"Strangelove" let me down

email this story
read comments (16)
post a comment

I'm sorry, but that digitally projected 4K version of Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb that's now showing at West L.A.'s Landmark is nothing special. And it's not just me. My son Jett, who's seen this 1963 Stanley Kubrick film three or four times on DVD on my 36" flat screen, called the digital projection a "disappointment."

The image I saw last night didn't deliver anything close to a top-of-the-mountain black-and-white experience. There was none of that shimmering-glimmering silvery quality of yore, and the blacks were moderate rather than super-rich. I noticed some subtle gradations of tone and some micro-detail here and there (I was able to spot evidence of the wig that Peter Sellers wore as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake), but overall there was way too much of a general gray feeling. I went expecting my socks to get blown off, and I left feeling a wee bit burned.

Columbia's restoration guy Grover Crisp was quoted as saying that the 4K projection would convey the way Strangelove looked right out of the lab. Crisp is a total pro and a man of honor, but that's false advertising. I paid $22 bucks plus popcorn and drinks last night to see an okay-but-nothing-special digital Strangelove that didn't hold a candle to how it looks on my own Sony in my living room. I'm not looking to pick a fight, but I feel flim-flammed.

Fox employee vs. McWeeny<< previous | next >>Posey speaks to Olsen

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 16, 2007 at 10:04 AM

comment #1

Craig Kennedy says ...

My understanding, partly taken from this article is that the 4K Strangelove is more finding the best possible elements and doing a little restoring than it is about the 4K technology itself. When the latest restoration premiered in London, it was a film transfer.

I don't think there is anything inherently magic about 4K, it's just an improvement over 2K. Right?

Ok, now the people who really know what they're talking about can come and shoot me down.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at June 16, 2007 10:59 AM

comment #2

Walter Sobchak says ...

(a little off the subject and trivial, but...) After seeing "Strangelove" countless number of times on a television throughout the years I finally caught it on the big screen about three years ago. For the first time I was able to notice that the centerfold girl in the magazine that Slim Pickens (Maj. Kong) is reading is Miss Scott, Gen. Turgidson's secretary.

Posted by Walter Sobchak at June 16, 2007 11:17 AM

comment #3

Arizona Joe says ...

The 4K Strangelove is a case study in the new digital technology usage. Sometimes costs do not justify the marginal benefits.

In the coming years, the people doing the transfers will have to decide how fine an image is good enough for the general public.

If Wells pere and fils did not get a kick out of it, Ma and Pa Kettle will not notice a difference.

Posted by Arizona Joe at June 16, 2007 12:16 PM

comment #4

Peterson says ...

Who is supposed to decide just how "Strangelove" is supposed to look ? The original negative no longer exists, and according to an interview that restorationist Robert Harris did two years ago with Crisp most prints that were made for the last decade were printed too light. The last DVD release, which Jeff pissed on for being too dark compared to the original DVD, was ok'd by Harris as being closer to the original intent. And the basic urge by most home videophiles to tune their sets so the picture looks right to them doesn't mean they are seeing an accurate reproduction of the original source material. Unless Jeff's home set has been professionally calibrated for color, white and black level balances, comparing a DVD with a print for accuracy is a pretty subjective experience.

Posted by Peterson at June 16, 2007 1:14 PM

comment #5

erniesouchak says ...

4K is the best resolution currently available, but it still presents just a fraction of the information & tonal quality you can get on 35mm. There is nothing magical about it, it's just what everyone's stuck with at the moment.

Posted by erniesouchak at June 16, 2007 1:22 PM

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

You should probably watch the 1964 version. It's much better.

Posted by BurmaShave at June 16, 2007 1:26 PM

comment #7

George Prager says ...

The 8mm version advertised in the back of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine rocks!

Posted by George Prager at June 16, 2007 1:33 PM

comment #8

christian says ...

that's the funniest non-sequitur yet, prager. i got that along with my 8 mm GODZILLA VS THE THING...

Posted by christian at June 16, 2007 1:46 PM

comment #9

nemo says ...

"a little off the subject and trivial, but... the centerfold girl in the magazine that Slim Pickens (Maj. Kong) is reading is Miss Scott, Gen. Turgidson's secretary."

Trivial? We live for details like that!

Posted by nemo at June 16, 2007 6:18 PM

comment #10

corey3rd says ...

what is the point of paying all that cash and merely watching Big TV at a theater? Save up your pennies and just buy an HD Projector.

Posted by corey3rd at June 16, 2007 9:56 PM

comment #11

christian says ...

digital sucks.

Posted by christian at June 16, 2007 10:34 PM

comment #12

le corbeau says ...

If only Elvis was alive, so we could ask him how it compares to his personal print. (Elvis' two favorite movies were supposed to be Strangelove and Ophuls' Letter From An Unknown Woman. I kid you not.)

This reminds me of the story Terry Southern told at dinner (how subtly he drops that in) about James Earl Jones, who has a small early part (how come Kubrick didn't think of HIM for the voice of Hal?), coming up to Slim Pickens who had just worked on One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando, and asking him (try to imagine those two voices here), "I'm curious how you found it working with Mr. Brando, I'm sure that must have been a marvelous experience." And Pickens, without even thinking, replies "Waaaaal, ah'll tell yoo, in all the time ah spent workin' for Bud Brando, ah never saw him do anything that wuddn't all man an' all white."

Posted by le corbeau at June 17, 2007 6:23 AM

comment #13

corey3rd says ...

I'd always heard Elvis' 2 favorite films were Dr. Strangelove and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. If you go to Graceland, Strangelove normally plays on one of the 3 TVs in the basement room.

Posted by corey3rd at June 17, 2007 1:05 PM

comment #14

christian says ...

there's a good story about southern meeting elvis in lee hill's southern bio. too bad elvis couldn't have surrounded himself with the kind of cultural flow that helped produce great art instead of CLAMBAKE.

Posted by christian at June 17, 2007 6:28 PM

comment #15

xtraxtra says ...

Not surprised at all to hear that. Like I said in the other thread, doing a laser-out to film and printing onto Kodak 2393 Vision Premiere would have produced a much better result. Contrast is what really makes an image come to life, especially with black and white, and none of today's digital projectors can deliver it like film can.

Posted by xtraxtra at June 17, 2007 11:16 PM

comment #16