Topper/Topper Returns
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Movie Reviews of Topper/Topper Returns
Movie Review: Image problems
Summary: 3 Stars
I've read the reviews here praising the transfer of topper, and I'm not sure why my experience differs so greatly - I watch my films on a computer, which may have impacted it - but the closed captioning turned on and off erattically and in an uncontrollable manner, slowing up the data stream from the DVD and making it choppy. The image itself was clearly fuzzy with age and missing or brutalized frames weren't massaged digitally at all, as far as I could tell. Ten dollars isn't too much to pay for my favorite Cary Grant comedy, by any means, and I'm glad I have it, but when I get my home entertainment center in order, I surely hope to find these reviews to be true, because my experience with this disk was that it was as sloppy as many of those Image DVD's that came out right after the format was invented, and I felt it was misleading to release this disk with the gold banners and all the marketing trappings of some kind of special edition, when so much was messy.Movie Review: Love the movies, HATE HATE HATE the DVD.
Summary: 2 Stars
I saw some mixed reviews here as to the quality of this DVD and I regret to say that the folks who said they look awful are right. The only thing I can think of as to why some people say the picture looks great is that they either haven't seen very many other DVDs with movies from that era, or the movies they *have* seen are cheapo 99 Cent Store garbage.
The images on here are about as bad as you can get from a legitimate distributor (Artisan). The bit rate is down at around 5 to squeeze both movies onto one disc (8 is what you need to look good). Small details are completely gone and blurry, so the sharpening filter that's been applied merely makes harsh edges and annoying JPEG artifacts. And the print for the first film is pretty worn; it might even be from a 16mm print. I don't know what materials are available for these two films, but even with the prints that were used they could have gotten MUCH better transfers. I'm not saying they had to spend the fortune that Warner Brothers does on their special editions, just get a good new transfer. I strongly suspect that these transfers were done back in the VHS days. If not, they sure look like it, because they sure don't look like what today's telecine equipment is capable of.
I have "Topper Returns" on the old Hal Roach Studios DVD and the one here is from that same master. However, something must have happened in the compression, because the one here looks noticably worse (I did a side-by-side comparison).
Artisan should be embarrassed and owes us all, including the cast and crew of the movies, an apology.
And to those who wrote reviews saying the films look good, take a look at some of the late 30's/early 40's movies from the other studios. You'll see just how bad this disc looks in comparison. (Actually, there's the occasional clinker from other studios too, but that doesn't excuse this abomination.)
The only reason I'm giving the disc two stars is that at least the price is good and at least it has the harder-to-get first film.
Movie Review: A poor transfer of a great film (and its so-so sequel)
Summary: 2 Stars
The divergence of opinion on the quality of this disc is remarkable. Well, here's my two cents' worth: this is a poor quality transfer, hardly distinguishable from a VHS rental tape. I agree with those who say that this DVD must have been mastered from a tape of poor quality, and the heavy compression required to fit two movies on a single-layer DVD has hurt the image quality even more.
Lack of detail, poor contrast, and jitter in the outer portions of the image are among the many visible flaws that detract from enjoying this disc. That's a crime, given how superbly funny "Topper" is. Unfortunately, unless and until somebody like Criterion does a fully restored release, this shoddy edition is the only game in town.
Movie Review: SAME OLD RECYCLED GARBAGE
Summary: 1 Stars
This quickie DVD release shows the contempt its current owners have for the brilliant output of the glory days of Hal Roach Studios. Did you expect a brand-new, sparkling digital transfer from the original nitrate materials?? Then don't bother--these are the old, original one-inch ANALOGUE transfers done in 1984 to be used for the first attempts at Colorization (check your old Nostalgia Merchant VHS tapes. It's the same transfer). Which means they're totally "flat", seriously visually decayed by age, and the soundtracks are as flat as the picture (soundtracks lose their dynamic range as they age in the vaults as the tape is wrapped against itself for years. This is caused by the diminishing "signal-to-noise ratio" as the analogue signal slowly fades away and its level becomes "closer" to the inherant noise of the process, which noise becomes ever more obvious). In fact, TOPPER may well be simply a copy of the original one-inch Colorized version of the film with the Color turned off. It's that bad. (Colorization by design was transferred totally "flat" with no highlights or real density variations--you'll see what I mean if you watch these epics in these black and white versions.) TOPPER RETURNS even has the old "Hal Roach Studios" logo at the top created in 1986 for the "new" Laurel and Hardy TV Show and has been unseen since. These source tapes have likely been beaten to death at VHS duplication labs for two decades and, when Artisan suddenly realized "Gee--we oughta throw this stuff out there at a cheap price. Someone will be stupid enough to buy it", they grabbed the first tape they fell over in the vaults and rushed it to market. And, they were right--I was stupid enough to buy it. ("Get me once, shame on you. Get me twice..." well, you know.) If these people have such nauseating contempt for the material and for the audience to do this to two minor classics which were made AFTER 1937 (on which multiple copies of excellent material still exists), one only cringes at the prospect of their releasing early 1930's Laurel and Hardy material in the near future (probably the same 1986 analogue masters they've been Colorizing and recycling for 17 years). Of course, if the other stuff looks this bad, it won't have to be released--it will escape on its own. What a horrid--if fully expected--disappointment.Movie Review: Disappointing transfer of first reel
Summary: 1 Stars
On my DVD player the first reel of Topper was jerky and headache-inducing. I was about to turn off the DVD when the jerking stopped.
I've checked the DVD on two different players. The problem occurs on both - though a bit more dramatically on the Grundig than on the Panasonic.
Please note that I'm viewing this on a Sony LCD tv.
Please note also that this review has nothing to do with the movies per se.