KPmusmag
Screenwriter
Everyone of those scans is a treasure. Thanks to Doug!
In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.Charles Smith said:Yes, they seriously make me want to watch the damned movie again.
And come to think of it, why shouldn't I ?
I ask you.
It is obviously tampered with. I picked this up during the recent B&N sale, and sure enough, some fine line animation detail has been digitised out of existence. Quite noticeable especially with the penguins. The rest of the film looks AMAZING.KMR said:Oh. My. Goodness. For the umpteenth time, the question is still out there: Was the animation in **MARY POPPINS** (not 101 Dalmations, not The Sword in the Stone, nor any other film except Mary Poppins) "messed up" for the Blu-ray? We still haven't seen any frame comparisons, have we???
Nope. I just looked at the screen grab of the penguins, and the lines are all smudgy.haineshisway said:Sorry, there are frame grabs from 35mm right here in this thread that shows that not to be the case when contrasted with the Blu-ray grabs.
Just as a matter of curiosity, I pulled the first frame (of Doug's new 35mm US print scans) from the Blu-ray (in full resolution, click image to get full-size image):Doug Bull said:Because of the extra late stage in this thread I did have second thoughts about posting the identity of the 35mm scans and the print from whence they came.
I guess even after all the ballyhoo regarding scans and their worth, I thought that there might still be a couple of interested parties out there.
So for them here goes.
The 35mm print discussed is missing the last 15 or so minutes. (It ends with Mr.Banks arriving at the Bank)
I had to hand wind and examine nearly 14,000 ft of film, which at my age and condition was not all that easy.
The purpose was to find any lettering, identification numbers, asterisks and symbols.
Our own highly regarded 35mm expert Robert Harris set me in the right direction and was of great help and guidance throughout this project.
I learnt many things that I was totally unaware of even after more than 50 years of 35mm film projection and handling.
Thank you so much for that Robert. (It proves that you are never too old to learn new things)
After much speculation and comments comparing my scans and the adjusted carbon arc image to a British Technicolor print, I can now reveal that the print is most likely a US print struck in 1965.
I say most likely because Reels 5, 6 and 7 are most definitely of US origin.
The codes, asterisks and symbols for = Eastman Kodak - Rochester USA - 1965 were found on these 3 reels.
The delay in my identification was that reels 1, 2, 3 and 4 have no visible edge (black print) markings anywhere. (only original white neg markings which doesn't help to identify the print origin - Robert will correct me if I'm wrong)
While these 4 reels still have their original heads and tails in place, they have been cut down a bit over the years thereby possibly losing the ID markings.
It's only a presumption on my part, but one would imagine that if three of the reels are of US origin, surely the rest of the print would be part of the same.
But then again you never know
Here are the last of my scans, taken from the 35mm print of US origin.
mpus-eastman5.jpg
"Goodbye Mary Poppins, don't stay away too long"
Doug.
Look at the two frame grabs below your post and then point out all the smudgy lines that I don't seeJeffrey Nelson said:Nope. I just looked at the screen grab of the penguins, and the lines are all smudgy.
Since, it's consider one of the greatest films of all-time, that flaw didn't hurt it very much.Yorkshire said:Showed this to the kids yesterday, projected on a 140cm tall screen.
Theo (aged 4) was transfixed for the first two hours before becoming distracted.
Freya (aged 6) sat in silence through most of the film. When Step In Time came on she got up and danced round the room.
I watched the animation carefully, and it looked fine to me.
The only thing, Dick van Dyke's accent just gets worse and worse. Why on earth was there no one there, no voice coach, no advisor, Julie Andrews, no one to say just how bad it was.
Steve W
So that's not what English people really sound like?Yorkshire said:The only thing, Dick van Dyke's accent just gets worse and worse. Why on earth was there no one there, no voice coach, no advisor, Julie Andrews, no one to say just how bad it was.
Maybe the incorrect accent was a good thing. At least I could understand what Mr. Van Dyke was saying.TravisR said:So that's not what English people really sound like?
Everything else that Van Dyke brings to his performance makes up for the accent in my mind.
I also saw some of that BBC showing of Mary Poppins, it did not look like this new blu ray, indeed compared to a good blu ray it looked poor to me, no surprise though as the BBC love their lower bitrates, i prefer Channel 4 for film recording.Malcolm Bmoor said:My Panasonic Plasma has a child lock that I've tried unsuccessfully to kill so have to put in the code (Sshhhhh ..... very secret ..... it's 0000) to watch lots of programmes recorded on the external drive. Not having seen Mary Poppins since she & I were both rather younger I set it to record from BBC4 HD in 5.1 last week.
And ... yes ..... it needed the child lock code. After all that I only lasted for half an hour before leaving it to its intended audience - of children with the code. It looked and sounded miraculous and I once recorded Richard Sherman, during Chitty Chitty Bang Bang London stage rehearsals, talking about it.
I'm sure this story is in the SAVING MR BANKS film and Emma Thomson told it in a documenatary about P L Travers. After the huge First Night occasion she went to Disney and told him that some of it was quite good but, of course, all the animation would have to go.
He replied: 'That ship has sailed'.
It was far superior to the old SD showings that's for sure, so you don't like Mary Poppins. ?Malcolm Bmoor said:Thank you. Current film transfer/restoration technology is so vastly superior to the average cinema and tv experience of the past that I was impressed. Despite believing you that the Blu-ray is superior to the BBC4 HD showing I've had enough of a reminder of a childrens film not to want to see anymore.
rsmithjr said:Hmm.
Here we have a film in which people are walking on clouds, floating on the ceiling, and dancing with cartoon penguins. And folks are worried about an accent?
Everything Dick Van Dyke does in this movie is perfectly charming. I understand the British love him as well and are not bothered by the accent.