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TServo2049

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Join date
27-Aug-2006
Last activity
5-Mar-2024
Posts
1,253

Post History

Post
#932005
Topic
Help: looking for... E.T. 20th Anniversary Edition in HD? (with info)
Time

Yes, but I was specifically curious about the later laserdisc releases. Especially the 1996 THX “Signature Collection” release - I know that the Signature line was when the original music was restored to Jaws and John Carpenter’s The Thing, so I have always wondered if they did a new master of E.T. with the “terrorist” line reinstated as well.

Post
#931991
Topic
Help: looking for... E.T. 20th Anniversary Edition in HD? (with info)
Time

Curious, did any of the laserdiscs have the “terrorist” line? It’d be great to have a 2.0 PCM that’s not censored.

Also, has anyone listened the 2.0 track on the BD? I’d have a feeling it’d be more accurate than the 7.1, usually if it’s 2.0 it’s a straight port of the original mix (though it could be a Jaws situation where the BD “original mix” still has minor differences from previous video releases?)

I wish I had gone into the Castro 35mm showing knowing about these differences. I just know it was the 1982 theatrical cut, terrorist line, guns and all. The print was beautiful, nearly pristine (except for sound pitch warbling at the heads/tails of each reel). It was most likely printed within the last few years, since all or nearly all of Universal’s repertory print archives were ostensibly destroyed by the 2008 studio fire - but the color timing still felt genuinely “1982”.

(The same goes for all the other 35mm screenings of 70s/80s Universal films I’ve seen over the past several years - looked and sounded almost brand new, but the color timing/sound mixing felt authentic to me.)

Post
#930643
Topic
The Terminator (1984) - Original Theatrical Mono Preservation (Released)
Time

I have that German DVD, it’s video-matted at around 1.55:1. However, the aspect ratio is not constant because the hard matting on the film varies from shot to shot. Sometimes you can see a bigger bar at the bottom, sometimes a bigger bar at the top, the size varies, and those bars are part of the print because they have gate weave, and the constant video-generated bars throughout the entire film don’t.

I’d love to see that German open-matte TV airing. Some parts of the film are true open-matte with the whole frame exposed (the Stan Winston animatronic FX shots, in particular), some parts have animation FX in 1.33 composited over live action hard-matted at about 1.66-1.75 (I know this because I have seen the trailer projected at 1.33), other parts are hard-matted. I’d love to see how much the aspect ratio varied from scene to scene.

Post
#924022
Topic
Theatrical 1979 Empire Strikes Back Trailer Restored (Released)
Time

ronwlim said:

Wow. It seems obvious to me that its Ford.

I just had trouble accepting it as Ford. I’ve heard the Blade Runner argument before.

I’ve kind of had a problem with that voiceover, always thought it sounded goofy. But I listened again…and yeah, now I definitely hear it. Ford is the only person who pronounces it Lando’s surname as “Calrizzian”, and when he says that I totally hear the Ford in there. I think I’m sold now. 😃

Maybe my wires got crossed, and the one I was skeptical of was the allegation that Mark Hamill did the temp voiceover for that “workprint” version of the 1985 ROTJ reissue trailer that’s made the bootleg rounds.

Post
#924020
Topic
The Keep - UK HDTV airing (Released)
Time

There is a 35mm print out there, it recently screened at the Castro here in SF but it was too late a showing for me or something, so I didn’t see it.

Hopefully, it or another print will screen in some other city some time in the future. Check your local revival house’s schedule…

As for an official release, the fact that it’s been disowned by Michael Mann doesn’t bode well for it. Mann is one of those filmmakers who has enough clout to get what he wants, without actually owning the rights to his movies…

Post
#923855
Topic
THX on 35mm Tech IB preservation - HELP NEEDED (work in progress)
Time

If it was done by the Italian TV station, why does it match with Lucas’ claim that the WB execs insisted he recut it to “put the freaks up front”? Coincidence?

Has Lucas really been exaggerating the level of studio interference with THX’s final cut, or did they really call for changes that didn’t end up being made on the theatrical cut (a la the “Love Conquers All” cut of Brazil not ending up being what was released to theaters), but this cut was used for the Italian TV version (again, similar to the “Love Conquers All” cut of Brazil only showing up on TV)?

Are his claims that the film was bastardized in the editing room by the studio execs just a result of him having a persecution complex about his treatment by Hollywood? And does this mean the 1978 recut wasn’t about restoring the artistic integrity of the film, but just Lucas being Lucas and tinkering with it? (And where does the claim come from that the home video edit of THX was itself slightly different from the 1978 theatrical reissue edit?)

Post
#923582
Topic
Theatrical 1979 Empire Strikes Back Trailer Restored (Released)
Time

I always thought the Harrison Ford thing was a BS fan myth. It doesn’t sound like him to me at all, so it bugs the crap out of me that it keeps being repeated.

Have Lucasfilm ever confirmed? And I mean confirmed confirmed, not just repeated the myth themselves? I know that the “Orson Welles narrated the 1976 SW trailer” lasted until just a few years ago, when I think LFL were the ones to confirm it was actually Malachi Throne…

Post
#916561
Topic
Star Wars Trilogy SE bluray color regrade (a WIP)
Time

As to the 70mm cells, I was trying to figure out their origin before, so I analyzed tons of eBay images looking for frames that contained edge codes for print stock and printed in from the previous intermediate generation. Here’s what I found:

SW(ANH) has no printed-in internegative edge codes, and the edge codes on the actual print say EASTMAN LPP and have the symbols corresponding to stock manufactured in 1995. I recently formulated a theory that they had no usable 65mm internegative for the film, the negatives were obviously in dire condition (this was concurrent with the SE restoration), so they simply made a new 65mm blow-up off of a 35mm IB. Do any of you think the SW 70mm cell images look grainier compared to the ESB/ROTJ ones?

Another possibility could be that the internegative had mild fading, I assume the dyes would fade in the same way on negative stock, so you’d be left with a magenta/pink negative image that would turn green when reversed (like that clip on the SE documentary). But it doesn’t look like color information had actually been lost (or not much) just that there’s a green cast.

ESB seems to have been a new print made off a seemingly original 65mm IN. The printed in blue-on-black edge codes have the symbols for 1979, the yellow-brown codes on the very edge on the actual print stock have the symbols for 1995. Some of them look to have shots that were added after the initial 70mm prints (extra Wampa cave, Bacta tank, Falcon dish shown when Luke is hanging on the weathervane thing), so it could have been a slightly later blow-up IN. (I haven’t found one of the extra Rebel fleet shots yet.) But the color looked to have been quite intact at the time - though that was 20 years ago.

ROTJ doesn’t look to have been a new print off of existing internegatives, but rather actual original picture-only (no mag soundtrack striped on) 70mm backup positives? The printed-in internegative edge code symbols are for 1981 or 1982, but the actual print stock edge code symbols aren’t the ones from 1995 like SW/ESB, but instead the ones from 1982 or 1983, depending on the reel. (The cells from the final reel - possibly the final two reels - aren’t faded, and when I found frames showing the print edge codes, they said “EASTMAN LPP” instead of just “EASTMAN”, but they had the symbols for 1982, so they were also original.)

Post
#916558
Topic
Star Wars Trilogy SE bluray color regrade (a WIP)
Time

Playing catch- up here:

I am pretty sure those film frames are from IB Technicolor. The ANH crawl frames show considerably more fading, which matches with the Senator print. (The UK prints had the 1981 crawl cut in on pre-LPP Eastman.)

The other reason I think it could be IB is because there are no Eastman edge codes on the actual stock. There is only occasionally a printed-in negative Eastman edge code. And I could have sworn some of the images had a gray soundtrack.

I have hundreds of images from this movie_maniac guy, I’ve been saving these pictures for months. I can send more if needed. These are obviously captured off some kind of light table or something. The hue of the clear film stock looks different depending on the photo, so I’m thinking there’s auto white balance at play here too. (I have Sandpeople/Kenobi canyon stuff, the unexposed portions of the film and the light shining through the sprocket holes look bluish instead of white on those.)

I’m not sure if this person has dupes of the same footage, has cut up bits of multiple prints, or if they are different 5-frame strips from the same print. But either way, I can throw all the images up in a ZIP and post them up somewhere for Dre. Though they may raise even further questions.

Post
#915151
Topic
Info: Recommended Editions of Disney Animated (and Partially Animated) Features
Time

Because they wanted to restore the original 1940 roadshow cut, but did not have audio (or at least, usable audio) for the deleted Deems Taylor introductions. They only had picture.

Really, they should have left those scenes out and presented the Corey Burton redubs in the bonus features, and an explanation why they’re redubbed and why they’re not in the movie. It’s not like kids give a crap about those extra scenes anyway, they were the most boring part when I was a kid and it took me years to appreciate them.

On some future release they should just include the shorter cut with seamless branching or on another disc, with Deems Taylor’s voice intact. It wouldn’t be that hard.

Post
#914151
Topic
Info: Recommended Editions of Disney Animated (and Partially Animated) Features
Time

Do you mean the 1997 restoration of Sleeping Beauty? Was that even digital, or was it just a straight photochemical restoration? (I’m also not clear whether they worked off any restoration work done for that aborted 1993 theatrical re-release that was promoted on the Beauty and the Beast VHS.)

The sound mixes would have been stored separately - digital audio storage being much easier and more feasible than digital video storage.

Post
#914146
Topic
Info: Recommended Editions of Disney Animated (and Partially Animated) Features
Time

FrankT said:

I’m a little confused about the filmout part of the reproduction process. Why bother printing it onto film if they’re just going to transfer it to video anyway? Would it have made any difference to go straight from workstation to video?

If you’re talking about Snow White, there were several likely reasons - film was still the preferred storage medium, the technology for HD video storage wasn’t yet advanced enough/too expensive, and they had to make a film-out anyway because the restoration was for the 1993 theatrical re-release.

Far as I know, Snow White was the only pre-CAPS Disney film to go through digital cleanup, be put back out to film, and transferred to video again for the home release. I think (correct me if I’m wrong) The Little Mermaid just went through photochemical cleanup for the 1997 re-release, Oliver & Company probably had the same, BATB/TLK only had film-out for IMAX and were ported from the revised computer files for DVD, and nothing else from 1993 on had a theatrical re-release.

Post
#913053
Topic
Star Wars Trilogy SE bluray color regrade (a WIP)
Time

The shots of Leia look wrong. Not the colors per se, but the fact that they bring out the heavy rouge makeup applied to Carrie Fisher’s cheeks and it makes her look like a china doll.

I know poita has said before that the negative transfer makes the makeup way too visible, and brings out the exaggerations that would come out looking much more natural after the image went through three extra generations to get to the release print. Should that be kept in mind, or does that go beyond the scope of color correction?

Post
#912765
Topic
Info Wanted: vhs, laserdisc, and other titles that aren't on dvd?
Time

Hollywood - the 1980 Kevin Brownlow silent film documentary series that remains stuck in clip licensing hell.

Around 2006 there was going to be a Region 2 DVD release from Network, under official license from Fremantle/Thames, but it was pulled just before street date because the proper licensing wasn’t obtained for the film excerpts. Some copies got out, I know this because I read a forum post from someone who obtained a copy, but over the years I’ve never heard anything else about anybody else having copies. It remains listed on Amazon.co.uk, but I’ve never seen a third-party seller offering a copy.

I hope another escaped copy of that Network set turns up someday, because it would actually be in its native PAL. Otherwise, the best copies are the U.S. laserdiscs from HBO, but they are NTSC conversions.