Restored "The Searchers" in 70mm (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

That may be true. I know it wasn’t shot technicolor and I have never seen a technicolor print of this. The original DVD is very saturated though with nice blues and reds. The 70mm print has weak blues and orange reds and a yellow cast to almost everything. Maybe the HDR digital is better, but it appears to be a stylistic choice in color correction.

Where was the screening you attended?

 

[BMan56]

Where was the screening you attended?

American Cinematheque Aero Theatre, May 4th.

 

[Robert Harris]

American Cinematheque Aero Theatre, May 4th.

Bruce - How is projection at the Aero these days. Might it not be the print?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I see, well it’s a good restoration and I hope everyone sees it and they put it on disc soon. Probably waiting for the 70th anniversary… Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for anyone who didn’t like the blu-ray.

TBH, I’m not sure you’re a bearer of bad news because you haven’t seen the Blu-ray. Therefore, you can’t compare that Blu-ray to this restoration.

 

[BMan56]

Bruce - How is projection at the Aero these days. Might it not be the print?

Generally very nice. I had wondered if the lamp in the 70mm projector there has gone yellow or something. That would actually be a relief. I haven’t see a lot of 70mm projected there and most of it has been older prints, so hard to compare. Saw Babylon on 70mm there and the blacks seemed crushed, thought it might have been the blow up. Maybe it was supposed to look that way. Don’t remember the color looking bad, but I have no other reference for that particular film.

Guess we need to find someone who saw this print of The Searchers at the Egyptian.

 

[Robert Harris]

Generally very nice. I had wondered if the lamp in the 70mm projector there has gone yellow or something. That would actually be a relief. I haven’t see a lot of 70mm projected there and most of it has been older prints, so hard to compare. Saw Babylon on 70mm there and the blacks seemed crushed, thought it might have been the blow up. Maybe it was supposed to look that way. Don’t remember the color looking bad, but I have no other reference for that particular film.

Guess we need to find someone who saw this print of The Searchers at the Egyptian.

Everything else I’d heard had been positive. SO many things can go wrong.

 

[haineshisway]

Just to say that I've seen several films at the Aero and they do not have great projection there.

 

[haineshisway]

To rely on the colors of a 1997 DVD being accurate can possibly lead you down the wrong path.

No, the colors, while a bit TOO blue, are mostly accurate to the IB Tech print they used for timing. You are very wrong about this. I interviewed the fellows who did that transfer for the DGA magazine, and for what they had to work with at the time, it was a great job and it's the only version of The Searches I watch until something that resembles what this film should look like is finally released.

 

[Robert Crawford]

No, the colors, while a bit TOO blue, are mostly accurate to the IB Tech print they used for timing. You are very wrong about this. I interviewed the fellows who did that transfer for the DGA magazine, and for what they had to work with at the time, it was a great job and it's the only version of The Searches I watch until something that resembles what this film should look like is finally released.

I’m not wrong about anything because I didn’t make a declaration of certainty. I simply stated that relying on previously released DVDs for accuracy can possibly lead you down the wrong path. If that’s not the case in this particular situation then so be it but I left room in my previous post for that possibility or not.

 

[Alan Tully]

Well it looks like I was right when I posted that I thought they'd used the original faded negative combined with one of the separation dupes.

"The Searchers" Restored by Warner Brothers and Released in 70mm

 

[Robert Harris]

Well it looks like I was right when I posted that I thought they'd used the original faded negative combined with one of the separation dupes.

"The Searchers" Restored by Warner Brothers and Released in 70mm

Imagine that!

 

[jim_falconer]

Yup, looks like same yellow adobe bricks on the tithe card

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yup, looks like same yellow adobe bricks on the tithe card

I don't think so because it looks like more redness in those bricks. The title card from the old scan had brighter yellows.

 

[Lord Dalek]

THa: What kind of work did the soundtrack require – remixing to stereo and perhaps re-recording foley, sound and music? How is the new soundtrack created- mono/stereo/6-track DTS- were Max Steiner’s orchestral recording sessions available?

Doug Mountain, Sound Supervisor / Mixer: A full forensic cleanup of all pops, ticks, and dropouts was done. The overall noise was also reduced to make the dialog more present. Some missing sound effects were added back in. When John Wayne cocks his gun during the shootout with Indians across the river the sound of the gun was missing. The rumble of the wind on the boom mic was removed or reduced on the exterior scenes to better understand the dialog. It was a mono original restored from a composition source in mono. No stems were available to remix from, and for this film it was deemed unnecessary to deviate from the original monaural presentation. The original monaural audio mix has also been restored from the best available sources, resulting in a clean and clear sound presentation for today’s digital theater systems. The original music was not available so only the mono composite mix was restored.

I mean...the fact that the existing music tracks at BYU are all mono could have told you that.

 

[ScottHM]

Yup, looks like same yellow adobe bricks on the tithe card

Does it? Here is a screencap from the Blu-ray.

---------------

 

[Robert Harris]

I don't think so because it looks like more redness in those bricks. The title card from the old scan had brighter yellows.

View attachment 221708

View attachment 221709

What is the source of these scans?

 

[Robert Crawford]

What is the source of these scans?

I pulled this information from the linked article below.

"The Searchers" main title card. Compressed JPEG of the final result. Courtesy: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging.

"The Searchers" VistaVision title card. Compressed JPEG of the final result. Courtesy: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging.

"The Searchers" Restored by Warner Brothers and Released in 70mm

 

[Robert Harris]

I pulled this information from the linked article below.

"The Searchers" main title card. Compressed JPEG of the final result. Courtesy: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging.
View attachment 221785

"The Searchers" VistaVision title card. Compressed JPEG of the final result. Courtesy: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging.
View attachment 221786

"The Searchers" Restored by Warner Brothers and Released in 70mm

Thanks, Robert. Looks nice.

 

[Into The Archives]

The 70mm print of The Searchers is confirmed to screen at the Paramount in Austin, 8/27

https://tickets.austintheatre.org/11259/11260

 

[Dee Zee]

I’ve grown to love the Searchers as perhaps the best western ever produced. But with my visual acuity at 73 being poor and I’m not in a place to update to 4K, the 2006 Blu-ray still looks great on my 60inch screen.