For our beloved 1977 Star Wars, this does mean we can’t be 100% certain of the quality of the extant prints. Lucas obviously had the best one.
No, Lucas had to borrow a 35mm IB Technicolor print from a collector to use as a reference for the 97SE. This particular collector was fortunate enough to receive his print back from LFL when they were done.
Serves me right for listening to what GL had to say. I was under the impression that he had a print in his personal collection that they used.
the Technicolor prints are a bit off in a variety of ways. I’m thinking, since they were shutting down production in 77, that they are probably print control issues rather than fade issues.
The Technicolor IB process introduces color changes independent of quality control. IB Technicolor prints tend to have greater contrast, saturation, and are shifted toward green. They may be fade-free, but this doesn’t mean that they’re truly accurate to their source.
Well, the early Technicolor process had many color issues. They refined it as time went on to the point where next to 70mm, a Technicolor print was probably the highest quality image that audiences could see. From what we have seen from the Technicolor scans of Star Wars, there is some green tint, and DrDre has noticed a additional red tint, but in terms of contrast and saturation, the colors seem to very much match our other sources.