Unfortunately, many of the 65mm negatives from the 50's and 60's have lots of physical wear, since in those days, many of the 70mm prints were made directly from the cut negative, rather than a duplicate negative. Those who saw the documentary on the Harris/Katz restoration of "My Fair Lady" can appreciate the problems.

BTW, someone saw my posting and noted that I was correct in saying "Oklahoma" was filmed in both 65mm 30fps, and 35mm 24fps. But "Around the World in 80 Days" was filmed in 65mm for BOTH 30fps and 24fps versions, and the 65mm 24fps version was optically reduced to make the 35mm release prints. Sorry for the misinformation.

Can anyone imagine a producer today who would help fund development of a new film system, and go through the trouble and expense of shooting a movie in two formats (65mm 30fps and 35mm 24fps), just to provide superior presentation quality in larger theatres? Other than a few directors like James Cameron, who personally fought to have a few dozen 70mm prints of "Titanic" made, "Showmanship" has died just as surely as Mike Todd did in that plane crash.

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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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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

I know that most Film-Tech participants believe that, and hope that in each of our own ways, we can bring back the "magic" of movies presented properly, and a sense of "Showmanship". Nothing can present stories better than "film done right"!

Coming soon...Cameron-AO? Come on James...do it!

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

The first three presentations of Oklahoma! in Todd-AO have gone off without a hitch. We're getting quite a few "oohs and aahs" from audiences, but the biggest gasp is usually right at the beginning... when the curtain opens on the first credit after the overture.
Showmanship is a powerful thing, huh?

Our shows start with an overture by the house organist (the console rises out of the pit in front of the curtain). I wound up being the one to introduce this show, so after welcoming the audience, I give a very quick history of Todd-AO and actually show them a reel of 35mm and a reel of 70mm film. After proudly presenting Oklahoma! in "the miracle of Todd-AO"... auditorium lights change and the film overture starts. The overture gets applause! The curtain gets applause! It's just amazing.

This show wouldn't have been possible without T.J. Hopland of MTS here in Minneapolis. He managed to turn The Heights into a pretty respectable roadshow house, despite the usual time and money limitations. Just getting those two Norelco AA-II's moved upstairs to the booth and running was a remarkable enough accomplishment!

The Oklahoma! print, overall, is stunning. There are some timing oddities due to an obviously faded negative, but our audiences really didn't notice. The tracks are great, overall. Literally just a couple of quick "pops". There are a few scratches. The biggest problem is the wear inflicted at some point by a Century JJ. I've seen lots of standing scratches at the top of both left and right sides of 70mm prints. One of our projectionists (a veteran of original Todd-AO roadshows, by the way) says if the 70mm loop is even a perf or so too large on a JJ, it can slap against the 35mm pad roller (which is rotated out of position)and pick up those scratches. He says they always took off the 35mm pad rollers completely when running 70mm on the JJ's.

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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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What is BAD is JJs without even the single roller underneath the intermittent for running 70mm. Most people use that foolish "2 finger loop" theory and will destroy a print with that thinking pattern.

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