The Godfather Paramount Logo

Re: The Godfather Paramount Logo

I agree, Ron. I feel that vintage logos are an important part of the presentation. Grease also hasn't felt the same since they replaced the Gulf/Western logo with the Viacom version.

Re: The Godfather Paramount Logo

Logos were never really an issue, and not within the purview of the restoration. This is a strictly corporate decision. Paramount was extremely flexible in allowing us to Willis-ize their logo, and actually went to great lengths in creating a digital logo at 4k for us.

For the record, there never was an head logo, only at the tail, which was originally of extremely poor quality.

Mr. Coppola approved the addition of a head logo, albeit well segregated from the opening of the film.

While I always work toward reinstating removed logos, ie. "Vertigo" and Rear Window, for which Universal was totally cooperative.

RAH

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I am also annoyed when the studios replace logos with updated versions. Even more annoying is when a studio replaces another studio's logo. This can actually be to the detriment of the film. The best example I can think of is Warner Brothers' removal of the Columbia logo in The Man Called Flintstone. Granted, this film is no Citizen Kane, but the best joke of the film was in the Columbia logo: The animators put Wilma Flintstone in place of the Columbia woman on the studio logo. When Warner Brothers released this on DVD, they removed it entirely.

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That is a shame about Flintstone.

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Was the Zodiac/Crystal Skull mock-60's mountain unavailable at the time?

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So it's an addition, rather than changing the original logo, at least as far as the head is concerned. I personally have no issue with this change, as it's one of the most minimally intrusive I have encountered, and hardly on the same order as some of the examples pointed out here, and definitely not like UA, who would change the logos every time they changed their corporate logo, regardless of the age of the film.

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I am also disappointed with changing of the Transamerica United Artists Logo on the early James Bond films and replaced it with the new United Artists-MGM logo. They probably wanted to not advertise for Transamerica, I always associated the Transamerica UA with those films. They might have removed it entirely on Yellow Submarine.

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For some reason, I always liked seeing the Transamerica UA logo sequence as a kid (with the TA logo spontaneously springing up, curved line, by curved line and then moving back to show the Title)

I think I do have it on video somewhere but wish it wasn't deleted in most new versions of UA TA movies.

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First of all I have to say I LOVE this thread. I thought I was the only anal rententive one that cared about the opening logos etc.

I always prefer the original logo for the opening of the film. Each time I see WB's or any other studio changing the logo to say a more updated logo... it actually takes me out of the mood of the film. At times I usually sit there angry the whole time thinking about the LOGO!

I don't mind it if there was never a logo before the opening and they insert one.. I can deal with that... OR like VERTIGO etc let Universal show their new logo first then as the film starts we get the original logo also! Nothing Wrong with that. I wish WB's would follow this on most of their 70's and early 80's titles. I LOVE that classic Saul Bass logo. They seemed to give it back to the Dirty Harry films... and I love watching them for those logos.

and to those who LOVE the classic UNITED ARTISTS logos esp the Transamerica ones! I love those also! Seems like the classic United Artist logos from the 70's and early 80's had a scaryness to them. anyhow whenever I find a release with them it makes the whole film.



I wish they would understand they are the history of the film.

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I am also a "logo" fan. I miss the original b&w United Artists logo that opened A Hard Day's Night (which I was still able to see in 16mm prints in the early 1980's), and the WB7A and stylized zooming WB logo that lasted into the early 80's on films like The Shining, going so far as being emossed onto several album covers back in the WEA days. Marx Brothers original Paramount and MGM logos survive to this day, why can't others be left alone?

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I do notice that Warners usually keeps there original logos on there films, and so does Universal. MGM/UA is the huge culprit, I miss the Transamerica logo and the music that went along with it (it was Tympani based). I first saw it when I taped Fiddler On The Roof off of cable in 1988. But RAH is right. The Godfather originally had no logos. The original video edition I got in 1989 had no Paramount logo at the beginning.

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Actually WB's removes the original logos A LOT.. usually for the 70's films they sometimes use the 80's logo instead of the Saul Bass logo.... But for a lot of the other Like Seven Arts etc those usually remain intact.

I wish I could see Exorcist again with the original Saul Bass logo and the music over it... the new logo just doesn't do it for me.

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I hope when Woodstock comes out on Blu Ray in July they keep the original logo for that. In fact I never saw the original logo on any of the prints. The original video edition had the Bass W red and black animation, and the new directors cut has the 80s/90s WB logo.

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I think I remember the Clockwork Orange DVD having the original logo

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Only Barry Lyndon has the stylized 70's Warner Logo intact.

What I actually find most funny is that the heavily CGI updated director's cut of THX1138 also retains the original Warner logo.

Due to this whole logo revisionism, I was actually surprised to read that Gremlins was the first movie to re-introduce the old style WB logo.

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A Clockwork Orange did not have a logo. It just started with the orange screen and than the words came up "Warner Bros. A Kinney Company Presents". They added the logo later I believe. RAH can confirm that.

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Yeah the worm logo didn't even exist at the time so even if something was plastered it would have been that weird Red/Bronze shield Warner had at the time.

Can you imagine if they pulled the MGM logo from North By Northwest? The burning WB from Blazing Saddles? Some films integrate with the logos greatly, some more recent examples being the Indiana Jones movies, the Universal logo from Waterworld and Serenity, etc.

 

The older the film, the more of a "retro" experience. Modern logos are jarring and unwelcome in this context, IMHO, even without the above level of integration.

For those unaware, the logo originally used on Lawrence of Arabia, was specially painted for the production and photographed in 65mm.  it was only seen on original 70mm prints, after which, it was removed.  It was located and re-instated for the reconstruction and restoration.

 

RAH

I don't really have a problem with the new "Willisized" CGI Mountain. But I still wish you'd kept the ultra rare split Gulf+Western on the end of Part II and the Paramount Communications-era logo on III.

Transamerica didn't buy UA until 1967 and the logo wasn't changed to the stylized T until 1975, so none of the early Bond films would have the Transamerica logo. The early Bond films would have had some variation on this logo if at all...

 

 

Though UA often didn't put a logo on the front of their films so they may not have had a logo at all.

 

Doug

^Incorrect on both counts. Transamerica had a logo on a James Bond film as early as "You Only Live Twice" (in this case it was the rare multicolored circle logo). The Transamerica T actually debuted in 1968 and was first used on a Bond film with "On Her Majesties Secret Service".

For me, the opening of Superman: The Movie has to have the original 70s WB logo, just as the opening of Close Encounters has to have the original Columbia logo.

 

But I've appreciated several films where they incorporated the logo into the fun - Smokey & The Bandit II is a pretty bad movie, but it has a fun car chase around the Universal planet.  And Waterworld does a good job of incorporating the planet into the opening moment of the film.

 

Interesting. I'm not sure, I was just going based on the info I could find about UA on line. From the info I could gather that logo didn't come along until 75, but you know how reliable info on the internet is.

 

Doug

 

Your confusion perhaps stems from the fact that there are variations of the Transamerica T.

 

The one that appeared on the early James Bond films in the late '60's was where the T was built curve by curve, and sometimes accompanied by timpani or brass music, but most often silent or with movie audio underneath; the words "United Artists" would then scroll over from the left.  Around '75 was when they changed it to putting the words "United Artists" on screen, and then adding the T on the right and the "A Transamerica Company" line underneath;.on some occasions, particularly on X-rated releases or films the insurance company didn't want to be associated with, they would omit the T and the Transamerica credit.

There is the other variation, best known on CARRIE, which uses a completely different font in all caps.  I don't recall seeing that on any other UA releases.
 

The "Spotlight" UA is on Rocky.