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A PEEK AT ZELIG AND THE GANG'S ALL HERE (1 Viewer)

haineshisway

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I saw Zelig on its opening day in Westwood – that was my routine back then, to always see the new Woody on opening day. Up to that point the only disappointments in Woody’s films for me were Interiors, which just wasn’t my cuppa, a slight feeling of disappointment in Stardust Memories, and then my first HUGE disappointment, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy. Zelig followed that one. And I have to say I found it, too, to be very disappointing. The movie that followed it, Broadway Danny Rose, would be his return to form, at least for me. I did not revisit Zelig until the DVD box set of Woody’s films came out, and I still didn’t love it. But last night, watching the new Twilight Time Blu-ray, I suddenly kind of appreciated it. I laughed out loud a few times and realized just how innovative and how well it was done. The conceit of the film is always true to itself and the integration of the old footage and the new footage made to look old is really quite brilliant. I believe it to be an older master, but it’s not THAT old – and it’s on par with most of the Woody Blu-rays, which have all been fine by me. But, so much of the film is comprised of opticals (and that includes any of the modern day stuff – any time you see a name on the screen, that entire shot is an optical), and then so much of the film has purposely been made to look like older found footage or to match really old vintage newsreel stuff – I mean they’ve added scratches and marks and negative dirt in almost every shot. This looks very much like a release print would have looked and even if this was a brand new transfer in 4K right off the negative in the case of this film it wouldn’t really matter. I'm happy to finally appreciate this movie. Unfortunately I can't say that happened with A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, which remains, for me, one of Woody's worst movies.

Then I watched The Gang's All Here. It's funny how every studio that did musicals had their own very specific look and feel and style and Fox's musicals were like no other. There is little plot, there are big bands, beautiful men and women, dancing, and for the Technicolor productions, riots of eye and mind-blowing color. And has there EVER been anything or anyone like the person called Carmen Miranda? That woman had wattage - she could light up a football stadium all by herself. I think most of us have heard that Fox don't have the Technicolor negatives anymore, and I'm constantly astonished that they can deliver some pretty nice transfers from whatever they have on those films. This transfer is, like others, very nice - and a riot of color to sear the eyeballs. It seemed perhaps a bit dark but not always, only here and there, but I don't know this film well enough to say if that's right or not - I'll be curious to hear other opinions. I had a lot of Fox dye transfer prints, but not the musicals. But oh that color.
 

Robert Harris

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I saw Zelig on its opening day in Westwood – that was my routine back then, to always see the new Woody on opening day. Up to that point the only disappointments in Woody’s films for me were Interiors, which just wasn’t my cuppa, a slight feeling of disappointment in Stardust Memories, and then my first HUGE disappointment, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy. Zelig followed that one. And I have to say I found it, too, to be very disappointing. The movie that followed it, Broadway Danny Rose, would be his return to form, at least for me. I did not revisit Zelig until the DVD box set of Woody’s films came out, and I still didn’t love it. But last night, watching the new Twilight Time Blu-ray, I suddenly kind of appreciated it. I laughed out loud a few times and realized just how innovative and how well it was done. The conceit of the film is always true to itself and the integration of the old footage and the new footage made to look old is really quite brilliant. I believe it to be an older master, but it’s not THAT old – and it’s on par with most of the Woody Blu-rays, which have all been fine by me. But, so much of the film is comprised of opticals (and that includes any of the modern day stuff – any time you see a name on the screen, that entire shot is an optical), and then so much of the film has purposely been made to look like older found footage or to match really old vintage newsreel stuff – I mean they’ve added scratches and marks and negative dirt in almost every shot. This looks very much like a release print would have looked and even if this was a brand new transfer in 4K right off the negative in the case of this film it wouldn’t really matter. I'm happy to finally appreciate this movie. Unfortunately I can't say that happened with A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, which remains, for me, one of Woody's worst movies.

Then I watched The Gang's All Here. It's funny how every studio that did musicals had their own very specific look and feel and style and Fox's musicals were like no other. There is little plot, there are big bands, beautiful men and women, dancing, and for the Technicolor productions, riots of eye and mind-blowing color. And has there EVER been anything or anyone like the person called Carmen Miranda? That woman had wattage - she could light up a football stadium all by herself. I think most of us have heard that Fox don't have the Technicolor negatives anymore, and I'm constantly astonished that they can deliver some pretty nice transfers from whatever they have on those films. This transfer is, like others, very nice - and a riot of color to sear the eyeballs. It seemed perhaps a bit dark but not always, only here and there, but I don't know this film well enough to say if that's right or not - I'll be curious to hear other opinions. I had a lot of Fox dye transfer prints, but not the musicals. But oh that color.

The last print that I saw was one of Eric Spilker's newly manufactured dye transfer prints, c. 1971-72.

Amazing Technicolor that leapt off the screen.

As you note, the new master, which is the basis of the Blu does what it can to make the point, which even makes the loss of those original elements more painful.
 

bujaki

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That's the print I saw at The New Yorker. It was truly spectacular. The BD is indeed a trifle dark in spots if memory serves right. However, those bananas are still truly yellow.
 

haineshisway

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Yes, the darkness is only occasional and didn't bother me at all. And most of it is really quite bright, so there's that. But oh that color.
 

Dick

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I saw Zelig on its opening day in Westwood – that was my routine back then, to always see the new Woody on opening day. Up to that point the only disappointments in Woody’s films for me were Interiors, which just wasn’t my cuppa, a slight feeling of disappointment in Stardust Memories, and then my first HUGE disappointment, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy. Zelig followed that one. And I have to say I found it, too, to be very disappointing. The movie that followed it, Broadway Danny Rose, would be his return to form, at least for me. I did not revisit Zelig until the DVD box set of Woody’s films came out, and I still didn’t love it. But last night, watching the new Twilight Time Blu-ray, I suddenly kind of appreciated it. I laughed out loud a few times and realized just how innovative and how well it was done. The conceit of the film is always true to itself and the integration of the old footage and the new footage made to look old is really quite brilliant. I believe it to be an older master, but it’s not THAT old – and it’s on par with most of the Woody Blu-rays, which have all been fine by me. But, so much of the film is comprised of opticals (and that includes any of the modern day stuff – any time you see a name on the screen, that entire shot is an optical), and then so much of the film has purposely been made to look like older found footage or to match really old vintage newsreel stuff – I mean they’ve added scratches and marks and negative dirt in almost every shot. This looks very much like a release print would have looked and even if this was a brand new transfer in 4K right off the negative in the case of this film it wouldn’t really matter. I'm happy to finally appreciate this movie. Unfortunately I can't say that happened with A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, which remains, for me, one of Woody's worst movies.

I whole-heartedly agree with your assessments of MIDSUMMER and INTERIORS (oddly, though, I like SEPTEMBER, which is sort of similar in tone to the latter), although I have warmed up to STARDUST MEMORIES over time. ZELIG I caught at the then-recently split-in-half Bedford Playhouse in New York when I returned to my childhood haunts after many years in Maine, and I was really pissed about the emasculation of that beautiful theater (now restored) and for that reason alone probably didn't appreciate the movie. But I saw it on DVD a few years ago and began to appreciate it, so I look forward to this Blu-ray.
 

Matt Hough

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I, too, have warmed up a great deal to Stardust Memories over the years, but it's never happened with September or A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy. I always liked Interiors (I saw several family members of mine portrayed in it so it rang very true to me) and loved Zelig from the start. I'll write more in my review once I've actually seen the new Blu-ray release.
 

Everett S.

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The last print that I saw was one of Eric Spilker's newly manufactured dye transfer prints, c. 1971-72.

Amazing Technicolor that leapt off the screen.

As you note, the new master, which is the basis of the Blu does what it can to make the point, which even makes the loss of those original elements more painful.
That's how I fell in love with Technicolor when it played at the Playhouse theater in Balto..
 

bugsy-pal

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I was diappointed with Interiors when I first saw it in the cinema in the late 70s - it was so serious that people were laughing at the really heavy bits. However, on a recent re-viewing, I thought it was very good. As for Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Stardust Memories and Zelig - I love em all. I find Zelig to be hilarious and incredibly clever. I think these early 80s films, while not quite on a par with some of his best films, are very much worth revisiting, and light years ahead of some of the later missteps (eg. Jade Scorpion).
 

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