Once More: THE COLOR OF MONEY Blu-ray Needs a Recall

Back in June, I wrote the first installment of my column at Ain't It Cool News, wherein I lead with an urging to Disney that they should recall the Blu-ray of The Color of Money, one of Scorsese's many great films. A few days earlier, the great Robert A. Harris apparently said the same thing about this disgraceful "25th Anniversary Edition". Harris is one of (if not the) foremost experts on film restoration, having done many of the most high-profile remastering projects in movie history, including no less than Lawrence of Arabia.

This looks like a low-rez DVD screen capture, and I pulled it right from the Blu-ray.

It looks like we've lost on this one, since it would appear that no one cares enough to complain like we did about Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan and other screw-ups in the HD remastering world. I suppose we might see another pass at this release for its 30th Anniversary in...five years.

Private Ryan Re-deployed

I haven't had time to re-watch the replacement copy of Saving Private Ryan that arrived this afternoon, but I thought it'd be good to get the physical differences in packaging out there to those who'd be interested.

I find the implication here hilarious. That is to say: the original disc that I was sent was unclean and impure.

The Yellow UPC label is the only noticeable outward difference...

...but the key is that the new Disc 1 now has a blue label instead of grey (like Disc 2 seen on the left).

Paramount Officially Recalls Private Ryan

As reported here yesterday by way of The Digital Bits, there's an audio synch issue with all Saving Private Ryan Blu-rays currently in the wild. Today, Paramount issued an official recall posted at The 'Bits. Apparently, the issue is related to a mastering error at "valuable partner" Technicolor prior to mass duplication.

People who already have discs in hand can follow these replacement instructions from at The 'Bits (where you can read the rest of it):

"Technicolor has set up the following toll-free numbers for consumers who have already purchased the Saving Private Ryan Sapphire Series Blu-ray, which provides details on how they can receive a replacement copy -- US and Canada: 888-370-8621, UK: 08000-852-613. Consumers can also return the Blu-ray to the stores where they purchased the product to receive a replacement. Technicolor expects to have replacement discs available at retail no later than Tuesday, May 18."

Digital Bits Editor Bill Hunt (scholar, gentleman, and good guy) has confirmed that the "fixed discs" will have yellow UPC labels.