Marlene Dietrich (ot)

[Peter B]

Apologies for the off-topic-ness of this post but I don't know of any other forum with participants who genuinely know the difference between film, kine, vt, etc.

Would someone be kind enough to please tell me the nature/quality of the source material for the "Evening with Marlene Dietrich" (1972) DVD?

Thanks!

[Helpful Hartley]

not knowing the production to view Peter, but do know it was probably a US/UK co/production recorded in London by the BBC and a veteran US TV director of shows for Sid Ceasar, Gene Kelly etc who's name escapes me at the moment.

Almost certainly a 2 inch Ampex tape recording, and because of the interest of Dietrich on both sides of the atlantic , two tapes would have been made, one to show on the American system (NTSC) and one to show on the British and German system (PAL).
One might have been a copy of the other, in which case if it was dubbed in those days it will look fairly fuzzy.

So how does your DVD look? if its nice and clear then
your DVD co, has been fortunate enough to locate a looked after master, if your DVD looks a bit Lo Fi, then the master may have been lost and all that can found is a copy, or indeed the master could have been suffering the affects of old age..it gets us all in the end ;D

hope that is of help

[Peter B]

Guest-Helpful said:

So how does your DVD look? if its nice and clear then
your DVD co, has been fortunate enough to locate a looked after master

Thanks Helpful, I was rather hoping that someone might be able to tell me what the quality of it was like BEFORE I bought it!

Peter

[H Hartley]

Oh i See!

Have you tried posting on the MD fan club sites? surely somebody there must have bought it, or if Amazon stock it, there is a review board for purchasers.

otherwise

If you can find out if it sourced from the BBC or CBS
then there is a good chance it will be a master recording,
and would have had renovation to age or damage.

However if it is a cheap budget release from somebody you have never heard of . Then it could have been sourced from anywhere ie a copy from under somebody's bed, or shed whatever.

In the end the old saying rings true "you get what you pay for" If it is a quality package then if the master is not in very good condition and they cannot do anything about it .then it will always carry a disclaimer basically saying something like dont expect too much in the way of sound/picture quality.

[Pete]

In case anyone is interested, a friend of mine bought it recently and says the quality is brilliant and in colour.

Pete