A Few Words About A few words about…™ The Court Jester – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

Watching this on my 65" LG OLED and the grain seems unobtrusive to me.

It's there but not heavy.

Is it heavier than it should be for VistaVision? Perhaps, but I get the feeling some will expect grain to overwhelm the image, and I don't see that...

 

[Bob Furmanek]

People that dismiss Perspecta Stereophonic Sound ("it's just panned mono") have never heard it properly.

C. Robert Fine at Fine Recording was an audio genius (Mercury Living Presence) and with the use of creative panning AND discrete gain control judiciously applied at varying levels to the left/center/right channels. the sound field was quite impressive. There's a reason over 175 features in the US alone utilized the process between 1954 - 1957.

Check out our restored Perspecta track on THIS ISLAND EARTH from Shout.

 

[MarkantonyII]

People that dismiss Perspecta Stereophonic Sound ("it's just panned mono") have never heard it properly.

C. Robert Fine at Fine Recording was an audio genius (Mercury Living Presence) and with the use of creative panning AND discrete gain control judiciously applied at varying levels to the left/center/right channels. the sound field was quite impressive. There's a reason over 175 features in the US alone utilized the process between 1954 - 1957.

Check out our restored Perspecta track on THIS ISLAND EARTH from Shout.

Regardless of peoples opinions as to whether Perspecta is “Stereo” or not, it is how it was originally released. I realise elements are no longer available on several titles, for numerous reasons, but if it exists it should be released - alongside a mono and remix if required.

For me, stereo films presented mono only are as bad as pan and scan, dubbing over subtitles or colourisation.

M

 

[Bob Furmanek]

The late Bob Eberenz and I (he worked with Bob Fine to develop the process in 1954) met with the head of Paramount archives in the late 90s and they had all of their Perspecta 35mm track negatives at that time. I doubt they have been junked since then, I believe this is just a case of the restoration team not doing their homework and going the extra mile.

WHITE CHRISTMAS and TO CATCH A THIEF were also released in Perspecta Stereophonic Sound.

Shout was going to release THIS ISLAND EARTH in mono until I came knocking.

 

[Robert Harris]

People that dismiss Perspecta Stereophonic Sound ("it's just panned mono") have never heard it properly.

C. Robert Fine at Fine Recording was an audio genius (Mercury Living Presence) and with the use of creative panning AND discrete gain control judiciously applied at varying levels to the left/center/right channels. the sound field was quite impressive. There's a reason over 175 features in the US alone utilized the process between 1954 - 1957.

Check out our restored Perspecta track on THIS ISLAND EARTH from Shout.

I don’t believe anyone is either dismissing Perspecta or Mr. Fine’s work.

Best to ask Paramount why they chose not to use it.

 

[Vern Dias]

I actually had a Fairchild Perspecta integrator installed in my HT back in the day when I still ran 35mm and had 35mm prints. I had several Perspecta prints, including White Christmas, and the effect was quite good, partially because of the steering, but more so because each channel's (LCR) gain was controlled by the integrator based on the level of the control signal. This enabled a significant improvement in dynamic range that definitely improved the impact of the audio track.

The biggest downside for me was that since the control signals were at 30, 35, and 40 Hz, bass had to be cut off below 50 Hz in the audio chain.

In fact, I can remember watching Perspecta prints in several Honolulu theatres in the Royal Theatre chain without Integrators and I could actually hear the control tones. These theatres had excellent bass from their optical tracks, however they also were not following the SMPTE standards of the day either.

In today's digital world, it would be pretty easy to use a narrow notch filter to eliminate the control tones and still preserve reasonable low frequency content.

Still, given the choice, I would definitely choose a 4 track magnetic print over a Perspecta print.

 

[Robert Harris]

I actually had a Fairchild Perspecta integrator installed in my HT back in the day when I still ran 35mm and had 35mm prints. I had several Perspecta prints, including White Christmas, and the effect was quite good, partially because of the steering, but more so because each channel's (LCR) gain was controlled by the integrator based on the level of the control signal. This enabled a significant improvement in dynamic range that definitely improved the impact of the audio track.

The biggest downside for me was that since the control signals were at 30, 35, and 40 Hz, bass had to be cut off below 50 Hz in the audio chain.

In fact, I can remember watching Perspecta prints in several Honolulu theatres in the Royal Theatre chain without Integrators and I could actually hear the control tones. These theatres had excellent bass from their optical tracks, however they also were not following the SMPTE standards of the day either.

In today's digital world, it would be pretty easy to use a narrow notch filter to eliminate the control tones and still preserve reasonable low frequency content.

Still, given the choice, I would definitely choose a 4 track magnetic print over a Perspecta print.

Perspecta was a budget means of achieving a stereo effect. Four (or three) track was far more expensive. I had several mag prints that had trigger tone problems.

But overall, a wonderful audio process, and a huge step beyond optical, even with tiny mag tracks.

 

[Robert Harris]

For those who may be unaware, generally the effects track on a mag would be turned on or off by an imbedded trigger tone.

 

[Vern Dias]

For those who may be unaware, generally the effects track on a mag would be turned on or off by an imbedded trigger tone.

Yes, a 12,000 Hz tone recorded on the surround channel that triggered a relay that unmuted the surround channel. Unfortunately it was a tube based device and had a notch filter to eliminate (actually reduce) the tone and needed to be very carefully tuned to accomplish it's mission!
I was young, with excellent hearing, and I don't think I ever watched a mag track where I didn't know in advance that the surrounds were about to kick in.
Any variation, however slight, in projector speed would alter the actual frequency the tone which also required the adjustment to be set. Any aging in the filter components could also cause issues.

 

[Robert Harris]

Yes, a 12,000 Hz tone recorded on the surround channel that triggered a relay that unmuted the surround channel. Unfortunately it was a tube based device and had a notch filter to eliminate (actually reduce) the tone and needed to be very carefully tuned to accomplish it's mission!
I was young, with excellent hearing, and I don't think I ever watched a mag track where I didn't know in advance that the surrounds were about to kick in.
Any variation, however slight, in projector speed would alter the actual frequency the tone which also required the adjustment to be set. Any aging in the filter components could also cause issues.

I believe I had a Dolby card that handled the function

 

[Vern Dias]

I was referencing the original 1950's installation. My experience was with the Simplex XL magnetic package which was a complete add-on package that was typically installed for "The Robe".

 

[Robert Harris]

I was referencing the original 1950's installation. My experience was with the Simplex XL magnetic package which was a complete add-on package that was typically installed for "The Robe".

I understood that to be your meaning.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

 

[MarkantonyII]

On the subject of perspecta, when the first Tom and Jerry spotlight dvd came out 15 plus years ago, there was mention of around 6 of the later ‘scope toon’s in the series coming with their perspecta tracks, this never happened!

If the series ever gets continued/restarted on Blu it would be great if they could be added.

M

 

[roxy1927]

Why is this in mono? A major VistaVision big budget production in mono? Funny Face was in stereo also '56(though released in '57 the copyright is '56) As somebody noted they did not do their homework or else it was lost or the Perspecta track was not properly transferred. Would Angela Lansbury and Glynis Johns care to chime in?

Another question about grain. I was watching Flower Drum Song on Itunes. Dong Kingman's title sequence is stupendous, perfect, worth the whole movie especially with those soaring Alfred Newman arrangements. But there are scenes in the film proper that have heavy grain. So why don't the opening titles have heavy grain? Bad transfer? Seriously deteriorated elements? If it is blown up to the size of a Panavision screen at Radio City this grain would be intolerable(I Enjoy Being a Girl is really awful. The opticals?) In fact I did see it at Radio City and though an old print it looked lovely. If the grain had been like I see on my comparatively small TV it would look like a snow storm at the Music Hall and it didn't. As I said I also saw Funny Face at Radio City and I noticed no grain. It looked dazzling. It was there but you didn't notice it. As opposed to the first run 70s films I saw there which except for Airport presented in TODD-AO and the Peter Bogdanovich films they looked like made for TV films blown up. These same films shown on a TV screen such as 1776 , Tom Sawyer or The Sunshine Boys have so much more clarity and sharpness. Degraining or simply the small screen?

 

[Vern Dias]

"I Enjoy Being A Girl" has heavy grain because it is comprised almost completely of opticals. It had heavy grain when it was released in theatres.

It is also possible that your Display is doing way more sharpening than it should. The default settings will cause this. Have you had it calibrated?

Watching the latest HD transfer on a large projection (50" x120") screen from 7 feet away, the transfer looks quite good to me. Certainly better than any previous video release of this title.

 

[Robert Harris]

VistaVision films were not stereo. They were recorded monaural.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Admin note: I think the perspecta discussion is getting lost here in this thread about the Court Jester. I've asked Bob to start a new thread on the topic which he has done here. I have moved the posts about it there.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

For those who wish to know more about Perspecta Stereophonic Sound, there is a new thread here:

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/facts-about-perspecta-stereophonic-sound.370700/

 

[roxy1927]

The Court Jester had its world premiere at the NY Paramount in Times Square. Here is its VistaVision screen. Click on picture to get a better view