Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Sad 70MM Days of Heaven news

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Posted by Tom Maguire (Member # 5314) on 09-21-2009, 07:52 AM:

As a consolation to pulling a print on us at the last minute - Paramount offered us Days of Heaven in 70 last month and we were elated. Cut to a month later and I open the cans to find the print faded beyond recognition.

So unfortunately this show was a bust, and this print is at the end of it's life.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-21-2009, 08:41 AM:

It is very likely the exact same print we ran back in the early 90's in Chicago. BAck then it was the only circulating print as well.

Mark

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 09-21-2009, 01:13 PM:

I acquired a 70mm print of "Gandhi" all 3.5 hours of it and same thing, way too red to even run.

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 09-21-2009, 01:17 PM:

Sam, how many reels is that print of Gandhi?

Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 09-21-2009, 01:31 PM:

Probably Eastman print stock :-/

Then again, I guess storage, heat, and humidity play into this as much as the stock itself does.

Apparently, with the old acetate stock, vinegar syndrome is accentuated more by *not* playing the movie than by heat.

This is one thing I really like about estar; it is, essentially, permanent base.

Acetate is, in some cases, worse than nitrate was in terms of base and spatial longevity.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 09-21-2009, 01:33 PM:

Any Eastman color films prior to 1983 are likely to turn red...those from 1983 and beyond will hold their color much better.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 09-21-2009, 01:47 PM:

Karl said "Apparently, with the old acetate stock, vinegar syndrome is accentuated more by *not* playing the movie than by heat."
Mag tracks actually cause a reaction in the base that accelerates VS

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-21-2009, 06:00 PM:

I wonder about the condition of the original camera negatives. Are they still any good? As great as the cinematography looked it would seem to be worthy of a 4K digital scan and DI treatment to use on a Blu-ray release.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-21-2009, 06:29 PM:

quote: Tom Maguire
Cut to a month later and I open the cans to find the print faded beyond recognition.

I know the answer to this already [Roll Eyes]

but why would they bother sending a faded beyond recognition 70mm print all the way to you? Hope they're not charging you for the freight.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 09-21-2009, 06:50 PM:

About 10 years ago, I walked into the Rahway NJ film exchange (I believe it was the exchange that became ETS), which covered the NYC metro area. They had a wall of 70mm Days Of Heaven prints stacked floor to ceiling near the loading dock. Apparently the prints were being shipped to California for eventual destruction.

Posted by Tom Maguire (Member # 5314) on 09-21-2009, 11:20 PM:

I'm just guessing but I would say that Some Guy in an office of Paramount looks at a list of available prints, sees Days of Heaven 70mm and says "Hey..."
And then thousands of miles away on the East Coast is that print that's been sitting in a depot that isn't climate controlled and that no one's taken a look at in years.

Just a guess.

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 09-21-2009, 11:50 PM:

A photographic record of the aforementioned Chicago screening along with said print (in it's former glory days sitting on a potts platter) can be seen right here on film-tech. Click the pictures button on the left and scroll down to "Cinema Borealis 1989"

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 09-22-2009, 01:03 AM:

Sean,

Too many is the short answer, but 14 seems to ring a bell. I ran a reel at the Fox California and confirmed it's essentially unwatchable. Sound is still OK.