Article on the Library of Congress now having a 2K scan of original 1977 35mm reels.
http://mashable.com/2015/12/17/star-wars-original-cut/#ex7yxtMg4iq5
Need to get Empire and Jedi saved fast!
That article gets some things wrong. I visited the LOC several years ago as part of a research project that, sadly, ultimately fell apart and never amounted to anything. But, what I was researching was what elements they actually had and what condition they were in. They do NOT have negatives for any of the films. What they do have is 35mm prints of each film submitted as copyright deposits (basically, to copyright something you have to give them a copy for their records that can then be used as a reference if any claims go to court). These prints exist for both the original theatrical cuts, as well as the 1997 Special Editions.
I went to the Packard Campus, in Culpeper, VA which is where the massive cold storage vaults are located where they actually store their film archives. I got to get very hands on with the original copyright deposit prints. We looked at several reels of Star Wars (77) on their telecine (this is the print, and the telecine machine that were used to eventually make the 2k scan that the author of the above article got to watch). The film was very pink-shifted but otherwise still in rather good shape. And the telecine operator was able to do color correction on the fly as we watched the reel on his monitor. So the 2k transfer in the article is NOT exactly what the print looks like, as it HAS been color corrected from the faded reels, though no other work would have been done (at least, that was the plan they had while I was there).
I also got to look at reels from Empire and Jedi on a light table. Empire was much like Star Wars: rather pink, but otherwise in good shape. Jedi looked brand new, as if the print had been struck yesterday. The librarian could read all the gobbledygook info on the edges of the film and told me that Jedi was printed on a different film stock that was more stable than what Star Wars and Empire were on.
We also took a quick peak at the SEs and they al looked brand new as well, no surprise there.
I was an amateur researcher and the staff there was incredibly kind, helpful, and enthusiastic about the whole project. It was not long after my visit, though, that the films (definately Star Wars, but I think the entire OT) was elevated to preservation status and effectively made off limits to pretty much anyone except the actual preservation staff of the library.
It was an awesome experience, even if the project I was working on never came to fruition. I’ll never forget the thrill of holding actual prints of Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi that were really struck in 1977, 1980, and 1983!