Free "farewell" Screening of 1977 Star Wars collector's print (British I.B. Technicolor) — Page 2

Filmaker Richard Haines said that he once passed on the chance to buy a SW Technicolor print because the opening crawl and star destroyer intro was replaced with a segment of Kodak film which had faded. He later regretted it, realizing that he could have just taken a newer piece of a SE print an replaced the faded segment.

Baronlando said:

That's pretty cool! It looks good too. makes me wonder 2 things: did the 1981 release make it to Britain? and did they make all entirely new prints for it, or did they just put the new crawl into existing prints? (Or just replace the first reel?)

 

Yes mate!

They did a limited engagement in 81' showing both Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back back to back.I went to watch it at my local theatre here in cambridge(UK). I was 7 at the time and was blown away.Still to this day...the most awesome cinematic experience ever!

Found this blogger who also saw them back to back.He thinks he saw it in 1982.I am pretty sure it was 1981!:

 

 

"Another year later I saw both films back-to-back as a double-bill in a British cinema, not bothered by not being able to speak English, knowing both stories by heart."

http://twitchfilm.net/featured/2009/07/twitch-o-meter-the-ten-megaton-tom-twitch-o-meter-turns-10.000.000-part-2.php

 

Just found this poster...it was 1981:

http://www.icollector.com/Star-Wars-The-Empire-Strikes-Back-1981-double-bill-UK-Quad-Cinema-Poster-30-x-40-Linen-Backed-cond_i5245832

 

 

Cool man!

Here in cambridge we were very fortunate to get the triple bill in august 1983

I remember SW and ESB were shown in 35mm and during the break they announced that Jedi would be shown in 70mm!

You could feel the added excitement as the curtains rolled back to reveal a bigger screen.

I go to the cinema pretty often..in fact will be going to watch "inception" next week.No matter how good it is it will never come close to excitement of that evening back in august 83'!!

http://www.thevideodrome.net/star-wars-trilogy-triple-bill-1983-original-british-quad-ref-b185-403-p.asp

It was only by going on starwars.com that i realized that americans did not get the triple bill till 85'!

My memory is a bit hazy. I remember seeing ANH on ITV, and ROTJ in the cinema, but the first time I saw ESB was - I think - at the cinema in a double bill with ROTJ. Could this be true, or did I actually see the triple bill?

yes, they did have a ESB & ROTJ double bill in 1983. I'd just left school and i was working at our local cinema at the time so i got to see the double bill every day, every showing for the 2 weeks it was on here. We had Darth Vader here on the opening day of the double bill. We didn't have a special poster to put up at the cinema though and just had 2 separate posters instead

I wish I lived near Baltimore, that would have been a sight to see.

Folks...you can see a brief clip of the film beginning at the end of this video:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/?watchId=6152dbd4-ae00-4fee-988d-2e3f9f05a3f7

Looks like there were at least 2 cameras in the theatre:

http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/baltimore_city/curtain-closes-on-kiefaber%27s-run-at-the-senator-theater

Yep.

The print looks in great condition:

Wonder if anyone got pics of the Gringo subs and/or cue dots?

People are not asking the right questions.......


Where did they get the print
Who owns the print
How can we get in contact with the "right" people about this print, and possibly other prints as well

I think we can assume this was not LFL sanctioned, so it must be a privately owned print

I am shocked that this was allowed to happen.

I get the impression that these events never fly below LFL's radar. Which leads me to wonder, was this permitted for some particular reason? Has there been a change of heart at the ranch?

Erikstormtrooper said:

I am shocked that this was allowed to happen.

I get the impression that these events never fly below LFL's radar. Which leads me to wonder, was this permitted for some particular reason? Has there been a change of heart at the ranch?

CompMovieGuy said:

People are not asking the right questions.......


Where did they get the print
Who owns the print
How can we get in contact with the "right" people about this print, and possibly other prints as well

I think we can assume this was not LFL sanctioned, so it must be a privately owned print

Screw "the right" people!  Get me in contact with the wrong people.

Darth Mallwalker said:

 

bkev said:

Man, I sure hope he doesn't request the print get destroyed afterward. I recall - was it Adywan? - someone mentioning a local theater having to hand over a print they showed for the 30th Anniversary.

My thoughts exactly.
Hope they have a car waiting by the back door, and another waiting at the side door ready to whisk it away in case any goons turn up.

 

Like young Lucas and THX.

I don't know how they pulled this off, but I just get the feeling Lucas didn't know about it.

Soooo envious...

I was there.

1. From what I've read, it was actually the 1981 re-release print, as it had "EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE" and "Close the blast doors! Close the blast doors!" was missing.

2. The print is in really, really, really great condition. The Star Destroyer in the opening looked a little pink, which I'm guessing was a tint affecting the whole film, and there was some dirt when Owen was buying the droids (I think...it was on Tatooine, I remember that). But other than that? Amazing. It was beautiful.

3. Seeing Star Wars with an enthusiastic crowd that laughs and cheers and claps throughout is a lot of fun. Also fun is the mixed reactions to Leia kissing Luke on the cheek. "Yeaaaah!" and "....uuuuuh....."

4. The print is owned by a private collector in Britain. The Senator had been run by the same family for 71 years, so they had a lot of connections. Thus, when word got out that they were closing, friends talked to friends talked to friends and got them the print to use.

P.S. The Senator will reopen under new management...soon, hopefully. Gorgeous theatre.

P.P.S Some footage viewable at the end of this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEctWVF4J_w

Great to hear someone who actually was there and saw it! I envy you, timdiggerm. When your memory of it is still fresh, can you please take a look at this thread:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/What-changes-was-done-to-STAR-WARS-in-93/topic/9805/

...and tell me which picture of the binary sunset and R2-D2 in the canyon best represent the actual print in terms of photography and colortiming, its been some controversy over the years about the film actually being changed already in '93 for its laserdisc release.

Great to hear that the print was still in that good shape, you damn lucky guy! ;)

timdiggerm said:

I was there.

1. From what I've read, it was actually the 1981 re-release print, as it had "EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE" and "Close the blast doors! Close the blast doors!" was missing.

"Close the blast doors" was missing in the first 1977 run as well - it didn't appear until the mono mix, which was finished some time after the Dolby mixes.

The 1981 print you saw probably had the original 1977 Dolby Stereo sound mix.