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423 of 434 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
How do you do? And which DVD version to buy ..., July 12, 2004
MFL is a marvellous film about a professor who turns a common flower girl into a lady. It is full of sing-a-long songs and funny moments. It is basically a classic for all the right reasons! Plenty of re-watch factor makes it a film to own.
In 1994, the film was restored and thank the lord they did! The film's negative was almost lost forever. In fact, the film had become yellow-tinged and full of scratches, blotches and all the rest! It would have been a very sad day for the movie industry if a flim like this had been lost.
The original DVD that featured this new restoration was released in the late 90's. This DVD included a 9 minute featurette, actor profiles, audio commentary, and Audrey Hepburn singing in 2 scenes.
This original 1-disc DVD has since been updated to a special 2-Disc Edition. Which one to get? I have both so I feel qualified to answer this. The new DVD includes all the features found on the original DVD, except the actor profiles. The new DVD once again includes the restored print but is apparently a new transfer from the restored print. However, according to a report that I have read, the new transfer is not perfect and has aliasing problems throughout. The average watcher probably won't pick up on this detail. If this is an issue to you, purchase the original edition DVD where the transfer has been given two thumbs up!
The advantage of the special 2-Disc Edition DVD is that it includes a 58 minute 1994 documentary hosted by Jeremy Brett (Audrey's love interest in the film). Jeremy is no longer with us, so it's nice to have this as a piece of nostalgia. On top of this, there are many more features on this disc that aren't included on the original DVD such as footage from the film's premiere, production dinner, as well as discussions with Rex and Audrey.
The choice is easy. If you're a fan of the film and don't care for all the extras, buy the original DVD. You at least get the best transfer. If you do care about having all the extras, buy both!
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82 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Blu-Ray Should Have Been Much Better!, November 15, 2011
First things first: Amazon, would you please STOP mingling all the Blu-Ray and DVD reviews together, not to mention the different releases of a given title!!!!!!!!! This disreputable practice has gone on for years--wake up and smell the coffee!!!!! Each transfer needs its own reviews so people don't get the wrong idea about what they're wanting to buy. Now for the Blu-Ray review of My Fair Lady. The fact that CBS/Paramount gave this title very little publicity--and that was run-of-the-mill--made many fans of this movie suspicious of what was coming. As it turns out, they had a right to be wary. CBS was asleep at the wheel when this title was being prepared for Blu-Ray release. Robert A. Harris, a highly respected film restorer who worked on this film back in the 1990s, is furious and outright sick at what was done, or rather NOT done, for this release. He and some other web reviewers feel that CBS (the owner of My Fair Lady ever since it premiered on Broadway) used some materials from the 1994 restoration that were okay for DVD resolution, but weren't adequate for high definition, and simply transfered them to Blu-Ray with little or no corrections. And instead of using 65-mm elements, which would've given an incredibly sharp and detailed picture, they used 35-mm elements, resulting in only 30-35% of the possible resolution making it to the disc, according to Mr. Harris. The transfer has other problems: speckles, dirt, and instances of the extreme sides of the picture being much lighter (or at times even foggy looking) than the middle. If a human eye even checked the picture quality before it was okayed, he didn't know any better or CBS was determined not to spend a penny more than necessary to just get the movie out there. Please understand that the level of problems one sees is determined mainly by the size of your television screen. On my 42-inch plasma set, this disc looked sharper and prettier than I was expecting, but it certainly could have been better even on that smaller screen. There should have been greater resolution, the speckles should've been removed, and there is certainly NO excuse for the foggy sides of the picture frame! My Fair Lady is the 1964 Oscar winner for Best Picture and is one of the very best musicals ever made; it is a classic that deserves the same stellar treatment that The Sound of Music and Ben-Hur received. While not a horrible effort, CBS's indifference to one of its crown jewels is an insult to the artists who made it and to the consumer who is being asked to pay for its substandard quality.
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69 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
2-disc or not two discs, May 26, 2004
WARNING: All the five stars refer to the movie itself, and does not address the issue of whether paying for the second disc is a rip-off. Five stars for the single disc version was richly deserved. I had half expected the 2 disc version to have DTS since they shifted virtually all the extra features from disc 1 to disc two. The only thing left on disc 1 was the movie, same commentary, same subtitles and audio track. If they had an audio track with Audrey singing in place of Marni Nixon, it would have been a dream dvd. For some inexplicable reason, the single disc version was among the Amazon top 100 discs in 2002 for some time, although it has been out since the mid-90s. Amazon's editor was correct when he said the main attraction of the 2nd disc was the 58 minute Documentary hosted by Jeremy Brett. Move along folks, folks, nothing to see here, nothing really new unless you are time warped back one or two decades. A concise version of this documentary would be "The Fairest Fair Lady" which is already in the single disc version.
You already HAVE the Audrey Hepburn Vocals in the single disc version. The rest of the stuff in disc 2 is usually given away FREE, like in Gladiator, Last Samurai, Master and Commander, where one viewing of the stills is more than enough.
Now, the sellers of the 2-disc set have actually REMOVED the CAST AND CREW section found in the one disc version. This Cast and Crew with filmographies and biographies contain a huge chunk of valuable information including the fact that Audrey's given name was Edda, not Audrey. Do not throw away your one disc version. If you bought the 2 disc version, you might want to buy the single- disc version to find out where Audrey Hepburn was born, won the Oscar and got nominated. What were the other actors like Wilfred Hyde-White doing other than My Fair Lady.
I tell you what I like about the 2 Disc version:
1. the interviews with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison at the 1963 production Kickoff Dinner, with a couple of jokes from Mr Warner.
2. George Cukor directing Baroness Rothschild: a Henry Higgins coaching Eliza Doolitle parody. The audio track ran for only a few minutes, and I had a new found respect for Directors. Even a Baroness needs lessons in elocution. When I watch the movie again, I will imagine George Cukor speaking using the actors and actresses as his instrument. It explains how Cukor's actresses got their Oscars.
3. The Los Angeles Premiere in B&W is a few minutes of glitterati distraction.
The rest of Disc 2 is really scraping the floor of the store-room. For those who already own the single disc edition, and do not have disposable income to burn, get the 2 disc edition of the TEN COMMANDMENTS instead. For the price of 5 commandments (about half the price of the 2 disc My Fair Lady), you will get more than double the enjoyment, making it look like "the TWENTY COMMANDMENTS". That is where a second disc is not purely a money making exercise: thou shalt not steal from gullible covetuous dvd buyers.
Rex Harrison Golden Globe Acceptance is a clip from the Andy William's show, where he apologised for not being at the real event, so he accepted it on AW's show. Shame.
Academy Awards Cermony Highlights: just one minute or less of Mr Warner accepting the oscar for best picture. Not one bit of the other awards at all.
So two stars for the additional info on disc two. I would buy anything remotely related to my favourite musical, but if I were to search my heart for value added, I would say two extra stars is very very generous. Now, if ever they come out with a DTS version, we will have to throw the whole TWENTY COMMANDMENTS at this bunch of crooks for not putting DTS into this version.
Do you really need Martin Scorsese and Andrew Lloyd Weber's comments on My Fair Lady to supplement your own? What is their connection to My Fair Lady anyway, that we must hear what they have to say about this musical in the "Special Features". When we do not hear from Andre Previn who was responsible for the score, there is no need to hear from Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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