The Treasure of the Sierra Madre DVD and other film restorations...

[Todd Fredericks]

Someone asked about when this was going to released the other day. Here's the info...

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre will include "Warner Bros' Night at the Movies 1948" (Key Largo theatrical trailer, a vintage newsreel, the "So You Want to be a Detective" short, and the Looney Tunes short "Hot Cross Bunny"). Other extras include a commentary track with Bogart biographer Eric Lax and trailers for 12 Bogart films; "John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick" feature length documentary; "Discovering Treasure: The Story of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"; the 1950 Looney Tunes short "8 Ball Bunny"; scoring sessions; the April 18, 1949 Lux Radio Theater broadcast of the story; and other material."

Todd

[Matt]

Wow, a complete vintage moviegoing experience! I could totally dig that.

[guy incognito]

Looks like one helluva nice package! :thumbsup:

Hope the transfer/cleanup of the film itself is a decent one.

[Khorn]

Originally posted by Todd Fredericks
Someone asked about when this was going to released the other day. Here's the info...




:D :D FINALLY! It's about time! :D :D

[Ere]

Thanks, Todd. Presumably that is the Warner Bros release coming up. That may well also be the release date for the 'Adventures of Robin Hood' SE with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland:)

Ere

[krabapple]

Originally posted by Todd Fredericks
Someone asked about when this was going to released the other day. Here's the info...

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre will include "Warner Bros' Night at the Movies 1948" (Key Largo theatrical trailer, a vintage newsreel, the "So You Want to be a Detective" short, and the Looney Tunes short "Hot Cross Bunny"). Other extras include a commentary track with Bogart biographer Eric Lax and trailers for 12 Bogart films; "John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick" feature length documentary; "Discovering Treasure: The Story of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"; the 1950 Looney Tunes short "8 Ball Bunny"; scoring sessions; the April 18, 1949 Lux Radio Theater broadcast of the story; and other material."

Todd

AWRIGHT!

I presume 8-Ball Bunny is the one where Bogey's 'Can you spare a dime for a fellow American' chracter keeps hitting Bugs up for money?

Now, when's "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" -- IMO the finest American movie ever made -- going to be given a DVD rollout?

[Todd Fredericks]

Yes, also 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'

Here's the whole info:


"Warner Home Video has announced the latest crop of classic films getting 2-disc treatments. Due on September 30th are The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Yankee Doodle Dandy. WB will recreate the moviegoing experience of yesteryear with these new "Night at the Movies" special editions. These sets will include shorts, newsreels, cartoons, and trailers from the year of the films' initial release. The discs will be available individually at $26.99, or in a gift set at $69.92. Exact specs are as follows:
Remastered in the Ultra-Resolution digital video restoration, The Adventures of Robin Hood will include "Warner Bros' Night at the Movies 1938" (Angels with Dirty Faces theatrical trailer, a vintage newsreel, the Warner musical short subject "Freddie Rich and His Orchestra," and the cartoon "Katnip Kollege"). Other extras include a feature length commentary track by author and film historian Rudy Behlmer, a music-only track,trailers for 12 Errol Flynn movies, "Glorious Technicolor," a one-hour documentary about the color process narrated by Angela Lansbury; the 65th anniversary documentary "Welcome to Sherwood: The Story of The Adventures of Robin Hood"; "Rabbit Hood" and "Robin Hood Daffy" Looney Tunes; the short subjects "Cavalcade of Archery" and "The Cruise of the Zaca"; "Robin Hood Through the Ages" (a look at earlier screen adaptations); "A Journey to Sherwood Forest" (a collection of home movies and behind-the-scenes footage); outtakes and bloopers from Warner's 1938 productions; the Robin Hood National Radio Broadcast from May 11, 1938; composer Korngold’s piano lessons (audio only); and other material.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre will include "Warner Bros' Night at the Movies 1948" (Key Largo theatrical trailer, a vintage newsreel, the "So You Want to be a Detective" short, and the Looney Tunes short "Hot Cross Bunny"). Other extras include a commentary track with Bogart biographer Eric Lax and trailers for 12 Bogart films; "John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick" feature length documentary; "Discovering Treasure: The Story of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"; the 1950 Looney Tunes short "8 Ball Bunny"; scoring sessions; the April 18, 1949 Lux Radio Theater broadcast of the story; and other material.

Yankee Doodle Dandy will include "Warner Bros' Night at the Movies 1942" (Casablanca theatrical trailer, a vintage newsreel, the short "Beyond the Line of Duty," and the Looney Tunes short "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid"). Other extras include a commentary from Behlmer and trailers for seven Cagney films;"James Cagney: Top of the World" biographical tribute hosted by Michael J. Fox; "Let Freedom Sing!: The Story of Yankee Doodle Dandy" making-of documentary; the Looney Tunes shorts "Yankee Doodle Daffy" and "Yankee Doodle Bugs"; the wartime short "You, John Jones" starring Cagney and Greer Garson; audio-only outtakes and rehearsals; the Oct. 19, 1942, Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater Radio Show with the film's cast members; and other material"


Todd

[Ere]

"The Cruise of the Zaca" is a short color film/documentary shot on board Flynn's personal sailing boat ca. 1940. It features Flynn and Howard Hill, the expert archer who actually fired the "split the arrow" shot in ARH, fishing with bow and arrows.

I hope they interviewed Olivia for the documentary:love:

Ere

[wvk3]

Originally posted by Todd Fredericks
Other extras include ... "John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick" feature length documentary


That is great news. I love this documentary and have been waiting for it as a DVD extra on some Huston film. Now if we could only get The Dead, Under the Volcano and the WWII films with the corresponding documentaries.

[Jefhart]

YIPPEE, YAHOO, etc. both Madre and Robin Hood:love:

:D :D :D :D :D :goodie: :goodie: :goodie: :goodie:

Jeff

[guy incognito]

From The Digital Bits (http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents):

All three films have been restored using Warner's new "Ultra Restoration" process, which begins with scanning the original Technicolor 3-strip black and white "records" at high resolution (2K). The black and white records are then combined electronically to create the color images, which are also electronically re-registered, steadied and cleaned before the final DVDs are produced. The result, in theory, is an image that looks better than the original.

[Steve Hoffman]

Unless you actually want to project it in a real theatre. Sigh.

[Ed Bishop]

An image that looks better than the original? Garbage: try for an image in the ballpark with the original...otherwise, more harm than good will be done to the image....just as 30#1 HITS was a horrible bastardization of the original sound of Elvis' music. Not that 3+ million listeners could be wrong....:rolleyes:

One thing that impressed me about the 'restoration' of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL: the grain remained, you could tell you were watching a MOVIE, not something spruced up to be somebody's idea of 'perfect' video.
Get it while you still can....

ED:cool:

[Todd Fredericks]

One thing that impressed me about the 'restoration' of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL: the grain remained, you could tell you were watching a MOVIE, not something spruced up to be somebody's idea of 'perfect' video.

Totally agree, Fox did a nice job on that film. I also tip my hat to Criterion releases because their releases have the feel of watching a film rather than a video...

Todd

[Ere]

>>All three films have been restored using Warner's new "Ultra Restoration" process, which begins with scanning the original Technicolor 3-strip black and white "records" at high resolution (2K).<<

Umm, maybe I'm missing something here, but how can a Technicolor source be black and white:eek:? ARH is the only one of the three that was in (glorious) color to begin with, so the above statement leaves me a bit :confused:

Ere

[Steve Hoffman]

Originally posted by Ere
>>All three films have been restored using Warner's new "Ultra Restoration" process, which begins with scanning the original Technicolor 3-strip black and white "records" at high resolution (2K).<<

Umm, maybe I'm missing something here, but how can a Technicolor source be black and white:eek:? ARH is the only one of the three that was in (glorious) color to begin with, so the above statement leaves me a bit :confused:

Ere

The three strips are indeed black and white, each with a filter. When combined, color appears. An amazing process, which needs TECHNICOLOR processing to look like true TECH! This ain't it. I'm sure it will look fine, but it won't be TECHNICOLOR.

[Ed Bishop]

That's why you have film historians ranting over the look of the old Technicolor films when transferred to home video. And some of these films have been remastered more than once, making the situation even more confusing. You can buy a few LD editions of THE WIZARD OF OZ, the DVD version, and each will have a different color shade for the Yellow Brick Road. And in GWTW, Scarlett's red hair ribbon, seen in the film's opening sequence, still looks too red and loud: it's conspicuous by how obvious it shows up, which you know could not have been the case with the original neg. That's the kind of stuff that drives diehards nuts, and with good reason.


ED:cool:

[Steve Hoffman]

If you want a true Technicolor WIZARD OF OZ, get the Criterion or old MGM Laser disc version. The MGM is neat because it has the MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS track separate and you can just play that if you want.

Those were made from the 35mm 1955 Technicolor print made for CBS Television. This is the print that just had the black and white sections instead of the Sepia tones of the original 1939 and 1948 release prints.

These are NOT TO BE CONFUSED with the later MGM version which went back to the black and white Technicolor seps and made a new EASTMAN COLOR print. The color in this thing is all bumped up and solid state looking. Urggh...

[indy mike]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman


The three strips are indeed black and white, each with a filter. When combined, color appears. An amazing process, which needs TECHNICOLOR processing to look like true TECH! This ain't it. I'm sure it will look fine, but it won't be TECHNICOLOR.

How much more expensive would a new, true Technicolor print of Robin Hood cost compared to the digital processing mentioned above??? :confused:

[Steve Hoffman]

Originally posted by indy mike


How much more expensive would a new, true Technicolor print of Robin Hood cost compared to the digital processing mentioned above??? :confused:

Oh, a lot less.

Sad ain't it?

What they are not telling you is that they probably don't really have the three strips for everything and are going to fake it for some scenes. Also, if the three pieces of nitrate film have shrunk unevenly it could cause fringing.

[indy mike]

Have you considered going into the DVD remastering bidness???

[Steve Hoffman]

Nah, they would hate me.

[Joseph Kaufman]

Originally posted by indy mike


How much more expensive would a new, true Technicolor print of Robin Hood cost compared to the digital processing mentioned above??? :confused:

Most unfortunately, Technicolor has dismantled its recently revived IB printing system. So there's no longer anywhere in the world to make such a print.

I saw the new ROBIN HOOD sampled via digital projection. They did an A/B comparison of a badly out of register IB print (of a sort you'd never run across in real life) with what the new system does in terms of syncing it all up and making it sharp and in register.

The "new" ROBIN HOOD looks very clean, but lacks the "livingness" (Steve's "breath of life" in movie terms?) of a real IB Tech print.

[Steve Hoffman]

Bummer. Solid State Robin Hood. Heck my 16mm IB Tech would probably kill it. They should use that to do the DVD. Sigh.

[Joseph Kaufman]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman
Bummer. Solid State Robin Hood. Heck my 16mm IB Tech would probably kill it. They should use that to do the DVD. Sigh.

What's upsetting is that the techie guys were all oohing and aahing about how terrific the new ROBIN HOOD looks. (This was at the Academy's show about the history of color in the motion picture.) It is indeed bright, colorful and clean. However there's something ineffable about a good IB print that wasn't there. There's a distinctly emotional and pleasurable quality to IB. The modern version has a lot of "wham" and technical precision but lacks heart and soul.

Something similar happened to movie soundtracks. The last time I got a rush of exhilaration from a movie soundtrack was with THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. They may be able to knock you back in your seat, but can they give you the goosebumps of hearing a Bernard Herrmann main title in a mag stereo print of, say, GARDEN OF EVIL or JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH? Or the massive tubular power of the roller coaster scene in THIS IS CINERAMA? It has to do, I think, of the icy precision of modern soundtracks, which are far superior in terms of low distortion, wide frequency response etc., but are highly calculated and lack a sense of fun and pleasure.