- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,272
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
I've never seen a quality print of W.S. Van Dyke's San Francisco. With the majority of prints for this immensely popular film probably struck from the camera original, 84 years ago, that negative was probably in less than stellar shape before it was lost.
From what I've been able to ascertain, Warner Archive's new, and surprisingly beautiful, new Blu-ray, was derived from multiple elements.
The base seems to have been an image harvest of a nitrate fine grain of the French version. That means that the track would be in French aside from Jeanette MacDonald's vocals, and other musical numbers would be sub-titled. Main and ends, would also be French.
A second element, a safety duplicate fine grain, served for the rest of the film,
Long story short, San Francisco is a love story, set during the time of the quake, and is quite representative of the top special effects available at the time.
As pure entertainment, it's a terrific film, and it finally looks very pleasing.
Gray scale, black levels, grain, all in order, and what will be expected.
A classic that deserves to be in every serious library.
Clark Gable's big picture for the 1936.
1934 - It Happened One Night
1935 - Mutiny on the Bounty
1936 - San Francisco
Before he moved to color films in 1939.
Image – 4
Audio – 5
Pass / Fail – Pass
Upgrade from DVD – Without a doubt
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
From what I've been able to ascertain, Warner Archive's new, and surprisingly beautiful, new Blu-ray, was derived from multiple elements.
The base seems to have been an image harvest of a nitrate fine grain of the French version. That means that the track would be in French aside from Jeanette MacDonald's vocals, and other musical numbers would be sub-titled. Main and ends, would also be French.
A second element, a safety duplicate fine grain, served for the rest of the film,
Long story short, San Francisco is a love story, set during the time of the quake, and is quite representative of the top special effects available at the time.
As pure entertainment, it's a terrific film, and it finally looks very pleasing.
Gray scale, black levels, grain, all in order, and what will be expected.
A classic that deserves to be in every serious library.
Clark Gable's big picture for the 1936.
1934 - It Happened One Night
1935 - Mutiny on the Bounty
1936 - San Francisco
Before he moved to color films in 1939.
Image – 4
Audio – 5
Pass / Fail – Pass
Upgrade from DVD – Without a doubt
Very Highly Recommended
RAH
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