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Category:    Home > Reviews > Musical > Comedy > Large Frame Format > My Fair Lady (1964/CBS Blu-ray)

My Fair Lady (1964/CBS Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: B-     Film: B-

 

 

It has taken a while, but George Cukor’s version of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady (1964) has finally hit Blu-ray from CBS.  The film is the same, extras are the same, but none of upgrades the format is capable really deliver are really present here.  If you are unfamiliar with the film, you can reference our DVD coverage at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9121/My+Fair+Lady+(1964/CBS+DVD)

 

 

And now for the Blu-ray.  The 1080p 2.20 X 1 digital High Definition image has some better Video Black and Video White than the anamorphically enhanced DVD, but it also has some serious new troubles including softer images throughout than expected, color limits starting with how bad the flowers alone look at the opening of the film (they should look new and alive, not flat and dull) seemingly more limited than the DVD (!), discoloration is evident in many shots (including skin tones) and it is obvious someone tampered with this old HD master when they should have left it alone.  This is also looking like the same special print used for the LaserDisc, a 35mm print transferred anamorphically from the 70mm print to be unsqueezed to the 70mm’s 2.20 X 1 aspect ratio.  Depth can also be good, but this is just too many generations down for Blu-ray and very disappointing.

 

A DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) 7.1 lossless track is offered and that should be a big improvement over the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds that was the best the DVD could do and was likely a recycling of the PCM 2.0 Stereo off of the 12” LaserDisc, but this too is a real disappointment with most of the dialogue and some sound effects stuck in the center channel and the surround tracks used for ambient sound and some instruments in the music and singing segments.

 

The film was originally a 6-track magnetic stereo release in 1964 70mm presentations and the 1994 restoration screened in DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes restored form the best materials available, so what happened here?  The sound is weak and far from multi-channel and I will guess CBS took the stereo tracks and tried to expand them with weak results.  This was further confirmed when I compared it to the still-impressive 2-channel only Super Audio Compact Disc edition of the soundtrack from Sony in their advanced DSD (Direct Stream Digital) sound format that will only play on SA-CD (aka SACD) players and even early PlayStation 3 machines.  You can read more about that release at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6802/My+Fair+Lady+(1964+Soundtrack/Sup

 

 

The DSD 2.0 Stereo is far richer, warmer and fuller than any of the DTS-MA audio on the Blu-ray and actually includes proper directional dialogue and movement on the screen the Blu-ray lacks!  What was CBS thinking?  They need to call Robert A. Harris back for more work on this one.  I would rate picture and sound both lower if they we any worse and they nearly are.

 

Extras repeat the DVD and include trailers, posters/lobby cards section with Rex Harrison radio interview, must-hear Audrey Hepburn alternate vocals, Comments On A Lady featuring separate interview pieces with Andrew Lloyd Webber & Martin Scorsese, Vintage Featurettes, Vintage Footage, Vintage Audio and an exceptional feature-length audio commentary track with Robert A. Harris, James C. Katz, Marni Nixon and Gene Allen.

 

 

The only reason to get this copy is if you can get it as cheap or cheaper than the DVD to save space.  Otherwise, this needs redone in the near future when they decide to do new extras down the line.  What a shame.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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