DaveK

Ultra-Resolution

Since Warner's and MGM's old techincolor movies are being restored thruogh the Ultra-Resolution process:

Will the movies previously released on DVD be re-done with the process (On The Town, Little Women, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Anchors Aweigh, Kim, The Harvey Girls, Good News, Calamity Jane and Scaramouche...did I miss any..lol)

Also, will all technicolor movies be treated equally and get the Ultra-Resolution treatment.



Does anyone know which technicolor movies are currently in the process of being restored for home video???

Scott_MacD

Could someone be so kind as to explain this Ultra-Resolution process, or point me in the right direction for one..? I'd be interested in finding out more about the process of restoring a Technicolor film to video.

http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/

Andrew Budgell

Elizabeth Taylor Resource

Heinz W

I would love to see the process applied to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Please Warners, to hold me til the hi-def version arrives?

John Whittle

Technicolor movies shot with the Technicolor camera produced three black and white negatives (that is a "record" for each primary color). In the Technicolor process, these negatives were printed to a matrix material which was imbibbed with dye which was transfered to a release print producing the IB (imibition) dye trasfer prints.

Dye transfer prints (besides being old and most cases worn) make poor source material for video transfer. Therefore the negatives were used (or other protection elements) to produce interpositives for video transfers. Since this is a photomechanical process, alignment, dirt and shrinkage problems enter into the source material.

The Warner Ultra system uses the original nitrate negatives (and there are lots of dupes in there for fades and dissolves) and then electronically combines and color corrects the materials. They can work from either a negative or a finegrain (both existed in the Technicolor system).

The process is slow and costly so I doubt that all Technicolor negatives will undergo this process.

It's interesting this is much like the process that the WRS Lab (may they rest in peace) developed (pardon the pun) which involved a trip head optical printer that allowed a real time compositing of Technicolor negatives. The Warner system has a much better gamma and color correction system and allows precise "fitting" of the three images.

Each one of the 22 or so Technicolor cameras had it's own "personality" and each prism had a personality that had to be corrected for in the lab in making release prints.

Sorry you asked?

John

Patrick McCart

Well, 2001: A Space Odyssey was shot in 65mm (Super Panavision). Ultra Resolution is really meant to recombine 3-strip material such as Technicolor.

Other than some edge enhancement in places, Warner's 16x9 remaster of the film looks fantastic. I'd suspect they have an HD master, which would probably be used for the 2-disc SE coming sometime in the near future.


I think some of those are somewhat new and look great. However, I think On the Town and Anchors Aweigh have been said to be mediocre in terms of color fringing.


By the way, the upcoming 2-disc SE's of Easter Parade and The Band Wagon are both Ultra-Resolution projects. Warner also hinted at An American in Paris being a potential UR project. The Wizard Of Oz will apparently be a 2-disc/3-disc SE later this year, with a new Ultra Resolution transfer.

If you haven't seen the new Gone with the Wind 4-disc set yet (which is an essential purchase, IMO) it has a featurette on the Ultra Resolution process (as well as other aspects of the restoration).

Here's a short list of UR DVD's...

Released:
Singin' in the Rain (2-Disc SE)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Meet Me in St. Louis
Gone with the Wind (4-Disc SE)

Coming soon:
Easter Parade (3/15/2005)
The Band Wagon (3/15/2005)
The Wizard of Oz (Fall 2005?)
An American in Paris (2006?)

Tell The Weinstein Company to release Richard Williams' animated masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler on DVD in Panavision widescreen and uncut! See and hear what you're missing from their Bitsy Award winner of Worst Standard Edition DVD of 2006 on YouTube!

DaveK

John, thanks for the information because I had no clue on what exactly was done.



I bought these so far and I plan on buying Easter Parade. I hope they do something with Lucille Ball's technicolor MGM movies.

Jayson Wall

Myself, I'm waiting for an Ultra-Res version of "The Kissing Bandit" and "Texas Carnival"




JW

MatthewA

Would it be at all feasible to do UR on panchromatic separations of color negative films when the negative/IP/what-have-you won't do?

STOP THE MADNESS! STOP THE BUTCHERING AND ABANDONMENT OF TV SHOWS ON DVD!

My DVD List at DVD Aficionado, Now Featuring Blu-Ray

Will Krupp

I would say no. The whole purpose of ultra-resolution is to perfectly re-combine the negatives for maximum sharpness. Using it on separations made from single strip color negative wouldn't get it any sharper or clearer than the original negative from which the separations were made, so it would be ultimately pointless as you would end at the exact same place you started.