Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Stagecoach (1 Viewer)

[Reagan]

I'm happy with this BD release but am curious as to why the scratches weren't removed. I thought scractch removal was old hat in the digital age. Am I wrong on this?


-R

 

[Brandon Conway]

They DID do scratch removal. From the booklet: "The original negative for Stagecoach has been considered lost for decades. For this edition, we evaluated several of the best available prints, both restored and original, before choosing a 1942 nitrate duplicate negative that showed exceptional detail, gray scale, and clarity. We chose it as the primary source for this new high-definition digital transfer, created on a Spirit 2K Datacine, because we believed it was the best surviving film materal of Stagecoach. For safety, a new 35 mm fine-grain postive was made from the negative as a preservation. Inevitably, certain defects remain. The picture suffered from thousands of instances of blended-in scratches and debris, especially around the reel changes and action sequences. In cases where damage was not fixable without leaving traces of our restoration work, we elected to leave the original damage. Through hundreds of hours of restoration work, we've manually removed the worst of the damage, along with dirt, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, while Digital Vision’s DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction. Additional restoration was performed with the help of Reliance Mediaworks and its proprietary software."

 

[Reagan]

Thanks Brandon,


As my copy is a netflix rental, I didn't have the booklet. I understand their explanation, and am still amazed at how many scratches were not removed. Nevertheless, I trust their statement that "In cases where damage was not fixable without leaving traces of our restoration work, we elected to leave the original damage."


-R

 

[Brandon Conway]

At the very least, you gotta love how Criterion details out the process of their efforts to bring the film to BD.

 

[Richard--W]

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway

At the very least, you gotta love how Criterion details out the process of their efforts to bring the film to BD.

Criterion is a class act.

I wouldn't have minded if they had considered inserts from an alternative print, especially at the reel changes where the damage is most noticeable.


A restoration notice detailing who restored a film and by what process should precede every restoration that trickles down to home video. Let consumers know what they are paying for and how fragile art is. This should be Standard Operating Procedure for all restored films, not just Criterion.

 

[Dee Zee]

Watched the blu tonight, the first time I had ever seen the film. Outstanding. I do wonder if film restoration tools have improved in 7 years that could further repair the damaged sections.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Watched the blu tonight, the first time I had ever seen the film. Outstanding. I do wonder if film restoration tools have improved in 7 years that could further repair the damaged sections.

Not in this case I would imagine. The damage here is "burned in" and any attempt to minimalize it would be at the expense of overall detail and resolution.