Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

This is topic Lawrence of Arabia (1962) in forum Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Tao Yue (Member # 836) on 11-20-2003, 06:58 PM:

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

1989 restoration and director's cut
40th-anniversary reissue
Sony Pictures Repertory
ETS depot
13 reels
SCOPE 2.39:1
DTS, SRD, SDDS, and SR
Kodak Vision 2383, dated 2003
Cinetech logo printed into leaders, also on stickers. Assume they made the print.

Already lost several frames on the tail due to people hacking away ID frames. Amazingly, overture and entr'acte still intact, but head lost on reel 1. I suppose that's the best reel to lose a head on, can keep the dowser closed during the overture to hide scratches. Still, otherwise in good condition and came with DTS discs (burned).
I wonder what condition this print will be in ten years from now. No, wait, don't tell me, I can guess from a ten-year old print:
Careful when booking: insist on a reissue print numbered 4000 or above. In contrast to the print described above, print 1 is acetate, missing the overture and entr'acte, reel 8 is unrunnable, with every single perf torn on one side for at least 100 feet (after which I gave up checking). Looks like someone force-wound it onto a 1980s "pop-in-and-out" metal reel while popped in. More perf damage, scratches, dust on other reels.

The crappy print is also listed as "Lawrence of Arabia REISSUE" and probably isn't distinguishable from the new(ish) prints in ETS' computer except by the print number. Hopefully print 1 will get chopped up as soon as we return it, but there may be more of them out there.

Also available in 70mm DTS and mag. Fewer theaters are capable of playing those, maybe they'll stay in better condition.

[ 11-21-2003, 01:59 AM: Message edited by: Tao Yue ]

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 08-11-2006, 08:07 PM:

It has been 995 days since the last post.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-11-2006, 08:07 PM:

Does anyone have the information for the 70mm prints that are currently available (DTS and mag)? I'm mostly interested in sound format and condition. Thanks.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 08-14-2006, 03:00 AM:

i saw a 70mm print 2 days ago at the castro, but i don't know the print number. all reels had "jj" scratches. the end of reel 3 showed some wear. it played in dts which failed for some unknown reason at the end of reel 3. that could be where one disc ended, i suppose. but instead of silence there was some sort of motorboating. the show was shut down and restarted with sound.

it was grainy as is reported typical of 90's prints vs. 1988 prints.

edit: this was print #5002. saw the cans kicking around in the lobby.

[ 08-20-2006, 05:03 AM: Message edited by: Carl Martin ]

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-14-2006, 04:32 AM:

Motorboating? Sounds like the fallback to optical kicked in when the dts failed.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 08-15-2006, 08:33 PM:

Although I have found DTS to be ultra-reliable, I am glad that the analog track is there as a back-up on 35mm prints. Such a back-up would be good for 70mm as well.

Can we have an analog back-up for Digital Cinema? Perhaps 35mm film would work.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-15-2006, 08:56 PM:

An analog backup for D-Cinema? The whole thing is digital. Many D-Cinema installations have their 35mm film projectors removed. If that fails then the only remedy is refunds.

Has Lawrence of Arabia ever been adapted to D-Cinema format, such as 2K or 4K? The 4K thing seems like a natural to me.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-16-2006, 08:28 AM:

quote: Ron Curran
Can we have an analog back-up for Digital Cinema? Perhaps 35mm film would work.

How about backup on lacquer disk???

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 05-06-2013, 06:22 PM:

It has been 2455 days since the last post.

Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 05-06-2013, 06:22 PM:

LoA 2012 re-release

DCP 4K Dolby 5.1 2,21:1 in 2,39
Two parts in one disc
English version - No subtitles

Part one with overture (First frame at 0:04:15) and intermission text over pic (02:18:40), fade out 02:18:55 followed by music on Black, -ending 02:19:15

Part two with entre d'acte - first frame 0:04:15 (same music as overture, I believe) End credit offset 01:24:15 -content as well original credits as 1988 restoration credits and 2012 restoration credits, ending at 01:27:29

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 11-29-2014, 07:23 PM:

It has been 572 days since the last post.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-29-2014, 07:23 PM:

70mm DTS print #4 of the Harris restoration, playing at the Egyptian tonight

13 reels
DTS title # is 02466. CD sets (three discs) were supplied for the 5.1 and five stage channels mix, plus an XD10 "one disc only" DVD-ROM of the five stage channel mix only.

Timings are as per the 4K DCP stated above. The intermission is at the end of reel 8 and entr'acte at the start of reel 9.

This print is starting to get a bit tatty at the starts and ends, and has been plattered in the past, though we received it with the heads and tails reattached carefully (just one layer of tape and a single splice at each head and tail). Most of the footage still looks very clean, though. All changeover dots needed are present and correct. I've just test screened reels 1, 8, 9 and 13, and apart from one very faint base tramline that comes and goes for about 3 minutes of reel 1, it looks great apart from slightly increased dirt and sparkle on the first and last minute or so of each.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-27-2015, 01:37 PM:

Played this print again last night. It's picked up notably more dirt and scratching from other venues in the meantime, which I'm afraid is now significantly distracting in places.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 09-17-2016, 05:02 PM:

70mm print #3 from Columbia has a DTS track and is in very good physical condition, with the usual wear at the head and tail of each reel. Unfortunately, the timing (color) is off and most everything in this print appears quite yellow. This was apparently a check print made when the negative was moved to a different lab and before the timing corrections had been fully made.

Also, the 5.1 DTS mix for this film differs from the mag mix. It feels "dead" and lacking in high-frequency information. It almost seems as if someone tried to do some noise reduction on the track but went too far in killing the background noise and high frequencies. I had not previously heard the DTS mix and it was disappointing.

Also, for reference, in case any are still in circulation, the restoration mag prints are Dolby format 44 (format 42, but with SR noise reduction).

Posted by Aron Toplitsky (Member # 6950) on 09-21-2016, 11:29 PM:

I'm not an expert on the topic, but I was quite disappointed with how the 70MM print looked last time I saw it, which was about five years ago at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. The color and clarity of the image paled in comparison to seeing it at the Ziegfeld in NY in 1989. I remember being in awe of the image and had never seen anything like it.