A Few Words About A few words about...™ Roman Holiday -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Based upon my displeasure with the To Catch a Thief disc, which premiered this series of studio Blu-ray releases, I had concerns while waiting for the initial images to arise on Roman Holiday.

Those concerns dissipated with immediacy.

Viewers should understand that without an original negative, especially dupes, can be problematic, as they're fourth generation, but there's never anything here that's of concern.

Nice blacks, with a generous gray scale, excellent resolution, a steady image, some very minor questionable grain, which disappears at viewing distance...

There's really not a problem in sight.

Roman Holiday, as a Blu-ray is 180 degrees from Thief.

A film for the ages, that should be in every serious cinephile's library.

Image – 4.5

Audio – 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Upgrade from DVD - Without a doubt

Very Highly Recommended

RAH

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Good news and i did ordered it yesterday when Amazon lowered the price to $17.99. A great film with excellent performances by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn and directed by William Wyler. Love the scenes of Rome too.

 

[StarDestroyer52]

Superb news. Pre-ordered this on Day 1 as it was my most wanted film on BluRay.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Thank you for your review, Mr. Harris.

I'm waiting to see if my iTunes HD digital upgrades to 4K before purchasing the Blu-ray.

 

[Daniel Melius]

This and the gunfighter are my 2 favorite Gregory Peck movies and they are both being released a month apart. These have been on my wish list now for 10 years and extremely happy that paramount did roman holiday up right. There are no concerns with the gunfighter since criterion is releasing it. Was the original negative used on the original dvd release? I am confused on when the negative was damaged for this film.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Great to hear this is a quality disc. I've been trying to catch up on William Wyler's filmography lately, so I'm looking forward to filling in another gap.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

Thanks RH; your words fill me with the sort of confidence needed when ordering from Australia, with our dreadful exchange rate!
And thanks too incidentally for your kiind words in another threat about our beloved Calypso.....

 

[Michel_Hafner]

So this is from IP, duplicate negative?
Digging...
"The original negative was processed at a local film lab in Rome and was unfortunately badly scratched and damaged. The film had to be pieced back together, but the splices were so weak due to the damage that extensive amounts of tape had to be used to allow the negative to make it through a printing machine. Because of the fragile state of the negative, a Dupe Negative was made and then blown up a few thousandths of an inch to cover all the splice tape that held the original negative together."
I don't understand this. Why was the scratched ON put through a printing machine instead of a scanner? And why is a dupe negative needed to hide splice tape? The ON scan could easily be digitally zoomed as needed.

 

[Robert Harris]

So this is from IP, duplicate negative?
Digging...
"The original negative was processed at a local film lab in Rome and was unfortunately badly scratched and damaged. The film had to be pieced back together, but the splices were so weak due to the damage that extensive amounts of tape had to be used to allow the negative to make it through a printing machine. Because of the fragile state of the negative, a Dupe Negative was made and then blown up a few thousandths of an inch to cover all the splice tape that held the original negative together."
I don't understand this. Why was the scratched ON put through a printing machine instead of a scanner? And why is a dupe negative needed to hide splice tape? The ON scan could easily be digitally zoomed as needed.

This explanation seems to have been translated from another language, that is no longer spoken, and records no longer survive. The Rosetta Stone has been consulted.

Makes zero sense, but may be written specifically to confuse and confound.

Beyond that, I believe the orig neg has gone missing, along with several other Paramount films of the era.

 

[willyTass]

 

[Angelo Colombus]

This explanation seems to have been translated from another language, that is no longer spoken, and records no longer survive. The Rosetta Stone has been consulted.

Makes zero sense, but may be written specifically to confuse and confound.

Beyond that, I believe the orig neg has gone missing, along with several other Paramount films of the era.

Another William Wyler film The Best Years of Our Lives is also missing it's original film negative and in fact lost in shipment?

 

[Robert Harris]

Another William Wyler film The Best Years of Our Lives is also missing it's original film negative and in fact lost in shipment?

Word was that it was lost, but regardless, all of the Goldwyn nitrate monochromatic negatives were destroyed.

 

[Worth]

To lose one negative may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.

 

[Robert Harris]

To lose one negative may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.

It's more than two. Could have been a lab that shut down.

 

[willyTass]

Who saves a negative , saves the world

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I imagine we would all be rather depressed if we knew just how many ONegs are missing in film history.

 

[PMF]

My thanks to the team at “Paramount Pictures Presents”. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the fruits of their labors upon “Roman Holiday”.

 

[Robert Harris]

I imagine we would all be rather depressed if we knew just how many ONegs are missing in film history.

Between the 1890s and today, probably tens of thousands. Some important titles from the 1960s and '70s.

This is not a Paramount thing...

 

[DaViD Boulet]

To lose one negative may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.

this highlights the importance of being earnest in film preservation...

 

[filmnoirguy]

Looking forward to a pristine copy of Roman Holiday.

Was anyone else disappointed in Criterion's recent Blu-ray release of Paramount's The Lady Eve? Obviously not taken from the original film negative, but just the same, I expected more from Criterion.