Two reviews of nice Warners DVDs today:

S.O.B. is a fall-down funny satire on the venal ratrace of Hollywood, circa 1980, that's probably a bit more accurate for 1970 ... but William Holden and Robert Preston are hilarious, while Julie Andrews scores some points against her restrictive Disney image.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller is one of Robert Altman's best, a dreamy, murderous Western set in the beautiful Northwest in a town deceptively named Presbyterian Church. Warren Beatty and the Oscar-Nominated Julie Christie star.

A bit more trivia to float on the subject of METROPOLIS, specifically the 20fps, 148 minute version showing on the European arte network this month - the one without the superior music track that enforces a 24fps speed. My contacts who've seen it have noticed a slight choppiness in the flow, as if the action staggers along with extra frames inserted. This is exactly what they're watching. Thomas Bakels of Munich's Alpha Omega tells me that the arte master was made by direct reformatting of the digital restoration files into PAL video. This didn't allow the complex distribution of frames that happens in a telecine, where advanced electronics allow 20 frames to be smoothly transposed over 24 or 25 video frames for each second. Instead, extra frames did have to be inserted to slow down the frame rate. What would seem to be needed for a truly smooth 20 fps video master, is a transfer instead of a completed film negative.

More reviews on Thursday, including a pair of guest reviews of PAL and domestic product! Glenn Erickson Posted by gkleinman at June 04, 2002 01:27 PM