Things You Now See In Blu-rays That You Wish Were Not There

The much more "stand-out" annoying but comical point scene in that 50's film version of War of the Worlds -was where they let off the atomic bomb on the Martians.....and the humans hid behind sand bags a 1/4 mile away. Similar forms of atomic naiviety was also depicted in an old 50's B&W film "Split Second."

 

I'm amused by how wooden the sets and props are on the original STAR TREK TV series on Blu-ray. You can see the wood and paint on many of the props.

Of course, I wouldn't expect contemporary filmmakers with far larger budgets to produce sets and props out of aluminum and metal. I guess they just demand a better fit 'n' finish on the plywood and plaster. The creators of STAR TREK had no idea their TV series would be re-broadcast decades later with that level of fidelity.

 

It's funny but when you see some of the props from The Next Generation etc. and even some of the movies close up, you are quite shocked at how amateur and rough they look.

 

They also saw what they worked on as a TV show. They had no way of knowing it would become a cult of very strange followers.

 

Yes, the improved resolution and way things are transferred now vs. then as well as print preparation for exhibition all made a big difference.

 

One of my school field trips was to a D.C. television studio where they did the news and children's shows and other local programming. I remember I was shocked how cheap and fragile everything was. I think you could have destroyed the fancy looking anchor desk with one swift kick.

 

If you talk to soldiers involved in early nuclear weapons testing, you will find that similar "precautions" were frequent.

 

When we initially re-transferred the show from 35mm IP from 1983-1984, fans actually sent in letter of complaint that the bad makeup, cheesy sets, wrinkles in the studio cyc, and wooden props were much too visible. I think they had been used to seeing the show for 15 years on horrible 16mm TV prints, which are down about five generations from the original camera negative. Compared to good transfers, those 16mm prints look like they're under water.

Given what they had to work with, I think the 1960s shows actually look OK on TV in the 1960s. The limited resolution of NBC's film chains back then kind of helped cover up some (but not all) of the cheap effects -- and they looked amazing for televison of that period.

Actually, props in recent years are still made from fiberglas, plastic, plywood, and other materials. There's no time to carefully machine them from metal, so contemporary filmmakers just make them out of whatever's handy, spray paint them silver, and call it metal. Trust me, those props will still look good on-camera, even in digital 4K, even in 65mm Imax.

 

True! The stupidlity of that part of the plot in the 50's War of the Worlds was mirrored in real life. One only has to see documentary footage of then soldiers and technicans, out in some desert. With protective glasses on, but then just with hats and shorts, on. ...observing such blasts.
Hollywood certainly learned its tragic lession from it, with 1956's The Conquerer with John Wayne - filmed out in Nevada. Then ignorant, the crew took tons of "hot" sand material back with them, to film dust sandstorm sequences.. Virtually causing the entire wipeout of cast and crew later , from the same particular types of cancer related illlnesses..It probably is the most shocking blunder, making a film -ever.

Blu ray as a medium also lets us study the color of 'depicted blood' used in many films. Sometimes it comes looking not red, but across that spectrum even to tangerine!

 

Very true. In the sixties, we had the original network run, which looked OK as most network prints did. But you had to watch it live, with no recording/playback devices for later viewing; you had to watch it through the vagaries of analog television reception (ghost images, snow); and your only chance of seeing it a second time was a summer rerun.

After the series ended, it was picked up in Philly by Channel 48, a local UHF station that aired second-rate movies and TV shows. They scheduled it as the highlight of their broadcast day with Mon-Fri 7 PM repeats, and those aired from those pretty bad 16mm prints that Vidiot mentions. The station DID treat the show with respect, and actually did a run without editing it at all. Later in the decade, when I had a VHS recorder, I attempted to make my own copies of episodes, as many of us did. Here's a surviving screenshot from an old tape, which gives a rough idea of what we watched:



That's an FX shot from the conclusion of "All Our Yesterdays" as Beta Niobe is exploding. You can see how fuzzy the image is, with dirt, scratches, etc., visible. But we thought it was great, just being able to see it - and then RECORD it for posterity. When those first 'cleaned-up' prints surfaced from Paramount on VHS, they were a revelation in terms of image stability, color fidelity and clarity, compared to what we'd gotten used to. And those same VHS tapes today look like garbage compared to a DVD or Blu-Ray.

Harry

 

This is very interesting. I would mind it this (the discussion of nuclear testing) became its own thread.

This thread reminds me, I need to pick up War of the Worlds on Blu-ray.

 

I found a US Govt website that catalogued most of the testing from the 50's to the 70's with actual test film footage and details. Damned if I know what it was, but a bit of googling would find it.

What is scary is looking up the nuclear test range in Nevada on Google Earth. Soooo many craters and most of them are not the underground tests either. It's a wonder the west coast isn't crawling with mutants.........

 

Apparently, you haven't been to Hollywood Boulevard!