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Sorry I missed it -- I've always wanted to see it in 70mm but I keep forgetting to.

 

That's how I saw it initially. Every time I put the DVD in, I end up turning it off beacuse it's just not the same...

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Yeah they had Lawrence of Arabia playing tonight too, but I couldn't make it...rats.

 

Same here Michael, I had it in my netflix queue forever but I kept pushing it back because I knew I wouldn't be able to concerntrate like I could in a theatre.

 

It was the first 70mm presentation I've seen (at least since I've been into film,) and I thought it was crazy that I couldn't make out the grain. Every now and then I'd squint to try and glimpse those little vapor-like particles, but for all I could tell they didn't exist. (because, of course, they existed in abundance!) The man who introduced the film jabbed at the irony that anything less could be called "HD"...it kind of depresses me that I'm shooting on a format about 1/16th its size, but then I try to remind myself the messiness helps me tell my story...

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... Some years ago I saw the remastered Lawrence of Arabia at the Marble Arch Odeon - huge screen (sadly now chopped up into little screens) and was blown away by it. The classic mirage-entrance of Omar Sharif is one of the only times in cinema where a shot has made the hairs on the back of neck tingle... Such a classic movie... hard to imagine that Brando was originally to have played 'Lawrence...

 

- it was nice to be there as my brother-in-law had worked on the sound restoration...

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Kenny,

 

now try to imagine that LAWRENCE looked even better in older prints because they were struck off the original camera negative! :blink: That cannot be done with old and damaged negatives, so all restored versions are at least two generations further away than vintage prints.

The only new 70mm print I have seen that had the unbelievable original Todd-AO look was the 70mm THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY (1965, DP Leon Shamroy) - if you ever get a chance to see it, don't miss it.

Edited by Christian Appelt
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Occasionally here in L.A. you see a 70mm print off of the original negative for an old movie, usually a show print that resulted from the studio retiming the movie in order to make an IP for video transfer. For example, I saw a new 70mm print off of the OCN for "Patton" and "Cleopatra" recently.

 

Trouble with original 70mm prints from the era is that they were all Eastmancolor and most have faded to pale pink more or less. I saw a very pastel magenta 70mm print of "2001" once shown at USC.

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David, did the faded 2001 print you saw already have duped sections in the last reel (Bowman meeting his older self)? This is a damage that was apparently done during initial release printing, and some vintage prints have it, others don't - it is very visible in the new 70mm release prints.

 

I saw a new 70mm print of PATTON two years ago and the new CLEOPATRA last year. Not sure whether PATTON was really struck from OCN, for a 1969 65mm production it has a bit too much visible grain (compared to ICE STATION ZEBRA, THE BIBLE or AIRPORT). CLEOPATRA had great detail, but the color timing was a bit off, the whole film leaning more towards yellow.

 

I guess that since these new 70mm prints are a side product of making new protection masters, there is not enough money to make two or three prints until the timing is perfect. Within these commercial limits, I was grateful to see PATTON and CLEOPATRA, but SOUND OF MUSIC was done so bad that no young person will ecer understand what 70mm was all about.

 

That's why I enjoy watching even faded vintage 70mm prints (as long as density is not gone altogether), and especially with Technirama, there seems to be no way to recreate the vintage look of optically step-printing Technirama to 70mm positive.

Edited by Christian Appelt
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I don't recall anything about that faded 70mm print of "2001" except that it was pale pink and very sharp.

 

Later in the 1990's I saw a 70mm print and noticed some duped shots in the scene with the Russians in the space station. Robert Harris mentioned something on the internet about any new 70mm prints in the 1980's/90's coming from a 65mm IP/IN made in the late 1970's or early 1980's that had some damaged sections replaced by dupes.

 

I missed the screenings of the "restored" 70mm print from a few years back -- I've seen "2001" a few too many times, even in 70mm (I think I've seen it about six times in 70mm) -- and it's one of my favorite movies! It's a little like a favorite Beatles song that you have to put away for a few years before you can stand to listen to it again.

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I saw a print of '2001' not too long ago at a local cinema and the colour was beautiful. What I found particularly effective watching this film on the big screen was the part where the lone surviving astronaut makes his visual journey through all those dazzling colours near the end. Very hypnotic.

 

I also saw 'Baraka' projected outdoors in the evening during sort of a film festival held at our local botanic gardens.

 

When I saw 'Microcosmos' at the cinema, I was really blown away by the sharpness, clarity and colour of the on screen images. I assumed this was a 70mm film. I was really surprised when I found out on this forum that it was shot on 35mm. Probably some of the best looking 35mm Ive ever seen.

Edited by Patrick Cooper
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What I found particularly effective watching this film on the big screen was the part where the lone surviving astronaut makes his visual journey through all those dazzling colours near the end. Very hypnotic.

 

Ask any movie buff who was around upon the original release of 2001, and they'll explain why there were so many repeat viewers of the film.

 

Keep in mind it was the "drug era". I've heard tons of stories where guys would know at what time that part of the film was coming up, and that's when they'd purchase their ticket, go inside and sit in the front row of the theatre...high as kites or trippin' on the hallucinogen of the day.

Edited by Jonathan Bowerbank
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