The color in the print that TCM shows is very lackluster and the image is dark. I remember at one of the Warner chats that one of the Warners folk said it needed a lot of expensive work before it would be acceptable for a DVD release.
At the Bradford Widescreen Festival in 2007, after a screening of his excellent film Cinerama Adventure, David Strohmaier said quite emphatically that the Cinerama prints and negative material had been almost completely destroyed by flooding at the storag facility. The reels of HTWWW were above them which is why that film has been preserved. Only the odd panel of TWWOTBG survived.
In May, it was posted on Movies Unlimited's site that TWWOBG was on it's way. The answer was in reference to HTWWW and if Grimm was coming. The actual answer was:
"We believe 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was shown but not made in true Cinerama, is on the way, along with George Pal’s all-star The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm, which was a true Cinerama production."
The statements make on the Q&A page is usually right on the spot and they are hardly wrong.
When Movies Unlimited said those films were on the way, do you think they meant in the Smilebox format? I'd love to own a copy of "2001" the way I first saw it, on the curve. I know some won't agree, but I think the movie always looked better on a curved screen than on a flat one.
It would look distorted as you are taking a 70mm print with a 2.2:1 aspect ratio and stretching it to Cinerama's 2.6:1 or 2.89:1 as Warner Brothers calls it, to fit the Smilebox ratio. I think it was just wishful thinking - "We believe..." on Movies Unlimited part.
See I thought the perceived aspect ratio of a 3 strip cinerama film was 2.59:1. Sure if the image is flattened it would be wider, but Cinerama films aren't meant to be viewed flat.
The original release of 2001 was roadshowed only on Cinerama screens as was Mad Mad World. It had some distortion on the left and right to help project it properly on the curved screen.
I do think that the one that would know if it would work smileboxed would be Martin Hart of the American Widescreen Museum site. So if you are reading, please put your two cents in.
I have no idea how 2001 would look smileboxed but that is the way Grimms should be presented. But I guess all answers will come with the HTWWW comes out in Smilebox, or maybe it will just ask a thousand more questions. And all this is just speculation, for I do have to give a lot of credit to what David Strohmaier says about the condition of TWWOTBG.
2001 was filmed in Spherical Panavision 70, unlike IAMMMW which was filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 which has a wider AR due to the use of a 1.25 anamorphic squeeze in photography. 2001 had no rectified prints in any of it's 70MM engagements. I was a projectionist at the time and working at the Cinerama Theater in Honolulu Hi, so I have actually worked with the 70mm prints.
From Dave Strohmaier, Director of Cinerama Adventure:
I actually never said the most of negs on Grimm were trashed, but some of the negs are water damaged from a vault flood. I saw a sample of the damage as a print was made at Crest Labs 6 years ago to check this out, damage was only on the very edge of one of the panels (pretty sure it was Baker). They also have YCM seps. of the Cinerama negs for Grimm but that would cost quite a bit to restore.
All in all with the right kind of money and time Grimm could be restored but it would cost much more that they spent on West.
My comments:
I have seen How The West Was Won and The Wonderful World of The Brothers Grimm. How The West Was Won is by far the better film so, I don't know if Warner has the time and money to restore the Cinerama elements of Grimm if they will not get a return on their money spent. Maybe they could release a less expensive DVD from the 35mm print of Grimm? It has to be better than what we see on TCM.
What we see on TCM and what was released on laserdisc seem to be from basically the same element: faded, a little dim and dirty, lackluster. Even that version I think will need some major work.
The last time this was brought up at a chat, the Warners folks seemed very unenthusiastic about it.
If you want to see what a single strip print of Brothers Grimm looks like, head over to widescreenmuseum.com. They have a capture of a 70mm reduction frame, and it looks awful.
I saw Brothers Grimm about 15 years ago on VHS and it looked a mess: faded, scratched and generally awful. The movie itself wasn't bad, but I think the smart money (if the more expensive route) is going to the YCM seps and applying the Ultra Resolution process.
Stephen, what is the url for that page? I know I sent an Ultra Panavision frame from How The West Was Won to Marty and he has that on his web site (or is it on my web site?) but that is badly faded. He also has a beautiful 3-strip scene on his site from Grimm.