We all understand that first-class Blurays of 1950s big-studio features that were captured on large-format celluloid (VistaVision, Cameras 65, Technirama, Super Panavision, etc.) are glorious eye candy.
Last night I was in heaven as I savored the just-right compositions in Joshua Logan‘s Sayonara (’57), which was shot by Ellsworth Fredricks in Technirama (35mm film run horizontally at 8-perf, or the same as VistaVision). 1080p resolution is great but 4K UHD is better, etc. My God, the fine threads in those Air Force uniforms, Marlon Brando‘s gistening brown hair, the naturally luminous Kyoto exteriors, etc.
But where are those other 4K large-format titles? Why are we still waiting for a 4K UHD Bluray of John Ford‘s The Searchers, which was one of the first Blurays on the market (released on 10.31.06) but which desperately needs to be remastered and 4K’ed and generally brought uo to to speed. Ditto Ben-Hur, shot in Camera 65 and expensively and immaculately transferred to Bluray 11 years ago, but no 4K upgrade on the horizon. Ditto North by Northwest, also shot in VistaVision but not even a promise of a 4K version.
Nobody’s in a hurry, dragging our feet, we’ll get there when we get there, etc.
You can therefore understand my initial excitement when I discovered a claim on Home Theatre Forum, posted on 9.25.22 by a Danish film buff named Kevin Oppegaard (aka “titch” on HTF), that he’d seen “a beautiful, absolutely flawless 4K DCP…if Warner Bros. ever decides to release this on 4K UHD, there will be much rejoicing.”
And yet Oppegard, I’ve been told, is apparently full of shit. A guy who’s reliably in the know informs that Warner Home Entertainment’s DCP of The Searchers is only 2K, and represents the work done 16 years ago.
Somewhere in the Copenhagen area, Kevin Oppegard has just put on a pair of dark sunglassas and a lumpy fishing hat, and is shuffling off into the crowd.
Also not to be trusted is a website claim by Seattle’s Grand Illusion theatre, stating that a “new 4K restoration” was screened a year ago (2.3.22). The same insider informs that WHE’s DCP of North by Northwest is 4K, but if the Grand Illusion presentation really was a true 4K finish (as the web page implies), it would not be of sufficient quality for a 4K UHD release.
The Searchers and North by Northwest are candidates, of course, for eventual 4K UHD release, but there’s nothing to spill at the present time.
