The Blue Max (1966) Blu-ray ADDED

[Brent_Reid]

Country: Japan
Region: ALL
Releasing Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Case Type: Keepcase with slipcase
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Codec: (MVC, AVC MPEG-4, VC-1, MPEG-2) MPEG-4 AVC
Picture: (1080p/1080i 60/1080i 50 etc) 1080p 24fps
Soundtracks: English DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0, English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
Subtitles (are they optional?): Yes (Japanese, English closed captions)
Cuts: (and if you know it, precise run time) None (157 min; exact time unknown)
Commentaries: None
Extras:
English, Spanish and Portuguese theatrical trailers [all essentially the same but latter two have different titles and voiceovers]
Notes:
Transfer from a 2013 4K scan [this should be added to the US and French BD notes too]
The Japanese dub is the 126 min "Golden Movie Theater" version, recorded for an edited 1975 Fuji TV broadcast. Missing portions are filled in by original English audio w/Japanese subs
Easter Eggs: None
Amazon ASIN (UK, French, German, USA releases only):
Source:* here and various other online sources

French BD note: The French title is Le Crépuscule des aigles

Also released by Fox in both Italy (La caduta delle aquile) and Spain (Las Águilas Azules, part of the four-film Pack Día D [D-Day Pack] set). Both also have the 2013 4K transfer.

The German BD has an older transfer but it's far preferable to the more recent transfer used on the US, French and Japanese BDs. That one has had most of the grain scrubbed out, along with much of the detail. What's more, it's way too dark and has been heavily tealed and sharpened. This revisionism means it no longer contains any pure whites. Not one example. See Caps-a-holic (add link!).

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

I assume this is the Japanese release?

[Brent_Reid]

Whoops: yes!

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

A few other things:

Soundtracks: English DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0, English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
Subtitles (are they optional?): Yes (Japanese, English closed captions)

This release only has Japanese and English options? I ask because the French Fox release has English, French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish options so I assumed this would be the same as that release.

Cuts: (and if you know it, precise run time) None (157 min; exact time unknown)
Commentaries: None
Extras:
English, Spanish and Portuguese theatrical trailers [all essentially the same but latter two have different titles and voiceovers]

Could you give us the runtimes of the film and trailers in minutes/seconds please?

[Brent_Reid]

Yup, I thought it odd, re the dubs/subs, but several reviews mention its trailers, which are absent on the French disc, so it's not a port. The above is about as much as I could glean; I don't own it.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

I'm not sure but I think the French disc should have the trailers. The Italian disc which should be identical has trailers listed on the back and the French lists none on the back.

Do you have a link for reviews stating the Japanese has Japanese and English only?

[Brent_Reid]

Ah... no. Have just spent ages trying to find those exact Japanese reviews - with the aid of Google Translate, of course. That's the trouble with initially looking stuff up in the middle of the night: unless I save every link, I forget where I've been. The Japan Amazon listing (ASIN: B0749S3S7) also mentions them, though that's likely just a copy and paste of the original press blurb. The rear sleeve blow-up there only lists the three Japanese and English audio tracks of the French disc. It also says it's region A rather than region 0, which makes more sense for Fox. Short of buying these to check, I give up. Perhaps they actually are all identical, save for different region coding.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

To straighten out the mystery I got the Japanese Blu-ray. Has all the audio and subtitles from the French release, plus the three trailers mentioned. Changed to the French menus and the trailers are there and not hidden. I think it was because when the French disc was originally input, it was based off the cover and the Capsaholic BDinfo - which had the runtime of the film and languages, while the French BD cover does not list the trailers as extras. But as the Japanese disc proves, it is authored for France and must be the same disc.

Plus this French review points out the disc has "Bande annonces"
http://retro-hd.com/tests/blu-ray/1745- ... igles.html

This is important when checking Fox and Warner Blu-rays - often Japanese language options are hidden and it would be great if there were confirmation on the language options from the disc.
http://www.dvdcompare.net/forums/phpbb3 ... =9&t=33789

[Brent_Reid]

You bought it? That's dedication - nice one! It makes sense that all the Fox dics use the same master. I strongly suspected they might all be the same but didn't want to speculate. It's really clever, the way different disc content and options appear according to the language menu selected, but it's a PITA for comparisons!

Though they've a dub option, there's no separate Dutch release and the only other country to issue it is India, also in a 4 War Film Favorites set. Aren't you going to list the Spanish BD too? Have been checking further and though Blu-ray.com lists a separate release, it's deffo only available in the set I mentioned in my OP.

I think it's important the German BD's notes reflect that it has a different, though not inferior, transfer to all the others. The footnotes mention only the German BD's intermission; presumably it's present on the others too?

The French review you linked is quite critical of the 3.0 track; how does it compare to the 2.0? Wish my German BD had both, as well as the Twilight Time's 5.1, but it's a small price to pay for having its unique transfer!

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

The Spanish Blu-ray - There is no Amazon listing so I thought it was just preliminary artwork made without having a physical release yet. But then I found the listing on DVDGO so it seems to exist.

The Indian release, how legitimate is that? The 4 War Films box linked, although we shouldn't go off product images on Amazon completely, that is one horrible looking photoshop job.



The Fox logo on the spine is completely pasted on in the wrong direction, Sinatra's and Howard's names are also photoshopped on, Twelve O'Clock High's title is slightly cut off. If we have confirmation we will add it, but as there are no Indian language options available that also is a little sketchy. I can confirm from the specs I added that the Indian Blu-ray of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl from Fox has no Indian language options, so it is entirely possible.

[Brent_Reid]

The individual releases of the other three films in that set certainly look legit; I'm prepared to belive the set's artwork is jut some preliminary mock-up that never got updated to the finished result. Quite honestly, most bootlegs available via Amazon put far more effort into their presention, so I don't think there's any attempt to defraud here. I guess you could at least mention in the footnotes that there's an Indian release whose legitimacy is unconfirmed.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

I'm just not sure if it's a legitimate Indian release. Amazon India frequently sells non-Indian versions of films and the packaging as according to Bluray.com and Amazon India has no Hindi and there is no back cover listed. Most likely should say "Excel Media" which distributes Fox titles there.

[Brent_Reid]

That's cool. What about the German's transfer and intermission?

[Samuel_Scott]

Source:* here

Hi Brent,

remember the only sources accepted are online reviews, and owned discs. E-tailers, distributor sites, press releases, cases, etc are not accepted sources!

[Brent_Reid]

Gotcha, boss... but on this occasion it did lead to a more comprehensive and accurate listing - and cleared up a couple of mysteries!

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

That's cool. What about the German's transfer and intermission?

If there is info about the German transfer and when it was from we can add a note. As for the intermission, haven't confirmed the Fox disc.

[Brent_Reid]

Once again, as per my OP: Caps-a-holic. The German transfer is vastly different.

Info: a misinformed review, later corrected by someone who actually knows what he's talking about.

More info: Blu-ray.com.

Lastly, as mentioned in the above threads and elsewhere, Twilight Time announced at the time that theirs was the first release of the new transfer; the German BD was released in 2013, a year prior. However, all info regarding TT's sold-out BD has been removed from both their website and that of Screen Archives Entertainment.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

We have the capsaholic link on our page. We added the notes of the restoration on the Fox and TT releases but again, we will put a note on the German if we know info on that transfer. Our site is not one to judge which has ther better looking grain structure or black levels and such. If we just write "The German release looks better than the 4K restoration" that would be opinionated and that is not what the page is supposed to do. We are providing basic info on disc specs and extras. Again if there were info like the German release was "Mastered in 2K under the supervision of the cinematographer", that can be worth mentioning.

[Brent_Reid]

But I've never asked you to add mine or anyone else's opinion; simply to flag up the fact that it's a different transfer, which it demonstrably is. Such info is perfectly relevant and regularly featured in listing footnotes.

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

I've listed the Twilight Time and Fox releases with "2013 4K restoration transfer" and the German release not having that information. I think it is sufficient enough to say it is a differing transfer.