Restored "The Searchers" in 70mm (1 Viewer)

[JPCinema]

The December 31, 2024 release date is ridiculous. I’m sure it will be streaming in 4K long before that date.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The December 31, 2024 release date is ridiculous. I’m sure it will be streaming in 4K long before that date.

That’s just a placeholder date.

 

[OliverK]

All studios keep elements geo-separated.

Just pointing out that it was covered in some detail in that link.

Also there sadly seems to be little of that luxury afforded to productions that do not happen to belong to one of the major studios as some of the Cinerama and Bronston movies show.

This seems to be even more true in Europe where many productions often had/have a complicated production and rights situation.

 

[haineshisway]

Thank goodness there'll be a Blu-ray with it and they, unlike Paramount, will give us the Blu from the new transfer. Very exciting.

 

[RICK BOND]

Finally !! North by Northwest coming in 4K !! Now we need Ben-Hur in 4K ! Two others also with Annniversaries this year are ....Gone With the Wind and The Wild Bunch. (I guess that's too much to ask for.)

 

[Garysb]

Per the TCM Classic Film Festival schedule "The Searchers" will be shown Sunday afternoon at 3:15 PM at the Egyptian Theatre. If anyone here attends the screening please share your thoughts on the restoration.

https://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/schedule/20240418/

 

[Tino]

That’s just a placeholder date.

As is virtually any release with a December 31 date.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Thank goodness there'll be a Blu-ray with it and they, unlike Paramount, will give us the Blu from the new transfer. Very exciting.

Warner doesn’t really do that anymore unfortunately. Recent 4K remasters like Full Metal Jacket and Rio Bravo either come with the older Blu-ray or none at all.

 

[BMan56]

Hopefully, someone who understands color took part in this restoration.

It appears they did not. Or they just matched the Blu-ray. The restoration is beautiful, but the color timing is dingy yellow. The 1997 DVD has better color unfortunately. It was kind of appalling to see what should have been vibrant technicolor turned into a yellow tinted mess.

 

[Robert Harris]

It appears they did not. Or they just matched the Blu-ray. The restoration is beautiful, but the color timing is dingy yellow. The 1997 DVD has better color unfortunately. It was kind of appalling to see what should have been vibrant technicolor turned into a yellow tinted mess.

This film was never “vibrant Technicolor.” Beautiful, yes, but not vt.

 

[haineshisway]

It appears they did not. Or they just matched the Blu-ray. The restoration is beautiful, but the color timing is dingy yellow. The 1997 DVD has better color unfortunately. It was kind of appalling to see what should have been vibrant technicolor turned into a yellow tinted mess.

This is not good to hear. If the bricks are yellow during the titles, then they have screwed this up again. I'll wait to see it with my own eyeballs, but I'm not thrilled hearing this.

 

[Robert Harris]

This may be the proper time to bring up the fact that, short of 3-D, Mr. Ford worked in virtually every cinematographic process during his time behind the camera. Something that can be said of very few filmmakers.

 

[Robert Harris]

It appears they did not. Or they just matched the Blu-ray. The restoration is beautiful, but the color timing is dingy yellow. The 1997 DVD has better color unfortunately. It was kind of appalling to see what should have been vibrant technicolor turned into a yellow tinted mess.

There is zero reason why The Searchers should not be near perfect. If it is not, I can think of only a single reason. I would have a difficult time believing there are problems.

 

[BMan56]

This film was never “vibrant Technicolor.” Beautiful, yes, but not vt.

That may be true. I know it wasn’t shot technicolor and I have never seen a technicolor print of this. The original DVD is very saturated though with nice blues and reds. The 70mm print has weak blues and orange reds and a yellow cast to almost everything. Maybe the HDR digital is better, but it appears to be a stylistic choice in color correction.

 

[BMan56]

This is not good to hear. If the bricks are yellow during the titles, then they have screwed this up again. I'll wait to see it with my own eyeballs, but I'm not thrilled hearing this.

I actually don’t recall the bricks, but as the film went on and the rocks of monument valley were just brown and the sunset during the attack on the Edwards’ homestead was yellow and orange I became concerned and distracted because I remembered there being better reds. The skies were never a true sky blue. I had to come home and pop in my DVD to check I hadn’t imagined a better image.

 

[Robert Crawford]

To rely on the colors of a 1997 DVD being accurate can possibly lead you down the wrong path.

 

[BMan56]

There is zero reason why The Searchers should not be near perfect. If it is not, I can think of only a single reason. I would have a difficult time believing there are problems.

Don’t get me wrong, it does look great! There might have been 2-3 shots where I noticed a slight quality shift in the image—perhaps due to some technical issues during filming. (And thats’s because I was scrutinizing everything.) I think the scan and restoration are top notch, so much so that any slight imperfection on the original negative like I mentioned above just becomes a bit more noticeable. I don’t remember seeing any film grain at all. Maybe I wasn’t looking for it, but the image was smooth. I saw one speck of dust on the whole print and the cigarette burns. There weren’t even scratches, but as far as I know the 70mm print had been run only three times before publicly. It’s just that dang yellow tint…

What is the single reason you are thinking of?

 

[BMan56]

To rely on the colors of a 1997 DVD being accurate can possibly lead you down the wrong path.

This is true. It was also the NTSC version, never the same color…

I’ve only been aware of this whole Searchers color issue since last night. I began a search of my own on the internet after watching the 70mm print and being distracted by the color looking yellow tinted consistently. From what I gather, the (second?) laserdisc and DVD were timed with a technicolor print as reference. Maybe the Blu-ray was not. People were upset. They blamed the colorist. I have never personally seen the Blu-ray.

Then again, it seems some people also didn’t like the DVD restoration when it came out.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This is true. It was also the NTSC version, never the same color…

I’ve only been aware of this whole Searchers color issue since last night. I began a search of my own on the internet after watching the 70mm print and being distracted by the color looking yellow tinted consistently. From what I gather, the (second?) laserdisc and DVD were timed with a technicolor print as reference. Maybe the Blu-ray was not. People were upset. They blamed the colorist. I have never personally seen the Blu-ray.

Then again, it seems some people also didn’t like the DVD restoration when it came out.

Well, we've been discussing the color issue for 18 years on this forum. Until the rest of us see this new restoration, any meaningful discussion from most of us will have to wait regarding the coloring on that restoration versus the Blu-ray.

 

[BMan56]

Well, we've been discussing the color issue for 18 years on this forum. Until the rest of us see this new restoration, any meaningful discussion from most of us will have to wait regarding the coloring on that restoration versus the Blu-ray.

I see, well it’s a good restoration and I hope everyone sees it and they put it on disc soon. Probably waiting for the 70th anniversary… Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for anyone who didn’t like the blu-ray.