Don Siegel’s quintessential sci-fi classic, the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is one of those films that once viewed, will not be forgotten.
With ties to the real world, and politics galore, it’s up there with the sci-fi greats.
Unfortunately, it was created during an unfortunate era in the world of cinema.
SuperScope.
Photographed open matte, presumably designed for projection in 1.85, it has ended up overly cropped, with seemingly no means of correcting the problem.
How both an original negative, as well as a fine grain protection master, could both go missing is beyond me, but that’s the rumor.
What remains is a 2:1 anamorphic image, presumably from a dupe printing negative, and for that generation, especially through an optical stage, it looks quite nice. Certainly as good as original SuperScope prints, which were 2:1.
There were about twenty films that used variants of the process, inclusive of the least likely, Olivier’s King Henry the Fifth (1945, three-strip Technicolor, 1.37).
Olive’s new Signature Edition release, is more about extras than the feature, which looks as nice as it possibly might.
But it’s those extras which push this Olive edition into Criterion turf.
As to the track, one can only wonder why the original Perspecta wasn’t included.
Image – 5
Audio – 3.5
Pass / Fail – Pass
Upgrade from previous Blu-ray – Yes, for extras
Highly Recommended
RAH
Robert has been known in the film industry for his unmatched skill and passion in film preservation. Growing up around photography, his first home theater experience began at age ten with 16mm. Years later he was running 35 and 70mm at home.
His restoration projects have breathed new life into classic films like Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, My Fair Lady, Spartacus, and The Godfather series. Beyond his restoration work, he has also shared his expertise through publications, contributing to the academic discourse on film restoration. The Academy Film Archive houses the Robert A. Harris Collection, a testament to his significant contributions to film preservation.
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