-1973.html



Next for TMWTGG, I may skip LD caps for that because I'm having a hard time looking for a widescreen copy.

Wow again with the minor but actually large improvements. The LD reissue copy has some interesting color and is a really strong LD transfer even over the defective first LBX copy.
The UE of LALD had contrast issues so bad the titles had gone completely red instead of black on the backgrounds which were corrected on the BD.

TMWTGG is tough to find and was the last LBX title alongside the MGM reissue of LTK. Amazing disc and has the best sounding audio of any release by far. Same source as the SE.

Both were cropped to 1.78 for the SEs.

hegottheboot wrote:

The UE of LALD had contrast issues so bad the titles had gone completely red instead of black on the backgrounds which were corrected on the BD.

I only vaguely remembered what the UE transfer looked like, as I hadn't watched those DVDs for about a decade. Screenmusings has some of the UE DVDs up on their site, so that's the closest I can find comparisons. You weren't kidding about LALD, the red of the blood on the gun barrel is washing out the image!


https://screenmusings.org/movie/dvd/Live-and-Let-Die/pages/Live-and-Let-Die-001.htm