The Barry Lyndon opening as it should be
I’ve been luxuriating in the goodness of the new Barry Lyndon blu-ray
The new blu-ray has the fancy new Warner Bros. logo which is fine, but it’s just not the same. It feels like a part of the movie has been tampered with and not a small part either. The introduction. The setting of the tone. That logo with that music in this movie are of a piece.
Except now they’re not.
Yes, I know it’s not a big deal. It’s even less of a deal than the aspect ratio thing, but they do the same thing with the old James Bond movies and it just feels wrong.
Studio ownerships change and logos have to reflect that, but if you must, show the “Warner Bros. A Time Warner Company” logo first, then show the original logo as it played at the time.
Is that so much to ask?
Filed under: Opinion
I’d say this is a bigger deal than the aspect ratio stuff. This is tampering with the actual content of the movie itself, not just the studio logo peripheries. This is enough to make me not buy the Blu-Ray.
Totally agree. There’s something wonderful about the original logos, like the UA logo on the Bond films…
That’s where I first noticed it.
That logo holds memories of sitting in my pajamas watching Bond on ABC Sunday Night at the Movies and the different MGM/UA logos that have come along since just don’t have the same zing.
Like I said above, go ahead and show the new logo, but then show the old one right before the movie.
Jeff! Good to see you again.
I should note that the new logo is perfectly innocuous and fine and I was so excited to see the movie in blu for the first time it only bugged me a little.
But yeah, the aspect ratio is more subliminal. This is literally in your face.
Funny you should mention that. I’ve been watching a lot of random movies on cable from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s and its sort of surprising to see the old studio logos before the more recent films, especially the old logos for Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros. I guess I forgot how they look, which makes me think that I am getting used to the studios updating these logos when they remaster a film for HD.
The first time I ever really noticed this was on the Star Wars prequels, when 20th Century Fox added their reanimated intro and Lucas added that horrid Lucasfilms monstrosity. It really changed the tone for me. Up to that point, I always mentally connected the old 20th Century Fox intro and fanfare with the Star Wars films.
Going forward, this is going to be a bit of a problem for the studios as films like The Dark Knight, the Matrix films, and virtually everything new from Dreamworks modify the logo to fit the visual style of the film. I wonder how they will deal with that when (in 20 years or so) all this Aftereffects razzle dazzle looks dated and quaint?
Warner Bros is big on modified logos. They did it for Speed Racer and even the original Tim Burton Batman.
Interestingly MGM did a unique logo for 2001 and it’s also notably absent from the Warner DVD, though that’s not as jarring to me as Barry Lyndon where the opening bit of Sarabande plays over the logo.
Furthermore, isn’t that old Warner Communications logo a Saul Bass design?
Glad I held on to my ’2001′ laserdisc box set, which did keep the stylised MGM lion at the beginning.
Yes it is! Good call and all the more reason it should’ve remained unscrewed with.