2001 in HD

John Holland · July 5, 2006

Ben Hur and Lawrence of Arabia have best Intermissions when shown in 70mm, cinema lights go down and intro music is played , before picture appears , in fact there are loads of [ Road Show ] movies like that , when i was a kid .

David Mullen ASC · July 5, 2006

The last new U.S. release I saw with an intermission was Branagh's "Hamlet" I think.

K Borowski · July 5, 2006

I seem to recall seeing a civil war movie back in '03 (forget the name, it was the sequel to "Gettysburg") and I wanna say that that film had an intermission, although maybe I'm just imagining things.

~Karl

Arni Heimir · July 5, 2006

Call me crazy. But I like intermissions in movies. When I lived in Spain and Britain, there were none. Maybe I have a very short attention span. I can't image what it was like seeing "king kong" without a 10 min break.

David Mullen ASC · July 5, 2006

I seem to recall seeing a civil war movie back in '03 (forget the name, it was the sequel to "Gettysburg")

"Gods and Generals"

John Pytlak RIP · July 5, 2006

I don't know anything at all about these large formats and would appreciate a quick education. What's this difference between the 65mm and 70mm films? Is 65mm a production format and 70mm a projection format?
Also, what is IMAX? Is it captured and projected sideways so the vertical frame not the horizontal is 70mm?

In addition to Marty Hart's excellent "American Widescreen Museum" ( http://www.widescreenmuseum.com ), another great website about 65mm/70mm is:

http://www.in70mm.com/

And the famous Todd-AO projector:

http://www.dp70.com/

FWIW, over 5 million feet of Kodak 70mm print film was used for the 3D IMAX prints of "Superman Returns".

Jeremy Rumas · July 6, 2006

Cool links. Thanks John.

About intermissions, I've gotta say I enjoy them. There is an old theater in my home town of Highland, IN, USA that's called the Town Theater. They often show independent films there. Usually films you won't find at many theater chains. Every single film is presented with an intermission. And out in the lobby they have complimentary home baked cake, pastries, cookies, lemonade, and coffee. Everyone goes out to the lobby, and hangs out outside the theater for ten minutes or so. Its a great time to chat with friends or family about the movie.

The place is run by a family that's owned the theater as long as I've been around. For decor inside, they have a few suits of armor and shields up on the walls inside. Its a trip. Going there always feel like a special occasion to me. Sometimes the intermissions don't always come at the best spot for one, but the free cake and coffee make one forget about that.

Its close to Chicago if anyone around there ever wants to check it out.

-Jeremy

K Borowski · July 13, 2006

"Gods and Generals"

Thanks David. That's the one. Does anyone else remember if it had an intermission or not? My mind may be playing tricks with me here. . .

~Karl

Dominic Case · July 13, 2006

I think intervals are something the theatre inserts, so you can't really ask what movies have intervals - rather ask what theatres have intervals.

Don't forget that there was a time when the show wasn't just a bunch of trailers and the main feature: you would get a 'B-grade' feature or maybe a travelogue before the main feature - then an interval. And features would be the conventional 90-100 minutes. What a joy it is nowadays to see a film that knows when to finish - well inside two hours.

And what about the continuous screening theatres - often newsreel theatres - where you paid to come in at any time, rather than distinct sessions. It's where the phrase "this is where we came in" originated.

The interval was probably an inheritance from live theatre, where it is still conventional to have an interval between acts, when the audience goes to the bar for a drink and a sandwich. In cinemas it was/is also an opportunity for more food sales - it used to be a girl coming up the aisle with a tray of icecreams.

Also there was a time in the 70s just before platters came in when film was made up into 6,000 ft reels (about half a feature, but the biggest that they could support in a vertical spool.) So maybe, with a single projector, the interval would have been spool changing time.

I've resisted the word intermission. Seems to me that is a word that was coined for television (transmission), and has nothing to do with cinema.

Mark Dunn · July 14, 2006

The re-release of 'Lawrence of Arabia' in 1990 had 'Intermission' as an optical.

Michel Hafner · July 24, 2006

The HD of 2001 has edge enhancement from hell. Unbelievable. :angry:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread....age=4&pp=30

Michel Hafner

www.imdb.com

Dan Goulder · July 24, 2006

The HD of 2001 has edge enhancement from hell. Unbelievable. :angry:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread....age=4&pp=30

Michel Hafner

www.imdb.com

Gee, it's sure funny how many experts on "edge enhancement" seem to have found their way to that AVS forum. It appears that those posting on the thread are either responding to a terrible-looking, interlaced, over-compressed, and washed-out still, or are just indulging in a game of one-upmanship, as in who can lay down the heaviest "dis". Maybe you should be critical of whoever posted the still, which is in no way representative of the transfer.

Michel Hafner · July 25, 2006

. Maybe you should be critical of whoever posted the still, which is in no way representative of the transfer.

Maybe you know something I don't? Do you have a 1920*1080 still of that scene that shows that the thick haloes are not on the transfer but added later? If not what is your basis for saying that this is not how the transfer looks concerning sharpening? Neither jpeg compression nor downscaling nor interlaced adds this kind of outlines. Where is it coming from?

Michel Hafner

IMDb