Recent Film Restorations

[Stefan Andersson]

Preservation grants for:
Stranded (1927), based on a story by Anita Loos; will be preserved by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
George Eastman Museum will preserve One Clear Call (1922, John Stahl):
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33307 - see Aug. 6, 2024 post

Stranded also preserved by LOC:
MAVIS: 11068
Component 1: 35mm nitrate positive picture, 7 reels of 7 on 4, tinted, si, AFI/Dorothy Horton Collection
Component 2: FQA 0022-0025 (35mm duplicate negative picture, 7 reels of 7 on 4, b&w, si, AFI/Dorothy Horton Collection)
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=33307 - see separate Aug. 6, 2024 post

[hearthesilence]

"Candy Mountain. Digital restoration courtesy Film Movement."
https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/9590

Caught this. Sorry to say it was thoroughly degrained, to the point where it looked like it was shot on video. Still, I’ve only been able to see this on VHS copies ripped to YouTube so it’s a big improvement over what’s available. Not saying much but such is life.

As part of a centennial celebration for Robert Frank, this will get a theatrical release beginning October 25th at BAM. I found the restoration (apparently a 2K restoration) pretty disappointing, but this film rarely gets screened, so unless you're lucky enough to get a 35mm print somewhere, I'd definitely catch this. It may not bring to mind Frank's most well-known photography, but it's still a very charming collaboration with Rudy Wurlitzer (and it does feel very much like Wurlitzer's work as well).

Personally, I'm mainly looking forward to that Frank exhibit at MoMA in September - one of my favorite visits to a museum was seeing the comprehensive exhibit on The Americans at the National Gallery (which IIRC also travelled to SFMOMA and the Met, but this was right before I moved to NY).

[Stefan Andersson]

Restorations of Sohrab Shahid Saless films:
https://shahid-saless-archive.org/screenings/

The Shahid Saless archive project aims for restoration and digitization of his entire output, a multilingual publication, and a web archive:
https://shahid-saless-archive.org/project/

US screenings of Far From Home, 4K restoration:
https://arbelosfilms.com/films/far-from-home/

[yoloswegmaster]

Restored films that will be playing at TIFF:

Spoiler

Awāra
Bona
Essene
Masala
The Sweet Hereafter
Time of Maturity [Reifezeit]

Excited to see the new restoration for Awaara. Hopefully there are no issues with the restoration, as I remember the version playing on the Criterion Channel being horrendously DNR'd to death and audio sounding filtered to death.

[A Tempted Christ]

Restorations of Sohrab Shahid Saless films:
https://shahid-saless-archive.org/screenings/

The Shahid Saless archive project aims for restoration and digitization of his entire output, a multilingual publication, and a web archive:
https://shahid-saless-archive.org/project/

US screenings of Far From Home, 4K restoration:
https://arbelosfilms.com/films/far-from-home/

I've been aware of the project for a while now but Arbelos picking up Far From Home (and potentially having access to his complete filmography) just made my day.
One of his major German films, Utopia, was released on Blu-ray in Germany a couple of years ago and unfortunately it was a DNR mess. The underlying restoration looked beautiful though.

[Stefan Andersson]

10 films by Bertrand Blier restored in 2K or 4K:
https://www.splendor-films.com/realisat ... rand-blier

[beamish14]

10 films by Bertrand Blier restored in 2K or 4K:
https://www.splendor-films.com/realisat ... rand-blier

Motherfuckin’ Calmos

[domino harvey]

Trop belle pour toi is presumably still with MGM in the states, and Un, deux, trois, soleil with Criterion/HVe (and bet it all that THAT one will never get out the door from Criterion if so). Mon homme was Fox in a couple territories but not sure if that includes the US. Notre histoire is with Studio Canal in the states, but you'd think with Delon in it that KLSC would have already licensed it, so there may be something up there. As far as I know, Merci la vie is Studio Canal in every territory, so KLSC prob also best bet there. That said, they just let Buffet froid go OOP, so it may not have sold well enough to pursue others. Tenue de soirée was released by Koch Lorber in the states on DVD, not sure what that means for a US release now

[Buttery Jeb]

Restored films that will be playing at TIFF:

The Sweet Hereafter

Wonder if the restoration was the one Janus/Criterion had been working on.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Trop belle pour toi is presumably still with MGM in the states, and Un, deux, trois, soleil with Criterion/HVe (and bet it all that THAT one will never get out the door from Criterion if so).

I doubt HVe's license is still in effect given how many titles from that catalog have been reissued by other distributors (Day of the Dolphin, The Yakuza Papers, Warm Water Under a Red Bridge, Rendez-vous, Hester Street, Alice in Wonderland, Spirits of the Dead, etc. etc.). Janus/Criterion probably relicensed the ones they're interested in whenever possible and let the others lapse.

[yoloswegmaster]

Restored films that will be playing at TIFF:

The Sweet Hereafter

Wonder if the restoration was the one Janus/Criterion had been working on.

Was there any indication that they were working on the restorations? I know that Exotica was restored in Canada, so I assume the same would be true for The Sweet Hereafter.

[Buttery Jeb]

Restored films that will be playing at TIFF:

The Sweet Hereafter

Wonder if the restoration was the one Janus/Criterion had been working on.

Was there any indication that they were working on the restorations? I know that Exotica was restored in Canada, so I assume the same would be true for The Sweet Hereafter.

They updated the TIFF website. The restoration has been confirmed as the one from Criterion:

4K Digital restoration produced by Sphinx Productions and The Criterion Collection with financial assistance from Telefilm Canada's digitization initiative Canadian Cinema - Reignited.Print source courtesy of Films We Like.

[yoloswegmaster]

He did say a few years back that the issues with the Madison Square management had been resolved (I doubt any of the people who originally blocked the film are still there) and he was optimistic about clearing the rights for the music performances. I wouldn't be shocked to see it emerge soon in an official form.

Can't remember who said this but apparently The Garden was not one of the films that received a restoration. If the issues with the film have been resolved, then hopefully we can see it being included in any future retrospectives, which TIFF confirmed was happening around the world later this year.

Wonder if the restoration was the one Janus/Criterion had been working on.

Was there any indication that they were working on the restorations? I know that Exotica was restored in Canada, so I assume the same would be true for The Sweet Hereafter.

They updated the TIFF website. The restoration has been confirmed as the one from Criterion:

4K Digital restoration produced by Sphinx Productions and The Criterion Collection with financial assistance from Telefilm Canada's digitization initiative Canadian Cinema - Reignited.Print source courtesy of Films We Like.

Yep, just posted it in the other thread. Interesting to see them involved in this restoration when they weren't involved in the restoration for Exotica.

[jmj713]

It was just mentioned that a 35mm print of Last Summer (1969) was recently discovered: viewtopic.php?p=819538#p819538 Hopefully this means a restoration is done soon, I think WB was working on something years ago but was missing a reel.

[Stefan Andersson]

Abel Gance´s La Tour de Nesle and Roman d´une jeune homme pauvre, restored, showing at the Cinématheque Francaise in August:
https://www.cinematheque.fr/seance/41527.html
https://www.cinematheque.fr/seance/41520.html

The Spook Who Sat By the Door:
https://www.bam.org/film/2024/cinema-re ... y-the-door

[ianthemovie]

Abel Gance´s La Tour de Nesle and Roman d´une jeune homme pauvre, restored, showing at the Cinématheque Francaise in August:
https://www.cinematheque.fr/seance/41527.html
https://www.cinematheque.fr/seance/41520.html

The Spook Who Sat By the Door:
https://www.bam.org/film/2024/cinema-re ... y-the-door

A physical release of The Spook Who Sat By the Door would be big. The restoration is in collaboration with The Film Desk so hopefully they'll put out a Blu-ray.

[agnamaracs]

I'd love it if someone officially released Herbie Hancock's score. It's only been out as bootlegs.

[Stefan Andersson]

A list of Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé restorations, with restoration details:
https://www.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pat ... taurations

List includes:
-a 4K restoration of the original version of Clair´s Entr´acte
-Méliés, Émile Cohl, Segundo de Chomon, Albert Capellani and André Antoine films
-Germaine Dulac music shorts
-La Femme et le Pantin (1929), French version (export version restored by Cinémathèque Française)

[beamish14]

I'd love it if someone officially released Herbie Hancock's score. It's only been out as bootlegs.

I’ve never understood why it hasn’t come out. Even his music for Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert, which hasn’t aired in over 50 years, got a release

UCLA has restored the Ivan Dixon-starring television special The Final War of Olly Winter, which would be an incredible double bill

[Stefan Andersson]

Not exactly restoration information... but for the record: links re: various versions of the Wicker Man (1973):
https://ianfarrington.wordpress.com/201 ... rent-cuts/
https://steve-p.org/wm/
https://twm.fandom.com/wiki/Version_sum ... the_movie)
https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=583715
https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=970551
https://twm.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wicker_Man_(1973)_Wikia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/7623217 ... 0538720892 (includes discussion about minor differences between versions, plus a link to a spreadsheet on icloud listing minor differences between various home video versions of the Theatrical, Director´s and Final Cut versions; spreadsheet requires registering)

[Peacock]

Couldn’t find a Gaspar Noé thread to post this in but last night Noé screened new (?) 4K uncut restorations of Carne and I Stand Alone as part of a secret screening to the public. Perhaps this means an upcoming release somewhere? Who knows.

[onedimension]

Anyone know the status of Jacques Cousteau's films? I'm surprised they've never had a restoration or home video release

[domino harvey]

Based on the one I’ve seen, it’s prob because the kind of folks who watch nature docs would not make it through what he and his crew do to said nature

[Peacock]

I know Anderson had issues with the Cousteau rightsholders when making The Life Aquatic so either they are asking for too much to license out the rights or are particular about how the films be seen.

[yoloswegmaster]

A British company called Go Entertainment released Voyage to the Edge of the World, World Without Sun, and The Silent World on Blu back in 2011 (separetly and in a bundle together) but I think it went OOP. You can buy a used copy on Amazon UK for £35.