New Lady From Shanghai Restoration in 2010?

[Roger Ryan]

And here it is folks...

http://shop.tcm.com/the-lady-from-shang ... oming-soon

...available on January 27th from the TCM Vault Collection.

I'm a bit surprised that a full 4K restoration is being delegated to a TCM archive release and that the bonus features are listed as being on the DVD version only, but it's great to have this on Blu-ray in a reasonably-priced, non-limited edition.

[TheMcGuffin]

That is very weird indeed that the special features are all on the DVD. This definitely feels like a small release. The the semi bright side at least there are all new special features for the title. The original DVD had a commentary from Peter Bogdanovich...I'm curious how the Eddie Muller one stacks up

[Jay]

It turns out that the commentary track isn't actually a commentary track. Eddie posted on another forum that he did a twenty-minute on-camera interview, not a commentary track. So TCM has that special feature listed wrong.

[GlennandersFraser]

I've been told that Eddie Muller has used LADY FROM SHANGHAI as one of two Orson Welles films to kick off this year's NOIR CITY at the Castro Theater in San Francisco [and other venues].

Eddie's web site is packed with onstage video interviews from over the years of classic noir actors, including some who appeared or were associated with Welles films. Off the top of my failing memory is one with Glenn Ford's son, who claims that his father had a long ongoing affair with Rita Hayworth. He says that her daughter, supposedly by Aly Khan, was really Ford's, and that one night, Welles, having heard of the development, got drunk, and came to the Ford home, nearby, waving a pistol around, making threats. The police had to be called.

Check it out.

Glad to be back here again.

Glenn Anders

[Roger Ryan]

According to this DVDBeaver review, the new LADY FROM SHANGHAI Blu-ray isn't much to write home about. While the provided screen caps show that the image is acceptable, it doesn't look much better than the Columbia DVD release of 13 years ago, which is surprising given the news that the recent 4K restoration included significant "clean-up".

[atcolomb]

Saw the Beaver review too and i did order it a few days ago so i will do my comparison too. The screen caps do look almost the same on both versions.

[atcolomb]

Saw this from the website DVDTALK written by Glenn Erickson:

"The TCM Vault Collection Blu-ray / DVD for The Lady from Shanghai magically appeared a couple of days ago. DVD Beaver was kind of hard on the release, which certainly played fine for me and is the best I've seen the movie. And I'm excited that TCM Vault has jumped to Blu-ray -- although I wish they could made the leap for last year's disc of Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo and A Foreign Affair. Yes, the extras are thin but that's the drill with TCM Vault. This one does have a commentary".

"The only real foo-paw that tripped me up was the disc packaging, which is the size of a DVD case and doesn't even say "Blu-ray" on the front. I wrote Gary Teetzel saying that I was sad that they only sent a DVD copy -- when other companies pull this switcheroo on me I'm usually not amused. "Uh, Glenn" Gary answered, "There is no straight DVD release. What you have ought to carry both formats." THAT'S how I found out how good TCM had been to me. Expect a glowing review of The Lady from Shanghai on Tuesday".

[atcolomb]

Here is the link to the DVDTALK review of the blu-ray disc and it's not as harsh as the Beaver review.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s4408lady.html

[Le Chiffre]

Glad to be back here again.
Glenn

Good to see you back here, Glenn. Glad you're feeling better. I like that story by Glenn Ford's son, and Welles was rumored to have done some nutty things during that period, although Jasmine doesn't really look much like Ford. But then, to my eyes, she doesn't look all that much like Ali Khan either. In fact, Ali Khan and Glenn Ford look a bit alike. Barbra Leaming's bio of Hayworth asserts that she was impregnated by Howard Hughes around that time, but of course, Jasmine doesn't look much like him either. DNA time?



Roger & Atcolomb,
The DVD Beaver review doesn't seem too harsh to me, just somewhat disappointed that the highest bit rate possible wasn't used for the transfer:

Now, being fair - the 1080P image quality is certainly improved over SD. It shows some nice grain, superior detail, and, notably, more information in the frame. Could it have looked better with dual-layering and a higher, max'ed out, bitrate? I suspect it would have exported more prevalent grain and layered contrast. That would be my guess. I don't suppose we will ever know, now.

I can sort of see the point. I know I would gladly sacrifice some extras in order to get the best visual quality I could for the film, especially after such a painstaking restoration process, as documented in this article:
http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_ ... Shanghai/1

But yes, I agree that the difference in quality between the screen caps of the two LFS DVDs doesn't seem nearly as dramatic as the difference between the two Blurays of THE STRANGER:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm

[Roger Ryan]

But yes, I agree that the difference in quality between the screen caps of the two LFS DVDs doesn't seem nearly as dramatic as the difference between the two Blurays of THE STRANGER:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm

The problem with the first Blu-ray of THE STRANGER is that it was a public domain quickie done on the cheap whereas the more recent Kino Blu-ray was taken from a high-quality 35mm print.

What is sad about SHANGHAI Blu-ray is that the file size is crushed down far more than necessary for no discernible reason. As you noted, after all the reportedly painstaking work of cleaning up and scanning the negative at 4K resolution, why senselessly master the Blu-ray at such a low bitrate? I'll still purchase the disc and, hopefully, it will look fine in motion.

[atcolomb]

Just received my copy today and i did a quick a/b comparison between the dvd and the blu-ray on a few scenes and the blu-ray is a little sharper but the picture on both almost looks the same so not a major upgrade.

[RayKelly]

Just received my copy today and i did a quick a/b comparison between the dvd and the blu-ray on a few scenes and the blu-ray is a little sharper but the picture on both almost looks the same so not a major upgrade.

Ditto. The old DVD was quite nice, This is slightly sharper, but not a dramatic difference.

[Roger Ryan]

A heads-up for any Welles fans near Detroit (or willing to travel there): Cinema Detroit on Cass Avenue near Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. will be screening a DCP of Sony's new 4K restoration of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI starting on Friday, April 18th with subsequent showings on Saturday & Sunday (April 19th & 20th) plus one more on Thursday, April 24th.

http://cinemadetroit.com/

[Roger Ryan]

A heads-up for any Welles fans near Detroit (or willing to travel there): Cinema Detroit on Cass Avenue near Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. will be screening a DCP of Sony's new 4K restoration of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI starting on Friday, April 18th with subsequent showings on Saturday & Sunday (April 19th & 20th) plus one more on Thursday, April 24th.

http://cinemadetroit.com/

UPDATE: Cinema Detroit has postponed the screening of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI to extend the run of THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL so the dates I listed above are not accurate. I'll post any updates as I hear about them.

[Roger Ryan]

THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI has now been rescheduled to begin screening this Friday, May 2nd and will run through Thursday, May 8th at Cinema Detroit.
More details here: http://cinemadetroit.com/2014/04/19/lad ... hai-may-2/