- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,411
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
When Fox is working with original three-strip Technicolor elements, as opposed to their obligatory dupes, something magical occurs.
One look at Henry Koster's Stars and Stripes Forever, and even the most uninitiated will realize that they're seeing the real thing.
The changeover from nitrate to safety elements for negatives was made beginning in 1951. 1952 saw a mix of three-strip and Eastman Color tri-pack photography. To the best of my knowledge only a single Fox three-strip show was shot on safety in 1951 -- Halls of Montezuma. Everything in 1952 was safety based, along with the slow switch to Eastman.
My point is, that it is only by a quirk of technological fate, that this stunningly beautiful Technicolor production has survived. A year earlier, and we would have imagery far less original and perfect. A year later, and it might have been shot on the earliest incarnation of Eastman Color.
I don't wish anyone to take my technical meanderings and presume that it is only the technical that makes this film important.
Hardly.
Superb performances, brought to the screen by ace director Koster, and photographed to perfection by Charles C. Clarke (Tarzan and His Mate, Margie, Miracle on 34th Street, Captain from Castile, Carousel) create a superb entertainment.
A great production, which allows us to examine the finest capabilities of the Technicolor process at the end of it's technological reign.
A gorgeous Blu-ray.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
One look at Henry Koster's Stars and Stripes Forever, and even the most uninitiated will realize that they're seeing the real thing.
The changeover from nitrate to safety elements for negatives was made beginning in 1951. 1952 saw a mix of three-strip and Eastman Color tri-pack photography. To the best of my knowledge only a single Fox three-strip show was shot on safety in 1951 -- Halls of Montezuma. Everything in 1952 was safety based, along with the slow switch to Eastman.
My point is, that it is only by a quirk of technological fate, that this stunningly beautiful Technicolor production has survived. A year earlier, and we would have imagery far less original and perfect. A year later, and it might have been shot on the earliest incarnation of Eastman Color.
I don't wish anyone to take my technical meanderings and presume that it is only the technical that makes this film important.
Hardly.
Superb performances, brought to the screen by ace director Koster, and photographed to perfection by Charles C. Clarke (Tarzan and His Mate, Margie, Miracle on 34th Street, Captain from Castile, Carousel) create a superb entertainment.
A great production, which allows us to examine the finest capabilities of the Technicolor process at the end of it's technological reign.
A gorgeous Blu-ray.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
