830-831 Chimes at Midnight & The Immortal Story

[FrauBlucher]

Chimes at Midnight



The crowning achievement of Orson Welles's extraordinary film career, Chimes at Midnight was the culmination of the filmmaker's lifelong obsession with Shakespeare's ultimate rapscallion, Sir John Falstaff. Usually a comic supporting figure, Falstaff—the loyal, often soused friend of King Henry IV's wayward son Prince Hal—here becomes the focus: a robustly funny and ultimately tragic screen antihero played by Welles with looming, lumbering grace. Integrating elements from both Henry IV plays as well as Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, Welles created a gritty and unorthodox Shakespeare film, one that he intended, he said, as "a lament...for the death of Merrie England." Poetic, philosophical, and visceral—with a kinetic centerpiece battle sequence that rivals anything else in the director's body of work—Chimes at Midnight is as monumental as the figure at its heart.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary featuring film scholar James Naremore, author of The Magic World of Orson Welles
• New interview with actor Keith Baxter
• New interview with director Orson Welles's daughter Beatrice Welles, who appeared in the film at age seven
• New interview with actor and Welles biographer Simon Callow
• New interview with film historian Joseph McBride, author of What Ever Happened to Orson Welles?
• Interview with Welles while at work editing the film, from a 1965 episode of The Merv Griffin Show
• Trailer


The Immortal Story



Orson Welles's first color film and final completed fictional feature, The Immortal Story is a moving and wistful adaptation of a tale by Isak Dinesen. Welles stars as a wealthy merchant in nineteenth-century Macao, who becomes obsessed with bringing to life an oft-related anecdote about a rich man who gives a poor sailor a small sum of money to impregnate his wife. Also starring an ethereal Jeanne Moreau, this jewel-like film, dreamily shot by Willy Kurant and suffused with the music of Erik Satie, is a brooding, evocative distillation of Welles's artistic interests—a story about the nature of storytelling and the fine line between illusion and reality.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New, restored 4K digital transfer of the English-language version of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Alternate French-language version of the film
• Audio commentary from 2005 featuring film scholar Adrian Martin
• Portrait: Orson Welles, a 1968 documentary directed by François Reichenbach and Frédéric Rossif
• New interview with actor Norman Eshley
• Interview from 2004 with cinematographer Willy Kurant
• New interview with Welles scholar François Thomas
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Becker talks about the forthcoming Chimes at Midnight restoration.

The soundtrack has been gently cleaned to remove surface dirt and distracting thumps that appeared at many of the scene changes, but the character of the original, largely post-synced audio has been maintained,"

This is possibly the most concerning since I can easily live with the ambience of the dubbing but not the shift in lip sync which is comparatively easy to rectify given new software which could largely remedy it.

[Drucker]

He added, "While this restored release fulfills what we feel is a longstanding debt to U.S. audiences – making one of the treasures of cinema history broadly available in a high-quality presentation for the first time in many decades – our work on Chimes at Midnight is not done. We will continue to collaborate with Filmoteca, the Piedra family and archivists and restorers around the world to bring about the full preservation and 4K restoration the film deserves, but that process may take years to complete. At this moment, at the culmination of Welles' centenary, we feel that what the film needs most is an audience, and thanks to this restoration we feel confident that the film will reach that audience looking the best it ever has."

He noted the discovery earlier this year of what was described as an original, pristine 35mm print of Chimes at Midnight.

"We opted not to use it," Becker said. "It is indeed a very good print, but a print. There is no comparison in detail between even the best-made and preserved print and an original negative or fine-grained master, which are pre-print elements with much finer resolution."

It has been expected that Chimes at Midnight will make its U.S. Blu-ray debut in late 2016. However, Becker said that a release date has not been announced by Criterion.

I'm confused. The Film Forum indeed does not indicate this is a 4k restoration. Seems to me a blu ray would be far off, and there will be further restoration work done. In other words, see it in theaters now!

[Roger Ryan]

I guess it depends on the time-frame Criterion is considering for the "full 4K restoration". If proper restoration is, indeed, going to take years, I suppose they could opt for an intermediate Blu-ray release of the current improved version (based on the Filmoteca scan).

[FrauBlucher]

The Janus traveling poster will no doubt be the Criterion cover. Not bad, huh?

[hanshotfirst1138]

The soundtrack has been gently cleaned to remove surface dirt and distracting thumps that appeared at many of the scene changes, but the character of the original, largely post-synced audio has been maintained,"

This is possibly the most concerning since I can easily live with the ambience of the dubbing but not the shift in lip sync which is comparatively easy to rectify given new software which could largely remedy it.

Well, if the wonky lip-syncing was in the original prints, maybe they're committed to keeping it that way to preserve the film as it was always shown.

[andyli]

There's even a Mr. Bongo logo at the bottom right. I wonder what they have to do with this release.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

The soundtrack has been gently cleaned to remove surface dirt and distracting thumps that appeared at many of the scene changes, but the character of the original, largely post-synced audio has been maintained,"

This is possibly the most concerning since I can easily live with the ambience of the dubbing but not the shift in lip sync which is comparatively easy to rectify given new software which could largely remedy it.

Well, if the wonky lip-syncing was in the original prints, maybe they'd committed to keeping it that way to preserve the film as it was always shown.

Well if they include a booklet with Orson Welles production notes specifying "wonky lip-synch" I'd buy into that

[Roger Ryan]

Well if they include a booklet with Orson Welles production notes specifying "wonky lip-synch" I'd buy into that

Welles noted in at least one interview that he was disappointed with the synchronization when the first prints were struck so there is justification for improving that. Becker notes that the soundtrack was "largely post-synched" - I'm fairly certain that the audio for Margaret Rutherford's final monologue and Gielgud's soliloquy by the castle window were recorded live on-set whereas everything else was dubbed in post-production.

[peerpee]

Shocked by the Bingo Bango logo.

[FrauBlucher]

Chimes at Midnight page on Janus' site. Playdates listed.

[Roger Ryan]

The trailer for the Janus release reveals that the contrast has, indeed, been improved.

[FrauBlucher]

I saw the trailer over the weekend at the Film Forum and you can tell it is a better version than the 2014 version that toured.

[Drucker]

Saw the restoration last night and it was indeed superb, and felt like watching the film for the first time. I've seen the original Mr. Bongo DVD and the restoration last winter, and now the Janus restoration. The difference between the old and new restorations is equivalent to the difference between an old DVD and newly minted BD.

One thing I noticed after seeing all of the Welles films theatrically last year was that Chimes seemed to have a unique look. It was the onl0 B&W one with lots of grey, not shot with high contrast black/white. Clearly that was a mistake. Now that I've seen every film in either a print or a strong DCP restoration (Chimes, Kane, The Trial, Othello). Every one of the films has deep, rich blacks, and high, high contrast. And of course, with the correct color grading, everything else looked better/more apparent too. The beams of light in the castle were particularly touching, as was the cold breath coming out of the mouth of King Henry IV. Everything that makes a Welles film a Welles film was more apparent in this restoration than the last one...wide angle shots, actors heavily set in foreground/background against each other, and the depth of vision for any number of shots (Falstaff walking away in darkness after being told off by Hal, for example). Again, every key word you want to read about in a blu ray review in terms of depth and richness of image was present here in a way it just wasn't in the screening last year.

The one thing I didn't take the time to look at, and forgot about, was to notice if the dubbing was better. I have to say that nothing about the dubbing struck me as off. Naturally, the lip-reading for the actor Welles dubbed the voices for was noticeable, as well as a few times Welles clearly changes the dialogue he speaks from whatever the actor on set spoke, but the audio was actually exceptionally clear! Quiets were indeed very quiet and when the soundtrack needed to screech, it did that as well. There's one moment where Hal and Falstaff are talking quietly, and Falstaff slowly approaches him from behind that I particularly noticed the steady rise in the volume of Falstaff's voice. So I can't say I noticed the dubbing was any better/worse than it's ever been, but the dialogue was quite clear, and I certainly noticed lines and parts of speech I had not noticed before (which could of course just be the result of this being my third screening!)

I don't know how much better a 4k restoration could really make this film look, but it looks superb and is obviously every bit the masterpiece it's touted as being.

[Jack Phillips]

Now that I've seen every film in either a print or a strong DCP restoration (Chimes, Kane, The Trial, Othello). Every one of the films has deep, rich blacks, and high, high contrast.

I don't doubt that the films look very good this way. But how do we know this is what Welles himself "intended"? And what about the way the films were screened theatrically for their original runs? Are we losing a bit of presentation history here?

[Drucker]

I really don't understand what you mean. Are you calling into question the accuracy of the restorations of the films? Because you seem to be setting a pretty high bar for demanding Welles' intentions be explicit.

The Stranger screened in an archival print. Ambersons, Arkadin, Macbeth, Touch of Evil, all prints. And then the remaining Welles films I've seen in DCP, with Shanghai, Kane, and maybe Othello being 4k. And they all had a similar color grading. I suppose that could be an accident but that seems unlikely.

[Jack Phillips]

I really don't understand what you mean. Are you calling into question the accuracy of the restorations of the films? Because you seem to be setting a pretty high bar for demanding Welles' intentions be explicit.

The Stranger screened in an archival print. Ambersons, Arkadin, Macbeth, Touch of Evil, all prints. And then the remaining Welles films I've seen in DCP, with Shanghai, Kane, and maybe Othello being 4k. And they all had a similar color grading. I suppose that could be an accident but that seems unlikely.

I'm just asking questions because I don't know the answers and I'm not trying to suggest anything. But Welles worked under a variety of conditions in (and beside) different film industries that employed differing standards. Surely (to raise one example) different film stocks register light differently? If so, I can't help being suspicious of consistent color grading for an oeuvre like his. But my suspicions may be unfounded. My underlying question is simply this: how do we know one way or the other? Making something look "better" is not the same (necessarily) as restoring it to its original condition. I've seen the word "restoration" thrown around a lot recently. It means different things in different cases.

[Drucker]

For sure, I see what you mean. I should clarify that not all of his films look the same: Kane is darker than the others, while the Stranger had really high contrast, for example, in the scene where Edward G. Robinson talks to the boy in the canoe, which is also present in the Kino blu-ray. That said, the old restoration clearly lacked detail and was mostly grey, whereas the new restoration absolutely isn't, bringing it much closer in line with the look of the other films.

[FrauBlucher]

Now that I've seen every film in either a print or a strong DCP restoration (Chimes, Kane, The Trial, Othello). Every one of the films has deep, rich blacks, and high, high contrast.

I don't doubt that the films look very good this way. But how do we know this is what Welles himself "intended"? And what about the way the films were screened theatrically for their original runs? Are we losing a bit of presentation history here?

I will be very satisfied with the look of film the way Drucker described it. At this point I'm not going to worry about Welles' intent because we'll never really know. Especially, since Welles always seemed to have production issues on many of films. So, who knows if he was ever really satisfied with many of the end products.

[Altair]

Anyhow, didn't Welles in an interview once say he wanted Chimes at Midnight to be in black and white so he could shoot it in high contrast and turned down funding which required the film to be in colour? I wish I could remember where I read that.

[FrauBlucher]

This from the Criterion Website (Current).

[Roger Ryan]

Welles once claimed he intended to use a post-production process that would make the Chimes footage look like an engraving or something to that affect. However, the test results were disappointing and the process was abandoned. Welles bemoaned that he would have lit/shot the film in an entirely different manner if he knew ahead-of-time that the post-production process wouldn't work!

Having so little control over the post-production for half of his films and, in many instances, lacking the funds to finesse grading on the films he did control, I don't think we can ascertain if there was a consistent look Welles was going for. Given his approach to lighting, I think it's safe to say he preferred a high contrast look. The DCP of Chimes that made the rounds last year was ugly enough to convince me the low contrast was a mistake which Janus has rightfully corrected for the new restoration.

[beamish13]

Welles once claimed he intended to use a post-production process that would make the Chimes footage look like an engraving or something to that affect. However, the test results were disappointing and the process was abandoned. Welles bemoaned that he would have lit/shot the film in an entirely different manner if he knew ahead-of-time that the post-production process wouldn't work!

Wow-I've never heard that before! Perhaps he was interested in using the bleach bypass process?

Having seen Chimes in celluloid, I think it's safe to safe that Welles intended for it to have a brighter, "earthier" look than, say, the completely enveloping darkness of Macbeth

[movielocke]

In black and white film, you print from a negative with filtration to control the contrast of the positive, an unfiltered direct positive print of the negative (aka low contrast) would have almost never been issued, but an interpositive may very well possess that look--because it's only use was to make an internegative and the internegative then used to make graded release prints. An enormous number of dvds have sourced themselves from interpositives, because they are often the closest thing to the negative available and because they don't have grading baked in, so there is more latitude in getting the final image into home video color Space and gamut restrictions.

Some have issued the low contrast scan without any appropriate grading and this has resulted in many people thinking this represents the correct look of the film. The vast majority of the time it is not.

This not to say that all films should receive maximum contrast meddling, they should not. But untouched interpositives or negatives are not representative of how a final graded release print would appear.

[FrauBlucher]

‘Chimes at Midnight’ coming to more than 2 dozen North American theaters. Janus Films has announced screenings in more than two dozen North American cities.
Screening dates are:
January 1-13 – Los Angeles – Cinefamily
January 1-19 – New York City – Film Forum
January 2 – Portland, Oregon – Northwest Film Center
January 15-16 – Dallas – Texas Theatre
January 19 – San Francisco – Castro Theatre
January 29-31 – Fort Worth, Texas – Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Opens January 29 – Scottsdale, AZ - Harkins Camelview 5
February 4-7 – Cleveland – Cleveland Cinematheque
Opens February 5 – Lincoln, NE – Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center
Opens February 5 – Philadelphia – Philadelphia Film Society
February 12 – Washington, D.C. – Landmark E Street
February 19 – Minneapolis – Landmark Theatres
February 21-23 – Hartford – Cinestudio
Opens February 26 – Pittsburgh – Hollywood Theater
February 27 – Columbus, Ohio – Wexner Center for the Arts
March 3 – Albany – Madison Theater
March 5, 7 – Baltimore – Charles Theatre
March 6-7 – Ottawa, ON - ByTowne Cinema
Opens March 18 – Chicago – Music Box Theatre
Opens March 18 – Tucson, AZ – Loft Cinema
April 2, 3, 7 – Houston – Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
April 15-17 – Detroit – Detroit Institute of Arts
April 20 – Boulder, CO – International Film Series
April 27 – Bryn Mawr, PA – Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Opens June 24 – Seattle – SIFF Cinema

TBA – Austin, TX - Violet Crown Cinema
TBA – Kansas City, MO - Tivoli Cinemas
TBA – Waterville, ME - Railroad Square