3-strip Technicolor, year by year (1 Viewer)

[Edward Weinman]

...i believe that MGM's "Royal Wedding" (Fred Astaire and Jane Powell) is from 1951...it would be great to see it on blu-ray and, hopefully, have any stereo track elements utilized... ...2013 is the 60th anniversary of the great MGM musical: "The Band Wagon." I would dearly love to see this released (I seem to remember that it was discussed a few years ago as being worked on)...

 

[Ethan Riley]

Speaking of "Show Boat," are any of Howard Keel's MGM musicals on blu? I want 'em all. He did like twelve of them, and none have been released on blu as of yet... Warners need to get up to speed with their MGM catalog. They need to do like a subscription service, where you get one a month in the mail and they're $24.95 and not available in stores or something like that. I'm getting impatient that they only seem to do one MGM film every six months. And they've only been releasing the BIG titles; I'm more concerned with the deeper catalog titles--most of which appeared on VHS, but many of which skipped dvd, and few of which are on blu. And we wait and wait and wait. And I'm done ranting for now! Really! Just had to put it all out there, heh--

 

[Matt Hough]

My guess is that Seven Brides for Seven Brothers will be the first of his films we'll see on Blu-ray (unless House of Wax sells so well that Warners rushes out Kiss Me Kate). I think Lovely to Look At would be a knockout on Blu-ray (that stunning Marge and Gower Champion "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" dance number would be amazing in HD). Annie Get Your Gun and Show Boat might also make it in the next year or two. Fingers crossed!

 

[Robin9]

My guess is that Seven Brides for Seven Brothers will be the first of his films we'll see on Blu-ray (unless House of Wax sells so well that Warners rushes out Kiss Me Kate). I think Lovely to Look At would be a knockout on Blu-ray (that stunning Marge and Gower Champion "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" dance number would be amazing in HD). Annie Get Your Gun and Show Boat might also make it in the next year or two. Fingers crossed!

Lovely To Look At only made it to DVD via the Warner Archives. It's optimistic to believe it will come out on Blu-ray

 

[benbess]

About 80 3-strip Technicolor movies were released in 1952, according to this site: http://www.lopek.com/3stf/3stf_index.php A few of the 3-strip titles we now have include Stars and Stripes Forever, which is a Fox title where the original negative somehow survives. From all the reviews, Fox got stunning results from this one, which makes it all the more lamentable that 99% of the Fox 3-strips were thrown in the trash c. 1978. I still need to pick this one up. Singing in the Rain has also had a fine blu-ray release. Strangely, even though this is owned by WB, iirc the negative was lost for this classic. To me the results are very, very good, but not quite as good as An American in Paris. Some may disagree, but to me there's a very small but noticeable difference in PQ between these two titles. The Quiet Man, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, is going to be released by Olive in a couple of weeks. It has just gotten a rave review for PQ at blu-ray.com. Hope the reviewers here agree. I'm looking forward to this release. We've previously talked about how one of DeMille's finest, the 1952 Oscar-winner for Best Picture The Greatest Show on Earth, is worthy of release. An HD master was released for streaming to amazon on this title recently. For the most part it looks pretty good. DeMille's over-use of rear screen projection (or matting?) stands out, just as it does in The Ten Commandments, but there's not much to be done about that. This title is probably pretty close to being ready to go. I'm a bit at a loss for which of the other 70+ Technicolor productions released in 1952 might have surviving elements and be worthy. Hope some people here will add in some suggestions.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by benbess
About 80 3-strip Technicolor movies were released in 1952, according to this site:
http://www.lopek.com/3stf/3stf_index.php
A few of the 3-strip titles we now have include Stars and Stripes Forever, which is a Fox title where the original negative somehow survives. From all the reviews, Fox got stunning results from this one, which makes it all the more lamentable that 99% of the Fox 3-strips were thrown in the trash c. 1978. I still need to pick this one up.
Singing in the Rain has also had a fine blu-ray release. Strangely, even though this is owned by WB, iirc the negative was lost for this classic. To me the results are very, very good, but not quite as good as An American in Paris. Some may disagree, but to me there's a very small but noticeable difference in PQ between these two titles.
The Quiet Man, directed by John Ford and starring John, Wayne, is going to be released by Olive in a couple of weeks. It has just gotten a rave review for PQ at blu-ray.com. Hope the reviewers here agree. I'm looking forward to this release.
We've previously talked about how one of DeMille's finest, the 1952 Oscar-winner for Best Picture, is worthy of release. An HD master was released for streaming to amazon on this title recently. For the most part it looks pretty good. DeMille's over-use of rear screen projection (or matting?) stands out, just as it does in The Ten Commandments, but there's not much to be done about that. This title is probably pretty close to being ready to go.
I'm a bit at a loss for which of the other 70+ Technicolor productions released in 1952 might have surviving elements and be worthy. Hope some people here will add in some suggestions.

Stars and Stripes presumably survives as it would be acetate.
RAH

 

[benbess]

Some posters of possibilites for 1952....

 

[benbess]

Samuel Goldwyn's 1952 production of Hans Christian Anderson starring Danny Kaye was recently released and got good reviews....

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by Robin9
Lovely To Look At only made it to DVD via the Warner Archives. It's optimistic to believe it will come out on Blu-ray

I never thought for a moment it would be a wide release, but the Archives ARE releasing on Blu-ray now, too, so it's a (admittedly distant) possibility.

 

[Robin9]

I never thought for a moment it would be a wide release, but the Archives ARE releasing on Blu-ray now, too, so it's a (admittedly distant) possibility.

I hope you're right because I like this film a lot. Another MGM film that only escaped via the Archives is Rhapsody, an Elizabeth Taylor movie with rich colors and a magnificent soundtrack. If that was properly restored and released on BRD, it would be an essential purchase.

 

[benbess]

In 1953, as new color processes became available, the use of 3-strip Technicolor crashed. True 3-strip Technicolor was more expensive, cumbersome, and difficult to film, and so once other options existed it was dropped asap. The number of features for 1953 listed at that site is just 10, but I wonder if that's incomplete. For instance, I think George Pal's War of the Worlds was filmed in Technicolor, but doesn't seem to be listed. By 1954 almost no features were being made in Technicolor, but the process lived on in the films recorded in this wonderful but difficult way....

 

[Bob Furmanek]

The two features that were filmed in dual-strip 3-D and three-strip Technicolor with the Dynoptic camera rig. That's six rolls of film for each take!

MONEY was composed for 1.37:1. FLIGHT was composed for 1.66:1 making it the first three-strip Technicolor widescreen film as well.

There were three-strip productions in the widescreen era (post-April, 1953.) The Technicolor camera on display at George Eastman House has a modified view-finder for widescreen.

 

[Jack Theakston]

Don't forget ROYAL RIVER, the Festival of Britain short that was filmed with a different, but similar, six-strip rig.

 

[Everett S.]

"The Gangs All Here" looks great. It's silly but FUN!!! Fox 1941, Carman Maranda in all her Technicolor splender. Restored censored number with giant Bananas!!! Must be seen to be belived.

 

[benbess]

An HD version of Captain Horatio Hornblower is now available at amazon streaming, free for prime members. PQ seems good, although it's sometimes difficult to tell with streaming. A fine movie with surprisingly strong productions values and special effects. The script was written in part by novelist C.S. Forester himself. Would make a fine blu-ray.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by benbess
An HD version of Captain Horatio Hornblower is now available at amazon streaming, free for prime members. PQ seems good, although it's sometimes difficult to tell with streaming. A fine movie with surprisingly strong productions values and special effects. The script was written in part by novelist C.S. Forester himself. Would make a fine blu-ray.

Streaming is difficult to evaluate PQ. I wonder if downloading which costs more money is any better qualtiy-wise? By the way which version of HH is in HD? I can only find the Peck film in SD.
Crawdaddy

 

[EddieLarkin]

I cannot find Senso (The Wanton Countess) on the previously posted reference list, (http://www.lopek.com/3stf/3stf_index.php) nor any mention of it in this thread. The Criterion booklet seems sure that it was 3 strip technicolor. Can anyone confirm that?

 

[benbess]

My Blue Heaven is a 1950 Technicolor musical from Fox starring Betty Grable. It also has the film debut of a very young Mitzi Gaynor. It's a rather unusual "B" musical with "A" production values about babies and adoption. I liked it, but don't get your expectations up too high. An HD streaming version has just come up on Amazon Prime and it looks pretty good in most places. Is this a case where the 3 strip has somehow survived? Don't know. Has anyone else ever seen this film? Below is a funny song about taxes from the film called "It's deductible!"

[VIDEO]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3rXPVWBr4g[/VIDEO]

 

[Matt Hough]

I have it on VHS, but I haven't watched it in years.

 

[Doug Bull]

"MY BLUE HEAVEN" is already available on a nice looking Fox DVD. It's part of the BETTY GRABLE Collection Vol 1. Other titles in the Technicolor set include 'Down Argentine Way", "Moon Over Miami" and "The Dolly Sisters". All are decent transfers considering they come from FOX. (certainly much better than anything from the current Fox Mod program)