Recent Film Restorations

[Stefan Andersson]

Interview in French with L.E. Diapason re: soundtrack restorations; subjects include The Rules of the Game, The Mother and the Whore and other films:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/article/entr ... e-diapason

For the record - info about the restoration of Wings (1927):
https://willmckinley.wordpress.com/2012 ... ever-seen/

[Black Hat]

Totally missed this, but King Vidor's Hallelujah has been restored by the Library of Congress and The Film Foundation with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.

It screened in 35mm at Film Forum, and now it's going to screen tonight and tomorrow at Lincoln Center's King Vidor retrospective (presumably the same print since it's advertised as 35mm).

I saw this at Walter Reade and to my surprise was really taken with it, finding myself emotionally connected to the characters which, for me at least, is a rare occurrence for movies of old Hollywood. I saw a number of the King Vidors during this retro and found them, for the most part, not very good. This was an exception.

[domino harvey]

u know how old movie go with emotional connecting

[Black Hat]

Now, that, made me laugh!

[Stefan Andersson]

On the restoration of Itim (Mike de Leon):
https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/m ... -premiere/
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/life/ent ... -Itim.html

Leon´s Kakabakaba ka ba? restored in 4K:
http://etrangefestival.com/2022/fr/movi ... WetjWht7gU

Agantuk, Satyajit Ray, restored in 4K:
https://www.cinestaan.com/articles/2022 ... m-festival

[mhofmann]

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/life/ent ... -Itim.html

Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project funded the restoration of “Maynila in the Claws of Light,” which De Leon found unsatisfactory: “The final grading was not quite what the film originally looked like. That it won the Focal Press Best Restoration award is ironic.”

No shit, Sherlock. Restored by the very same people he trusts now (L'Immagine Ritrovata / Davide Pozzi), and it had his "stamp of approval"...

[Stefan Andersson]

Hiventy comments, in French, on the restoration of The Rules of the Game recently released on UHD in France:
https://digitalcine.fr/4k-bluray-dvd/ne ... more-63635

Edit: moved comment about the new French UHD Rules of the Game to the UHD thread.

[ryannichols7]

Agantuk, Satyajit Ray, restored in 4K:
https://www.cinestaan.com/articles/2022 ... m-festival

come on Criterion, you know you want to rescue this from Eclipse and give it a nice edition like you'll do for Distant Thunder

I wish Ray's films weren't cost prohibitive for literally any other label, it would be nice to not wait years to see editions of them. they're obviously worth the wait but it still takes forever..

[beamish14]

Agantuk, Satyajit Ray, restored in 4K:
https://www.cinestaan.com/articles/2022 ... m-festival

come on Criterion, you know you want to rescue this from Eclipse and give it a nice edition like you'll do for Distant Thunder

I wish Ray's films weren't cost prohibitive for literally any other label, it would be nice to not wait years to see editions of them. they're obviously worth the wait but it still takes forever..

The AMPAS has restorations of virtually every Ray film already, but some, like Kanchenjungha, are still in incredibly rough shape, and I think Criterion is probably reluctant to release them as a result.

[ryannichols7]

aren't Distant Thunder and The Stranger new 4K restorations though? they definitely have older restorations (I recently scored the MOC of Abhijan ) and it advertises exactly that) but from my understanding there's a lot more recent restorations, such as how Devi got one, from the AMPAS sources

I imagine Criterion wouldn't have any issue releasing the newer restorations. Ray seems to be a success for them, and given that they're basically the only label with the capital required to release his films it seems they found themselves a good niche. I'd love to see MOC or more realistically BFI get into the game of putting our his work, but it seems they're even more hesitant due to the licensing system that India evidently uses

[Calvin]

I wouldn't get too excited about an imminent Criterion release of Distant Thunder; I don't think there's any evidence that this is one of the Ray titles that they have under license and they've been pretty slow at releasing the ones they do - they've yet to release Mahapurush despite the UK Artificial Eye BD coming out nearly a decade ago. In the past couple of years, the National Film Archive of India have done 4K restorations of Hirak Rajar Deshe, Sonar Kella, Pratidwandi, Distant Thunder, Agantuk and Enemy of the People.

[Stefan Andersson]

There is a new LoC restoration of The Beloved Rogue soon up on TCM, with an new score by Robert Israel. Mr. Israel posted this the Nitrateville website:
"a TCM premiere on September 28, 2022 at 8PM (EST). The legendary John Barrymore in, THE BELOVED ROGUE (1927). This is a brand new edition by The Library of Congress. Original 1927 color tints and Handschiegl art-titles restored."

Source: https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33550

[hearthesilence]

This was actually announced in 2020 (days before everything locked down from the pandemic), but I didn't realize DuArt was scanning Frederick Wiseman's entire body of work in 4K from the original negatives (where applicable).

I know Titicut Follies was already available from a 4K scan, but this is great news. Maybe they'll eventually replace the digital masters currently being used for the DVDs and Kanopy's streaming service?

[ianthemovie]

This was actually announced in 2020 (days before everything locked down from the pandemic), but I didn't realize DuArt was scanning Frederick Wiseman's entire body of work in 4K from the original negatives (where applicable).

That's fantastic news. If they're going to reissue these on DVD or Blu-ray it might explain why basically all of Wiseman's catalogue is listed as "currently unavailable" for purchase at the Zipporah website.

[beamish14]

This was actually announced in 2020 (days before everything locked down from the pandemic), but I didn't realize DuArt was scanning Frederick Wiseman's entire body of work in 4K from the original negatives (where applicable).

That's fantastic news. If they're going to reissue these on DVD or Blu-ray it might explain why basically all of Wiseman's catalogue is listed as "currently unavailable" for purchase at the Zipporah website.

God, I hope we finally get Shirley Clarke’s The Cool World, too

[miha]

Picnic at Hanging Rock restoration, interesting watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtaRhk9Ea6M

[yoloswegmaster]

List of films being shown at the Lumiere festival this year.

[beamish14]

List of films being shown at the Lumiere festival this year.

Some great stuff in there, and a lot of titles that have been in the restoration pipeline for a while

Denys Arcand’s Dirty Money is probably going to be another Quebecois film with a nice restoration but no commercial UHD/Blu-Ray release

[ianthemovie]

Is there a way to know which films on that list are new or recent restorations?

I'm encouraged to see Nothing But A Man continue to enjoy some attention following its recent run at Metrograph. It would be great if that were to get a Blu-ray release at some point.

[DeprongMori]

Is there a way to know which films on that list are new or recent restorations?

I'm encouraged to see Nothing But A Man continue to enjoy some attention following its recent run at Metrograph. It would be great if that were to get a Blu-ray release at some point.

Frankly I’m kind of shocked this film hasn’t been re-issued. It currently isn’t available at all in any (legit) form.

[tenia]

Several of the films have tech details in their individual French page, particularly the Lumière Classics and Treasures and Curiosities ones.
Usually, pretty much every movie ends up having their tech details available this way.

[Calvin]

The Last Emperor's 4K restoration, credited to Turbine, is listed at 2.39:1 aspect ratio

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Storaro seems to have dropped his insistence on 2.00:1 awhile ago, or else everyone just started ignoring him. The previous 4K remaster (done for the 3D conversion) was also 2.39:1. Hopefully Criterion or someone (I know Cohen owns HanWay now, but who knows how long Criterion will have their licenses) finally reissues it in the U.S., especially now that UHD is a thing.

[tenia]

Either this or he hasn't been consulted precisely to avoid this.

[beamish14]

Is there a way to know which films on that list are new or recent restorations?

I'm encouraged to see Nothing But A Man continue to enjoy some attention following its recent run at Metrograph. It would be great if that were to get a Blu-ray release at some point.

Frankly I’m kind of shocked this film hasn’t been re-issued. It currently isn’t available at all in any (legit) form.

It had a very interesting production, as film lab DuArt put up the money for it. I thought producers Michael Roemer and Robert Young (both around 95!) split the rights now