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Watch Oklahoma! Online. Movie Title: Oklahoma! Oklahoma! is available for streaming or downloading. |
This is a review of only the Todd-AO version of the movie included in the current 50th anniversary edition of Oklahoma. The main Cinemascope version on Disc One is outstanding and deserves 5 stars and more. However the accompanying Todd-AO version on Disc Two looks abysmal in comparison. Buy,Download, Or Stream Oklahoma!! Click HereFor those who are unaware, the producers filmed two versions of Oklahoma simultaneously, the one commonly seen which is the Cinemascope version and the other, the Todd-AO version which is the one that Rodgers and Hammerstein preferred. It is seldom seen because theaters did not acquire the special equipment to project these Todd-AO movies (extremely widescreen with twisted edges to give an enveloping carry out) . The 2 movies are not the same. They did not unprejudiced exhaust different cameras or lenses to film the same scene. The films are different in that every scene is restaged specifically for either Cinemascope or Todd-AO. This is definite in a side by side comparison - the individual scenes are subtly different. Some scenes are shot at slightly different angles, some scenes are shot at different times of the day, some scenes include cast members seen in one version but not the other while all scenes expose subtle variations in performances between one version and the next. But the most definite incompatibility is that only the Todd-AO version includes the Oklahoma Overture as well as the Intermission, En'tracte and Finale (Exit Music) which Richard Rodgers wrote for Oklahoma but never included in the Cinemascope version. The extinguish result is that the Todd-AO version runs for 147mins while the Cinemascope version runs for fair 139mins, a fact that Fox fudges by giving the runtime of the movie as 145mins. The Todd-AO version presented here is virtually unrestored. It is so murky you can barely read the opening credits. It is grimy. Todd-AO is shot on 70mm film (Cinemascope is on 35mm), so it should negate aesthetic detail. Instead the transfer is so soft and blurry, it is like watching a second-generation VHS tape. And although Todd-AO is shot at 30fps, as opposed to 24fps in standard film, for the recount purpose of reducing film flicker, there is more flicker on the Todd-AO transfer than on the main Cinemascope version. This is a very sorry presentation of what should have been the definitive edition. Buy,Download, Or Stream Oklahoma!! Click HereIf you are buying this solely for the Cinemascope version, you won't be disappointed. It is indeed a contemplate to eye. If you are thinking of buying this for the Todd-AO version which few audiences today would have had the chance to contemplate, I'd recommend waiting till Fox reissues a properly restored edition of it. In fact the Todd-AO version looks better on the outmoded laserdisc from more than 10 years ago.
A sidenote to Fox: Please do not harangue your customers with those extremely loud, obnoxiously noisy anti-piracy messages placed at the front of all your DVDs. People who occupy these DVDs are not the ones pirating your movies. I inserted this DVD into the player expecting to be greeted by the glorious music of Oklahoma only to be assailed by the abrasively loud banging, thumping and thudding of your aggravatingly annoying anti-piracy message. Do not punish your legitimate customers or you'll gain us all going to the side of the pirates.
I am contented to witness a bunch of other folks were as horribly dissapointed as I was to throw this DVD into the player and instead of being treated by what should be a breathtakingly though-provoking and shapely Todd-AO version on disc two....peer a muddy mess...which isn't advance the 35mm version on disc one!
Fans of the Todd-AO process (peek Patton some time folks) know what an absolutely unsurpassed format it was....and the DVDs that have approach out (like the aforementioned PATTON) that have been taken from it stun with clarity and color...
I don't know how many generations removed from the unusual disc 2 of this state is ....but its not worth a $50 DVD players time...
Its particularly ironic that 20th Century extinguish so great other place on the disc on short features extolling the virtues of Todd-AO...only to demonstrate such a garbage transfer....
SHAME ON YOU FOX....this should be as stunning as the Sound of Music ...and its a colossal immense letdown....and I like many others have been counting the days for this release...
....I am updating this review...with the official excuse from FOX home Entertainment...which follows..
A STATEMENT FROM TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT REGARDING THE
50TH ANNIVERSARY DVD EDITION OF RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S "OKLAHOMA!"
In current days we have heard abet from a tiny number of consumers
regarding the DVD of the Todd-AO version of "Oklahoma!" and specifically
that it appears less detailed than the archaic Fox DVD release from 2000. We
feel it is very considerable that we communicate the issues on hand
regarding the Todd-AO version of the film.
As you know well, director Fred Zinnemann filmed "Oklahoma!" using two
separate film techniques. The 35mm CinemaScope version and the then unique,
large gauge 65mm film format called Todd-AO.
Firstly, the top-notch news is that the first disc features the CinemaScope
version of the movie for the first time on DVD, and looks superlative.
This is the main feature of the unusual 2-disc Anniversary edition.
However, when it comes to the bonus disc featuring the Todd-AO version,
we have received reports from concerned fans that the Todd-AO version
looks 'fuzzy' or 'less detailed' than the musty DVD release from 2000. How
can that possibly be?
When "Oklahoma!" was first released on DVD in 2000 it was the relative
infancy of DVD, and Twentieth Century Fox utilized a widescreen video
transfer of the Todd-AO version that had been made for VHS and laserdisc
back in 1994. The resulting widescreen transfer (with murky bars top and
bottom) was a very graceful presentation of the Todd-AO version.
Now, in 2005, Fox DVDs are mastered for the highest quality, supporting
widescreen TVs and HDTVs that feature a 16x9 cloak format (as opposed
to 4x3 TV format) . We could not simply re-use the obsolete 1994-vintage 4x3
video transfer of the Todd-AO version because on an HDTV the stale format
would scream gruesome video artifacts, anomalies and edge enhancement that
would detract from the film. This would be immediately apparent on any
widescreen standard definition TV and more so on a high definition TV.
That being decided, it was befriend to the IP of the Todd-AO version for an
all novel high-definition transfer.
This is where time plays a detrimental role in the process. The Todd-AO
print had severely deteriorated since the 1994 video transfer and
presented a nightmare for the authoring of the DVD.
A painstaking restoration of the recent elements was undertaken. The
negative was so damaged that a 'wet gate IP' had to be created in order
to support the film source. The biggest predicament inherent in the Todd-AO
version is the appearance of soft focus and worthy color
breathing. The digital restoration team agonized over using the right
amount of dirt removal ('DRS') in order to select the glue stains and
tears, while serene trying to hold the already soft image from getting
any softer. They addressed the color breathing as well, but too much
adjustment would ultimately further hurt the video presentation by
introducing ringing and aliasing caused by artificially sharpening the
picture.
Indeed, if you glance at the 'Auctioning Ado Annie' scene (chapter 30) on
the Todd-AO DVD, you can calm behold very severe color-flashing on the far
left side of the frame. So slash was the flashing that no amount of
digital correction would aid.
The process of restoring a unpleasant element is a difficult one, and Fox
stands by its decision to give correct representations of source
materials. While artificial edge enhancement fixes one pickle, it
actually introduces more problems.
Ultimately, the decision was made to allow the DVD to note the
Todd-AO version as accurately as it can be without artificially making
it appear sharper.
In 1954/5, "Oklahoma!" was the first studio feature film to expend the
new Todd-AO process, and as such, the movie was a shake out for the
system. Todd-AO lens and equipment were retro-fitted to existing camera
technology, which resulted in anomalies that would demonstrate significantly
challenging some 50-plus years later in the digital age. By the time of
"Around the World in 80 Days," released nearly two years later, the
Todd-AO process was significantly more stable.
Sadly, in this day of high definition programming and movies, the
current Todd-AO print of "Oklahoma!" does not stand up to scrutiny of
what we contemplate a vast format film should scrutinize like. It simply isn't as
sharp or as detailed as we remember it being. And it certainly doesn't
compare to today's high definition programming.
So while the CinemaScope version is splendid, the Todd-AO version of
"Oklahoma!" confounds DVD fans and aficionados 50 years after it was
created. It may indeed suffer by comparison, but is, in its beget proper,
a helpful transfer given today's technology.
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