logo Sign In

Info: 'Godfather' - 35mm print - on eBay for $600

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I’m new here so I’m not sure whether it’s appropriate to create a thread for it, but anyway, here it is:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/35mm-Feature-Film-THE-GODFATHER-1972-Marlon-Brando/302524539362

I thought the price seemed quite fair considering that lesser movies even on 16mm sometimes go beyond this price, and that someone here might care to acquire it. It’s also Open Matte and the colors look not faded to my eyes. (though it’s a bit hard to judge by the pictures).

Let me know if this is misguided. Cheers.

Author
Time

Russian audio, so that would have to be replaced or supplemented with an English track that you can select instead.

If this print was made before the mishandling of the negative that occurred at Paramount during the mid 80s, then we’d have a great opportunity for a preservation. Check out the links below for further information on this, including problems even with the 2008 restoration.

http://godfathermuseum.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/prints-of-darkness-settling-on-look-for.html

http://godfathermuseum.blogspot.co.uk/2015_03_29_archive.html

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
Author
Time

@JayArgonaut That’s very interesting, thanks for that. I still haven’t quite understood how they managed to mess up the negative, though. But it’s gone, I understood that much.

Audio wouldn’t be a big issue I think, as you said.

Is there any way to tell when this print was made?

Lastly, is the 2008 restoration made using that old print the article mentions which is from the original negative? If so, it wouldn’t be all that bad I think (could be regraded?).

Author
Time

TomArrow said:

@JayArgonaut That’s very interesting, thanks for that. I still haven’t quite understood how they managed to mess up the negative, though. But it’s gone, I understood that much.

Audio wouldn’t be a big issue I think, as you said.

Is there any way to tell when this print was made?

Lastly, is the 2008 restoration made using that old print the article mentions which is from the original negative? If so, it wouldn’t be all that bad I think (could be regraded?).

You’re welcome. There’s many a depressing story involving classic films, beyond the tragedy of Star Wars and Lucas, from the original negative of Citizen Kane being destroyed in a fire, to an MGM-Pathé executive who approved the disposal of an entire vault at United Artists that contained a wealth of James Bond material, to John Landis lamenting at Universal misplacing the original cuts of Animal House and The Blues Brothers.

I think we’d have to ask the seller to check the information on the cans to ascertain when the print was made. Perhaps others can weigh in with other ways to confirm this. The authors of the article actually were working on correcting the grading on the 2008 version but I have no idea how far they have progressed.

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
Author
Time

There’s no guarantee the Russian version will have the original colour timing. Russians distributors did their own thing, plus Tasma film might just add its own look as well.

[ Scanning stuff since 2015 ]