AFI Silver Theatre

the severe color tinting of ‘South Pacific’ is also a tad distracting if you ask me. Fox did a boffo hidef transfer and the bluray is sharp as a tack, so I guess I should expect the print to not look as good then :(

yes, I did see ‘Lord Jim’ and I thought the print looked stunning. I guess since this is rarely shown the print hadn’t had so much wear and tear that usual 70mm prints of ‘2001’ have. The blue skies (including the eyes of Peter O'Toole) were so lifelike

Equally ‘Khartoum’ was visually astounding – the five front channel spread was meticulous and powerful (I love the music score by the way). I had forgotten for films at 2.76 the screen doesn’t spread horizontally, like at the Uptown, but drops down from the top.

I gathered from what Mr. Guttag has noted to me in the recent past, is that the Silver can’t playback films in DCP harddrive form – I might be wrong, but something like ‘Prometheus’ or any newer film for that matter has to be 35mm. I didn’t see ‘Prometheus’ in IMAX, but the DCP I saw at the Cinemark Egyptian (3D) XD screen had a truly amazing 7.1 mix that wouldn’t be featured as such in IMAX – nor at the upcoming Silver showing. I think it would be cool if the Silver could see if Fox has any 70mm prints of ‘Alien’ or ‘Aliens’

oh, and I’m checking out ‘South Pacific’ on Sunday afternoon ]

I just looked through the AFI calendar and they have scheduled the Alien movies in November! No word on 70mm anything. I’ve only seen Aliens in 70mm, at the closed Fine Arts downtown. I suppose it will be Alien, the director’s edition in digital. The rest probably all film. At least Aliens should be the expanded edition. Prometheus is scheduled, but that is best experienced in IMAX Digital 3D. The ship’s tactical displays show off the format in its dimension and clarity.

Howard, it seems you’re recent 70mm experience has been the same as mine. The sound is all coming from the front. Disappointing. Maybe Steve can shed some light on this if/when he sees these postings.

For all we know, we could be duped into watching 35mm and 4 track stereo and be fooled. :) Probably not.

If the AFI can play all formats, then the question is what prints arrived and was the AFI able to play them the way it should be exhibited? We can reasonably assume that the 70mm presentations were most likely run by a projectionist, especially the rare titles. It seems studios would like to protect these prints and not risk damage do them by platters. Then again, who is to say a projectionist could not mess it up..drop his drink on the print, touch it with dirty hands..etc.

My love for movies is, in part, the experience and 70mm played a great part of it, even if most of them were blow ups from 35 mm.

Curious about your DTS comment. When you surmise the newer print was with DTS and not 6 track mag, do you meant to say that DTS in the newer prints has diminished sound compared to the original? I thought the digital sound takes the original and cleans up scratches and other unwanted noise and enhances the fidelity of the original. If this is true, then DTS should exceed the original.

My first DTS experience was ‘Jurassic Park’ @ the Universal Studios theater and that THX-certified auditorium was rocking loud and booming. All they needed to do is add smellovision and you could smell T-Rex’s breath in addition to his roar. :)

I saw “Khartoum” yesterday (meeting none of you but a local friend joined me) & posted a photo of it on the marquee (though during day, not eve when vertical lights up). The movie was enjoyable. All the bells & whistles were employed starting with overture music before curtain opened, and including intermission after 1.5 hours. It seemed to be in 2.76 wide aspect ratio. The print looked excellent. The sound was from behind the screen. I will guess this was a newer print with DTS sound rather than 6 track, but I would like to know if anybody can post.

though I wrote the Intro & that “Juno” profile photo is mine, I almost never get to attend here since I live in Philly but I will see “Khartoum” on Saturday. I’ve changed my own profile photo so if any of you would like to say hello before or after the movie, you know what I look like! (but will be minus suit & tie).

Steve, is the “Khartoum” film (Saturday) a 6 track print, with the sound on the film or is it a newer DTS print? any idea when the print is from?

The reasons for the nonavailability of exhibition rights to “Porgy and Bess” are somewhat complex, but the crux of the matter is that exhibition rights to the film are now very strictly controlled by the Gershwin and Heyward estates; producer Samuel Goldwyn lost the rights he purchased to make the film in 1972, and prints of the film, even in 35mm, are very hard to secure. My guess is that someone at AFI jumped the gun and announced the showing before the exhibition agreement was finalized.

I have read that the Gershwin and Heyward estates make showing the film very difficult, in terms of both access to surviving prints and costs The film had a very troubled production history (you can read about this at both the IMDb and at its entry at Wikipedia). Both estates were (and apparently still are) very unhappy with film as was the distributor (Columbia); the film flopped badly when released. There was a showing some years ago at the Ziegfeld in NYC, but I would say if you ever see the film again theatrically, it will be under some very unusual circumstances.

I was just glancing through the list of movies for the 70mm retro and just discovered that they cancelled the Sep 3 showing of ‘Porgy and Bess’ due to rights clearances. Recalling the Senator’s blog of clearance rights by its competitor the Charles, I was thinking to myself, who would exercise their right NOT to show the movie. Doesn’t make sense. Maybe this can be worked out in the near future. 2001 is rebooked again..ho hum.

I hope to make it tomorrow to the ‘Mad’ showing and get my favorite house seat. :)

Patton was in 70mm DTS and did retain the original mix. Not all new prints are DTS…remember if one is doing a one-off or two-off…there is an extra step in creating the DTS track and then printing it.

I know. I’m not complaining. I’m looking forward to the rarer titles such as ‘Mad Mad Mad World’, ‘Porgy & Bess’.

Even on this site, they report LA/Hollywood theater 70mm festivals with different titles not seen in ages. Sleeping Beauty comes to mind. I’ve never seen a 70mm animated movie before..unless you count Roger Rabbit back in ‘88 at the Uptown. Yeah, that was blow up, too.

Steve, do you know if the 70mm films shown are newer prints with DTS or original 70mm with 6 track mag tracks?

Ho hum. They’ve always had 2001 and Lawrence. ‘Tron’ and ‘West Side’ was recent ones, too. Other then Porgy (which is rare) and “Its a Mad Mad Mad..World' and ‘Spartacus’ it doesn’t really excite me. And no Star Trek :P not even in the 80s retrospective series. I suppose we’re lucky to get what is programmed. Given what LA has, you’d think we’d get something different.

Patton will be playing there on Memorial Sunday/Monday! They are going to try and get as many titles as possible.