A Few Words About The Big Country (redux) -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[OliverK]

Zowie !!

Technirama does fare well; and even then some; after all.

May the powers that be roll out the rest.

Some other candidates:

Il Gattopardo
King of Kings
El Cid
Zulu

Barabbas
The Vikings
55 Days at Peking
Solomon and Sheba

La Fayette
Circus World
The Long Ships
Legend of the Lost

Custer of the West
Night Passage

There are many others but these come to mind when it comes to movies that I have seen looking very good or where I think that they probably should look very good with the right scanning technology and some TLC.

That being said we would be lucky to get even two of those movies on a state of the art UHD.

 

[PMF]

And...

Auntie Mame
Gypsy
The Leopard
The Music Man
Sayonara

...plus, of course; and thereafter; those “many others”.

P.S. Oh yes, let’s not forget a 4K/UHD of “The Big Country”, too. Now that would really be something, wouldn’t it?

 

[Matt Hough]

Wasn't Sleeping Beauty in Technirama?

 

[PMF]

Wasn't Sleeping Beauty in Technirama?

Yes it was; but do cartoons actually count?

 

[bujaki]

And...

Auntie Mame
Gypsy
The Leopard
The Music Man
Sayonara

...plus, of course; and thereafter; those “many others”.

P.S. Oh yes, let’s not forget a 4K/UHD of “The Big Country”, too. Now that would really be something, wouldn’t it?

Il Gattopardo=The Leopard

 

[PMF]

Some other candidates:

II Gattopardo
King of Kings
El Cid
[...]

Auntie Mame
Gypsy
The Leopard
The Music Man
Sayonara

II Gattopardo = The Leopard

Hopefully, then, our chances for The Leopard has now tripled.

 

[OliverK]

Although the exposed area of VVLA/TLA was large at 24 x 36, the 1.5 aspect ratio was not used final printing.

Indeed and I have never really seen schematics or drawings that go into detail as to which part of the negative got used for Technirama or Super Technirama 70 prints in 35 or 70mm.

I seem to recall that when you were working on Spartacus the old equipment that had been used by Technicolor for the opticsal Blow-Up was not available any more so you had to manufacture your own. It has been some time since I read that interview in I believe The Perfect Vision so maybe I recall it the wrong way but maybe you can let us know what you did to go from 35 8-perf to 70mm.

 

[Robin9]

I'm a big, big fan of Cyd Charisse so the Technirama movie I want is Black Tights.

 

[PMF]

Wasn't Sleeping Beauty in Technirama?

Yes it was; but do cartoons actually count?

Let me clarify. Does it count if the animators had already drawn the cell as a wide image before the frame by frame photography has begun? Hmm-m-m-m. Either way, “Sleeping Beauty” was part of the Technirama process; and therefore, this too, would be nice to see upgraded, if a cleaning up were to be warranted..

 

[Worth]

Let me clarify. Does it count if the animators had already drawn the cell as a wide image before the frame by frame photography has begun? Hmm-m-m-m. Either way, “Sleeping Beauty” was part of the Technirama process; and therefore, this too, would be nice to see upgraded, if a cleaning up were to be warranted..

The problem with Sleeping Beauty, as with all Disney animated titles on blu-ray, is that it's far too cleaned up.

 

[Robert Harris]

Indeed and I have never really seen schematics or drawings that go into detail as to which part of the negative got used for Technirama or Super Technirama 70 prints in 35 or 70mm.

I seem to recall that when you were working on Spartacus the old equipment that had been used by Technicolor for the opticsal Blow-Up was not available any more so you had to manufacture your own. It has been some time since I read that interview in I believe The Perfect Vision so maybe I recall it the wrong way but maybe you can let us know what you did to go from 35 8-perf to 70mm.

As I recall image is protected both sides for splices, and cropped top and bottom. Will try to find an example.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I've been waiting for BLACK TIGHTS forever.
I'm a fan of Cyd Charisse but an even bigger fan of Zizi Jeanmaire -- to have them both in the same movie, along with Roland Petit and Moira Shearer is total bliss, deserving far more than the dreadful public domain DVD I have. Surely someone must be able to bring this to us?

 

[OliverK]

The problem with Sleeping Beauty, as with all Disney animated titles on blu-ray, is that it's far too cleaned up.

This is understandable to a degree in this case as they went for the full early Cinemascope width of the cells. I would have preferred that they had not done this and instead kept the presentation more similar to what would have been seen at the Super Technirama 70 premiere.

 

[john a hunter]

This may help with Technirama variations.

 

[OliverK]

This may help with Technirama variations.

Thanks, not sure I have ever seen this one before.

It shows very well why it is possible for Il Gattopardo to now be available in a ca. 2.55:1 aspect ratio by just using a bigger horizontal percentage of the frame compared to previous home video versions. According to this schematic Super Technirama 70 prints used only 86% of the available width of the camera aperture and Scope prints 88%.

 

[john a hunter]

Technicolour kept all prints with the same headline so it would be possible to print 2.55 35 mm prints, although by the January 1959 article (where that schematic comes from), they say 2.55 had fallen into disuse and that "consequently four perforation anamorphic prints now days always have an aspect ratio of 2.35:1."

2.55 was a possibility but I suspect never used .
Indeed has it ever been shown that Leopard had any 70, let alone 2.55 mag prints?

 

[OliverK]

I would not expect that any 2.55:1 prints were being made. Probably the first time that this format has been selected for the The Leopard was with the Film Foundation / Fox restoration.
As for 70mm The Leopard is another one of those titles where we don't quite know if there ever were any 70mm prints. I do not believe that The Leopard ever had any 70mm release prints for a number of reasons but it would be cool if after all these years it would turn out that it actually did.

 

[bujaki]

I would not expect that any 2.55:1 prints were being made. Probably the first time that this format has been selected for the The Leopard was with the Film Foundation / Fox restoration.
As for 70mm The Leopard is another one of those titles where we don't quite know if there ever were any 70mm prints. I do not believe that The Leopard ever had any 70mm release prints for a number of reasons but it would be cool if after all these years it would turn out that it actually did.

I remember newspaper ads in Puerto Rico advertising The Leopard in 70mm. Alas, I did not see it then since I was held captive in boarding school.

 

[OliverK]

I remember newspaper ads in Puerto Rico advertising The Leopard in 70mm. Alas, I did not see it then since I was held captive in boarding school.

I was probably more advertising hyperbole than reality but in any case it shows that back then you could get people into cinemas by advertising a movie as being in 70mm.

 

[bujaki]

I was probably more advertising hyperbole than reality but in any case it shows that back then you could get people into cinemas by advertising a movie as being in 70mm.

Well, maybe, but Puerto Rico was a foreign market receiving prints not from the USA since they had to be subtitled in Spanish. That's how I saw so many uncut films that were butchered here. Furthermore, The Leopard was shown complete and in Italian, not the cut, dubbed travesty released by Fox in these shores.