"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" coming from MGM/UA to Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[dendodd]

Just out of interest Chitty Chitty Bang Bang will be screened in Ottawa, Canada at the Museum of Civilization on Sept 26 during the 70MM Film Festival there (Sept 24 - 26, 2010) which will be attended by Robert A. Harris. See: http://lostdominion.blogspot.com/

Originally Posted by OliverK

I have been interested in large format films for quite some time now....
 


 

 

[OliverK]

Thanks for the link, hopefully some members will be able to attend.

 

As I am a regular reader of http://www.in70mm.com I already read about the festival and I would like to add a small caveat: The print that will be shown of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang will be pinkish as it is a vintage print - it should be very detailed though if one can look past the pink color.

 

Of course there will be other screenings of unfaded prints of Vertigo, Spatacus and Lawrence of Arabia so for anybody nearby I suggest to go there


 

Originally Posted by dendodd


 

 

[dendodd]

Here's the information from the Museum of Civilization:

http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/whats-on/search-results&Types=1
 

 

[RCinOttawa]

I was at the screening of the vintage 70mm print of CCBB at the Ottawa festival today. The 6-track sound was great! My wife and son commented on that a few times during the movie. Yes, the print was faded, but not that bad. It was pinkish, but not completely pink. Very sharp and clean.

 

[GMpasqua]

A 70MM print screened in Los Angeles about 11 years ago and looked great - the color had also faded to pinkish but the ocean still had a bit of blue color left. I wonder if this was the same print?

 

This film should have a new 70 MM print made. It was always a great looking film

 

[RobertSiegel]

Originally Posted by RCinOttawa

I was at the screening of the vintage 70mm print of CCBB at the Ottawa festival today. The 6-track sound was great! My wife and son commented on that a few times during the movie. Yes, the print was faded, but not that bad. It was pinkish, but not completely pink. Very sharp and clean.

Lucky Lucky Lucky!!!!

 

[Brian Sharp]

Were there many 70MM prints struck of Chitty? I seem to remember (could be wrong!) the only 70MM screening in the UK was at the London premiere. Most other screenings were 4 track mag.

 

[GMpasqua]

The 1968 Roadshow prints were 70MM. When the film went into general relase in1969 it was in 35MM

 

[Brian Sharp]

I don't remember Swansea having a D-150 screen. They had, for a short time, a "floating" screen without curtains or masking but this was replaced with conventional masking after a short time. IIRC the only D-150 install in the UK was the Odeon Marble Arch London. Shortly after this the Rank Organisation fell out with the owners of the D-150 system and no more installs were completed in the UK. Swansea Odeon was, certainly, a 70MM house but I still think they screened Chitty with 4 track mag as did Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester. I will have to have a dig around in the loft to confirm.


Listing of D-150 theatres can be found here: http://www.in70mm.com/newsletter/1997/49/dimension_150/cinemas/index.htm

 

[john a hunter]

Originally Posted by Brian Sharp

The fall out was caused by Rank "ripping off" D150 by selling quite sucessfully apparently their copy"Vistarama".

There was another D150 theatre inthe UK at Blackpool of all places. The owner was a widescreen buff. I don't know any other details but if anyones does, would love to hear more.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

DVDBeaver has caps up now. Looks pretty good.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews52/chitty_chitty_bang_bang_blu-ray.htm

 

[TonyD]

No screen caps of Benny Hill, jeez.

 

[Mark Oates]

FWIW, I picked up the Region B copy of CCBB and was completely and utterly blown away by the transfer. The titles look better than they've ever done on DVD, and they've even managed to quieten down that underlying frame bob during the titles. I'd only intended to watch a bit to assess it and watch it later on and found myself sitting through the whole picture.


Fantasmagorical!

Originally Posted by john a hunter




The fall out was caused by Rank "ripping off" D150 by selling quite sucessfully apparently their copy"Vistarama".

There was another D150 theatre inthe UK at Blackpool of all places. The owner was a widescreen buff. I don't know any other details but if anyones does, would love to hear more.

As I recall there were just two theatres in Blackpool capable of running 70mm - the ABC complex on Church Street, and the Palladium on Waterloo Rd. No idea if the Palladium (the better bet) was the D150 theatre, but I do recall it advertising some big musicals (including I think Song of Norway !!!) in 70mm.


EDIT: Ooo - found this on cinematreasures.org - a quote from a former projectionist at the Palladium:

The projectors were the top of the range at the time - 70/35 mm CineMechanica Projectomatics from Milan. They ran at dual speeds of 24 frames per second and 30 frames per second, for the odd film still around at that speed (Oklahoma being one of them), and had both optical sound and 6 track magnetic stereo sound all powered by the reliable Westrex Sound system. We used to specialise in "Roadshow" film seasons - My Fair Lady (26 weeks), Lawrence of Arabia (26 weeks)and, of course, The Sound of Music (46 weeks)for example. I saw that about 11 times each week!! The manager was Mr. Spencer, a lovely man and my good friend Harry Hunt was the doorman - he could tell some stories!!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Picked up my copy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang yesterday

and won't have the opportunity to watch it until I return back

to the East coast.


However, was sitting with Bill Hunt today at a press junket

and he was telling me how magnificent the transfer looks --

perhaps one of the very best this year.


In any case, here are some pictures from a Blu-ray premier

that recently took place on the Fox lot

 

[GMpasqua]

This disc looks incredible! One of the best catalog titles to date - looks like it was filmed yesterday. Of course the film was shot in 70MM so it should look better than if it was filmed yesterday. Should be considered one of the top ten transfers of the year!


hopefully more 70MM films will be released on blu-ray - there aren't that many made - but these should look great:


Cleopatra

Hello Dolly

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

Doctor Dolittle

Star!

The Agony and the Ecstasy

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

West Side Story

Lawrence of Arabia



Picked it up at Target last night along with "The Sound of Music" - with the sale and coupons it came to $28 - $14 per title!

 

[john a hunter]

Thanks, Mark for the information. I think it was the Palladium and will do some further research.

 

[GMpasqua]

[SIZE= 11px]Films shot in 70MM (does not include 70MM blow-ups) [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px][COLOR= #0000ff]Blue titles on Blu-ray - [/COLOR][/SIZE][COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]to date only 8 70MM features have made it to Blu-ray[/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 11px]Oklahoma! (1955) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Raintree County (1956) – MGM Camera 65 [/SIZE]

[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]South Pacific (1958) – Todd-AO [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Ben-Hur (1959) – MGM Camera 65 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Porgy and Bess ([/SIZE][SIZE= 11px]1959) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]The Big Fisherman (1959) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Scent of Mystery (1960) – Todd-70 Can-Can (1960) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]The Alamo (1960) – Todd-AO Exodus (1960) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]West Side Story (1961) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Lawrence of Arabia (1962) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) – Ultra Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – Ultra Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Cleopatra (1963) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) – Ultra Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]My Fair Lady (1964) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Cheyenne Autumn (1964) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]The Sound of Music (1965) – Todd-AO [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) – Ultra Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]The Hallelujah Trail (1965) – Ultra Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]Battle of the Bulge (1965) – Ultra Panavision 70 [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Lord Jim (1965) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Khartoum (1966) – Ultra Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Grand Prix (1966) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]The Bible: In The Beginning (1966) – Dimension 150 (credited as D-150) [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Doctor Dolittle (1967) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Super Panavision 70 [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Ice Station Zebra (1968) – Super Panavision 70 Star! (1968) – Todd-AO[/SIZE]

[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) – Super Panavision 70 [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Hello, Dolly! (1969) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Krakatoa, East of Java (1969) – Todd-AO and Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Mackenna's Gold (1969) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Airport (1970) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]Patton (1970) – Dimension 150 [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Ryan's Daughter (1970) – Super Panavision 70 [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Song of Norway (1970) – Super Panavision 70 The Last Valley (1970) – Todd-AO [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Far and Away (1992) – Panavision System 65 [/SIZE]

[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]Baraka (1992) – Todd-AO, documentary [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE= 11px]Map of the Human Heart (1993) – Panavision System 65 [/SIZE]

[COLOR= #0000ff][SIZE= 11px]Hamlet (1996) – Panavision System 65 [/COLOR][/SIZE]

 

[Steve Tannehill]

2001: A Space Odyssey is on blu-ray.

 

[OliverK]

@GMpasqua:


your forgot two titles with US Blu-Ray releases:


2001

Baraka


and in Germany we had a release of Fall of the Roman Empire although that one unfortunately looks very bad


There are quite a few more western 70mm titles from outside the US that were shot with the MCS70 system and some of them are not that bad, for example the rather strange Savage Pampas. Of course there were many more 70mm production in Eastern Europe but I have yet to see one that looks as good as their western counterparts.

 

[GMpasqua]

thanks guys, watched 2001 about a month ago (how did I let that one slip by?)