Regarding the restoration of 'A Star is Born' (1954) (1 Viewer)

[Jim*Tod]

All this discussion about the complete print being out there is interesting. What I am curious about is how this new restoration looks and sounds. Did anyone see the TCM screening last week in LA? So far I have not been able to find any reviews about this on the web. If anyone saw it or knows of a link to a review, please let us know.

 

[Joe Caps]

A member of this group had my private email and gave it to the guy from the Judy Room who wanted to know more. I gave him my number and said to call me.
We talked for about 90 minutes at the end of which he said he was going to publish some of it.
I asked that no names be used ( certainly not mine). this was ignored. The article came out with many mistakes in it.
Please ignore that article. Gee, he got an exlclusive. The man should be ashamed.

 

[Stanton Heck]

Yes I saw the restoration. It looks and sounds great. Judy looks very healthy. Teeth ultra white and her lips very bright red. The stand out of course is "Born in a Trunk". The detail in costumes is a sight to see.

 

[Jim*Tod]

Thanks Stan. I am hoping it will get shown theatrically at least in DC so I will get a chance to see it again on a big screen. I haven't gone blu yet but this is one of those titles that would make me jump. Does anyone know if this was this shown digitally or on film at the festival?

 

What good is it to have somethng like this? Is a person that insecure with themselves that they think by owning something so rare makes them important? It's selfish. You can't take it with you, Sir.

 

[BethHarrison]

Originally Posted by Eric Scott Richard

What good is it to have somethng like this? Is a person that insecure with themselves that they think by owning something so rare makes them important? It's selfish. You can't take it with you, Sir.

Yes I agree it is completely selfish. Especially when all he owns is a print but not the film itself.

 

[Richard M S]

Originally Posted by Joe Caps


A member of this group had my private email and gave it to the guy from the Judy Room who wanted to know more. I gave him my number and said to call me.
We talked for about 90 minutes at the end of which he said he was going to publish some of it.
I asked that no names be used ( certainly not mine). this was ignored. The article came out with many mistakes in it.
Please ignore that article. Gee, he got an exlclusive. The man should be ashamed.

Which parts were incorrect? It was a fascinating article, and just knowing that the lost numbers from Singing In The Rain, An American In Paris and especially The Pirate survive makes me very happy, and hopeful that one day they will be released.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

Originally Posted by Joe Caps


A member of this group had my private email and gave it to the guy from the Judy Room who wanted to know more. I gave him my number and said to call me.
We talked for about 90 minutes at the end of which he said he was going to publish some of it.
I asked that no names be used ( certainly not mine). this was ignored. The article came out with many mistakes in it.
Please ignore that article. Gee, he got an exlclusive. The man should be ashamed.

This alleged quotation from you sure had me wondering:

"In December 1968, no fewer than twelve musicals premiered, and we ran all over to try and see them because we knew they wouldn't last very long in their complete format."

He must have misunderstood you, because I don't think twelve movie musicals ever opened in a single month, and by 1968 there weren't even twelve major musicals a year.

For the record, in New York, December of 1968 saw the openings of "Oliver!" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." "Funny Girl," "Finian's Rainbow" and "Star!" were still in their original reserved seat runs. Five playing at once is a lot, but it's still far short of twelve.

 

[PaulaJ]

I saw the restored ASIB too at the Grauman's Chinese and it looks splendid. I can't wait for the Blu-ray though watching it on my TV won't be quite the same experience.

The May issue of American Cinematographer has an article about the restoration.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Originally Posted by Joe Caps


A member of this group had my private email and gave it to the guy from the Judy Room who wanted to know more. I gave him my number and said to call me.
We talked for about 90 minutes at the end of which he said he was going to publish some of it.
I asked that no names be used ( certainly not mine). this was ignored. The article came out with many mistakes in it.
Please ignore that article.

That article names the person who has the uncut print of A STAR IS BORN in his possession; fat chance of it being ignored, I'm afraid, mistakes or no.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Originally Posted by PaulaJ

I saw the restored ASIB too at the Grauman's Chinese and it looks splendid. I can't wait for the Blu-ray though watching it on my TV won't be quite the same experience.

The May issue of American Cinematographer has an article about the restoration.

I just can't get excited over this incomplete "restoration".

 

[dolstein]

I was able to ask George Feltenstein about Michael Arick and the missing A Star is Born footage at Cinecon. Feltenstein was at Cinecon to discuss the Warner Archive program, and during the Q&A, I asked him about whether Warner Home Video, as part of its restoration efforts, had regular contact with film collectors, and then I asked him specifically about whether he knew who Michael Arick was and whether he believed there was any truth to the rumors that Arick had in his private film collection a complete print of the roadshow version of A Star is Born.

 

I have to give Feltenstein credit for not ducking the question, although I wasn't entirely satisfied with his answer. First, he said that Warner Home Video was very collector friendly, that the studio had worked with collectors in the past (as an example, he said that the studio had purchased some rare prints of Raintree County from a collector), and that any rumors that the studio had tried to bring legal action against collectors (as opposed to video pirates) were completely untrue. He noted that he himself had been a collector, and said that if any collector was in possession of a unique print, that he would do whatever was necessary to provide assurances to the collector that nothing would happen to them, etc. As for Michael Arick, Feltenstein said he was aware of the rumors, and knew that Arick had worked at the studio, but that didn't know him personally, and had never met him before. He then said that he had gotten permission from the Warner's general counsel to speak to Arick, and that anyone who knew Arick should ask Arick to contact him.
 

Now this last bit just didn't make any sense to me. On the one hand, Feltenstein took the rumors seriously enough to get legal clearance to speak to Arick about the print. On the other hand, it does not appear that Feltenstein has made a serious effort to contact Arick. Even if Feltenstein doesn't know Arick, there must be other people at the studio who do, and I find it very hard to believe that Feltenstein couldn't find a way to get in touch with Arick if he really wanted to.

 

[ahollis]

I agree with you on your assessment of the situation with Arick, there seems to be something larger going on there. But the exciting news is the purchase of Raintree County rare prints. I hope this means that something is being done.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

David, did George happen to mention when we'd see "Raintree County"?

 

Andy

 

[dolstein]

No, he didn't. He did mention that we'll be getting The Magnificent Ambersons next year, along with Citizen Kane on Blu-Ray. The other title I asked him about was Greed. He said that that title was being held back, along with all the other Warner silents that Kevin Brownlow restored, because he wants to do them right (full HD transfers, etc.), although he said as a stopgap Warner might release the Rick Schmidlin reconstruction, which has a progressive scan digital master.

 

[Steve...O]

David, thank you very much for your report on this issue; much appreciated. One gets the sense he is limited in what he can publically say with regards to this issue.

 

You mentioned that Mr. Feltenstein's appearance was meant to promote the Archive. Did he give any indication of any forthcoming changes to the program such as moving to pressed discs, addition of subtitles, more reasonable pricing (all of which have been brought up here and elsewhere).

 

 

[mdnitoil]

I'll be curious to see if Magnificent Ambersons will be an archive title or not. I presume not, but who the heck knows anymore.

 

[Steve...O]

I found this intriguing post on the nitrateville message board:

 

 

George Feltenstein's presentation and Q&A were very informative about how the Warner Archive business model works and how they select titles. He did say that they are trying to raise the money to be able to release the Brownlow/Photoplay titles on DVD, not on the Warner Archive label. Also, the Warner Archive titles will be in the DVD-9 format now.

 

I presume this means a switch away from DVD-R to pressed DVDs. If so, it's about time. Hopefully titles already released will be upgrade to pressed disc as well.

 

Unfortunately a google news search did not turn up any articles covering the Cinecon remarks. We are fortunate that David was in attendance and shared some of the remarks.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by Steve...O

I found this intriguing post on the nitrateville message board:

 

 

 

I presume this means a switch away from DVD-R to pressed DVDs. If so, it's about time. Hopefully titles already released will be upgrade to pressed disc as well.

 

Unfortunately a google news search did not turn up any articles covering the Cinecon remarks. We are fortunate that David was in attendance and shared some of the remarks.

Pressed discs - how original. I guess Warner's now has enough data to be able know how many they need to press to meet demand. Seems as TMC and Universal already found that out with their program. I do embrace this though. Maybe with this announcement, it caused Sony to back track with Critic's Choice on their "we shall not name" program. Hopefully these will be pressed also.

 

[mdnitoil]

Not for nothing, but the DVD-9 format is simply dual layer which has a burnable equivalent. I'm not getting all that worked up that the Archives might be making a transistion to pressed discs just yet.