3D Any Chance for "The French Line" in 3D? (1 Viewer)

There has been much discussion and requests regarding many of the Golden Age 3D titles.

One that keeps escaping these discussions is "The French Line"
I remember seeing it at the Cinema, alas in 2D, when I was a teenager.
I do remember getting quite excited at the time. (women have breasts, wow! what a moment of discovery)

Recently it was run on TV here and I began to wonder what all the excitement was about.
Jane Russell in that outfit, all shown in long shot. Bah!
I've since found out that the European version had many closer to the action shots.
I reckon that's the version we got here, back in the fifties. (unless my teenage imagination ran wild at the time)

Anyhow, it would be fabulous to see it in 3D.
The European cut in 3D would be sensational, but is that version available? or is any version available, in any sort of condition to make it possible?.

If Warners ever get around to doing a 3D "Kiss Me Kate" then let's hope that a 3D version of "The French Line" is not too far behind.



Doug.

I have the old field sequential 3D version on VHS tape and maybe DVD but the 3D does not work on the 3D TV's of today.

The uncut version is available and was shown at the 3D expo last year.

I personally prefer French Line over Kiss Me Kate. The interaction between the characters is more interesting and entertaining.

revgen said:

The uncut version is available and was shown at the 3D expo last year.

Click to expand...

Wow! that's great news.
Now I guess it all depends on George Feltenstein and the other folks over at Warners.

RKO initially released the film without a Seal from the Production Code and ran into many problems with local censor boards.

They went back and re-cut the "Looking for Trouble" number with a master long-shot and that's the version you saw. They eliminated all the close-ups and her mid-song dialogue about the kind of man she is hoping to find.

Here's the original version:

Love Howard Hughes' (or whoever came up with it) ad campaign for this one- "J.R. in 3D. It'll knock both your eyes out!".

Thanks for sharing the Boxoffice article above Bob. Very interesting read. All it takes is a little censorship controversy to increase business.

Sign me up for The French Line (and Son of Sinbad).

"Kiss Me Kate" and "The French Line" are my two favortie golden age 3D musicals. I really hope we will eventually see them on blu-ray3D. However, I'm not getting my hopes up as the studios don't appear to see older films or 3D as deserving much attention or respect. Our only hope are 3D enthusiasts like Bob Furmanek who care about 3D and presentation quality.

Unfortunately, the RKO 3-D titles have never been preserved. The good news is that 35mm left/right elements do exist but it would need a lot of work to prep them for 3-D Blu-ray.

We were told if HOUSE OF WAX (a 300K restoration) did well, then WB might restore KISS ME KATE next.

With a cost of 200 to 300 thousand to restore each title, it's going to be VERY hard to get approval from the bean counters to put that kind of money into the RKO films.

I wish that I could be more optimistic!

It's great to hear that "House Of Wax" did well for Warner Brothers. They gave us a great restoration and nice overall package on that title and deserve credit and some financial sucess from it. Hope they do the same for "Kiss Me Kate" as it is one of the classic MGM musicals 3D or not. I agree we will probably not see the RKO films due to cost. Here in the US we don't seem to be able to even a new film like get 'Frozen" in 3D due to corporate cost cutting and lack of 3D promotion.

Edited

Opps.......missed that big "if". Wishful thinking I guess......

With corporate thinking the way it is today I doubt we'll see any more 3D restorations from the studios unless they are done for the asian market. The whole "Noah" conversion story really pissed me off. I'm one of those who enjoys a good conversion. Beats letting your TV do it's 2d-3D conversion.

I would like to be optimistic.

I've been wanting to see proper 3-D versions of these films available to the masses for the past 30 years.

Is there anyway to bring the cost down? Is the major expense the 3D corrections being done (I waould assume this is now all in the digital domaine) or is it the striking a new print and it's restoration?

I heard George telling the bean counters, "Believe me, a Kiss Me Kate 3D Blu-Ray restoration will be worth it.. We'll make a profit I swear it.. just trust me, you won't regret it... It will make so many people happy and after this success we can then tackle Arena and The French Line.."
and then I woke up. It was a beautiful dream.

Call me a dreamer, but I am quietly confident that we will see "KISS ME KATE" in 3D sometime in the not too distant future.


Doug.

Bob, are you suggesting that House of Wax did not do well? If so, color me depressed. I really wanted a 3D Blu of Kiss Me Kate.

Ouch..yeah. I was looking forward to the above as well as Inferno, etc. I was thinking the fact that a small company like Twilight Time could issue Man in the Dark and the $15,000 cost for Sword of Granada were more in line with production costs not hundreds of thousands! I was also under the immersion that Dial M's success lead to House of Wax..which would lead to more releases. Was Dial M a success for Warner?

I'll try to get more information.