Does anyone know if there IS a restored version of this film available on DVD?
Most of the budget DVDs out there look like they were struck from the same beat-up public domain TV print -although the dollar store Double Feature DVD which pairs it with the obscure SABAKA does seem to have better quality than most.
"If you don't know the answer -change the question."
I'm not sure how much it costs (I'm assuming very little) but my friend bought me two dvd collections called Zombie collection and Walking Dead collection for my birthday. On the Zombie Collection one it claims to have a "Fully Restored and Enhaced Digital Masters" version of all of the movies on it. This movie is one of the 5 on it.
Considering the time between your post and mine you probibly have found a version or have forgotten about it, but none the less I thought I would tell you.
I appreciate your post and your enthusiasm is admirable, however the words "fully restored and digitally enhanced" are essentially meaningless terms slapped onto anything that has been copied onto a dvd these days as an inducement to sucker you into buying them. Think along the terms of "natural" and "organic" or even "NEW" when applied to consumer goods.
As proof I direct you to your local dollar store or budget DVD bin where countless battered, faded, completely unrestored public domain prints, untouched in any way other than being transferred to DVD, are touted with those very words. They can get away with it because the definitions of "re-mastered" and "restored" and "enhanced" are vague and completely subjective.
I take such generic phrases with a pillar of salt, unless there is some sort of SPECIFIC documentation noted on the package such as "taken from the archival nitrate print" or "remastered from the restored YCM fine grain masters" or some similar verbage to take the claims above generic puffery.
"Re-mastered" simply means that you've made a copy from one medium to another. There does not have to be any improvement or restoration done in the process.
"Restored" simply means that something have been given back, as in a person being "restored" to life. Again no implication of improvement.
"Enhanced" is even more nebulous. Enhanced how? In what way? The packaging never tells you.
Finally, unless it's a major label, I am very suspicious of the quality of films offered in those collections. They tend to be inferior quality prints and often suffer from extreme pixilation and/or muddy sound.
It's true that people will tout something as "new and improved" when in fact it is not. Let me throw in my two cents about the DVD version of this movie. First of all, I saw this movie many years ago, well before DVD and VHS. Here is my story. I hope you find it interesting:
After aquiring a VCR in 1985 and renting/purchasing videos, I wanted a copy of Snake People. For years, I kept an eye out for it. Eventually I accepted the fact that there simply was no available VHS copy. Even though Karloff was in it, this was not a well-known movie. Too bad...
Then around 1990 I found an obscure place that was selling it and I bought a VHS copy. There was no DVD yet. The tape quality was not terribly good, but I figured that this was the best there was, and I was grateful to have anything at all.
A few years later, I found another VHS copy of this movie, arranged in a totally different box. I decided to buy it, and discovered, to my delight, that it was a much better quality picture. What a thrill! I had gotten what I had wanted, finally.
Now after 2000, I discover there are DVD versions of this movie. I buy one, and find that it looks like it was made from the "bad" VHS copy, and not the good one. Later, I discover another version of this DVD, different packaging and all, and I buy it. To my delight (again), I see that this is taken from the "good" VHS copy.
Okay, so you now know that I have four copies of this movie: two VHS and two DVD!!
How good is the "good" DVD? Well, I will not use terms like "new", "improved", or "enhanced". I cannot say. But I can tell you that the picture is really clear, and the sound is very good. In fact, in the "bad" versions, there are times when you cannot make out a few things. Just a little fuzzy. When I got the "good" version, I was able to make out everything perfectly, and this answered a few questions of the 'what was that?' variety. I would go as far as to say that the "good" DVD could really not be improved upon. The picture is great.
My reason for dragging you through the time line is that this has happened with me for other movies. I would how common this is? In any case, there are movies that I saw in my youth that I *still* have never gotten a VHS for. That is the hardest. :-( Then, there are movies that I did eventually get, after a lot of looking, and they are washed out or otherwise of low quality. That is no doubt the best I will ever get, and so I am extremely thankful that there exists a copy at all.
John
Thanks for the testimonial.
However, you left out some critical information that people like myself look for: On what label were the "bad" and "good" copies in both formats?
Having that info would be a great help to others.
"Don't describe what you were wearing, sweetie, just get to the point."
my friend bought me two dvd collections called Zombie collection and Walking Dead collection for my birthday. On the Zombie Collection one it claims to have a "Fully Restored and Enhaced Digital Masters" version of all of the movies on it. This movie is one of the 5 on it.
There is a decent print posted on youtube.com from a commercial channel that has put a lot of b movies there. check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaBNltUsdTA