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For example, Richard May, VP of Film Preservation at Warner Bros. says:

"I'm responsible for preserving more than 6,000 feature films and several thousand short subjects--all from our catolog. We assign specialists to restore and recopy movies that have deteriorated through usage, particularly those from the '50s and '60s when dyes and film stocks were unstable. Generally, the more successful a picture, the worse shape it's in. We also restore scenes that initially were censored, as we're doing now on The Devils, a '70s British film directed by Ken Russell, starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. Of all the projects I've worked on during 10 years in film preservation, the most satisfying was Singin' in the Rain. The original negative was destroyed in a 1978 fire and the intermediate negative recently wore out, so the lab had only the surviving duplicate positives. After the first tests misfired, we were kept in suspense while they experimented with different stock and color correction levels. Finally we said, 'We've got it. It works!' A few days later some of those clips were shown at a Motion Picture Academy tribute to Stanley Donen, the film's director. They looked absolutely gorgeous." (twx magazine 9/99)

On-line information includes:
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/support/technical/care.shtml
http://www.afionline.org/preservation/about/links.html
http://www.amianet.org/
http://www.eastman.org/10_colmp/10_index.html

Unfortunately, maintaining high quality release prints for theatrical re-release has sometimes not had the same priority by the distributors, and available prints are often worn or damaged, and improperly stored (which accelerates fading, especially if made before Kodak introduced "low fade" print film in 1982). High quality new prints can be made, but the cost needs to be justified by the potential revenue from theatres.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

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I finally got on to John Cornell's pub in Byron Bay. They found one in an office archive in Sydney. The good news was that when I got to run it it was a brand new 35mm print...the bad news was that it was the American version. There are NO Australian versions of this film in Australia any longer.

I'll be at the Olympics so may drop in and see your bio box if thats OK.

Re: film preservation. I'm considering digitally restoring some of my classic drive-in intermission clocks, and offering pristine, 35mm Dolby SR prints for sale (note there is another fellow that's attempting a similar project, but he's just making prints of prints and is uninterested in restoring or improving them). I'm talking a computerized-visual-effects-style restoration, as appears to be the latest 35mm technology; complete color correction, jitter and scratch removal, even title and text changes to reflect current drive-in theatre requirements... anything's possible once it's scanned into the digital domain.

The only fly in the ointment is this: the prices to have my film scanned, and then have the resulting file (after editing and computer manipulation) output back to 35mm, is EXHORBITANT!!!! I mean, take the highest price you can ever imagine, and then TRIPLE it... HIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH! That's Hollywood for you ($80 for a camera adapter screw... come on!)

I have an investor interested in financing such an endeavor, but the lab scanning prices are beyond anyone's reach and, quite frankly, it wouldn't make the project feasible. The best I could hope for is a sale of maybe 50 prints, and having a brand new restored negative for posterity.

Therefore, I'm seriously considering building my own scanner and maybe a recorder (although I can get this done commercially much more cost-effectively than the scanning).

I'm looking at adapting a regular slide or 35mm negative still scanner to a pin-registered intermittent movement, and slap some reel arms on it, so I can get my film frames into the computer. The scanning resolutions available on some of these still scanners are identical to the motion picture units they charge $10,000's to use.

Anyone have any experience with these things, or know about the scanning technology, or where I could learn about it?

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Better Projection Pays!

Tim, the differences were: we didn't have the word 'Crocodile' in inverted commas...we knew he wasn't REALLY a crocodile. Honestly, this was a condition of Paramount to gain worldwide distribution rights. Also, the Australian section was about five minutes longer. There were several other subtle changes like at the party, in the Aussie version, Sue introduces Mick to a Senator Bradley. In the rest-of-the-world-including-New-Zealand version, his name was changed to Senator Manly (after our famous Sydney beach) as there really WAS a Senator Bradley in US politics at the time.

Australia was the only country that got the Australian version.

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The Olympics are coming...RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

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I remember vividly running Snowy River in 1982 to a full house at the drive in. Very successful there.

If they're looking for the negatives of Dundee, they'll find THEM at the archive. They pretty much had the lot there...except for a release composite. (I didn't want to do a double head screening at an outdoor)

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The Olympics are coming...RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!