ScourgiousJinx
Master Member
I'd rather see an unedited version of ESB in a theater.
Original theatrical Star Wars back in theater
- Thread starter nwjedidave
- Start date
I’ve made my peace with the Special Editions…
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Too Much Garlic
Master Member
Lucky. Wish this was shown in Denmark too.
joberg
Legendary Member
...and in Canada
Damn movie changed my life
For those in London, or wanting to trek here - the BFI are exhibiting Ann Skinner's continuity Polaroids:
joberg
Legendary Member
Would be fun to look at those for sure!!
Man, I wish they could make and sell DVDs of that unaltered 1977 Technicolor print! ("Cigarette burns" and all.)
joberg
Legendary Member
Well. That was a bit of a tease. They showed us the continuity script and Polaroids from a distance. Flipped through the book for 10 minutes. So much awesome info in there.
But drat. I get why they did that, but I was hoping they’d have various pages and photos under glass that we could walk around and look at. Ah well!
But drat. I get why they did that, but I was hoping they’d have various pages and photos under glass that we could walk around and look at. Ah well!
The screening was fascinating by the way. The opening, with the ugly green Lucasfilm text, and the original 1977 title crawl (no bloody A, B, or ANH) was fun. It’s interesting how many people were laughing at all the cheesier lines of dialogue, making me wonder how many people had never seen the film before.
In terms of the film’s appearance, the colour looked pretty decent. Since it was one of the last 35mm Technicolor dye prints made in the UK before the facility closed, it hasn’t suffered from the awful colour collapse of an Eastmancolor print. But what a reminder of how even big 35mm film releases looked at the time. It was very soft, low contrast, grey blacks… not the sort of high-contrast crisp sharpness you get from a digital projection! Oddly the print looked slightly cropped to the top and left sides - not sure what that was about.
This meant that a lot of scenes which look visually problematic today, such as contrast issues in the Blockade Runner footage, the hard lighting of the "your home planet of Alderaan" scene, the visible difference between Luke’s face and neck makeup during the Yavin base scene, etc, were kind of concealed. But interestingly the Tunisian footage still looked soft and kinda bad - the idea of putting stockings over the lens really didn’t work!
As for the sound, which was two-track stereo optical, it definitely had that kind of muffled quality that was normal for the era. Pre-THX or Dolby Digital sound. We really are spoilt by digital audio, that's for sure.
Interestingly the effects looked great - you can see how even the dodgy matte paintings (especially the Death Star docking bay from above, the matte painting above the Cardington footage of Yavin, the set extensions for the closing ceremony scene) and optical issues really weren’t that noticeable for the most part - they really were designed for 35mm projection. There were no visible garbage mattes around the ships, the way they were on video. The main noticeable technical flaws were spacecraft interior bluescreen shots, like the Falcon cockpit, which always looked pasted on. And the wide shot of the Death Star lift shaft had a ton of halation on the live action side.
Still. I was really struck by how the effects shots during the final battle looked pretty awesome, even without CGI bells and whistles.
For people wondering about details of the print:
- Of course, none of the digital-era changes we're used to are there. The Greedo sequence, the chasing the troopers in the Death Star sequence, no Death Star explosion shockwave, etc. etc. Obviously.
- 3PO doesn't say "we've stopped" before whacking R2 on the head inside the sandcrawler.
- A few frames were cut out towards the end of the garage sequence. Pretty sure those were just caused by damage on that particular print, not an intentional edit. This caused the sad R2 beep after "I don't like you either" to be missing.
- Beru's brief dialogue is the original looped Shelagh Fraser dialogue, as heard in the SE.
- The troopers who search the Falcon don't say "there's no-one here".
- 3PO's narration during the "the tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations" sequence is not present.
- Craploads of echo on the voices during the "I think we took a wrong turn" scene in the Death Star trench.
- The "Close the blast doors" line isn't there since this is the stereo mix.
- The more pronounced shortwave radio effect on the pilot voices heard in the Rebel base.
In terms of the film’s appearance, the colour looked pretty decent. Since it was one of the last 35mm Technicolor dye prints made in the UK before the facility closed, it hasn’t suffered from the awful colour collapse of an Eastmancolor print. But what a reminder of how even big 35mm film releases looked at the time. It was very soft, low contrast, grey blacks… not the sort of high-contrast crisp sharpness you get from a digital projection! Oddly the print looked slightly cropped to the top and left sides - not sure what that was about.
This meant that a lot of scenes which look visually problematic today, such as contrast issues in the Blockade Runner footage, the hard lighting of the "your home planet of Alderaan" scene, the visible difference between Luke’s face and neck makeup during the Yavin base scene, etc, were kind of concealed. But interestingly the Tunisian footage still looked soft and kinda bad - the idea of putting stockings over the lens really didn’t work!
As for the sound, which was two-track stereo optical, it definitely had that kind of muffled quality that was normal for the era. Pre-THX or Dolby Digital sound. We really are spoilt by digital audio, that's for sure.
Interestingly the effects looked great - you can see how even the dodgy matte paintings (especially the Death Star docking bay from above, the matte painting above the Cardington footage of Yavin, the set extensions for the closing ceremony scene) and optical issues really weren’t that noticeable for the most part - they really were designed for 35mm projection. There were no visible garbage mattes around the ships, the way they were on video. The main noticeable technical flaws were spacecraft interior bluescreen shots, like the Falcon cockpit, which always looked pasted on. And the wide shot of the Death Star lift shaft had a ton of halation on the live action side.
Still. I was really struck by how the effects shots during the final battle looked pretty awesome, even without CGI bells and whistles.
For people wondering about details of the print:
- Of course, none of the digital-era changes we're used to are there. The Greedo sequence, the chasing the troopers in the Death Star sequence, no Death Star explosion shockwave, etc. etc. Obviously.
- 3PO doesn't say "we've stopped" before whacking R2 on the head inside the sandcrawler.
- A few frames were cut out towards the end of the garage sequence. Pretty sure those were just caused by damage on that particular print, not an intentional edit. This caused the sad R2 beep after "I don't like you either" to be missing.
- Beru's brief dialogue is the original looped Shelagh Fraser dialogue, as heard in the SE.
- The troopers who search the Falcon don't say "there's no-one here".
- 3PO's narration during the "the tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations" sequence is not present.
- Craploads of echo on the voices during the "I think we took a wrong turn" scene in the Death Star trench.
- The "Close the blast doors" line isn't there since this is the stereo mix.
- The more pronounced shortwave radio effect on the pilot voices heard in the Rebel base.
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If it was made by the UK Technicolor plant, then it would not have been directly off the original camera negative as is claimed in the video. No way Fox would have sent that over.
Also, if they had to tack on the non-ANH opening to the print, then it is not a 1977 print as they claim. It would be a 1981 print at the earliest.
And if that's the case, then it wouldn't have been made in the UK at all. Now, whether the US Technicolor prints were made directly from the negative, I don't know. Usually, they would make a few interpositives off of that, from which internegatives would be made, and THEN the release prints were made from those. Yes, release prints (normal, non-Technicolor ones) are always at least three generations removed. I don't know if there was a special procedure for Tech.
They are an archive so it's not like I know anything they don't, I assume, so I don't know what's going on with what is said in that video.
Also, if they had to tack on the non-ANH opening to the print, then it is not a 1977 print as they claim. It would be a 1981 print at the earliest.
And if that's the case, then it wouldn't have been made in the UK at all. Now, whether the US Technicolor prints were made directly from the negative, I don't know. Usually, they would make a few interpositives off of that, from which internegatives would be made, and THEN the release prints were made from those. Yes, release prints (normal, non-Technicolor ones) are always at least three generations removed. I don't know if there was a special procedure for Tech.
They are an archive so it's not like I know anything they don't, I assume, so I don't know what's going on with what is said in that video.
No, that's not what they claimed. The print was struck in 1977 in the UK. What the source was I don't know. Sounds like they shipped internegatives to labs, back in the day.
As for the "ANH" opening, the original opening was removed from the release, and the ANH opening spliced in place. Whoever did so must have had the foresight to keep the original opening in a small can of film, and stored it with the rest of the movie.
After the BFI got the print from the Rank Organisation, when that company closed, they simply removed the ANH opening and spliced the original opening back on.
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