Wires, Be Gone!

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All the Luddites and dead-sea-scrollers who were arguing yesterday in favor of keeping the flying monkey and Scarecrow wires visible in Warner Home Video's forthcoming The Wizard of Oz Blu-ray (or at least keeping some kind of visible-wires edition of the film in a vault somewhere) can fold up their tents and go home. I spoke yesterday with WHV senior vp George Feltenstein and he confirmed what Hitfix's Drew McWeeny passed along yesterday in the HE comments section, which is that the wires have been digitally erased.

(l.) Warner Home Video senior vp George Feltenstein; witch-and-monkey castle scene from The Wizard of Oz's third act; (r.) restoration expert Robert Harris.

Before making the final call, Felstenstein said he went to resoration guru Robert Harris for advice, and that Harris's basic mantra was that "if 1939 audiences didn't see the wires when they saw the film in theatres, then present-day audiences shouldn't see them on the Blu-ray."

And 1939 audiences didn't see the wires due to the state of projection technology and the three-strip Technicolor alignment process being what they were some 70 years ago, along with the general coarseness of 1939-era film stock.

"To be precise," Harris explained this morning, "what matters is to recreate the look and texture of the original film, as seen by 1939 audiences. While by scanning original negatives we do get an image of slightly higher resolution, it's important to make certain that the extra detail doesn't expose things that were never meant to be seen."

The Oz Blu-ray will be out on Tuesday, 9.29, following a series of special promotional screenings across the country including a special New York Film Festival showing on Saturday, 9.,26.

I asked Feltenstein why Warner Home Video's "Murderer's Row" trio -- The Wizard of Oz, North by Northwest and Gone With the Wind (the last two of which will be available by mid November) -- were scanned in 8K when 4K is considered to be as good if not better than 35mm film resolution-wise. "For the future," Feltenstein said. "We want to be ready for the next expansion or upgrade in high-def viewing, so we won't have to go back and re-scan them again."

We both agreed that (a) it's an essential thing for all large-format films to find their way onto Blu-ray sooner rather than later (a no-brainer), (b) it would be a welcome thing for Paramount Home Video to one day re-master Byron Haskin's War of the Worlds (1953) with the wires holding up the Martian space ships digitally erased (ditto), and (c) that it'll be great when other Alfred Hitchcock films (like Vertigo especially, having been filmed in large-format VistaVision) get the Blu-ray treatment also.

Feltenstein -- gracious, highly spirited, obviously super-bright-- said he's a daily HE reader, and that I should feel free to get in touch any time. Great!

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 1, 2009 at 9:13 AM

comment #1

Rich S. says ...

Very excited to see this. Warner's has always taken extreme care with Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and Adventures of Robin Hood. Each upgrade consistently improves on the one before it. Only Disney rivals them for care of their classics.

Posted by Rich S. at September 1, 2009 10:41 AM

comment #2

Manitoba says ...

I gather the wires have also been digitally erased in the crop plane crash scene in North By Northwest. A documentary in the DVD notes a scene where a little kid holds his ears in advance of the Eva Marie Saint shooting Cary Grant scene. I don't think anyone has tampered with it.

Posted by Manitoba at September 1, 2009 10:43 AM

comment #3

WoolSweater says ...

A slippery slope, this is: the increased resolution of high-def presentations will undoubtedly cause similar debates in the future. I, for one, understand Harris' thinking -- and applaud WHV for seeking his consultation. But, then, how does his argument apply to film grain? Shouldn't graininess be considered part of the "look and texture" of an original film? And isn't strange that film preservation is adopting the legal doctrine of "original intent"?

Posted by WoolSweater at September 1, 2009 10:48 AM

comment #4

mccool says ...

I'll tell you what people respect ... someone who argues passionately and earnestly who is always confident they are right but--and this is a big but--is willing to admit when they are wrong, or acknowledge that their opinion is just an opinion, not, say, bodhi or the voice of the gods.

I came down on your side in that argument, but why is everyone who disagrees with you a ludite? Why are you ALWAYS right? There's never any contemplation from you ... you just steamroll through conversations with your opinion and never reflect, never waver. Who do you think you are?

Posted by mccool at September 1, 2009 10:50 AM

comment #5

Sabina E says ...

"if 1939 audiences didn't see the wires when they saw the film in theatres, then present-day audiences shouldn't see them on the Blu-ray."

that makes a lot of sense. So, does anyone know if that rumor about a crew worker who fell to his death in the background while the movie was being filmed, is really true?

Posted by Sabina E at September 1, 2009 10:55 AM

comment #6

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to McCool: I didn't say everyone who disagrees with me is a Luddite. And I didn't call you a Luddite. The keep-the-wires Luddites know who they are. Look at yesterday's thread...it's all there.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at September 1, 2009 10:56 AM

comment #7

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to WoolSweater: The key Harris statement regarding grain is that "by scanning original negatives [for Blu-ray transfers] we do get an image of slightly higher resolution." Slightly higher or considerably higher, to be precise about it. And with that higher resolution comes a higher or more distinct preponderance of grain in the Blu-ray image. Which is why it makes sense to digitally tone the grain down. Tastefully, respectfully and not radically, but tone it the fuck down. The monks can go on and on and on and on, but there's no way they'll ever convince me that King Vidor and Victor Fleming and John Ford were queer for grain in 35 mm film. They lived with it, is all. It was part of what film was and there was no getting around it.

But if given a chance to tone it down in the future I can't imagine their ghosts being against this. They certainly wouldn't have said, "Oh, by all means-- make the grain in my 1941 movie look more vivid and grain-stormy that it looked when it showed in local Bijous back then."

Let's use our head and calmly look at this without being combative. Why would a visual artist who's obviously familiar with the glories of nature and magic-hour light as visible to the naked eye prefer that his or her film should present these visual values so that they're covered with millions of tiny little micro-grain pellets? What artist in his or her right mind say, "Yes, I prefer that! It's better to visually contemplate God's kingdom with millions of micro-grain pellets covering each and every image." See my point?

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at September 1, 2009 11:05 AM

comment #8

p.Vice says ...

If all movie mistakes were to suddenly be erased, 96% of the films made in the last 25 years would suddenly cease to exist.

A perfect world this ain't.

Posted by p.Vice at September 1, 2009 11:06 AM

comment #9

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Yondah doth a Luddite speak!

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at September 1, 2009 11:08 AM

comment #10

mccool says ...

Just saying your debate style is extremely combative and abrasive....as though there is no respect for others' opinions. I disagree with my wife, my friends, co-workers all of the time ... always arguing ... but there's a mutual respect because I try to see things from their perspective even if, more of than not, I stay the course. If you are doing this, it's not coming across.

You're successful at what you do and I'm no one to tell you differently...just think you should be a little more tolerant when it comes to opinions expressed in little text bubbles...this is an extremely handicapping medium and it's often difficult to convey what one is actually thinking.

Arguing straightforward the wires should show is stupid. 100% agree. Arguing the wires should stay using the slippery slope argument holds a little more merit, and isn't deserving of such venom. I'd still disagree (and think your finger-fucking analogy was perfect), but wouldn't find the line of reasoning so infuriating.

Posted by mccool at September 1, 2009 11:09 AM

comment #11

Stringer Bell says ...

I love Jeff's combatitiveness . its a big part of why i'm here.

Now, if they can only color correct Jeff's shoes.

Posted by Stringer Bell at September 1, 2009 11:20 AM

comment #12

Jason says ...

"Tastefully, respectfully, and not radically, but tone it the fuck down."

Heh. Next time you talk to George Feltenstein, remember to ask him about digitally toning the grain down. Be sure to end it with "pretty fucking please."

Posted by Jason at September 1, 2009 11:26 AM

comment #13

mccool says ...

I love Jeff's combatitiveness . its a big part of why i'm here.

Now, if they can only color correct Jeff's shoes.

Hence why I wrote... "You're successful at what you do and I'm no one to tell you differently"

...and said a *little* more tolerance, i.e. taking line of thinking into account, is healthier in the long run.

Posted by mccool at September 1, 2009 11:28 AM

comment #14

WoolSweater says ...

@ WELLS
I wasn't calling you out -- I am quite aware of your stance on film grain. (Still, whose eyes should determine the threshold that separates faithful representations from your "grain storms"?)

I'm just hoping that future hi-def presentations -- in recorded formats or broadcast -- will mean the end of such horrible corrective technologies as "edge-enhancement" and "digital noise reduction" and bring in a more thoughtful (and even case-by-case) approach to restorations.

Posted by WoolSweater at September 1, 2009 11:31 AM

comment #15

JeffK says ...

If grain is really that much of a bother in this coming high def age, then just buy a home digital projector. Good ones nowadays cost as much as a nice flat panel, and smooth most images considerably. Projected light doesn't stay perfectly within its little pixel boundaries.

Posted by JeffK at September 1, 2009 11:32 AM

comment #16

SpinDozer says ...

The Luddites were desperate people in deperate times, no need to associate with sentamentalists, material determinists, or whatever mental deficiency you are trying to castigate.

Posted by SpinDozer at September 1, 2009 11:35 AM

comment #17

Moises Chiullan says ...

This has actually been an issue since people started watching DVDs on HD screens.

Shortly after we got our HDTV, Ashley and I popped in Jurassic Park to see what it looked like. Everything was going fine until we got to Nedry and the Dilophosaurus and saw the wires attached to the dino's frills. We were horrified! We didn't see those years ago in the theater, nor had we on our SD set. I don't hope, I expect the rumored Blu-ray coming next fall will have these wires removed. This is not an issue of too much or not enough grain in a picture, which is debatable. Wanting a "wires" version is like demanding a cut of Star Wars without the lightsaber blades glowing.

Posted by Moises Chiullan at September 1, 2009 11:37 AM

comment #18

Travis Crabtree says ...

I think the only mastering correction that should be used is the kind that can digitally alter the color of an actor's hair to more accurately match the historical figure he's playing.

(ducking and covering)

Posted by Travis Crabtree at September 1, 2009 12:09 PM

comment #19

BarryR says ...

A similiar consideration can be made for the correct use of colorization--to restore lost color in early two-stripe Technicolor films that only now exist in black and white. Surviving color fragments could be used as a guide. Of course this would be more a boon for film history fans than as a remotely commercial goal (I'll bet $3 we have a long wait for 1929's ON WITH THE SHOW, the first all-Technicolor musical, restored on Blu-ray!). But for the archives it'd be a good thing to see...in a perfect world.

Posted by BarryR at September 1, 2009 12:48 PM

comment #20

ZayTonday says ...

[b]McCool[/b]: Do you honestly think people who want the wires to stay aren't luddites?

Posted by ZayTonday at September 1, 2009 1:38 PM

comment #21

John Galt says ...

who cares about wires and grainy footage... is it true the blue ray version will have a new CG topless dorothy shower scene? heard it from a guy who knows.

Posted by John Galt at September 1, 2009 2:31 PM

comment #22

Gordon27 says ...

"Arguing the wires should stay using the slippery slope argument holds a little more merit, and isn't deserving of such venom."

Yes and no; "slippery slope" is always defined by the assumptions of the person who is already complaining about something, but realizes that they don't have a leg to stand on unless they try to make it about more than just the thing they're complaining about. So there may be some merit to it, but it always has to be filtered through the assumptions the person is making, and those assumptions are usually the reason their opinion is wrong in the first place.

Posted by Gordon27 at September 1, 2009 2:43 PM

comment #23

BarryR says ...

Correction: that's two-strip, not two stripe Technicolor.

Posted by BarryR at September 1, 2009 3:46 PM

comment #24

MeandMyselfandI says ...

Good for them for getting it right. There's no director who will say that they want the wires to show in their film. And not just show but show even more than they originally did.

Posted by MeandMyselfandI at September 1, 2009 4:40 PM

comment #25

Gordon27 says ...

If they had just done it, rather than announcing they did it, I wonder if any of the complainers (none of whom have seen it) would have noticed.

Posted by Gordon27 at September 1, 2009 5:02 PM

comment #26

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Posted by CasperMJ at September 1, 2009 5:31 PM

comment #27

Circumvrent says ...

If Mr. Feltenstein is in fact a daily reader, perhaps he can answer a question going back to what I had brought up in the original post: Does WHV have, somewhere in its vaults, an untouched, scanned copy of WIZARD OF OZ, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, etc? What's the company's stance on such a thing?

It's hard to disagree with Jeff, Rich S and Robert Harris, so I'll concede on the wires, and I'm excited for the Blu Ray.

Posted by Circumvrent at September 1, 2009 9:37 PM

comment #28

Marty Melville says ...

Wire, shmire, looking forward to Robert Harris in The Harvey Kurtzman Story.

Posted by Marty Melville at September 1, 2009 11:58 PM

comment #29

fortunesfool73.wordpress.com says ...

Uh, It's really all about your enjoyment of the film. You should be engrossed in the story and characters while watching it, not pointing out 'wires' and/or pissing and moaning because they've been removed.

Posted by fortunesfool73.wordpress.com at September 2, 2009 12:09 AM

comment #30

chad_pole says ...

Apparently not ALL the wires were erased. According to High Def Digest, only 3 wires were erased, the rest left in.

"After endless discussions and research, the team decided that these specific wires (others have been left in) disrupted the narrative, and were invisible (as intended) in all other releases (including film). Only at this increased definition was there a visible flaw."

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/MGM/Warner_Home_Video/Film_Restoration/Michael_S._Palmer/Off_To_See_The_Wizards:_HDD_Gets_An_In_Depth_Look_at_the_Restoration_of_The_Wizard_of_Oz/3397

Posted by chad_pole at September 8, 2009 2:32 PM

comment #31

dd says ...

You should be engrossed in the story and characters while watching it, not pointing out 'wires' and/or pissing and moaning because they've been removed.

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comment #32