How The West Was Won

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dwight

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Since 2002/2003
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HOW THE WEST WAS WON has been released by Warner Brothers on Blu Ray with a Dolby TrueHD track and it is exquisite in its rendition of one of the greatest multi channel recordings in motion picture history. WB are to be thanked and congratulated for having given us something truly special. There were five discreet channels up front in those days and much of the music is presented almost as it was heard during its initial Cinerama run during 1962-3! If you are fortunate enough to have side channel speakers flanking the front three and direct the right and left rear signals to them you are in for a spectacular treat, if motion picture film music is of interest to you. The image transfer of the three 35mm strips is also spectacular, having practically removed the vertical joins and color discrepancies, resulting in an image of greater detail than even standard 70mm is capable.

There are quite a few films out there with five discreet channels of music which could find their way into our hands if HTWWW is a successful BluRay release, and it is not out of the realm of possibility that we could see a five channel music only feature on future releases. Films like HTWWW, BEN HUR, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE ALAMO, and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO have all had the five channel music elements restored and to hear them as they were originally presented would be an almost too good to be true fantasy for the public at large, but especially for most multi channel addicts. We could be very lucky folks if HTWWW is a success.
 
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They finally removed the vertical joins and color discrepancies from the 35mm strips so you can’t see the lines anymore? If so, this is great news, those lines are annoying and were there going back to at least the single strip transfer of the film shown in theaters in the late 60’s / early 70’s when I saw it. This is a great film with every actor of their day in it, with a great music soundtrack. I watch it every time it’s on Turner Classic Movies. If there’s a Blu-Ray player out there with SACD & DVD-Audio for a reasonable price, might get one this Christmas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_West_Was_Won_(film)

At first I thought you were talking about the Led Zeppelin DVD-A of “How The West Was Won.” :D
 
I just got this from Amazon today and will watch it soon. It's cool in that on disc 2 they have the original CINERAMA version of the film. That should be a trip. The soundtrack sound like it will be a good one!
 
Jon, The Smilebox version actually works! I've seen this film about 10 times in its 3 projector format and this is a damned good simulation. The forty five year old sound effects are not up to present day standards, but the recorded music is sensational, with great depth and power. Enjoy!
 
I too thought this was about the Led Zeppelin live album, which would have been a strange choice to re-release on Bluray. I thought maybe they had second thoughts about putting out the original DVDA at 4800 kHz instead of 9600 and were finally going to make things right.
 
Jon, The Smilebox version actually works! I've seen this film about 10 times in its 3 projector format and this is a damned good simulation. The forty five year old sound effects are not up to present day standards, but the recorded music is sensational, with great depth and power. Enjoy!


dwight,

You're right! I finally got around to watching this on my projector, using Disc 2 with the "smilebox" presentation. I'm not sure if it would work on a small TV because even on a big HT screen, it still cries out for the CINERAMA screens, but man it was cool! The classic shots of the camera going down the street, through the mountains, across the plains and deserts with the side views zipping by in the left and right sections was VERY COOL and retro.

I remember going to a Cinerama theater a few times as a kid, and the smilebox brings back all of those memories. I want to try the standard WS BD disc at some point, but the smilebox disc is killer!

How about the cast of this movie! Holy crap!!! :eek:
 
Jon, I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was while I was listening to this film way back in 1963 that I first realized I was becoming a dedicated surround sound and audio freak! .........And it was a great cast!......Got to work with and meet quite a few of 'em! ......How lucky was that?!!!!!!
Dwight
 
I just watched this DVD with 5:1 audio on a large LCD television and it is wonderful!! They did get rid of 99% of the white lines between segments, and really cleaned up both the audio and video over what I have on the previous DVD release.
I agree that Warner Brothers is to be congratulated for this release.

MTGC (Michael)
 
Gotta give credit to HTWWW, it was my first trip to a Cinerama theater as a kid that made me realize 2 channels are not enough! A few years ago, John Harvey, the projectionist back when we had Cinerama in Dayton, re-equipped the Neon Cinema in Dayton to have a Cinerama revival. I made the trek, for HTWWW and "This is Cinerama" (Oh, that roller-coaster scene!), and was wowed all over again. The big wig from IMAX was there, too, and as impressed as he was with the big curved screen, his kindest compliments were about the sound.
Question: is HTWWW also available on regular DVD with DPLII? I'll buy it tonight!
TB
 
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