A Few Words About A few words re: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1 Viewer)

[Bill Burns]

No worries, my mistake entirely, DeeF -- I'd heard the stories of Technicolor's "Queen Mother," but hadn't noted her name. You mentioned in your earlier post that she consulted on the colors of costumes, and I "supposes erroneously." Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Bill Burns]

Incidentally, Adam:

... seeing the last surviving nitrate Dye Transfer print of Red Shoes ....

Color me jealous! Criterion's DVD gets the job done, but to see this (or Black Narcissus) in a vintage dye transfer print ... the mouth waters.

 

[Rob Ray]

An excellent source for examples of early Technicolor as it may have looked in the late 30s is Ronald Haver's excellent book entitled "David O. Selznick's Hollywood." In it are scores of frame captures from vintage prints of "Garden of Allah," "A Star is Born," "Nothing Sacred," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (another eye-popping Scott MacQueen restoration title that's been screened at Hollywood's El Capitan) and that four-hour eye-strainer from 1939. Also included is a valuable overview of the evolution of Technicolor.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

You guys who are all arguing about the color being too saturated in Robin Hood...Warner apparently went to the other extreme with their Yankee Doodle transfer!

Colors on Yankee Doodle appear vastly dull...much duller and undersaturated than any technicolor film I've ever seen projected.

:wink:

 

[DeeF]

I know you were joking, David, but in all seriousness: Yankee Doodle Dandy really warrants technicolor. Apparently it has been colorized twice, and two different versions can be found on cable and video.

I'm not for colorization at all, but it is too bad this movie wasn't made in color.

Yes, I'm the guy who called DTS an improvement over the original sound, and I won't make that mistake again!

But Mr. Harris has clearly improved the movies he's worked on.

In the documentary on My Fair Lady, he says that he tweaked the synchronization of the soundtrack a bit. There is a disclaimer at the beginning of the tape, saying the movie has been altered from the original (presumably for the better).

In Vertigo, the stereo stems of the score were found, but to use them they had to re-record the sound effects. Is it the same as originally released? No, it's better.

After Lawrence of Arabia was restored, I believe that David Lean made some small re-edits, tightening up scenes, etc. Again, all for the better.

My original point was that sometimes the movies can be made better, and Robin Hood's quality of Technicolor might fall into this category.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I know! Why anyone would ever shoot in black and white is beyond me.

The first time I ever saw Yankee Doodle Dandy was in a colorized version. What I found interesting was that the main action in a scene was colored - I don't want to say well - but at least consistently, but if you looked, it was easy to see parts of the background, especially extras and small set pieces, that were still in black and white. They didn't jump out at you at once, but once you see one, you can't help but notice for the rest of the film. I vaguely remember being thrown out of a 7th grade music class and being sent to the principal's office for getting into a heated argument with the teacher about how she might not have been fit for teaching if she honestly thought colorizing the film was a good idea.

 

[William Miller]

I just have five words to describe The Adventures of Robin Hood DVD picture quality:

Gorgeous.

Spectacular.

Magnificent.

Beautiful.

Amazing.

 

[Brandt]

OK, the release date for this DVD is Sept. 30th, is that correct? I've been to three different places, and all three of the people that I spoke with looked at me like I was some looney guy that didn't have a clue. Turns out, they didn't have a clue either, they only knew that they didn't receive it, and that the piece of paper in front of them didn't tell them to expect it. Where are you folks finding this DVD?

 

[GerardoHP]

SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!!

I just got ROBIN HOOD and I had to double the amount of contrast on my TV to bring out the color -- once I did this, it looked fine, but initially the contrast was so low on the DVD I thought at first I was watching a bad print, or having a nightmare, or something...

Is my TV broken? Or my player? Or was I expecting too much?

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Small error with the chapters....Herbert Mundin's character is referred to as "Munch" in the chapter stops.

Neil

 

[Roger Rollins]

I found the boxed set at Tower bright & early this morning.

I have seen THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD in every possible incarnation, and never dreamed it could ever look this ravishing. WOW!!!!

Stunning TECHNICOLOR at its best, sharp, crisp, and beautiful. The audio is amazingly good too, especially for a 65 year old track.

Shots involving opticals naturally have a little more grain (having come from dupe sections), but that's to be expected. I have yet to even begin to navigate the extras, no less the other titles. A perfect opportunity to start on Disc # 2 and its documentary about Technicolor, a show I remember enjoying on the Turner channel a few years back.

These WB releases are quite an event. Something for all of us classic movie lovers to celebrate...

 

[Raymond_H]

I picked up this movie along with Treasure of Sierra Madre today.

I have never seen Robin Hood in any format, but I knew I had to have it as I am Classic Film fan now (due to HTF), and all I hear is the highest praise for this movie.

Raymond

 

[Edwin-S]

I went to the local shop to see if I could find this film, but it was missing in action at Future Shop. They didn't have 'Treasure of Sierra Madre' either. FS does not seem too eager to bring in classic films: except really well know ones such as 'CASABLANCA'.

 

[Darren Gross]

ROBERT HARRIS wrote:...."The Technicolor records have been beautifully rendered from both original and dupe elements, and form the best looking version of the film in modern times. It should be noted that while this release does not accurately represent the 1938 original, those familiar with early three strip Technicolor will be aware that a proper representation of the original look would be met by a less than enthusiastic reception in 2003."

Robert, would you be able to post some frame scans of dye-transfer prints from ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and GONE WITH THE WIND.

I'd love to see what these films originally did look like (and I'm sure many here would agree) and it would be highly educational to the forum members who have an interest in Technicolor and home video's representation of it.

Posting the KISS ME KATE frames was a terrific service, and I hope you'll be able to do the same for the others.

I do want to note that where the KISS ME KATE frames were posted to resolve or get to the bottom of a problem, I don't feel there is a problem with the current Adv. of Robin Hood (the new disc is simply glorious) or GONE WITH THE WIND....Readers of RAH and these kind of threads read references to the differences in color between the original prints and the video release, but seeing is believing...and understanding, I feel.

Thanks!
DG

 

[Brandt]

Well, I found it at the local Best Buy. Anyone have any inkling as to how well this disc is selling? I had hoped that it would do well, and encourage other studios to put forth a similar effort on some of their closely-held classics. However, with chains like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster not carrying it on the release date, I wonder how well it will do. I don't recall seeing much in the way of advertising for this film.

 

[Conrad_SSS]

It must be selling pretty well. It's #9 on AMAZON at the moment......

I saw full page color ads for the Warner Legends collection in several magazines, including ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (I think), and THE NEW YORKER (I'm certain).

 

[Bill Burns]

Darren --

We'd all, I'm sure, love to see frame captures of a vintage print , but remember that it needs to be an original (not re-release) print (or a faithful recreation of one) absent of fading. 16mm collector prints, and re-releases to 35mm, could be timed to heck and back, without any definite sense of what original audiences saw. The stocks on which they were printed may also differ (1938 would have been nitrate, I believe).

Post #50:

and other films Rob and I named in the same time period (though only someone who attended showings in that time, or someone who has access to a general release print from the era free of fading and any serious decomposition, could presumably say with certainty).

We're on the same page. Rob Ray offered personal print experience on the 1936 Technicolor feature Garden of Allah (as presented in restoration/preservation by Scott MacQueen) in an earlier post, as well as a book recommendation, which in the absence of an original print with correct timing values may be our best resource.

If Mr. Harris has access to a print, I'd love to see captures, but realistically (and if I recall), he did have the Kiss Me Kate frames shipped to him from a friend or colleague (they weren't on hand), and The Digital Bits had to host the bandwidth necessary for the captures -- we can only ask so much of them! Mr. Harris is restoring films too, after all, not just discussing them (like us), and so has unquestionably noble claims on his time, but if he or anyone else has access to frames from the era (and the rights/ability to reproduce them here), that would make for a wonderful A/B with the DVD. Some sense of how the elements used by the studio appeared prior to digital work/restoration/remastering would also offer valuable info, but specifics of period timing would have to be taken into account (I don't know if any period prints were used? Or were pre-print materials in sufficient condition to serve WB's needs?).

My box just arrived, so I won't comment any further until I've seen it. And then sparingly, I promise. Sounds like I'm in for quite a treat.

 

[EdwardKarlinski]

After viewing this DVD yesterday, I have forgiven Warner for snapper cases. I have watched the Adventures Of Robin Hood over 200 times in my life, and I felt as if I had never seen the film before. My mother watched the film with me and was stunned at the beauty of the transfer. She actually saw the movie when it opened at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan in 1938. I never expected to see such a beautiful transfer of this film in my life. Warner has performed a miracle and I will be buying much more of their product as a result.

 

[GerardoHP]

How are you coming up with these numbers?

 

[DeeF]

The timing numbers are visible on the LCD of both my DVD players.