MY FAIR LADY. Has Paramount any plans to release this? (1 Viewer)

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua

Remember when they remade "The King and I" - as a cartoon.

Remakes of classic films usually don't make of an impact

That one made an impact — like a meteor.


But back to the topic at hand, I'm hoping the eventual Blu-Ray is not tied into the success or failure, or even existence, of this remake that keeps getting pushed back and may not even happen (I won't be seeing it no matter who is in it, unless Julie Andrews gets her voice back and magically becomes 50 years younger). Nor do I want to wait until its 50th Anniversary in 2014 unless that's what it takes to get it up to the best possible quality.


The 30th Anniversary Edition is one of the laserdisc box sets I still keep around (along with the Sound of Music box that came around the same time and The Ultimate Oz) thanks to the non-disc extras like the 70mm film clip (mine has Higgins sitting on a chair in his mother's house during "Without You"), and the book by Cecil Beaton that have not been available anywhere else.

 

[Charles Smith]

Same here, with those LD sets. They (and certain others) are permanent fixtures here.

 

[Robert Harris]

A point to be kept in mind is the cost of not releasing, which is millions per year. MFL is a staple

in the home video world, and while prepping the film for a Blu-ray release would range from 400k - 1,000k,

the latter being inclusive of all new 65mm elements, that cost would be covered on day of release.


And for those who follow things such as film restoration and the creation of Blu-rays, the current elements

are not Blu-ray ready.


RAH

 

[Brianruns10]

Well here's hoping with the economy picking back up that there may be renewed motive to get some of these titles out there. With all the new technology available, there's much work for someone like Robert. And here's hoping you're able to complete work on "The Alamo"!

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

A point to be kept in mind is the cost of not releasing, which is millions per year. MFL is a staple

in the home video world, and while prepping the film for a Blu-ray release would range from 400k - 1,000k,

the latter being inclusive of all new 65mm elements, that cost would be covered on day of release.


And for those who follow things such as film restoration and the creation of Blu-rays, the current elements

are not Blu-ray ready.


RAH

Thanks for letting us know Robert, I wasn't aware.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

Well here's hoping with the economy picking back up that there may be renewed motive to get some of these titles out there. With all the new technology available, there's much work for someone like Robert. And here's hoping you're able to complete work on "The Alamo"!

The Alamo does not look like a continuing prospect for high quality survival. While I could be misreading the situation, I'm not seeing the new management of MGM as particularly savvy about the ownership of a large library, ie. risk, reward, cost, benefit, unless it's going to be spun off, as if some Dickensian street urchin. Even if their several thousand titles are spun off to another entity, the extant elements on so many seem to be so lacking, that I fear many will be lost to any future high quality survival. Even the wonders of digital technology can only go so far, especially when dealing with elements that have been neglected and mishandled by previous owners. To be clear, I'm not referring to the MGM of the past decade or so, which has done their best toward preservation, a continuing uphill battle. But one need only go back to the MGM-UA era to see the wrath of poor storage, mishandling and neglect.


There still exists within our industry an unfortunate disconnect, via which even the most important of titles, and I'm referring to, among others, Academy Award Best Pictures, may appear to be properly protected, with redundancy. But even the most cursory examination of the facts yields horror stories, when one looks past the simple lines of what appear to be facts as viewed on the printed inventory page. Some studios are aware and are handling their libraries correctly, while others unfortunately still reside in the dark ages.

RAH

 

[GMpasqua]

It would cost 1 Million to prep "My Fair Lady" for Blu-ray...and those costs would be covered on the day of release?


I would think many other older titles would never be able to cover their costs during their release window let alone the day of release.



1 million to prep a film? Some films propably require more restoration than MFL which was only restored 17 years ago (Althoug it seems like yesterday that I was watching the film at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York) If the costs are that high they will never see release on Blu-ray

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris
The Alamo does not look like a continuing prospect for high quality survival. While I could be misreading the situation, I'm not seeing the new management of MGM as particularly savvy about the ownership of a large library, ie. risk, reward, cost, benefit, unless it's going to be spun off, as if some Dickensian street urchin.
RAH

When I realized that the Spyglass deal was the one going forward, I was disheartened in that they do not understand the value of any older film and are more involved with the deal of getting a film made than even seeing it released. I feel that the MGM/UA library will be a forgotten entity and it saddens me.

 

[Brianruns10]

Robert,



If I was some internet billionaire like Zuckerberg, you'd have nothing to worry about. Instead, I chose the life of a poor maker of history films. And I worry about the very things you do. Not just films, but everything. We're careening ahead into the digital age, but not thinking about how to leave a trail. How will we preserve digital photographs? Who will think to save their emails? I fear, decades and centuries from now, the period we are now in may be looked upon as a dark age, a black hole in the historical record where much is lost forever because we did not design a means to preserve everything. It's why I continue to shoot still photographs on film, and why I preserve my email correspondence as well. If I had the money, I'd have all my digital cinema work printed to negative stock and stored away in an archive for safe keeping

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua

It would cost 1 Million to prep "My Fair Lady" for Blu-ray...and those costs would be covered on the day of release?


I would think many other older titles would never be able to cover their costs during their release window let alone the day of release.



1 million to prep a film? Some films propably require more restoration than MFL which was only restored 17 years ago (Althoug it seems like yesterday that I was watching the film at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York) If the costs are that high they will never see release on Blu-ray

The million number was toward the creation of new digitally produced 65mm protection elements, which are not essential for a Blu-ray.


The range of costs begins at a low end of 400k, which is more than enough to create a stellar Blu-ray.


Different costs for different purposes.


RAH

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

Robert,



If I was some internet billionaire like Zuckerberg, you'd have nothing to worry about. Instead, I chose the life of a poor maker of history films. And I worry about the very things you do. Not just films, but everything. We're careening ahead into the digital age, but not thinking about how to leave a trail. How will we preserve digital photographs? Who will think to save their emails? I fear, decades and centuries from now, the period we are now in may be looked upon as a dark age, a black hole in the historical record where much is lost forever because we did not design a means to preserve everything. It's why I continue to shoot still photographs on film, and why I preserve my email correspondence as well. If I had the money, I'd have all my digital cinema work printed to negative stock and stored away in an archive for safe keeping

Nothing to worry about. It's already gone. We're over 15 years into the digital arena of family photos, and I would wager that the majority of images created during the first decade are already lost or non-functional. Add to that VHS-C, 8mm, Hi-8, etc., home video, regardless of whether taken on an analogue or digital platform, are not stable long term. Best not to even think about APS photography. Most examples were horribly processed, and will no longer print.


Funding is not the major problem for Alamo, Mad World, etc. It's lack of interest on behalf of the owners.


RAH

 

[Brianruns10]

I've gotten quite an education recently, doing home video to DVD transfers for clients, to help pay the bills. I won't call what I do preservation, since it certainly isn't the kind of work you do, but I try my best to advice the client and encourage them to preserve this stuff. I warn them that even DVDs have a shelf life, and a disturbingly short one given we're already seeing cases of DVD rot. I do everything I can to get them to save the original, AVI files on a hard drive...going so far as to keep their files for a time until they decide, and doing the transfer for free; they need only supply the drive.

Still, there have been some big disappointments. One client asked if, now that her tapes were DVD, she could throw the originals out. I about choked! Needless to say, I dissuaded her from that course! In another case, I was too late. One tape I transferred was one of those badly done, early 90s "telecine" of double 8 Kodachrome, which amounted to a videotape of a bloody wall. Basically unwatchable. I asked if she had the originals, and offered to send them for an HD telecine. She stated she was fairly certain the film had already been thrown out. A bloody tragedy, given how gorgeous Kodachome can be in HD (assuming the transfer is done right, not like they did with "WWII in HD"). Instead, a priceless artifact is gone, and survives only as a cruddy VHS copy of an incompetent transfer, all because someone lacked the foresight to preserve the original...

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

Still, there have been some big disappointments. One client asked if, now that her tapes were DVD, she could throw the originals out. I about choked! Needless to say, I dissuaded her from that course! In another case, I was too late. One tape I transferred was one of those badly done, early 90s "telecine" of double 8 Kodachrome, which amounted to a videotape of a bloody wall. Basically unwatchable. I asked if she had the originals, and offered to send them for an HD telecine. She stated she was fairly certain the film had already been thrown out. A bloody tragedy, given how gorgeous Kodachome can be in HD (assuming the transfer is done right, not like they did with "WWII in HD"). Instead, a priceless artifact is gone, and survives only as a cruddy VHS copy of an incompetent transfer, all because someone lacked the foresight to preserve the original...

There is little difference between videos or 8mm film of Aunt Tillie's 80th birthday celebration and huge Hollywood productions. I can discuss it, as the facts are generally common knowledge, that c. 1976 Fox did as generally slipshod job of "converting" all of their nitrate productions to the wonders of safety film.


Magnificently photographed three-strip productions were copied to CRI stock (as if they were less important than personal footage), protection elements created from the poorly made CRIs, and then the original materials junked. Dealing with anything nitrate has been a huge uphill battle for the Fox archival team. All that needed to be done was to copy the originals...


and donate them.


For personal videos and imagery, I generally suggest storing on RAIDs for redundancy, although the new hard state drives are looking very interesting. I have one in a Macbook Air, and love it's speed. No moving parts.


Mr. Rose knows of what he speaks.


RAH

 

[Charles Smith]

Boy, has this thread taken a depressing turn!

 

[Brianruns10]

And so it should. Priceless stuff is being neglected to death, because it's in the hands of people who just don't care, and are deciding by their inaction to deprive unborn generations from experiencing it. It is criminal.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

And so it should. Priceless stuff is being neglected to death, because it's in the hands of people who just don't care, and are deciding by their inaction to deprive unborn generations from experiencing it. It is criminal.

That way they can remake a title and not have anything to compare it with. I know True Grit was compared to hell and back and I can not wait to hear the comparisons on MFL.

 

[Charles Smith]

I agree that it should be depressing and alarming. It already is, here, of course. It needs to become depressing and alarming to the "masses".


Been a while since I've come across any documentaries or specials about film preservation and restoration on TV. Is it a subject with no legs at this point? Except maybe on TCM, and that's a somewhat rarified atmosphere. (Don't look to AMC for it!) Couldn't a segment be devoted to it on more mainstream TV, on whatever "investigative" or "magazine" (I forget the term) type shows are still around? If a whole lot of people could get concerned that the cultural artifacts they themselves grew up with are, as stated above, being ignored to death, surely that could help move some things along. Or would such an insufficient number of people care about any of it as long as they can stream or download or find their latest favorites On Demand, that you couldn't get programs interested? There's such a world of disconnect when it comes to this stuff.

 

[Jay Taylor]

Originally Posted by Chas in CT

Been a while since I've come across any documentaries or specials about film preservation and restoration on TV. Is it a subject with no legs at this point? Except maybe on TCM, and that's a somewhat rarified atmosphere. (Don't look to AMC for it!) Couldn't a segment be devoted to it on more mainstream TV, on whatever "investigative" or "magazine" (I forget the term) type shows are still around? If a whole lot of people could get concerned that the cultural artifacts they themselves grew up with are, as stated above, being ignored to death, surely that could help move some things along.

It would be great if Modern Marvels did a film preservation and restoration episode for the History Channel. That would get a grass roots movement started from the fans of UFO Hunters, MonsterQuest, Ice Road Truckers and Ax Men.

 

[GMpasqua]

MGM may not care about restoring "It'a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World" but there was a beautiful 70MM print screened at the Cinerama Dome about 5 years ago that would make a beautiful Blu-ray - and in all honesty I would rather see a beautiful 70MM print of IMMMW make it's way to blu-ray that nothing at all. The shorter version works just fine and many people are familar with it. Plus no one really knows what it supposed to be inlcuded in the longer version anymore so the longer version would really be a new edit of the film amyway.


But please MGM, no old 35MM print transfer used for HD TV for blu-ray - you have your reputation to consider

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua

MGM may not care about restoring "It'a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World" but there was a beautiful 70MM print screened at the Cinerama Dome about 5 years ago that would make a beautiful Blu-ray - and in all honesty I would rather see a beautiful 70MM print of IMMMW make it's way to blu-ray that nothing at all. The shorter version works just fine and many people are familar with it. Plus no one really knows what it supposed to be inlcuded in the longer version anymore so the longer version would really be a new edit of the film amyway.


But please MGM, no old 35MM print transfer used for HD TV for blu-ray - you have your reputation to consider

I have the laser disc of the longer version of IMMMMW and every time I show it to people that have not seen the longer version, they like it better. I know that it is not perfect, but Kramer did approve it. I do expect a Blu will appear of the film, but not the extended version. I can only hope that Mr. Harris and others make a passioned plea to get MGM to do right by this film along with THE ALAMO and HAWAII.