Cinderella (1957) - A missed opportunity...

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Joel Cairo, Dec 16, 2004.

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  1. Joel Cairo

    Joel Cairo Video Gort / Paiute Warrior Staff Thread Starter

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    I knew better than to expect miracles with this release, so I'm not going to belabor the point, but Image (and the R&H Organization) really missed the boat with this DVD.

    I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say "don't buy it", because it took 47 years for us to get **this** version, but just don't expect much of a restoration for your money.

    The source material is the 16mm kinescope that was donated to the Museum of Television & radio a few years back, and it appears there has been a bit of polishing done to the soundtrack in order to give it some fidelity, but the video portion is far less than satisfying-- emulsion scratches, dirt, and splice marks are all left intact for the viewer, and are painfully evident in their inclusion.

    The thing is, one only has to go to look at almost any of the excellent Doctor Who DVDs to see what a proper restoration of neglected kinescope materials can look like-- that the producers of this disc have chosen to "cheap out" and not utilize any of this technology can only be chalked up to an unnecessary and unwelcome cost-cutting move, designed to maximize their bottom line profits.

    I've purchased this disc because I believe that the release of archived television material should be encouraged, and if others feel the same way, then I would encourage them to do the same, but I simply have to say that for all of the time this disc was in the planning stages, it appears that the proper presentation of the material was sacrificed somewhere along the way.

    Caveat Emptor on this one, folks.

    -Kevin
     
    Joel Cairo, Dec 16, 2004
    #1
  2. Todd Fredericks

    Todd Fredericks Senior Member

    Location:
    A New Yorker
    Kevin,

    Thanks for the write-up on this. Yes, it's a double-edged sword because it's wonderful that we have it but sad so much more could have been done with it.

    Yes, the Doctor Who DVD's are simply incredible. The restoration created the VidFire process which make the kinescope/film look like video again (great results). They've also developed a new process to do reverse standards conversion on old 70's PAL to NTSC tapes (which are the only remaining existing sources for some episodes) back to PAL.
     
    Todd Fredericks, Dec 16, 2004
    #2
  3. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Thanks, Kevin. But, very disappointing.

    With old TV and film, the audio restoration has never seemed that important to me: only so much you can do with tinny, thin sources. But when there is technology available to markedly improve a video source, kind of criminal not to do so.

    :ed:
     
    Ed Bishop, Dec 16, 2004
    #3
  4. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Well, there's only a limited number of things you can do to make it better, but there's a nearly infinite numbert of things that people have found you can do to make it worse. ;)

    Regards,
     
    Ken_McAlinden, Dec 16, 2004
    #4
  5. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    :shh:....Feinblatt might be lurking....:D

    :ed:
     
    Ed Bishop, Dec 16, 2004
    #5
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