[Jon Lidolt]

I have two VistaVison films on DVD that I watched recently, and both were filmed in the mid-50's. One is the John Wayne classic "The Searchers," the other is "Three Violent People," a routine Paramount western with Charlton Heston. I wonder if anyone could tell me why the lesser known film has excellent color reproduction and the expensively restored Searchers just doesn't look right. I ran a rep cinema for many years and am very familiar with how both of these pictures looked on a theatre screen.

If the Searchers negative is faded, wouldn't you think the Violent People negative would be too? So why does the Paramount title look as good as it does? I'm sure they spent as little as possible to produce the DVD and, admittedly, it does have blemishes and the odd horizontal scratch, but the the color still looks great. What is Paramount's secret?

[Jack Theakston]

Depends entirely on who processed the negatives, how it was stored, if the current restoration is off of separations, etc.

No two negatives are the same, regardless of the process.

[Jon Lidolt]

In this instance both VistaVision films were shot on Eastman color negative, processed by Technicolor and the original prints were produced via Technicolor's dye transfer system. Do you think it's possible that The Searcher's negs may not have been stored in a temperature controlled vault? Or were the B&W separations poorly made?

[Rob W]

The materials for The Searchers undoubtedly had a great deal more use over the last 50 years which would likely have contributed to their decline compared to the other title.

Here is an interesting interview with Ned Price of W.B. on the various issues concerning The Searchers :

Yellow Layer Failure, Vinegar Syndrome and Miscellaneous Musings by Robert A. Harris

[Jack Theakston]

Quote:

In this instance both VistaVision films were shot on Eastman color negative, processed by Technicolor and the original prints were produced via Technicolor's dye transfer system. Do you think it's possible that The Searcher's negs may not have been stored in a temperature controlled vault? Or were the B&W separations poorly made?

Could be both (and I suspect this is the case). Just because you have seps doesn't mean they were done right or are in the condition to yield a professional grade element.

I know of a couple of other VistaVision titles where the camera negs are totally baked and that the seps were no good. Sometimes you have to just make do with what you have.

[Patrick McCart]

Some of Paramount's VistaVision DVDs are quite ugly, though. The Court Jester and To Catch a Thief (first edition) are dupey and grainy (with lots of noise reduction to hide the latter). The remaster of the latter one fixes all the problems, even if it may just be a digital fix.

WB doesn't have a lot of VistaVision films, but The Searchers is probably the best-looking I've seen on DVD just in terms of image quality. The remastered Vertigo and Criterion's Richard III are up there, too.

[Drew Salzan]

Let's not forget HIGH SOCIETY and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (WHV). To my eyes, quite good restorations.

[MatthewA]

North by Northwest wasn't "restored". They did a SD-resolution digital cleanup, and to recreate one of the color layers they had to find a print. The film would probably be a good candidate for Ultra-Resolution (which I hope they license to other studios) because to get the color they're probably going to have to go back to the B&W panchromatic separations.

[Robert Harris]

B & W separation masters were generally never inspected after delivery

[Robert Crawford]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthewA

North by Northwest wasn't "restored". They did a SD-resolution digital cleanup, and to recreate one of the color layers they had to find a print. The film would probably be a good candidate for Ultra-Resolution (which I hope they license to other studios) because to get the color they're probably going to have to go back to the B&W panchromatic separations.

Yes, Warner already stated that this title is in need of some serious work before it can be release again on HDM which will probably happen next year for it's 50th anniversary.