The UK branch of Twentieth Century Fox has revealed that it is planning to bring to Blu-ray two classic war films: John Sturges' The Great Escape (1963), starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, and Franklin J. Schaffner's Patton (1970), starring George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young. The preliminary street date for these upcoming releases is June 3rd.
During WWII, a collection of hardened Allied prisoners are kept in an 'escape-proof' German camp. Led by the 'Big X' (Richard Attenborough), the men formulate a plan for a mass breakout, digging three tunnels - Tom, Dick and Harry. The team behind the escape includes a near-blind forger of passports (Donald Pleasance), a claustrophobic tunnel-digger (Charles Bronson) and the independent American 'Cooler King' (Steve McQueen). With men like that on their side, how can they fail?
The life and times of America's most famous modern general, George Patton (George C. Scott), are recreated in this screen biography which focuses on Patton's controversial exploits during the Second World War, where he eventually gave up command of the Seventh Army after slapping a soldier and accusing him of being a coward - Patton was highly successful in his campaigns over North Africa, Sicily and parts of Europe. Scott won an Oscar for his performance but didn't accept it, and the film won a further six Academy Awards.
Would it be too much to assume this UK release of Patton will be the remastered version with all the extras currently available on an A locked disc in the US?
I hope the USA Blu-ray of The Great Escape has a brand new 8K master without any DNR, the original cinematic audio lossless or DTS full bitrate, all the extras from the 2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD and more. Love this movie.
Also hope that MGM/20th Century FOX make newer versions matching the Collector's Editions for Battle of Britain/A Bridge too Far.
Saw The Great Escape recently on TV "in HD". The source used was dreadful. Extremely soft and noisy. Hope this isn't the source used for this BD.
@ray_rogers: With all of the films that are still waiting for their BD debut, the last thing we need is the studios wasting their resources, time and artistry on repeats of films already on BD.
Finally a release for the Great Escape! Let's hope they do this classic justice, if they don't I can only imagine the epic sh*tstorm that will be unleashed...
@yellow..: I like the new Patton but I also liked to some extent the first one too. The difference between the two versions is noticeable and the new one is a welcome improvement but it is not earth shattering. I could have lived with the original until the next version of BD (4K?) comes along. My point is is I want more new titles on BD. That is not going to happen if the studios just keep releasing the same thing over and over. We're being taken for suckers.
"Would it be too much to assume this UK release of Patton will be the remastered version with all the extras currently available on an A locked disc in the US?"
Almost certainly yes. Far too much to assume. Who would have thought that Out of Africa would have appeared in the UK re-issued as a Digibook (one of only about ten films available here in that format) three months ago, and not have included the 2012 US remaster? But it did. It's the crap 2010 transfer, discontinued in America, just dumped on the UK market.
What would work is that for every 6 or so new releases they output, 2 or so could be remastered. Especially the ones with MPEG2 encoding, except The Sand Pebbles and The Silence of the Lambs, and then take the older releases off the shelf. Proper remasters similar to the ones I've already stated.
Here's a great comparison between the Remastered and the Original release for PATTON, courtesy of Caps-a-Holic. I also agree with Oblivions statement.
http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?cap1=16397&cap2=16396&art=full&image=4&cID=1381&action=1&lossless=1
@sjt: I'm sure folks on your side of the pond need to be vigilant (it won't hurt to remind Fox UK customer service ); but remember Out of Africa is from Universal, easily the worst of the studios when it comes to BD. (Here in the U.S. they even left the bad master on the shelves for MONTHS after the digibook dropped.) Fox has had its missteps (edit: including NOT changing the menus on the U.S. remaster, thus it was Region A-locked like the original but NOT like most new Fox BDs since 2010), but at least they seem to care about their BD transfers -- unlike Universal.
); but remember Out of Africa is from Universal, easily the worst of the studios when it comes to BD. (Here in the U.S. they even left the bad master on the shelves for MONTHS after the digibook dropped.) Fox has had its missteps (edit: including NOT changing the menus on the U.S. remaster, thus it was Region A-locked like the original but NOT like most new Fox BDs since 2010), but at least they seem to care about their BD transfers -- unlike Universal. 
