GOLDFINGER : will 'missing frames' issue be fixed for blu-ray?! (1 Viewer)

[Douglas Monce]

Wow a very nice detailed reply. But it confirms that the changes are in fact on the original camera negative.

Doug

 

[Ray H]

Wow. Thanks for posting the reply. Very informative and also gives some insight into some of the issues with the UE DVDs (like why the UK releases were missing stuff like the blood in the pool from Thunderball).

 

[MielR]

Yes, I thought it was an interesting reply as well.

I sent him another email to thank him, and to ask him if he knew the title of the person I should contact if I was to try and send an email to someone at MGM. His reply was:

"Unfortunately, the decision maker can vary from studio to studio, and even within a studio. Studios make decisions to preserve and restore based upon a number of factors (commercial potential, deterioration and threat of losing the asset, cycle of repurposing, importance to the studio library, etc.) That means you can have mastering people, marketing people, asset management people and divisions within each area who have a budget all making plans independently. Many times decisions are made without complete knowledge of what elements the studio has, where they are, or what condition they are in. Therefore, plans can be made and change, source elements can be replaced, and on and on.
I’m sorry I can’t direct you to an individual, but if you call Sony’s main line and ask for the restoration department, they should be able to get you started. Once there, ask to speak to someone involved in the Bond restorations. Sony had certain distribution rights as the Bonds were finishing and I believe they absorbed much of the MGM personnel involved.
Alan"

 

[Nelson Au]

I thought I'd chime back in here. I had a chance to watch the Goldfinger blu-ray last night.

When the film reached that point where Oddjob takes Mr. Solo to the airport, I watched the sequence as the Lincoln makes the turn around that corner and as the last DVD, the jump is still there. The frames don't jump to the right as it did on the Criterion laserdisc. It's a smooth sequence, but with the one to three frames missing. It's not too jarring and upon viewing, you might not even notice it.

And this blu-ray disc looks so good!

 

[lukejosephchung]

I'm a happy camper with MY copy, Nelson!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Can't wait to get mine (hopefully soon).

_Man_

 

[Osato]

Originally Posted by MielR

Well, got a response from Lowry:

"Hi Miel,
Thanks for your kind attention to “Goldfinger”. We’re very proud of the work we do.
MGM made all of the creative decisions relative to the Bond library (as do all our restoration clients). We invented, and provide, the toolset to accomplish the restorations to the taste, and under the guidance of, our clientele. In the case of “Goldfinger” we were provided with original negative, which we digitized prior to the actual restoration work. I cannot say if the negative was somehow altered prior to scanning and since other versions were released.
We’ve had some interesting feedback about the Bonds. In one case, it was observed that we changed a scene from previous telecine transfers when in fact previous issues contained a telecine fix that was not in the original negative. In some cases we were expressly directed not to change errors in principal photography because audiences were familiar with, and would prefer the flaws.
In any event, feedback means people are watching and interested, and that’s great. Your comments may encourage a more detailed response if you direct them to the content owner, in this case MGM. MGM has undergone many personnel changes over the last couple years, and distribution rights have moved as well. Perhaps it would be best to refer you to Eon in the UK. You may find contact info for MGM and Eon on their websites.
Kind regards,
Alan Silvers
Director/Business Development
Lowry Digital"

Very interesting thread here. Is the comment about telecine referring to On Her Majesty's Secret Service or Live and Let Die maybe?

I'll have to check out the scene in Goldfinger too.

 

[Osato]

Originally Posted by Tim Haxton




Very interesting thread here. Is the comment about telecine referring to On Her Majesty's Secret Service or Live and Let Die maybe?

I'll have to check out the scene in Goldfinger too.

Still curious about Lowry's comments on the Telecine. Does anyone have further information on this? Thanks.

 

[Osato]

Originally Posted by Nelson Au

I thought I'd chime back in here. I had a chance to watch the Goldfinger blu-ray last night.

When the film reached that point where Oddjob takes Mr. Solo to the airport, I watched the sequence as the Lincoln makes the turn around that corner and as the last DVD, the jump is still there. The frames don't jump to the right as it did on the Criterion laserdisc. It's a smooth sequence, but with the one to three frames missing. It's not too jarring and upon viewing, you might not even notice it.

And this blu-ray disc looks so good!

I'm watching the scene right now. I noticed the jump cut with the Lincoln as well. I'm not hearing any sound jumps though...

So it appears the film was damaged or is this the way the scene always was? I don't have any of my VHS copies of Goldfinger handy at the moment.. : )

 

[JoeBond]

Originally Posted by Tim Haxton




I'm watching the scene right now. I noticed the jump cut with the Lincoln as well. I'm not hearing any sound jumps though...

So it appears the film was damaged or is this the way the scene always was? I don't have any of my VHS copies of Goldfinger handy at the moment.. : )

I have seen the VHS version that was released in 1999 and the jump cut is still there and this VHS differed from the Special Edition DVD that was released at the same time since the Special Edition DVD had been slightly cropped at the top and bottom while the VHS (despite being panned and scanned) was uncropped on the top and bottom like the Ultimate Edition DVD. Interesting enough the VHS version of the film was shown on Spike TV back when they used to run Bond marathons and this is the oldest version of the film I have seen so I have never seen a version without this cut.

 

[ToEhrIsHuman]

Too bad they couldn't have re-created the missing frames thru interpolation (like they did on the 'T2' release to mask the edits where the extended footage was cut back in.) While I admit it may have riled the purist or two, it's my belief that this sort of digital tweaking is in the interests of recreating the director's original vision, not unlike digitally removing dust, hairs, scratches, etc.

 

[Nelson Au]

I see that scene like the car chase in Bullitt. In one shot, the Plymouth Barracuda overshot the turn and hit a parked car right in front of the camera. But they edited it such that the car appears to continue. (I'll have to rewatch that on the old laserdisc, but I think the remastered version tweaked it so the parked car moved back to the original position)

In Goldfinger's case, I really think it was an honest mistake and somebody bumped the camera. Same case in both films. It is what it is, a goof. And from the purist point of view, I guess you leave it. But I can see someone wanting to fix it!

 

[MielR]

They should have just fixed it by using the frames Nelson posted on the previous page.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Originally Posted by Nelson Au
In Goldfinger's case, I really think it was an honest mistake and somebody bumped the camera. Same case in both films. It is what it is, a goof.

No, there are missing frames, as demonstrated by others already, using clips from older releases.

 

[MielR]

Originally Posted by Jay Pennington




No, there are missing frames, as demonstrated by others already, using clips from older releases.

Yes there are. If you check the previous page, Nelson posted the frames that are present on the Criterion LD, and were later removed from all subsequent video releases.