Does original dye transfer print of "The Sound Of Music" still exist? (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy_Porter]

I think the film was shipped to Technicolor lab around the year 1967 to make a dye transfer print. If this print still exists, they should use it as a color timing reference for the new DVD release. Unfortunately, they don't. The new 40th anniversary DVD's color timing is all wrong. They make it looks like the whole film was shot at the same time of the day everyday, no sense of time or whatsoever.

 

[John Whittle]

Why do you think that TCF which owned Deluxe would send this off to Technicolor? BTW there were never any large format dye transfer prints (i.e. 70mm) only 35mm.

It's possible that Technicolor London or Rome may have made prints for Europe, but as far as I can tell, all the US prints were made by Deluxe.

John

 

[Robert Harris]

There are a number of quite beautiful extant dye transfer prints of Sound of Music. This, however, does not mean that any of them are necessarily a proper reference.

RAH

 

[Joe Caps]

Okay, the new Sound of Music has lost all that edge enhancement.
But the color is way off and looks like no print of sound of Music I have even seen in the theater. (I have seen this print 128 times in the theater in both 35mm and 70mm).
Once we get past the credits, things go to hell. Quite often the attached trailers have far more correct color and better picture quality than the actual film !!
The opening scenes when the nun are singing their prayer, right through Maria look terribly ugly and like no colors I have seen in the theater.
sixteen going on seventeen never looks as good as it did in the theater. This goes on and on.

 

[Jeremy_Porter]

Yes, there are a number of dye transfer prints of "The Sound Of Music", in 35mm reduction prints, of course, and I think it would be a good idea to use the best of them as a color timing reference for DVD. Whatever it may be, I believe ones can get more accurate colors than what they have done on home video, so far. I asked the question because I was quite disappointed with the new 40th anniversary DVD, and all other video edition of this title. I have seen this film in theatre so many times when it first came out and I still remember vividly what it should look like. I agree with Joe Caps that quite often the attached trailers have far more correct color than the actual film on DVD. On the actual film, everything looks so bluish white at all time, both indoor and outdoor and colors are very, very pastel. The interior scenes, for example, the golden ballroom looks so pale. It should be a very rich, warm golden tone, which is very, very attractive in the original prints. The Sixteen Going on Seventeen scene has a very ugly color balance on DVD, and the skin tone looks like a red lobster. :frowning: I can tell more from the beginning of the film to the end, but it's going to be an extremely long post, so I'll name only examples above, at least for now.

 

[TedD]

I believe that what we are seeing is mostly due to the mishandling of the film to video transfer. It's important to note the new edition was taken from the same video master as the previous DVD release, with some attempts of color correction and less EE applied.

You can only compensate so far in the video world, the sophisticated color correction tools need to be applied to the original raw data that is captured from the film and still in the RGB domain.

Ted

 

[Jeremy_Porter]

I think the new DVD edition was transfered from a newly restored elements generated from the original 65mm negative. The details of this 40th anniversary transfer is on the disc 2's restoration comparison.

 

[TedD]

I think you are wrong. Based on screen caps and comparisons, both DVD's have the the same registration problems. The 40th aniversary edition has no more detail than the previous edition did, just less applied EE.

The restoration description not withstanding, there is no evidence that the new versions comes from a fresh film to video transfer, which would most certainly have been done at 4K, and would not have had the exact same registration issues as the previous DVD.

Ted