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Phantom of the Opera: Ultimate Edition pre-book sheet! (1 Viewer)

Jack Theakston

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Actually, from what I've heard, some material exists in 35mm of HUNCHBACK, but in just as poor quality as the 16mm material out there.
 

Larry Sutliff

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Hunchback sadly exists only in 16mm, so even the best DVD wouldn't look excellent.
Well, in that case, I'm grateful that anything survives at all. I have seen some DVD's that are taken from 16mm that look pretty good. Kino's DVD's of THE OLD DARK HOUSE and SHE(1935) are taken from 16mm elements, and though they may be lacking in sharpness compared to 35mm, they look ok. There is a beautiful 35mm print of THE OLD DARK HOUSE that was run in LA a year or so ago, but unfortunately the holder of the print won't allow Kino to use it for a remaster.

Sorry for going off topic.
 

Patrick McCart

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Turner Classic Movies is showing the raw Photoplay transfer (without Scott MacQueen's additional work)...

It's a magnificent transfer, but I'm stunned by the amount of specks, splice lines, and other blemishes that were removed by Scott MacQueen's team for the DVD.
 

Mark Zimmer

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More on the 35mm 1925 Phantom:

At the Halloween showing here of Phantom, organist Dennis James commented that UCLA had acquired a 35mm print of the '25 version that it was combining with the Show-At-Home 16mm materials; he was very definite that it was a '25 35mm print that had turned up in an archive in Bulgaria in the last year. This is the first I've heard of it, but Dennis is someone who would be in the loop for such things. So hopefully we'll get to see a first-rate restoration of the '25 Phantom yet!!! :D
 

Bill Burns

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An update: I may have to begin addressing ghosting and blurring as two separate issues -- I thought them directly connected, but I'm beginning to suspect the intervals at which ghosting occures (regular or irregular) may influence the appearance of blur at full motion ... well, I wrote up a big update on Shepard's edition of Phantom on another thread, and for those following this epic (I still just don't have solid answers here, and I'm prepared at this point to ignore ghosting altogether and just address blur, so convoluted has the issue become), here's a link:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...27#post1854927

That's a direct link to the relevant post; be sure to note the update I've just added to the bottom, as it counters some of what I said earlier in the post.

:frowning: I just don't know, guys. I can't find any consistency with this issue. Titles that shouldn't have any ghosting have it, titles that have ghosting sometimes blur, sometimes don't ... there must be a standard rule to govern this matter, but I've yet to discover it. As it is, I'm left on a title-by-title "do fine features blur at normal motion" question, something only a few reviewers are consistently addressing -- and that makes purchasing decisions very difficult. Ack.

At any rate, my thanks again to Mark and others who continue exploring this matter. :emoji_thumbsup: I'll mirror this update in a couple of threads where ghosting has been discussed, for the benefit of those following those threads -- though with all of this confusion, I'm not sure how much use it'll be. I hope others aren't as frustrated as I am -- I know there's a standard set of parameters we can apply to this issue, a standard "this this and this was done in preping the title, and so it will inevitably blur" formula, but the specifics of that standard remain illusive.

P.S. That's excellent news about the '25, Mark.
 

Patrick McCart

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If the material was found, Photoplay may revise their restoration (which could offer an opportunity for them to re-do the speed changes).

Carl Davis recorded extra score material in case the 16mm scenes were found in 35mm quality.
 

Bill Burns

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Would I be spoiling a mystery if I waxed enthusiastic about the classic film dialogue museum in which the quote from your signature belongs, Patrick? :D It's late, that's the best I could do. Great quote, fun film ... I wasn't keen on the final scene, though.
 

Jack Theakston

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If it's true that a 35mm print has been discovered (I know of an Italian print a few years ago that was a couple of reels or so of terrible quality), I would really be stunned to see what the quality is. If anything, I'm sure it probably still has the Technicolor and Prizmacolor sequences intact. Still, I'm very skeptical about this. I try to keep an ear out from folks I know at UCLA about this film, and have yet to hear of anything yet.

About 8 or 9 years ago, I went to a showing of PHANTOM in Atlanta with a piano/organ accompanyment (may have been Dennis James, but I can't remember for the life of me). The organist stated that there had been Technicolor Faust Ballet sequences discovered at UCLA, which I never heard of again. Looking back into it, I found that this is not true, and if it is, it's certainly not marked as PHANTOM material.
 

Bill Burns

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Hmmm. Well, keep us posted, Jack. I'm holding out hope on this one.

By the way, while I started another thread for it, the direction of that thread went into unexpected territory, so let me ask here, as I know you were anticipating the title: any reaction to the new The General / Steamboat Bill, Jr. release? Have you had a chance to A/B 'em with the Kinos? I'd love to hear opinions from all who've seen both the Image and the Kinos (Jack and anyone else), particularly any that discuss specifics of improvements that can be seen between the releases -- for instance, is the new General free of the moments of relatively mild decomp seen in a few places on Kino's edition? As Kino's edition already looks spectacular for the most part, I'm wondering if a depth of detail has been improved, if the new transfer is windowboxed (as was the earlier transfer), etc..

Ditto on SBJ. Thanks. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Jeff Swearingen

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Does anybody have a link to the original information that started this thread? When I checked the first post (when it was still there) instead of giving me info on Phantom it sent me to a porn site.
 

Jack Theakston

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Sorry. That'd be my site. I was in the middle of renewing it and it got swiped from me. Perhaps Patrick can post it on his image server.

Bill, I haven't bought the double disk set yet, but I aim to sometime this month. From what I hear, the material for The General is excellent, but nothing ever seen before, which makes me curious as to what David Shepard was referring to. However, when I do get it, I'll do a couple of comparison screencaps and see how this edition stacks up to others (although I've heard Steamboat Bill Jr. is just sparkling in quality).
 

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