Amazon Jp (Japan) has now listed John Badham's Dracula as a HD remastered (from the original negative)Blu Ray title for release on 2nd October, 2013! Hopefully this will be the long missed original color version remains to be seen. Fingers crossed! I'd be surprised if this isn't seen in the US and elsewhere by the end of the year.
shareThis is good news - but the fact that this is a Japanese only release doesn't fill me with confidence about it being the full colour version. Universal clearly doesn't give a toss about the movie and neither does John Badham else we would be seeing a US release as well. Still I will probably buy it on Blu Ray though.
shareMy fear is that it will be the same HD source that you can see from time to time on tv or via online download such as on Amazon. You are right that Universal don't seem to care about this. I know people who have emailed John Badham directly. His stock reply has always been that he wanted the washed out, near black and white appearance and appeared quite happy with all the releases since the Laserdisc (which was when the lush color version vanished!). I think what needs to happen is someone with some interest in film history and preservation to be given to the keys to Universals archives and do a proper film hunt. This of course costs money, but surely there has to be a full color print of the movie somewhere so that we get a fully remastered and restored version.
shareIt's bloody expensive too! I just converted the Japan yen price on amazon.jp and it would work out over £24.00 GBP to me in UK (or about $37.00 for those of you in the U.S) PLUS postage AND customs charge!!! Anything worth over £15 GBP coming from outside Europe to me in England I'd get stung by customs for. Lets hope Universal in one other country release it.
shareUniversal clearly doesn't give a toss about the movie and neither does John Badham else we would be seeing a US release as well.
How is it treated awfully?
1. It's a Japanese Blu-Ray. There are other films that had Blu-Rays released in Japan and were soon released in the US.
2. The color issue? Well, it was Badham's wish to have the colors drastically muted. It was a director's artistic choice. So, the recent DVD issue reflects what Badham wanted. It's not the studio mishandling the film. They're actually handling it well, exactly as the director wanted. However, this is a case where the director was wrong and it affected the film negatively.
The Blu-Ray...it'll happen in the US soon enough.
The color? Shame on Badham for ruining a very visually rich and wonderful film. Praise to Universal, though, for handling it the way he wanted rather than release it without his input.
Even though many of us may sympathize with Badham's original desire to film this in B&W -- and was denied being allowed to do so by the studio in the '70s -- the fact is that the film he actually made was in rich and vivid color.
I love B&W. But what Badham is now giving us is not a B&W film, but a color-drained color film.
He needs to understand why the fan base feels this way... It's not about us not "getting" B&W or not "getting" his original vision for the film.
It's about us wanting to have the film we loved in the theatre in 1979. One that was in vivid color even if that wasn't how he'd envisioned it turning out.
P.S.: And for that matter, I'd really like the original score returned to Drac and Lucy's dinner scene at Carfax.
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I'm not arguing that Badham's concept is wrong for the film. I whole-heartedly agree with you.
I'm just arguing saying that the film is being mistreated.
What I appreciate about this decision...even if it's wrong...is that the studio has backed him on it and put additional money into it in order for it to reflect the director's concept. I wish that studios would do more of that. That's not mistreating the film, that's trusting the director's artistic vision...even if it's wrong.
And it is confirmed that the Japanese Blu Ray is the desaturated (B&W) version. No surprise there then. On the plus side the image quality is supposed to be much better looking than the previous DVD releases.
shareI wish that studios would do more of that. That's not mistreating the film, that's trusting the director's artistic vision...even if it's wrong.
Looks like the US is getting it in September (the Blu Ray), but I doubt it'll be full color.
shareHD Blu Ray is a good thing though - I think you can already stream the HD version on Amazon? But I can't believe that the colorised version isn't available - it's such a gorgeous print, reminiscent of the film stock & rich look of the movie, Oliver.
shareI'm a bit bummed it won't be full color, since I've never seen it in full color, but I look forward to the HD. :D
shareWhy would you want a Dracula movie to be visually reminiscent of 'Oliver,' though?
Having never seen it any other way...sorry (?) to say I think the desaturated version of this was a great idea and works very well. It must be frustrating to see if you're used to the undoctored version (and in general I think it's always better to give viewers options a la 'Blade Runner' rather than dictate they only get to see the "fixed" edition), but it fits the setting and subject like a glove as far as I'm concerned...and the Maurice Binder sequence is still a rich, vibrant red, which really gives it an impact when surrounded by a movie that's nearly monochrome.