Jetrell Fo said:
Do we have a bit perfect audio capture from this LD anywhere?
Actually yes, I have a rip I did of the Japanese LD which (as far as I know) was the only release to have digital sound. I can upload it if anyone's interested.
ilovewaterslides said:
Yeah, because in the U.S it's actually illegal to own a 35mm copy of a copyrighted movie.
That's not exactly true. Or, at least it's misleading.
There's nothing inherently illegal about owning a 35mm print of a movie in the U.S. What's important to know is how 35mm films were released in the U.S., at least since the 80's (probably earlier as well, but I imagine someone can correct me if need be): the movie studios would rent the movies to theaters on a weekly basis, and the theaters agreed to a contract that told them how many times they could show the film, how many weeks they could show it, etc. At the end of the run the theaters were required to send the prints back. For a big release, the studios would then have a large (maybe a couple of thousand even) number of film prints with varying degrees of damage that they no longer needed, and the prints would be destroyed.
So, say for example you get your hands on a 35mm copy of Back to the Future from the 1985 U.S. theatrical release, there are probably two main places it could have come from:
1. Someone at the movie theater decided they wanted the print, took it for themselves and reported to the studio that it was missing or stolen (probably couldn't get away with this very often though otherwise you'd never get any more movies)
2. The person charged with destroying the extra prints grabbed a copy to keep or sell
So, this print of Back to the Future would then be considered stolen property, and if you bought it, that's why it would be illegal.
But at this point studios aren't even making 35mm prints anymore, so I'd be really surprised if anyone's looking for old theatrical release prints in private collector's hands.
There's a PAL DVD version up over on Rutracker. I think they still have open registration.
Updates!
The scan should be starting today, so with any luck I'll have a sample to post in the next day or two.
I was finally able to nail down the theatrical release for this movie, and it played for 8 days on 1 screen in 1 theater in New York City in November, 1983. So the number of people that saw this in widescreen would be extremely low, and this release will be the first widescreen video transfer that anyone's done.
Other exciting news! It turns out there was actually a second movie adaptation of I Am the Cheese in 1992. It was a Canadian - French co-production called "Lapse of Memory." It never came out in the U.S. but got released in Canada and a large chunk of Europe (UK, France, Germany, probably other countries as well.) It doesn't seem to have a DVD release (or even laserdisc that I could tell) but I did manage to get a copy of the Canadian VHS tape that I'll be capturing and including as a special feature with I Am the Cheese.
And to all of you who have been kind enough to pledge donations - thank you so much! I'll be needing to make the second payment for the scan in the next week or so, so I would appreciate it if you could send in your donations as soon as possible. In case anyone doesn't have my email address for PayPal, just let me know!
And of course it's never too late to make a new donation as well.
Okay, a few updates:
The print has been shipped and is safely in the hands of the person who is going to scan it. With any luck I should have some still images to post in the next week or two.
I've been doing some more research on this movie and the only mentions I can find of it playing theatrically are in the New York Times. There are no references in Variety, the Chicago Sun Times, or any of the other big publications. So I'm thinking it might have only played in New York. If anyone finds any mention of this movie playing in a city other than New York please let me know.
So far I haven't found anything to indicate that I Am the Cheese was released outside of the U.S. For our non-U.S. members, have you seen any video release of this movie? Was it ever available in your country?
I've collected all of the home video releases now (1 VHS release in 1984, 1 VHS release in 1994, and 1 DVD release in 2005) and they are all definitely made from the same video master. So, in all likelihood this will be the first video transfer of this movie since 1984, and most likely only the second one ever made.
And don't forget, it's not too late to donate! You're help is definitely appreciated.
Hey, I'm just trying to help out. I can tell you that I have this DVD and it is definitely uncut:
Runtime is a little shorter of course but that's due to the PAL speedup. And assuming that the new BD is made from the same print it's going to need some editing to sync up with the laserdisc audio.
Looks like it's pretty easy to find, there's 3 copies on sale on eBay right now for pretty cheap.
If you do get / make a copy of the audio, make sure to get a video reference as well - when they made the LD master the director went back and cut in all the TV segments from the original NTSC tapes. So, it will switch from film with 3:2 pulldown to straight 60i NTSC for the TV segments. Assuming the print they used for the BD is the same as the previous German DVD, you'll need to do some editing to the audio or video to get it to sync up correctly.
Asaki said:
mj0012 said:
P.S.: If anyone's interested in watching the movie beforehand, it can be found on Amazon Prime Video or on YouTube in its entirety (however, in quite poor versions of course).
Last time I checked, it was on Netflix streaming, also.
Looks like it's not anymore. But then stuff goes on and off Netflix all the time.
Thanks for the support! Any donations at all will be helpful. I plan to have this movie transferred no matter what, the donations will just help ease the financial burden a bit.
For anyone who graduated from a U.S. high school in the last 20 years, there’s a good chance that you read Robert Cormier’s novel “I Am the Cheese.” Fewer people have seen the 1983 movie adaptation, however. It was a low budget independent production and, for better or worse, didn’t receive much distribution.
There’s only been one DVD release of this movie, and it’s taken from a poor quality analog master, most likely the same one used to make the old 1980’s VHS releases. I managed to acquire a 16mm print in wonderful quality and would like to get it scanned and released to this group. I’ve been put in touch with someone who can do the scan. The scan itself will be done in UHD resolution with sound, and I plan to put together and release a 1080p version of the movie to anyone who wants it.
Having the scan done will cost $500, which is well below this person’s professional rate, but still more than I can pay for on my own. So, that’s where you come in! Any donations to having this print scanned will be greatly appreciated; even a $10 donation would be helpful.
Now, I know that a quiet psychological thriller like this movie isn’t normally the main genre that we go for on this board, but I think this movie has a greater chance of disappearing in its entirety if we don’t save it. So let’s save it!
Thanks in advance for your help.
P.S.: If anyone’s interested in watching the movie beforehand, it can be found on Amazon Prime Video or on YouTube in its entirety (however, in quite poor versions of course).
I'll take a look at It, I've been capping a lot of videos from Amazon recently.