TServo2049 said:
-The IB Tech prints don't have the "shaky" crawl Mike V was talking about. For the 1981 re-release, Fox's UK division took the IB prints in their inventory and spliced on the Episode IV crawl in Eastmancolor. All of the known surviving IB prints have this alteration, so we don't know which opening crawl they originally had. (The fact that the film was released in the UK in December 1977, so it makes sense that it's the "revised version.")
What crawl composite the IB Tech prints had, I guess we'll never find out, but like you said it was probably the more stable version.
TServo2049 said:
-If the IP used for the 80s video masters was from an older source (see: lack of burn marks, lack of Greedo subs, "cloudy" composite), why does it have the revised credits? Were they spliced in at some point? (I'm guessing the cut point would have been at the final group shot...)
Yeah, if this is the case the final group shot would have been the most logical point I guess, but it could have been done pretty much anywhere in that last reel for all we know, this master also have mid-reel splices. There are at least visual evidence of a splice for the crawl but I cannot see something similar for the credits.
TServo2049 said:
-Does anybody here have the old, pre-THX French/German widescreen LDs? They seemingly used a different film source than the JSC master, because while they also have the Greedo scene without the English subs, that one scene is cut in from a clearly inferior print. This suggests that their main source had the burned-in subs, and may not be the same as the JSC, in which case the takeoff composite may be different.
-russs15, could you maybe provide screenshots of this scene from the ITV broadcast? That version seems to be a film-chain from a flat, cropped Academy print (like the ones that used to show up on eBay from time to time). It has the EpIV crawl and lacks the Tantive burn marks, but it has the 1977 flyover instead of the recomposite. Perhaps the Yavin takeoff shot is different there too?
I agree that it would be interesting if people with PAL sources could provide screenshots of the things discussed, don't know if that many will notice our discussion, so maybe better to start a separate thread for these requests?