A Few Words About A few words about... The Searchers -- in SD (Some potential bad news See Post #139) (1 Viewer)

[Richard--W]

Nobody in their right mind questions the quality of Warner Home Video's output.

Occasionally there are lapses in judgment and in leadership that lead to catastrophes; as evidenced by the CE of The Searchers. The color is not only wrong, it reverses the intentions of the director and mother nature herself.

It took millions of years of evolution to create the ruddy color of the red dirt and sandstone of Monument Valley, and WHV changes it to mustard, yellow, orange, and puece.

The Southeastern Utah Film Commission and Arizona Film Commission have a special category for red rock locations because film makers are always asking for red rock locations. Monument Valley is prominently listed as a red rock location in the production manuals handed out to location scouts and incoming production companies. Hundreds of films, commercials and programs capture the consistent redness of Monument Valley, none more so than John Ford and THE SEARCHERS. Except in the CE of THE SEARCHERS, WHV changes the red rock country to an unnatural mustard, yellow, orange, and puece.

But it isn't just the ruddy color of the earth that's been changed, it's the sunlight, too. The evening redness is a phenomena peculiar to red rock country at dusk, especially in southeastern Utah, and taken for granted by everyone who lives there.

John Ford and his dp Winton C. Hoch worked hard to capture the natural color and textures of Monument Valley. Sometimes Ford used color to tell his story, for example, when the Edwards family is about to be massacred. Ford made certain that instructions to dp Hoch be typed into the script that a red glow be cast on the Edwards cabin by the setting sun, to create an ominous and forboding emotion in the audience. The massacre will occur off-screen, but by recreating the evening redness, Ford tells us something violent and bloody is about to happen. The red glow that fills the Edwards cabin has always been one of the most memorable moments in THE SEARCHERS, and is best seen on the laser disc and the original DVD.

But WHV changes the evening redness to orange in the CE.

Perhaps the whole point of shooting THE SEARCHERS in Monument Valley is that this particular story about the impact of raped and murdered women on the men who loved them is best expressed in the ruddy color of the earth. Red is associated with aggression, violence, blood shed. But WHV changes the evening redness to orange, diminishing forever how John Ford's story is told. Orange is neither ominous nor forboding, nor is it a color which audiences associate with violence and blood.

Who is responsible for this outrage?
What are their names?
How did it ever pass quality control?
Why hasn't this outrage been corrected?

 

[Richard--W]

It ain't necessarily so.

The color of that adobe is either electronically enhanced or the clay is dyed before it was made into adobe. Adobe bricks are made from different materials in different regions; the adobe in southeastern Arizona is kind of grey, the adobe near Albuquerque is brown, as opposed to the ruddiness of the earth in southeastern Utah. So the color of adobe is different depending on where and what. Do not use that slide as a color balance for THE SEARCHERS.

 

[ScottR]

Wow, where were you when I was angry that WB messed up a shot in Gone With the Wind and cut out a couple of frames!

 

[John Hodson]

Well, now that you've called me by name...

I appreciate that Richard (and I'm not using the shot as a 'color balance' in any way), I've been through all sorts of hoops trying to come to terms with this damn thing (I still feel anal talking about bricks - and I'm not going to mention 'Dobe' Carey...). T'ain't right, but it's all we've got is where I'm at. You did read this interview between RAH and Ned Price didn't you?

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

In fact, when Leone was shooting OUATITW, he actually had the red sand imported from Monument Valley to lend credibility to the location scenes he was filming in Spain.

 

[Richard--W]

He also filmed some scenes there.

Why has THE SEARCHERS been deliberately and willfully discolored ?

How could Warner Home Video let this happen ?
Moreover, who did it?

 

[Richard--W]

Thank you for that link, I've read it now.

Look, why is everybody talking about blue skies when they should be talking about the ruddy earth? Everybody, look down at your feet. John Ford filmed THE SEARCHERS in the red rock of Monument Valley because the rock was red. The rock has always been red, and it always will be red, and it has always been red in every movie filmed there. Where is the red rock in this CE ?

Skies change while you're filming. Even in still photography, when your shots are only a second apart, the light and color of a sky changes and no two sequential shots look exactly the same. I'm not worried about the sky in THE SEARCHERS. The color of the sky is beside the point.

Far more devastating to THE SEARCHERS is the discoloration of the ruddy earth. John Wayne looks like he's riding across Mars. The ground is pumpkin orange or mustard yellow, colors not found in Monument Valley no matter how much the light changes. The color in this CE is so unnatural that it calls attention to itself. I could fill a bucket with dirt from the actual spot on which the Edwards cabin was built and dump it on Ned Price's desk. If he tells me it's any color but red, I'll know that Yellow Layer Failure is not the only failure in the remastering of THE SEARCHERS.

I accept Ned Price's explanation of causes and effect, but I don't buy his color-timing. The quantity and intensity of yellow has undermined and discolored several important films that Ned Price has overseen, so the willful discoloration of THE SEARCHERS is not an isolated one. But it is the most grievous.

Monument Valley is red.

RED.

If Ned Price comes up with orange in the mix instead of red, that's an indication he's doing something wrong. The absence of red in Monument Valley is not a chemical issue, it's a matter of personal perception on the part of Ned Price. How can he view the film so many times and not know the color of nature or the importance of red in telling this story ? How can he view the Edwards cabin scene just before the massacre and not comprehend that red light is essential to conveying the underlying emotion? Especially when he has seen it red in earlier, more accurate prints. How can he substitute orange for red? And since when does the ruddy earth of Monument Valley look orange or mustard yellow?

Where is Ned Price's horse sense?

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but this CE of THE SEARCHERS is a premeditated rape.

Let's fight.

 

[Paul_Scott]

n/a

 

[DeeF]

That's pretty strong language.

Ned Price does a great, great job with these films.

But I do think there's too much yellow in The Searchers, Gone with the Wind, Ben-Hur, and The Wizard of Oz.

Somebody likes yellow over at Warners.



P.S. About the blue skies, in the current version of the The Searchers, they often look turquoise.

Too much yellow, perhaps?

 

[Richard--W]

It's a pretty strong offense.

 

[David_B_K]

Sorry, but IMO, no sale. You may be absolutely correct in all your assertions about color in THE SEARCHERS. But the fact that Ford filmed damned near all his westerns from STAGECOACH onwards belies your theory about the special significance of Monument Valley and raped and murdered women in THE SEARCHERS. IMO, you would have to come up with a similar theory about all Ford's Monument Valley films. I think he filmed it there because he always filmed westerns there. He practically owned MV as a location; had a magnificent eye for composition, and could not resist filming there.

Sometimes, we tend to over-analyze films, and see significance where there is none. I LOVE this film, and feel it is one of the greatest films of all time by one of the handful of greatest directors of all time, but it does get over-analyzed. Your thoughts about Monument Valley remind me of one of Joseph McBride's more overly analytical moments in which he suggests that Ford cast Caucasian actor Henry Brandon as Scar because he wanted to suggest a Freudian undercurrent in which Scar represents Ethan's subconscious desire to rape his own brother's wife-that Scar is a doppleganger to Ethan, and that this parallel only works with a Caucasian actor playing Scar. Again, for me-no sale. IMO, Brandon often made a good, intelligent heavy. He played Indians, Asians, Europeans, etc, and his appearance in THE SEARCHERS IMO has no more significance to the story than does Monument Valley.

 

[Richard--W]

Nonsense. That Freudian stuff is crazy. There's no analogy between what I said and what you quote from Joseph McBride. I haven't read his book and I don't need to intellectualize.

But I've read the screenplay many times. I've sat around a table with actors and discussed the story and characters in a disciplined way. I've discussed it with the youngest of Ford's location managers, who works for me, and who lives at Monument Valley. I've read the novel on which it is based many times. I saw it on television when I was kid. I've been watching the film off and on since it first appeared on home video in 1984. I saw it projected a number of times at repertory theaters BEFORE the 1991 restoration. Monument Valley is a short drive from where I live part of the year, and I've spent enough time there to match every composition to the actual site, shot for shot. I've had the red dust of Monument Valley under my fingernails and in my nostrils.

Your point about Ford shooting all his westerns in Monument Valley is well-taken, and I agree for the most part with your reasoning. But not entirely. THE SEARCHERS is different from John Ford's other westerns. It tells a different story. The location helps to express the story more specifically than the other westerns he made there. Writers write and directors direct because they have a story to tell. Ask yourself what THE SEARCHERS is about. Ask yourself how the massacre of Martha and Lucy affects Ethan Edwards. To deny that there is nothing going on is to deny your own statement that it's one of the greatest films of all time. Why did Ford instruct Hoch to drench the Edwards cabin in a red light? What's the purpose of that? Why did he put that note in the script? Do you seriously think that an orange light serves the purpose just as well as red? If it makes no difference, why bother to specify red at all?

I LOVE this film, too, and share in your conviction that it's one of the greatest films of all time by the greatest director of all time. That is why I find the new DVD a backhanded compliment to Ford. In many ways it is an admirable restoration, there's no disputing that, but it's also a grotesque distortion of Ford's and Hoch's intentions. Altering the color pallet is a BIG thing, it makes BIG difference in how the film is experienced. There's no excuse for it, and Ned Price fails to account for the alteration in his interview. Perhaps because he doesn't see anything wrong with turning red into orange and yellow.

THE SEARCHERS is many things, but it was never orange, and it was never yellow, and neither is Monument Valley.

I don't understand how anyone who loves THE SEARCHERS can settle for this Collector's Edition.

 

[John Hodson]

I bought it; I can't unbuy it, and, right now, it's the only game in town. But where are you headed with this Richard? For all it's faults it's all we have, I honestly don't see Warners revisiting this any time soon.

 

[John Hodson]

Oops!

 

[Richard--W]

Actually, the 1998 DVD is better than the 2006 CE. If fans of John Ford want to see THE SEARCHERS the way John Ford intended, watch the 1998 DVD.

Do NOT buy the 2006 Collector's Edition. It misrepresents the film.

Now that I've had my say I'll drop it.

 

[John Hodson]

The old DVD is badly cropped, and, in an attempt to replicate those baby blue skies (and I know that's not your main concern), the added on blues bleed in some scenes all over the frame. You got your 'Martian' landscape though. I think we've yet to see the film the way Ford intended on home video.

 

[Richard--W]

Surely you overstate the case. At least the blue is supposed to be blue. There isn't supposed to be a "Martian" landscape. For all its flaws, the 1998 DVD is excellent quality and a more accurate representation of THE SEARCHERS than the 2006 Collector's Edition.

 

[John Hodson]

The cropping on the first DVD is appalling and damages the framing - see here. IIRC, on the first DVD, the widescreen version is simply a cropped (top and bottom) transfer of the full-frame version on that disc's flipside. You'll accept that framing is as important in a Ford film as any other consideration?

The Beaver doesn't show the frame where Ethan shucks the cover off his rifle; hardly any blue in the current DVD, on the old the sky is blue, but so is everything else. To quote Ned Price:

"In 1991 we were working in 525 resolution, and it was very typical to crank enhancement as far as you could go, just to make the picture seem sharp in low resolution. We also exaggerated color far too much in that transfer; we do have blue skies, but also ended up with blue highlights and blue lowlights, and some blue creeping into the mid-range."

Richard, I'm worn out with this; the damn thing haunted me last year, and it's still dogging me now, I'm beginning to repeat myself endlessly (it's deja vu all over again), it matters not a jot what I think, and I'm sure you'd rather read RAH's views on the matter if he cares to chip in (again). So if you don't mind, I'll duck out if that's okay?

 

[Patrick McCart]

The 1998 DVD may be superior in color in general to some, but it's not excellent in the area of framing and sharpness. I do hope you're referring to accurate only in the area of color. I think accuracy must consist of all areas of the image. The 2006 DVD better displays the film in every area except for the apparently incorrect color timing.

 

[Robert Harris]

To have an opinion, I would have to spend weeks testing these elements, and working out methodologies.

The bottom line to me is the the high def release, whatever the color anomalies may be, is magnificent in all other ways.

And if you asked Mr. Ford what his job was, he would probably have told you that:

1. He made westerns.

2. He was a storyteller.

RAH