Paramount junked the Black & White nitrate elements in the1980’s, not MCA/Universal. The original deal delivered one safety 35mm fine grain and an optical track for each title to EMKA (MCA) in 1958, not the original negatives. On the 3 strip titles, MCA did get the original camera negatives...
Interesting to read Mr. Harris’ review of Funny Face. Back in 2012 I said close to the same thing here about the image being overly scrubbed with the version screened at the TCM festival from a DCP.
Criterion is taking the 4k transfer produced by MGM of the general release version (which was released on BD) dropping the newly transferred footage in (corrected and conformed in order by RAH) and that is the restored version being released. Now, is this considered a true restoration or...
It will be the same transfer MGM used for the blu-ray from a 65mm IP, but I'm sure they have fixed a few of the mistakes in that release. Not sure if the Cinerama titles are being used.
Fox is not the only studio in trouble with the nitrate era, the pre November 1949 sound Paramount features are in danger. Many of the 1958 FGM's delivered to EMKA/MCA have gone vinegar, the B&W nitrate negatives were junked quietly by Paramount, some preservation elements were lost in the...
I buy what Scott MacQueen has said about dye transfer prints in his article because that has been my experience with them as well. Since both of you are the expects on many of these titles you review, how come the studios don’t want to work with either one of you on these new restorations...
Having a dye transfer print doesn’t mean that the color is correct on that print...it’s still a print...printed in sections with each section being different looking. Check out Scott MacQueen’s article in Perfect Vision from the early 90’s that debunks the dye transfer myth.
Send any letters directly to Craig German, EVP of Worldwide Technical Operations at Paramount. Mr. German oversees all restoration and mastering staff at the studio.
Paramount Pictures
c/o Craig German
5555 Melrose Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90038
Some filmmakers will review and sign off on the final compression of the Blu-ray. Spielberg is, or someone on his staff gives that approval before the disc is moved into replication.
His involvement was sending the negative over to Technicolor for scanning and that was it. The last title Mr. Smith worked on fully was SAMSON AND DELILAH
Fred and Audrey look plastic, close-ups were smooth, waxy, and movement was smeared at times, with no trace of any grain on the screen. The...
Doris is a tan lady, but her make-up was never that shade in late 50’s/early 60’s. By the time she did her CBS TV show it was going that direction of orange, but not in this era. If you see at an I.B. print of SEND MY NO FLOWERS (shot on the later 5250 stock), she looks tan and normal. Her skin...
A DCP of FUNNY FACE was screened at the TCM Classic Film Festival this past April coming from 4k scans of the 8-perf OCN. Sorry to report it was scrubbed to death, very smeary, with color pumped up to 14. Mr. Smith started this project early on, but Andrea Kalas, VP of Archives, supervised color...
I found the color to be way pumped up for a film shot on late 5248 and it should be in the same color neighborhood as Bell, Book and Candle is. At times Doris' skin in the new blu-ray looks like she stuck her head in a bag of nacho cheese Doritos. Too much grain has been removed and if...
Outside or 30 or 40 "B" titles Fox found nitrate elements on, every thing was destroyed. All 3-strip Technicolor nitrate titles come from CRI's produced in the late 70's.
The TCM festival brought in Boston Light & Sound to oversee the presentations at the Chinese. Digital and film projectors were rented with a projection staff, but the silver screen was a huge drawback that that couldn’t be removed. Regardless, this has been the best the Chinese has looked in...
As thought, the DCP screened at the TCM festival in Hollywood of Chinatown was from this blu-ray master. On the big screen it was soft and had a plastic feel to the image. The same can be said about the DCP on Funny Face which was a blurry mess. It was not the projection at the Chinese either...