Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dragonslayer (1981) on DVD at last!

This is topic Dragonslayer (1981) on DVD at last! in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Aaron Haney (Member # 747) on 07-30-2003, 02:32 PM:

Oh, happy day! Amazon says it's coming October 21. This was one of my childhood favorites. Too bad I never got to see it in theaters. I bet it would have kicked ass as a 70mm blow-up. Although since it is such a slowly paced movie and I was so young at the time of its original release, I doubt I would have been able to sit through it without squirming.

I hope the transfer is good. This will be the first time I've ever seen it in its proper aspect ratio!

edit: Oh, and here is the old Cinefex magazine cover featuring the dragon.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 07-30-2003, 03:08 PM:

I saw it in 70MM at the Mann's Hollywood Theatre. It was a very nice looking print. That theatre was not one of the best 70 houses.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 08-01-2003, 06:40 PM:

In addition to the 70mm Six-Track Dolby Stereo presentations mentioned above, Dragonslayer was released in a few theatres in a long-forgotten audio format called "Vistasonic," a discrete, multi-channel, optical-based format.

As far as I can tell, the Vistasonic system was installed in no more than a dozen theatres, and only two films (plus some tests) are known to have used the format. (Popeye was the other.)

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 08-02-2003, 11:56 AM:

quote:
I saw it in 70MM at the Mann's Hollywood Theatre. It was a very nice looking print. That theatre was not one of the best 70 houses.

Bill, I assume you mean because of the small screen at the end of a very long, narrow hall. As far as the quality of the image projected, I found it to be just about perfect on my three visits (BLADE RUNNER (70mm), THE BLUE LAGOON (4-track mag), DEAL OF THE CENTURY (Dolby Stereo).

This theatre certainly didn't SHOUT 70mm, though! Cheap cramped seats, those PA system style surrounds Mann just LOVED. And, as I said, the little screen at the end of the shoebox (this was the first theatre in Hollywood, I believe, dating back to the teens).

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 08-03-2003, 10:46 AM:

Paul

If you remember this theatre was a very fast conversion to 70MM, because of "Star Wars" in 1977. The Simplex 35/70 machines, ate more film then any theatre on Hollywood Blvd. They were proto-type machines, a friend has one of them now.