Recent Film Restorations

[Stefan Andersson]

Der Reigen starring Asta Nielsen and Conrad Veidt, Malpertuis in 2K restoration, plus films from Albania, Yugoslavia, Estonia and more:
https://ace-film.eu/wp-content/uploads/ ... e-2023.pdf

[Stefan Andersson]

Die Verliebte firma, Ophuls, restored by the Murnau Stiftung and showing at the Cinefest in Hamburg in November:
https://cinefest.de/events/verliebte-firma/

[Stefan Andersson]

Extended cut of The Way We Were:
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/commun ... bo.380184/
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/commun ... hd.380715/

[Kris]

Re "Dead Man's Letters" by the German label Ostalgica:

Oops, major caveat to the above – the disc has a German dub and no original soundtrack option!

From the company's Facebook page, in response to the following customer query (auto-translated into English):

https://www.facebook.com/ostalgica/post ... HUm47KCvPl

Without the original Russian version and without an explanation???

unfortunately there are legal issues. That’s why we can’t publish the Russian soundtrack.

Unfortunately that's pretty decisive for me. How disappointing!

Contrary to the FB statement, the original Russian audio is accessible via remote control. Ostalgica have repeatedly, but not always, sneaked in the original audio on their releases, without stating that on the cover or in public.

[furbicide]

That's awesome news – thanks Kris. Great to know for future reference, too.

(Edit: just received this disc in the mail today, and can confirm the Russian audio track is there! Looks great, too.)

[Stefan Andersson]

Kohlhiesel´s Daughters (Lubitsch) restored in 4K; at Berlinale 2024:
https://www.berlinale.de/de/2024/news-p ... 45699.html

[yoloswegmaster]

A sneak peak at the films restored by the TFAI:



Would love to see the restoration for Mahjong, as the only way you can watch it is from a mediocre DVDrip that has poor Eng subs.

[ryannichols7]

shocked this hasn't been posted yet, but The Searchers has a new 4K restoration premiering at TCM Film Fest

[Aunt Peg]

Saw a 4K restoration today at the cinema of Ken Russell's Tommy (1975). It started with the 70's Columbia logo. Looks great.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Saw a 4K restoration today at the cinema of Ken Russell's Tommy (1975). It started with the 70's Columbia logo. Looks great.

The day this gets 4K will be a great day for Ken Russell fans everywhere, also very jealous you got to see it in the cinema.

[hearthesilence]

I caught what was presumably a DCP for Dariush Mehrjui's The Cow at MoMA. It's a great-looking restoration, but it seems to be poorly encoded because I was stunned by how much banding and macro blocking appeared during at least one of the dissolving scene transitions and during many of the outdoor night time scenes. It's a lot, impossible to miss. I hope this film gets a physical release in the U.S., especially in light of Mehrjui's death, but it would be shame if the only available digital master was plagued with these issues.

[Stefan Andersson]

Homunculus (1916), ongoing Munich Film Museum resto:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=35288
https://www.muenchner-stadtmuseum.de/sa ... cene-44162

[Stefan Andersson]

Restoring Llévame en tus brazos and other Mexican films:
https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/llev ... masterwork

[hearthesilence]

MoMI is holding a Todd Haynes retrospective and he'll be appearing at a couple of screenings on December 1. I think there's a really, really good chance that the new "remastered" version of Superstar is playing at this screening. You'll noticed Dottie is listed as 30 minutes while the total program is 73 minutes - the run time for Superstar is 43 minutes and the listed credit "Preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by the Sundance Institute" would also apply to Superstar as well as Dottie. (And on top of that, his other early films have already been programmed and listed as their own screening.)

Guessed correctly - they did indeed screen it, and it looked fantastic. And following yesterday's Barbie screening, Haynes's film came off even better - even more daring, inventive and probing than I remember it being. I can't imagine them improving the transfer anytime soon - would make a great-looking Blu-ray.

Surprisingly, Dottie's restoration was just okay as they clearly restored a video source even though it was shot on film. Given the public television origins of Dottie (which was acknowledged in the credits), I can only guess that a broadcast master was the best available source.

[ellipsis7]

The new restoration of Luchino Visconti's BELLISSIMA is released by Mustang Entertainment Italy on BluRay on December 14th... The edition has the option of English subtitles and includes similar extras to the old Masters of Cinema DVD...

Also recently released by Mustang Entertainment Italy on DVD only is a new restoration of Mario Soldati's LA PROVINCIALE starring Gina Lollobrigida...

[Stefan Andersson]

Post contained specific release information, consequently moved to French DVD & Blu-ray Recommendations thread.

[Stefan Andersson]

First news re: MoMA "To Save and Project" 2024 festival:
Arrowsmith, Ford, original version
Bitch, Warhol
Goraczka, Agnieszka Holland
Dangerous Encounters: 1st Kind, Hark
Man, Woman and Sin, Monta Bell/Jeanne Eagels
Black Pirate, new BFI resto
Yam Daabo, Ouédraogo
Bushman, Schickele

https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/5664

[hearthesilence]

Alexander Payne, Gerard Casale of Devo and Judy Collins introducing some films too - from my experience, the intros at these things have been consistently good over the years, and I'm surprised they don't get more attention. (One highlight was Elaine May making what was then a rare public appearance to introduce Mikey and Nicky, and the screening wasn't even sold out. She was hilarious, and I wish someone had recorded it.) Most valuable are the ones involving archivists or the restoration team - tons of detail that you might not come across unless you were doing some deep research into the film in question. The earlier, longer and IMHO superior version of Leo McCarey's Good Sam is an excellent example - Mike Mashon of The Library of Congress was there and he explained in great detail why they had it and why it wasn't in better quality.

[Stefan Andersson]

4K resto of Karakter (Mike van Diem, 1997):
https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/karakter/732598

[beamish14]

Finally, Messidor!

Does Wenders still have the original, pre-release cut of Lightning Over Water?

[Stefan Andersson]

Toute une nuit + Hotel des Acacias (Akerman), Germi´s Il ferroviere
https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/9295
https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/9306

[Stefan Andersson]

Info about the CNC grants for digital restorations seems to have vanished from the CNC website:
https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/aides ... ommissions
No info for 2023.

Thanks in advance for any updates!

[Roscoe]

ONE FROM THE HEART: REPRISE is now up for pre-order in 4K UHD on Amazon.co.uk.

[beamish14]

ONE FROM THE HEART: REPRISE is now up for pre-order in 4K UHD on Amazon.co.uk.

Seems like it has both the new iteration and the original 1982 wide release version, which is good. I really hope it’s not the shortened 2002 cut

[Roscoe]

I'm wondering if the whole "gift of the Magi" element has been restored -- it was only in the original print that I saw in the original release, and never in any of the home video releases since.