A Few Words About A few words about...™ Captain from Castile -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

The first thing I noticed before even opening the packaging for Twilight Time's new Blu-ray release of Henry King's Captain from Castile, was the gorgeous, classic cover art, appropriate to the film.

Those familiar with Fox productions of the 1930s, '40s, and into the early '50s, will be aware that the studio was known for magnificent Technicolor productions, and beginning in 1939, contract player, Tyrone Power, had a major presence in those three-strip affairs.

In many cases, paired with directors Rouben Mamoulian and Henry King, the audience was the beneficiary of some superb entertainments.

Captain from Castile (1947) was Mr. Power's fifth Technicolor film, after Jesse James (1939), Blood and Sand (1941), The Black Swan (1942), and Crash Dive (1943), and his fourth helmed by Mr. King.

Henry Fonda was the other likely candidate for the three-color palette.

Like virtually every other Fox nitrate and three-strip, the original elements no longer survive, which means that what we have has been cast to the fates.

Captain from Castile comes off better than many others, with apparent contrast problems only really obvious in darker sequence. In fully exposed scenes, the color and densities are quite acceptable, even occasionally Technicolor-like, although seldom truly accurate.

All the tech chatter aside, Captain from Castile was a huge Fox production for the time. If only we had those original negatives!

The Power costume dramas were gifts from the cinema gods, and we'll be thankful for what we have.

Twilight Time's new disc comes replete with isolated score by Alfred Newman, and enough extras to keep one busy for an evening. Along with that, you'll find Julie Kirgo's essential notes.

Image - 4

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 4.25

Pass / Fail - Pass

Highly Recommended

RAH

 

[Robin9]

Thank you very much. I've been waiting for an informed opinion before placing my order. Based on this, I will buy the disc although I recognise that it makes clear what was lost by that imbecilic decision to junk all those original elements.

 

[bujaki]

Thank heavens for the Henry King retro at MoMA and their showing of this in a 35mm nitrate Technicolor print. This and Margie and Wilson and King of the Khyber Rifles, etc. Those days are long gone!

 

[Robert Harris]

Thank heavens for the Henry King retro at MoMA and their showing of this in a 35mm nitrate Technicolor print. This and Margie and Wilson and King of the Khyber Rifles, etc. Those days are long gone!

The original nitrates are truly, the “stuff that dreams are made of.”

 

[Matt Hough]

I'd love to see what Wilson really looked like in REAL Technicolor. What's on DVD-R now is even an insult to Eastmancolor, a complete abomination.

In doing prep work for the review copy of Captain from Castile, I played the DVD the other night to listen ahead of time to the commentary. When I'd peep at the screen, I was reminded that this was one of the stronger Fox attempts to get back to the original Technicolor look using the elements they had left, and RAH is right: there are moments that are very Technicolor-like if not exactly matching what Technicolor could achieve.

 

[PMF]

And what of "The Black Swan"? What is known about its elements, in juxtaposition to the current transfer? Is it likely that we will ever get to see an improved representation of this Leon Shamroy work; or is it much like the problems concerning "Wilson"?

 

[Robert Harris]

And what of "The Black Swan"? What is known about its elements, in juxtaposition to the current transfer? Is it likely that we will ever get to see an improved representation of this Leon Shamroy work; or is it much like the problems concerning "Wilson"?

All orig elements destroyed c. 1976. We accessed the studio nitrate during the digital work. Luscious and magnificent, with the added G record.

 

[bujaki]

And what of "The Black Swan"? What is known about its elements, in juxtaposition to the current transfer? Is it likely that we will ever get to see an improved representation of this Leon Shamroy work; or is it much like the problems concerning "Wilson"?

Ah, Philip, living in NYC in the '70s, when these Fox Tech films were still being shown either at MoMA in their archival nitrate prints, or circulated in IB Tech prints to repertory cinemas...Paradise Lost!

 

[Joe Caps]

Does this have the same poor soundtrack the dvd had? Has anyone compared?

 

[BRAD1963]

I just finished watching. What a beautiful transfer.

 

[Joe Caps]

For Bob Harris, When Fox makes a bad optical dupe, as they have with Captain from castile and Prince of Foxes, is the original nitrate tossed away?

 

[Robert Harris]

For Bob Harris, When Fox makes a bad optical dupe, as they have with Captain from castile and Prince of Foxes, is the original nitrate tossed away?

All of the original nitrate is tossed, inclusive of orig cam negs and all protection elements.

 

[Richard M S]

It still amazes me that Fox junked all of their original nitrate back in the 1970's....but my God even when J. Edgar Hoover's secretary destroyed "all" of his files they subsequently found some stuff that was misfiled or lent out to others.

Were Fox corporate employees of the 1970's THAT diligent, lol? Not one nitrate was misfiled or overlooked?

 

[Robert Harris]

It still amazes me that Fox junked all of their original nitrate back in the 1970's....but my God even when J. Edgar Hoover's secretary destroyed "all" of his files they subsequently found some stuff that was misfiled or lent out to others.

Were Fox corporate employees of the 1970's THAT diligent, lol? Not one nitrate was misfiled or overlooked?

To the best of my knowledge, a single set of fine grains, along with some trims / outs / deletions survived,

 

[lark144]

Ah, Philip, living in NYC in the '70s, when these Fox Tech films were still being shown either at MoMA in their archival nitrate prints, or circulated in IB Tech prints to repertory cinemas...Paradise Lost!

What I particularly remember is that sometime in the early 70's, Henri Langlois of the Cinematheque Francaise lent the New York Film Festival about 6 Fox Technicolor nitrates which were shown free of charge at the theater in the Performing Arts Library on weekday afternoons.

To this viewer, who had only seen grainy 16mm prints on television, they were a complete revelation, especially the two Fritz Langs, THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES & WESTERN PACIFIC. I was used to the brash, overly emphatic primaries of Eastmancolor prints, but these Technicolor nitrate prints were infused with a kind of subtle coloration that made me think of Renaissance art. They glowed, but in a restrained manner, as if somehow capturing the spark of life itself, crystalline and magnificent, especially the reds and golds of the desert landscape against cornflower blue skies in WESTERN UNION, an aesthetics of color that reinforced the complex mythology of Lang's vision, in particular, fusing the primal with the archetypal, and suggesting to a viewer a universe of ideas beyond the simply plot of murder and revenge. Of course,, the current Blu-ray doesn't even come close. Ah, but those prints were so magnificent, and I feel lucky that I just happened to be there, briefly without a job, so that my afternoons were free.

 

[Robert Harris]

What I particularly remember is that sometime in the early 70's, Henri Langlois of the Cinematheque Francaise lent the New York Film Festival about 6 Fox Technicolor nitrates which were shown free of charge at the theater in the Performing Arts Library on weekday afternoons.

To this viewer, who had only seen grainy 16mm prints on television, they were a complete revelation, especially the two Fritz Langs, THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES & WESTERN PACIFIC. I was used to the brash, overly emphatic primaries of Eastmancolor prints, but these Technicolor nitrate prints were infused with a kind of subtle coloration that made me think of Renaissance art. They glowed, but in a restrained manner, as if somehow capturing the spark of life itself, crystalline and magnificent, especially the reds and golds of the desert landscape against cornflower blue skies in WESTERN UNION, an aesthetics of color that reinforced the complex mythology of Lang's vision, in particular, fusing the primal with the archetypal, and suggesting to a viewer a universe of ideas beyond the simply plot of murder and revenge. Of course,, the current Blu-ray doesn't even come close. Ah, but those prints were so magnificent, and I feel lucky that I just happened to be there, briefly without a job, so that my afternoons were free.

You were viewing prints with the G record, which could be magnificent.

 

[lark144]

You were viewing prints with the G record, which could be magnificent.

Thanks Robert. I was sure you would know specifically what I had seen. They were all remarkable, and while there are hundreds of movies that I have seen and forgotten, seeing those prints I will never forget. Not just because they were so luminous and detailed, but the use of light and color placed the films on a whole different level, so that the films themselves were transformed. And as I noted above, with Lang's two films, it wasn't just a matter of beautiful color, but the color and the added sense of depth in RETURN OF FRANK JAMES & WESTERN UNION had very specific functions in those films' emotional iconography and narratives.

The color in those films were how Lang expressed the deeper meanings of character and history and myth, something which unfortunately, the remaining Eastman elements do not express. Especially in terms of shadow detail, which had a particularly poignant use in THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, dealing with the American landscape as a repository of communal experience and a foundation for individual action. Specifically, the sense of the Tragic, which is so much a part of Lang's world view, and comes across not so much by means of the narrative, but through composition and color. Still, having seen these films in their original state, I am able to look at what remains and remember what was originally there.

 

[Robert Harris]

Thanks Robert. I was sure you would know specifically what I had seen. They were all remarkable, and while there are hundreds of movies that I have seen and forgotten, seeing those prints I will never forget. Not just because they were so luminous and detailed, but the use of light and color placed the films on a whole different level, so that the films themselves were transformed. And as I noted above, with Lang's two films, it wasn't just a matter of beautiful color, but the color and the added sense of depth in RETURN OF FRANK JAMES & WESTERN UNION had very specific functions in those films' emotional iconography and narratives.

The color in those films were how Lang expressed the deeper meanings of character and history and myth, something which unfortunately, the remaining Eastman elements do not express. Especially in terms of shadow detail, which had a particularly poignant use in THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, dealing with the American landscape as a repository of communal experience and a foundation for individual action. Specifically, the sense of the Tragic, which is so much a part of Lang's world view, and comes across not so much by means of the narrative, but through composition and color. Still, having seen these films in their original state, I am able to look at what remains and remember what was originally there.

All true. Something else to keep in mind. Nitrate stock was crystal clear.

 

[PMF]

All orig elements destroyed c. 1976. We accessed the studio nitrate during the digital work. Luscious and magnificent, with the added G record.

Please forgive, as I may have lost track of some earlier Posts. When you say "We", are you saying that there's a restoration of "The Black Swan" that's taking place; or are you saying that the studio nitrate and the added G record have simply been preserved for a future time?

 

[Robert Harris]

Please forgive, as I may have lost track of some earlier Posts. When you say "We", are you saying that there's a restoration of "The Black Swan" that's taking place; or are you saying that the studio nitrate and the added G record have simply been preserved for a future time?

The original G record is long gone.