[opendtv] Re: 70th Anniversary Presentation of the Wizard of Oz
- From: Cliff Benham <flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Pete Deksnis <pldexnis@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:34:57 -0400
I think Hollywood was right in the 1940s when they tried to maintain
control of the theaters by owning them to assure high quality projection
and sound. Last night's show is a perfect example of why they should.
Alo there are two additional 'showings' of the film in the next months:
Netflix will stream (for free) the Wizard on October 3rd. This the the
restored HI-DEF version. Editorial Comment: We'll see.
The Delaware Symphony will present a live performance at the Wilmington
Opera House in January in which the film will play with dialogue and
sound effects only and the music will be played live by the orchestra.
This could be a very nice performance. I bet the conductor will be
wearing a headset!
Pete Deksnis wrote:
Thanks for the review Cliff. I also saw the 'film' yesterday and wrote
these comments before seeing yours. Briefly, I did not have a brightness
issue, and I did like the sound, although I overlooked Margret
Hamilton's raucous scream reproduction. Yes, the color was a
disappointment; I suspect it was done on purpose to look modern and not
at all like the original. Here's my brief take on the experience:
Just got back from the theater, which was digital and sold out. Strange,
they were projecting Dish NetworkHD logos and later a menu screen with
Oz highlighted/selected. Not familiar with digital theater at all and so
I wonder if the 'film' is delivered via sat?
The movie itself had two appreciated dimensions and one disappointment.
[1]
Resolution was so good that the nuance of facial expressions became a
new and integral element of watching the movie. It's something that
doesn't happen with a DVD/15GP22 viewing.
Texture of props and sets was at times so accurate that they became
'props' and not, for example, lush foliage in munchkin land (not a
negative for me though).
And yes, one could see the acne on Dorthy's face; it happened in the
scenes when she first met the Scarecrow. I never noticed it again
however. I wonder if there is a story behind it.
[2]
Sound. Normally, I prefer to watch vintage movies with the original mono
track. However, somebody did a wonderful job mixing multiple tracks from
the mono. _Dialog_ clarity was Excellent. Once during the twister
sequence, I suspected that, perhaps, new recordings were used, but maybe
not? Could be just modern, digital-processing magic.
[3]
The color went along with the improved 'modern-looking' resolution in
that it was perfect, modern, accurate color. But it wasn't glorious. It
wasn't Technicolor. It was bland. Munchkin costumes were bland. The
red-with-yellow-highlights apples on the animated apple tree were bland
and without luster (they are wonderfully red and shinny on a 15GP22).
They did not 'stand out' in the theater presentation. Besides the
apples, my other two standards for Oz color are (a) the red smoke that
masks Margret Hamilton's elevator trip to munchkin land and (b) stage
makeup. The smoke was without impact; it was red smoke just as the apple
was red. Nothing to gawk at. Ditto Dorthy's lips. Bland red. Made to
emulate 'modern' red lipstick perhaps? I guess. But it wasn't
Technicolor stage makeup.
Thank goodness for the 15GP22.
Pete
-------------- Original message from Cliff Benham
<flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>: --------------
>
> Tonight at the Regal Cinema in Wilmington, Delaware, I attended
the one
> night only 70th Anniversary presentation of The Wizard of Oz.
>
> This presentation was made tonight in theaters all across the
country.
>
> Billed as a digital High Definition showing of a newly restored
version
> of the film that included frame by frame re-registration and color
> correction, the presentation I saw was sadly lacking in resolution,
> screen brightness, good color and sound.
>
> The pictures were dull and dim. I had the impression that I was
watching
> an upconverion of a 640X480p source rather than a 1080i or 1080p
program.
>
> The actual screen brightness looked as though the video level of
peak
> whites was no higher than 80 IRE.
>
> The sound was very loud and had horrible high frequency peaks in
the 3-4
> kilohertz range. An additional problem I noticed was that severe
> overmodulation of the original Western Electric optical
soundtrack was
> perhaps made even more noticeable by the sound restoration
process at
> several points during the evening.
>
> One would think that by now digital techniques could have been
used to
> remove those points of overmod particularly when the witch laughs or
> screams, but they are there and annoyingly enhanced by the
theater sound
> system. At times the sound was actually painful.
>
> I was also surprised at the skin color of Dorothy and Glynda. In
this
> presentation, they were both shown with very light, fair skin, with
> little color in their faces. However, Dorothy's hair was a a very
deep
> red, deeper than in any version of this film I've watched before.
>
> The combination of these extremes in hair color and facial tones
along
> with the lack of a 'bright' image on the screen is surprising
given the
> historic nature of this presentation. I really expected better.
>
> I also wonder about the technical projection capabilities of the
theater
> in which the film played tonight.
>
> Before the actual film and it's introduction [with Robert Osborne
and
> Angela Lansbery] there were PSAs for about 10 minutes promoting the
> theater chain.
>
> These promotional pieces were rather dull looking and I thought
while
> they were playing that 'surely when the main presentation begins the
> brightness will suddenly increase and the image will become crisp
and
> clean.'
>
> Sadly no. I saw no difference between the video quality of the promo
> pieces and the main feature. It was all dull looking and dim.
>
> Certainly not like a Technicolor imbibition print of this new
> restoration would have looked.
>
> Finally, at the conclusion, on my way out of the theater, the screen
> suddenly lit up with a Windows desktop!
>
> And, the houselights never came back up. People were stumbling
around in
> the dark trying to leave the theater.
>
> I give the theater a D for production quality.
>
> I don't know how the evening went in other theaters across the
country
> tonight but for me it was quite dissatisfying.
>
> I will buy the Blu-Ray DVD when it becomes available on the 29th.
I'm
> sure it will look better on my 5 year old HD set at home than it
looked
> tonight projected electronically on the 'big screen'.
>
> Cliff Benham
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