Colson said:
In regards to 35mm grain, which would you prefer:

For a preservation? That would be the best as can come from scanning and recording. Preservation done. But there’s always the next step and that would be (partial or full) restoration.

Personally, I see film grain as just another type of image damage. Others want the theatrical experience, including film grain(1), which I get, too. Sound is even more – mono, stereo, 4/6 track pan. But it’s not “one or the other” … unless there is no money and/or drives to archive the milestones in the film’s restoration. [insert donations advertising here] 😄

(1) film grain is cumulative from the negative on up the production chain – answer prints, editing, master prints, distribution prints, and later-distribution prints (copies from previous surviving prints). The farther back down you go, the less grain you get … to a presentation which the director gave his approval and we never saw.