Two 70mm Musicals at California San Jose

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Guest

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:08 am

A couple of 70mm musicals will be playing at the beautifully restored
California Theater in San Jose CA on the last week of December.

"The Sound of Music" December 25-27

"My Fair Lady" December 28-30

The California is usually home to opera and concerts but David Packard
(who also runs the non profit Stanford Theater in Palo Alto) put up
big bucks for the theater restoration with the provision that classic
films could also be shown there (although so far that has been rare).
Presentation is always first rate and 70mm looks absolutely stunning
at the California.

Check here for showtimes and additional holiday film showing info:
http://www.stanfordtheatre.org/stf/aboutCalifornia.html

Guest

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:50 pm

As of today the Stanford/California's website (link in above post) has
cut off the mention of 70mm in the listing for "My Fair Lady" so it
appears that it will be a 35mm print. Bummer! I'm sure David Packard
would play 70mm as originally indicated if it was available. Doesn't
Warners have any servicable 70mm prints of the Robert Harris
restoration from a few years ago?

"The Sound of Music" will presumably still be shown in 70mm but I'd
prefer "My Fair Lady" any day of the year!

Neil Midkiff

Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:17 am

Guest

jwr2000@earthlink.net wrote:

Quote:

Just got home from the 70mm showing of The Sound of Music, and it is a gorgeous
print, in nearly perfect condition, excellently projected, in a restored 1927
movie palace (the California Theatre, downtown San Jose).

One more night, Thursday Dec. 27 at 7:30 p.m., admission just $5.

Mighty Wurlitzer played before the film and during intermission.

It took me back to seeing the film's original showing in 1965 in a 1920s movie
palace in Kansas City, when I was nine. No other presentation of it since then
has looked so good to me.

-Neil Midkiff

Guest

Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:16 am

I caught "My Fair Lady" at the California on Saturday. I went up to
the balcony first thing and peeked into the portholes, hoping for a
miracle in seeing 70mm threaded up on those Norelcos but alas it was
35mm. I still find it depressing and disgusting that a 70mm print
wasn't available for this engagement as orginally announced. Afterall
the Robert Harris restoration wasn't THAT long ago! Did those lovely
70mm prints that Warners made (I realize that there were just a few)
all get ruined by platterization?

Still the 35mm print wasn't bad. It looked like a 1970's reissue (it
had that Warner Kinney logo at the beginning), mag stereo and good
color. Presentation (I suspect by David Packard's Stanford Theater
crew) was first rate as usual. Ah but only if it had been 70mm....

Lincoln Spector

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:31 pm

Guest

<jwr2000@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:8ae68c70-b121-447c-9fbb-1e1fa969d923@i29g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

Quote:

serves, it's a Fox film now, and was when the first LD release drew pans for
the horrible transfer and print source, shaming the studio into paying for
Harris to restore it.

I think that the rights history went something like this (please excuse
errors):

1) CBS invested in the stage play in exchange for all rights beyond live
performance. That meant they owned the Broadway cast album, any other
commercial musical recording, radio and TV broadcasts, and movie rights.

2) Which meant that, when Warner decided to make the film version, they had
to negotiate with CBS. The negotiation had the rights to the film pass to
CBS after x number of years.

3) I don't know what the CBS/Fox relationship is or was, but it certainly
existed. I've got LDs that with a CBS/Fox logo. Also, Fox now owns the films
CBS made during its brief experiment as a theatrical producer/distributor,
the best-known of which is Little Big Man. I assume MFL passed on to Fox
with those films.

Lincoln

peterh5322

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:32 pm

Guest

On 2007-12-31 16:31:46 -0800, "Lincoln Spector" <notmyreal@address.com> said:

Quote:

I don't believe Warner owns that title, or has for a long time. If memory
serves, it's a Fox film now, and was when the first LD release drew pans for
the horrible transfer and print source, shaming the studio into paying for
Harris to restore it.

I think that the rights history went something like this (please excuse
errors):

1) CBS invested in the stage play in exchange for all rights beyond live
performance. That meant they owned the Broadway cast album, any other
commercial musical recording, radio and TV broadcasts, and movie rights.

Warners and Jack Warner got to produce this title, and the rights to
distribute it for five years, after which rights, and the negative,
reverted to CBS.

The film carries the Jack Warner _ imprimatur_ , but is is clear that
CBS was the owner of the property, and Jack was sold the rights to film
the production for theatrical release, to place his name on the filmed
production as its producer, and to distribute the filmed production for
five years.

Thereafter, all rights, and the negative, reverted to CBS.

Quote:

2) Which meant that, when Warner decided to make the film version, they had
to negotiate with CBS. The negotiation had the rights to the film pass to
CBS after x number of years.

Five years, as was typical for the time.

I believe Hitchcock's usual arrangements with Paramount, and others,
was five years, too, for his films, such as Vertigo, and others.

Pat Hitchcock subsequently sold those properties to Universal.

Universal restored the titles, as best it could, and also restored the
original distributors' logos.

Which is why "Psycho" again has its Paramountain logo, plus the added
Universal CGI logo.

Quote:

3) I don't know what the CBS/Fox relationship is or was, but it certainly
existed. I've got LDs that with a CBS/Fox logo. Also, Fox now owns the films
CBS made during its brief experiment as a theatrical producer/distributor,
the best-known of which is Little Big Man. I assume MFL passed on to Fox
with those films.

I'd assume CBS, but I could be wrong.

The CBS/Fox was a short-lived relationship for the purposes of
distributing feature films on VHS tapes.

Are there recent DVD releases which carry the CBS/Fox logo?

--
CinemaScope® - The Modern Miracle You See Without Special Glasses!
--
Peter

Richard

Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:15 pm

Guest

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:32:53 -0800, peterh5322
<peterh5322@rattlebrain.comminch> wrote:

Quote:

Are there recent DVD releases which carry the CBS/Fox logo?

I do not know about the US. But here in continental Europe

the latest DVD issue of My Fair Lady (2 DVD discs) from
2006 has only the Warner logo and is clearly a Warner product.

Robert DiMucci

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:45 am

Guest

jwr2000@earthlink.net wrote:

Quote:

restored. I didn't notice much difference in the picture quality
between the two (possibly because of the deterioration of the original
elements over the years), but I did notice a difference in the sound.
The 35mm version had the superior sound in my opinion. The 35mm version
was in DTS Digital sound, while I believe the 70mm version was still in
6-track magnetic sound.

Peter

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:57 pm

Guest

On 2008-01-18 22:45:25 -0800, Robert DiMucci <rdimucci@erols.com> said:

Quote:

The 35mm version was in DTS Digital sound, while I believe the 70mm
version was still in 6-track magnetic sound.

I thought the 6-track print master was lost, and the 70mm restoration
was done from other sound elements, with LC and RC being recreated.
--
CinemaScope®: The Modern Miracle You See without Special Glasses!
--
Peter

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