Godfather 4k

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http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...ther-dvds.html
(don't know if this helps or hurts the "Harris" arguement, however it is a quote here at HTF)

DANG!
Can you believe we have been waiting for these on SD DVD even; since '03?!?!?!
Hope they are OAR.

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Now that these films will be restored and out on HDM. They will be placed on my priority list to purchase as soon as they are released!

Godfather on Blu-ray !

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The thread suggested by Mr. St. Clair makes an interesting read, to which I have made some final notes and added thoughts.

RAH

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Thanks RAH; for an "interesting read"!

My favorite artist is Jimi Hendrix & things done to his original master tapes were criminal!

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I would def upgrade to Blu Ray if this came to pass

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Please explain what happened. You've got my interest perked up.

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Yeah count me in as well

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Chalk me up as #3 in wanting to know what happened to Jimi's masters, though I think I may have some idea.

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Hopefully Mr. Harris won't mind me posting this, but last night I was in an audience that also included Robert Harris, Allen Daviau, and Gordon Willis himself at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY, and the occasion was a surprise screening of a 35mm answer print of the newly-restored THE GODFATHER followed by a Q&A with the three gentlemen mentioned above, moderated by Janet Maslin. I became aware of the possibility of said screening while surfing around on-line and coming across the listing of "An evening with Gordon Willis part 1 and 2" at the Jacob Burns film center to be accompanied by a "surprise screening" of a different film each night. I couldn't help but guess that the screenings had to be the restored versions of the first two GODFATHER films, hence it being a surprise, and seeing as how Pleasantville is only about an hour and a half drive from me, I figured it was worth it to trek up there and check it out even if it turned out to be some other Gordon Willis film being screened with him in attendance and giving a Q&A.

When I saw a man who I recognized as being Robert Harris in the lobby, I knew my instincts were correct. As the screening was introduced, the audience was informed that we were about to see a very special print of a classic film that had undergone a full 4K digital restoration. The print in question was an answer print struck from the newly outputted restored negative, and some additional tweaks would still be done before arriving at the absolute final product. By this point I had no question what we were about to see, but the majority of the audience was still in the dark, as evidenced by the audible gasp and applause from the crowd as those familiar musical notes started playing over black.

So what did the restored print look like? Well, it looked like THE GODFATHER- that is, it looked as if back in 1972, the pristine and untouched original negative had been locked in a perfectly climate-controlled, hermetically sealed vault, and that vault was just opened and the still-pristine negative was used to strike a brand-spanking new print at the best film lab in the world. You'd never know there was ever anything wrong with the elements watching this print, but hearing of the condition of the negative during the Q&A all I can say is that the final result is a miracle. The texture and detail in the image is incredible- I literally felt like I was watching this great film for the first time ever.

That said, if some folks' issues with the current DVDs have to do with the aesthetic look of the film (i.e., "It's too dark! It's too grainy! The blacks are crushed!") as opposed to any condition issues regarding the elements, I don't know what they'll think of the restored print. It's the same stylized film, with Gordon Willis's super-deep, inky blacks and a palpable, textured grain structure alive and visible throughout. I can see the Blu-ray reviews already from certain circles- "Grain is apparent... shadow detail is wanting." This is not a film that looks like Discovery HD, it looks like THE GODFATHER and thankfully always will from here on out thanks to this heroic restoration.

On to the Q&A. Hopefully Robert will be able to chime in and give more details, but we were told that much of the negative had damaged or even completely missing sprocket holes, rendering it unprintable by any traditional means, and in some cases the sprocket damage extended into the frame area itself. Robert said that some shots were literally torn in half, with one half of the frame gone, and in some cases they actually had to go to the trims and replace shots (under strict guidelines from Francis Ford Coppola- that any replaced shots be indistinguishable from the original takes in the film under normal viewing conditions). That said, according to Daviau that actual images themselves between those torn sprocket holes were in good shape (I assume he was talking in regards to fading and such, not physical damage), it was just an issue of "harvesting" those images from such damaged original elements. We were told that one of Francis' main directives to Robert Harris and Allen Daviau was to "make Gordon Willis happy". Daviau's role on the project was as a translator of sorts for Gordon Willis's intentions, as Mr. Willis was unable to go to California to directly involve himself in the day-to-day operations of the restoration. Daviau was actually quite a trip to watch- he honestly seemed in awe of Mr. Willis. You could really see the love from one artist to another up on that stage.

As for Mr. Willis, this was actually his first viewing of the restoration, and he seemed extremely happy with the results, commenting that the color was "dead on". Even though I knew the answer due to things Francis Ford Coppola has said in interviews, I figured the audience might want to know so I asked Robert what changed things to make this restoration happen when he'd been talking about it needing to be done for so many years. "Steven Spielberg" was his answer, going to to explain that Steven insisted and Brad Grey at Paramount agreed that the film needed to be saved and thus the project was finally green-lit. Robert also said that it couldn't have been done a few years ago, "because we needed to do it 4K, 2K wasn't good enough to get all the information out of the negatives", and that he knew back in 1997 that the negative was for all intents and purposes at that point, "dead" due to the extensive damage after being shipped a print by Zoetrope to inspect. Robert also had very high praise for Steven Spielberg's long-time post-production supervisor, whose name escapes me at the moment* but apparently was an integral part of the restoration and in Robert's words (paraphrasing a bit) "truly understands film preservation".

As for any "issues" with the print, the only thing I noted was some slight color shifting at a couple of reel changes that occurred within scenes. I'm guessing the "final tweaks" for this "work in progress" as Allen Daviau called it probably have to do with smoothing over these slight bumps. All in all, last night was simply a magical evening, and I hope Paramount does the right thing and gives this some theatrical playdates. My only regret is that I was unable to attend "An evening with Gordon Willis part 2" which is happening tonight featuring a completely different "surprise screening". I think we can all guess what film that is, and I only wish I could be there basking in its restored glory right now.

Vincent

* The man in question is Martin Cohen- Martin Cohen (I) - and based on the praise that Robert Harris gushed towards him, he sounds like a true friend of film.

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Wow, thanks for posting this Vincent. I'm envious of your experience.

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Yeah they don't call Gordon Willis the "Prince of Darkness" for nothing!

Doug

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Thanks for the report, Vincent.


Good and valid points. It´s a well known fact that Willis shot some of the scenes with a very little light, so they´re indeed dark. So yes, "Transformers-generation" might have some "issues" with the upcoming Blu-ray-version (if/when it´s coming at some point).

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Can't wait to see this on BD.
Is the 4K digital master archived? Any 2K/4K digital projection planned? What where the total costs of this digital restoration?

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Great post, Vincent. Thanks for taking the time.

-R

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great news

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Very exciting news, Vincent. I can't wait to see "The Godfather" films in their restored glory. These will be a must-buy on Blu-ray the day they're released.

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I wish that well-worded statement was attached to every one of those "duh--it doesn't look like good HD" reviews.

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I too am confused as to when and where the "if it doesn't look like Discovery HD Theater or Jay Leno, then the picture sucks" attitude came from. I've actually seen people criticize 300 as a lousy transfer because of the excess grain. Also, people saying "modern video games get more realistic as time goes by, why can't films like 300 do the same?" Even worse, I've seen people openly call for every transfer to eliminate film grain because it is a product of the inferior film medium and "no different from scratches on a negative or pops and hisses on a soundtrack." I told them the day The Godfather is released looking like a Discovery HD documentary about sunshine and roses, I'll throw my HT in the trash and buy a projector.

. . . and then I curled into the fetal position and openly weeped for the future.

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Wow awesome report Vincent.

That must have made your day indeed.

I'll be getting my first Blu Ray then.

Are they region free ?

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I liken this whole "film grain is evil and everything should look like digital argument" to the early days of digital recordings and CDs. There were many people who saw all-digital recording as the only way that music should be recorded and that analog would have to be molded to that image. Examples that come to mind are the early Zappa remasters and the Alan Parsons Project's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. While these were undertaken by the artists themselves, it was on the understanding that their masters were rapidly deteriorating and needed to be saved immediately. In both instances, newer elements were recorded digitally to replace deteriorating elements, and the whole thing was then remastered digitally. Thankfully, when it came to audio , newer methods intervened to preserve the original intent (24/96 mastering, "baking" the masters for transfer to digital), as well as a general digital backlash, including some artists' insistence that certain elements needed to be recorded analog before digital mixing and remastering to obtain the ideal sound (analogous to 300 using film for its grainy look when pushed).

We can all hope that cooler heads will prevail, and in the case of The Godfather, it looks like they have.

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Most Blu-ray are not region free, so probably not.

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is a Playstation 3 region free

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Yeah I have already tried to explain to many people what the benifit of BluRay for "pre-HD" movies is, and they can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that video and film store images differently- that film was able to capture more detail in the era of Citizen Kane then 1080p video can show us today.. (I know its a simplification, but...) I've heard countless people say "why does Chicken Little look so much better than Pirates" about the Sony BluRay demo disc when I worked at Best Buy... ugh.

I can't wait to pick up the Godfather in HD. I missed picking up a lot of titles like this and My Fair Lady, and some of the other older films I love, and now I'm glad I'll be able to pick them up in hi Def

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No. All Blu-ray players and most disks are not region free.

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"Most" are actually "R0", but some are indeed region coded. All Blu-ray-players are A, B, or C coded ( Blu-ray Disc - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ).

(Note, that both Blu-ray and HD DVD-players are also region coded for SD DVDs)

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True. My friend bought PS3 and his first Blu-ray-title was "300". He called me and said that it look "mediocre" (or something, can´t remember what he exactly said now). Of course it´s not "mediocre", but it just tells that people expect to be "blown away" with every HD-title (vs SD DVD). And "blown away" doesn´t mean "grain", "dark", "gritty", "murky", etc, even if that´s how the film has always looked. Even so-called pro-reviewers does that (giving "lower scores", just because they don´t like the intended look and artistic style of the film), so I´m sure that we see some differing reviews of e.g. "Godfather".

But hey, at least we have "Transformers"!

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Sorry, my bad. Looks like I was off by 1/3.

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Jeff & Jari

Thanks for the education lessons.

Cheers

Oscar

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I think a lot of people who are not HT enthusiasts yet like HD images probably have their brightness on their TV much too high, or even worse, the "Vivid" mode set on their TV. Nothing will bring out grain more than bad calibration towards brightness. I just watched 300 on BD the other night with my roommate who hadn't seen it on my properly calibrated 96" Sanyo Z4 projector, and he and I both thought it looked excellent, with the grain being noticeable but not distracting in the least, because it worked with the story being told and was very finely detailed grain - as it should be.

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Watching the restored Godfather in Blu-Ray on a Pioneer Elite Kuro? I think I need to change my underwear!