Airport 50th Collection and Empire Records 25th Anniversaries? (1 Viewer)

[MartinP.]

More than other 70mm presentations I felt that a large audience helped with Airport as it is actually quite funny.

So true! It's probably even funnier now because we look at how air travel used to be and it seems like a dream. The biggest laugh of the screening I saw was when a stewardess wheeled out a cart filled with china plates and cutlery to serve people shrimp cocktails from a three foot (?) high sculpture with the shrimp attached to it.

Around 15 years ago I saw Airport at AMPAS's Goldwyn Theatre in their Great to Be Nominated Series. To have the best screening possible, they had to cobble together a print from different sources. The host remarked that the film had practically saved Universal and the industry from the doldrums of the time and one would think that Universal would have had a decent complete print of the film. AMPAS had trouble finding a truly acceptable reel of one section. Another reel they'd gotten from a source in Sweden which had just arrived the day before.

Jacqueline Bisset was a guest at the screening. She told an amusing anecdote about the filming. The cast was large, as one knows, and apparently on lunch breaks many would go out to some restaurants and drink more than eat and the production had trouble wrangling all the actors back together after lunch and it got to be a problem in the afternoons with delays. So after one such lunch break, everyone was informed that they were no longer allowed to drink during their lunch break. It was "have something to eat and then back to work." Jacqueline remarked that Van Heflin, in particular, was very unhappy about the new edict.

 

[MartinP.]

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[darkrock17]

Jacqueline Bisset was a guest at the screening. She told an amusing anecdote about the filming. The cast was large, as one knows, and apparently on lunch breaks many would go out to some restaurants and drink more than eat and the production had trouble wrangling all the actors back together after lunch and it got to be a problem in the afternoons with delays. So after one such lunch break, everyone was informed that they were no longer allowed to drink during their lunch break. It was "have something to eat and then back to work." Jacqueline remarked that Van Heflin, in particular, was very unhappy about the new edict.

That sounds like what happened with the panel from the classic 73-82 version of Match Game.

 

[OliverK]

So true! It's probably even funnier now because we look at how air travel used to be and it seems like a dream. The biggest laugh of the screening I saw was when a stewardess wheeled out a cart filled with china plates and cutlery to serve people shrimp cocktails from a three foot (?) high sculpture with the shrimp attached to it.

Around 15 years ago I saw Airport at AMPAS's Goldwyn Theatre in their Great to Be Nominated Series. To have the best screening possible, they had to cobble together a print from different sources. The host remarked that the film had practically saved Universal and the industry from the doldrums of the time and one would think that Universal would have had a decent complete print of the film. AMPAS had trouble finding a truly acceptable reel of one section. Another reel they'd gotten from a source in Sweden which had just arrived the day before.

Jacqueline Bisset was a guest at the screening. She told an amusing anecdote about the filming. The cast was large, as one knows, and apparently on lunch breaks many would go out to some restaurants and drink more than eat and the production had trouble wrangling all the actors back together after lunch and it got to be a problem in the afternoons with delays. So after one such lunch break, everyone was informed that they were no longer allowed to drink during their lunch break. It was "have something to eat and then back to work." Jacqueline remarked that Van Heflin, in particular, was very unhappy about the new edict.

Funny story and also interesting how Sweden saved the day once more. I saw two 70mm prints from the Swedish film institute in 2008 that retained excellent color. They were Ryan's Daughter and Cheyenne Autumn. Of course today we still do not even have a decent Blu-ray's of these two movies that look so good that by comparison one could think that 2001 was a 35mm Blow-Up.

 

[darkrock17]

Today, March 5 Airport is 50

 

[Bernard McNair]

Airport remains one of my favourite disaster movies. I saw it in 70 mm in Sydney on its initial release and would love to see it again on the big screen.

 

[darkrock17]

Airport remains one of my favourite disaster movies. I saw it in 70 mm in Sydney on its initial release and would love to see it again on the big screen.

I too would love to see this in an actual theater. I'm kinda of surprised that TCM isn't doing an event screening for this film this year. TCM must figure that since this film is not as widely known like The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno that doing a screening wouldn't make a lot of money.

 

[Reed Grele]

I will buy ANY large format 4K UHD physical media release on this list.

And so it was. I was a cinema projectionist in Auckland and Sydney for over 35+ years and showed many of the great 70MM films, I forgot that Airport was one of the very few Todd-AO films. Only the first three were 30fps.
Films produced in 70 mm Todd-AO
(films photographed in Todd-AO 35 not included)

• Oklahoma! (1955) – 30 frame/s (also photographed in CinemaScope for conventional distribution)
• Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) – 30 frame/s (also photographed in Todd-AO 24 frames/s and reduction-printed for conventional CinemaScope distribution)
• The Miracle of Todd-AO (1956) – 30 frame/s; short subject
• South Pacific (1958) – this and all subsequent were 24 frame/s
• The March of Todd-AO (1958) – short subject
• Porgy and Bess (1959)
• Can-Can (1960)
• The Alamo (1960)
• Scent of Mystery (1960) – credited als Todd 70
• Cleopatra (1963)
• Man in the 5th Dimension (1964) – NYC World's Fair short subject
• The Sound of Music (1965)
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)
• The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
• The Bible: In the Beginning (1966) – Dimension 150 variant
• Doctor Dolittle (1967)
• Star! (1968)
• Hello, Dolly! (1969)
• Krakatoa, East of Java (1969) – selected scenes (see Super Panavision 70) – presented in 70 mm Cinerama
• Airport (1970)
• Patton (1970) – Dimension 150 variant
• The Last Valley (1971)
• Baraka (1992)

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I'm looking forward to this ... I missed it on its initial release as I rarely saw big-screen spectaculars in those days unless they were R & H musicals! But anything with Jacqueline Bisset in it is a must-see nowadays, and my old pal John Truscott was a close friend of Jean Seberg and often told me how lovely a person she was. So we'll be watching. Should be great viewing on our big screen.

 

[Nelson Au]

Guys, I thought I’d resurrect this thread.

I just watched Airport last night on my new Sony 4K OLED. This is a favorite film I’ve seen many times on various formats, I guess some would call it a guilty pleasure. I never thought of this film as a disaster film, but more soap opera. I always enjoy the final segment where the air traffic controller is helping to guide the plane in for a landing and the melodrama of Lancaster and Kennedy while they try to get the stuck 707 out of the way of the runway.

After reviewing this thread, I realized I’d forgotten Airport is a 70mm title. This could explain why I was so surprised by the image quality. I’ve seen the Blu ray and DVD versions on my old Panasonic 65” plasma. But on my OLED, which is larger, I am very impressed by the image quality! And the mid century modern colors are terrific.

Given how RAH didn’t feel there was a significant uptick in image quality of Casablanca on 4K, I have to wonder if Airport will benefit? If it’s not upgraded, the Blu ray looks great on my set-up. But I’d probably buy the 4K.

I may watch Airport 75 next to see how it looks as I really enjoy that film too. The third and fourth film never clicked for me. I’ve never been a fan of Airplane! I’ve seen it once on DVD. But I can see all the elements they took from the first 2 films.

I’d never seen that cast photo before from Airport that Andrew posted above. That’s pretty cool! In looking at it I could not help but notice that George Kennedy and Dana Wynter are cut and paste in. Plus I’m not so sure that Van Heflin and Lloyd Nolan are cut and pasted in too.

 

[trajan007]

The bluray of AIRPORT was not sourced from the 70mm elements. Its a 35mm reduction.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Larry. I wasn’t aware of what the source material was for the Airport blu ray. It does look good.

 

[JPCinema]

AIRPORT was restored to 70mm and was shown this year in theaters around the country. I'm surprised the 4K has not been announced

AIRPORT - 1970 (NEW 70MM PRINT)​

• Thursday, July 21, 2022
• 7:30 PM 10:00 PM
• Aero Theatre1328 Montana AvenueSanta Monica, CA, 90403United States (map)

 

[OliverK]

AIRPORT was restored to 70mm and was shown this year in theaters around the country. I'm surprised the 4K has not been announced

AIRPORT - 1970 (NEW 70MM PRINT)​

• Thursday, July 21, 2022
• 7:30 PM 10:00 PM
• Aero Theatre1328 Montana AvenueSanta Monica, CA, 90403United States (map)

From what I heard they were supposedly just regular prints and not part of a restoration.

Universal has done great work recently so I am sure they will eventually get around to scanning AIRPORT in 8K and releasing it in 4K but this may take some more time.

 

[JPCinema]

From what I heard they were supposedly just regular prints and not part of a restoration.

Universal has done great work recently so I am sure they will eventually get around to scanning AIRPORT in 8K and releasing it in 4K but this may take some more time.

A friend saw it in 70mm at the Music Box in Chicago and said it looked and sounded spectacular.

 

[OliverK]

A friend saw it in 70mm at the Music Box in Chicago and said it looked and sounded spectacular.

Exactly what I was told after a new print ran at a festival in Germany.

Too bad that other studios can't be bothered which is why I would like to emphasize that it is very unique to get a chance to see such a print in this day and age. Everyone who likes Airport should go an see it that way and kudos for Universal for making it possible!

 

[Henry Gondorff]

I saw the 70mm Airport print last July. Gorgeous image and sound - a bucket list item I thought I'd never get to check off. The elements are beautiful - so let's get busy with that BD and 4K!

 

[Kaskade1309]

I bought the Airport Terminal Pack DVD set when it came out, and I can remember discussing it here when it was the hubub around the enthusiast forums. I still own the collection and watch all four films from it, but after getting my wife hooked on the original George Seaton film, it's really the only one viewed in the set anymore (I used to love the sequels growing up as a kid, especially Airport '77, and will never forget when I saw that big Stevens Corp. 747 hit the oil rig and sink into the Bermuda Triangle...still gets me, actually).

I'd love to see a restored 4K release of the first Airport, as I think those sexy stewardess costumes, interior Global Airways aircraft colors and other elements would really pop with HDR, but I gotta say...Universal did a great job with the anamorphic widescreen transfer of the first film in the Airport Terminal Pack. It looks really good upscaled to (in the past) 1080p and (now) 2160p. I didn't like the fact that they made these discs flippers (so the first two films are on one disc and '77 and '79 are on another), and they are still, to this day, almost impossible to remove from the spindles when taking them out (this issue was chronicled on forums like this one when the set was first released in the early 2000s; some people reported their discs actually breaking because they couldn't get them off the spindles).

I'd also like to see a remixed surround track for these films; the original Airport was given a DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the Terminal Pack DVD, but they're essentially glorified mono tracks. The other three films were given original mono (I think The Concorde was given a stereo mix), and it would be cool to hear these with Atmos/TrueHD or DTS:X/Master Audio soundtracks.

Perhaps one day we'll see another Airport collection in 4K?

 

[darkrock17]

Someone should get in touch with Universal or Shout Factory and see about getting a complete Blu/4K collection set out for next year. If Universal themselves aren't interested then Shout could easily release all 4 films in a collection under their Shout Select banner.

 

[Nelson Au]

Kaskade, your enthusiastic post got me to watch Airport 77. I’ve always only watched Airport and Airport 75. But I was not as enthusiastic about the 3rd and 4th films. I had not seen Airport 77 in a long time, so totally forgot the exact plot of the hijack and the cast members except Jack Lemmon and Jimmy Stewart. Arthur Kennedy‘s reason for being there wasn’t too clear except to lend his expertise on the 747 structure. It was an ok sequel in the franchise. The visuals were pretty good. The Blu ray did look really good!