Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Citizen Kane

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Film Handlers' Forum » Citizen Kane (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2

Author

Topic: Citizen Kane

Sean M. Grimes
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 247
From: Lunenburg, MA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 02-04-2001 04:11 AM

Has anyone seen the 1997 re-release? I heard that the negs have been destroyed and was wondering of the quality of any remaining prints. Thankyou for your peoples help ahead of time.

Rock on!!!

Sean

| IP: Logged

Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-04-2001 05:23 AM

I ran Kane at the Egyptian Theater for the Millennium film fest. The print was pretty nice. Definately not as good as an older B&W, but better than the average that is churned out today.
Mark @ GTS

| IP: Logged

Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 02-04-2001 05:57 AM

I believe the camera negs were lost due to nitrate decomposition.

Kane was re-released in the UK by the Feature Film Co. in 1998, which I guess would have been in prints used for the 1997 US release (or at least, struck from the same interneg). I thought the prints were disappointingly flat - but there again, I was comparing them against a nitrate print shown at the NFT a few years ago.

The soundtrack was mainly unilateral (with shuttered noise reduction), with RCA duplex on one reel. The s/n ratio was very low -remastering the track would have helped a lot.

All in all, I thought this re-release was a bit of a let-down, especially compared to the BFI's 1998 re-release of 'The Magnificent Ambersons', the prints of which were sharp, contrasty and with a very clean soundtrack.

| IP: Logged

John Schulien
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 206
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 02-05-2001 11:11 AM

The original negative of Citizen Kane was destroyed in a vault nitrate fire.

| IP: Logged

Mitchell Cope
Master Film Handler

Posts: 256
From: Overland Park, KS, United States
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-05-2001 11:16 AM

Rosebud!

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 02-05-2001 11:26 AM

Here's a link to information about the Library of Congress film vaults in Dayton, Ohio, which mentions that the original nitrate negative for "Citizen Kane" was destroyed in a fire:
http://www.library.kent.edu/~nbirk/wpnitrate.html

Here's a link to many articles on film preservation:
http://users.itsnet.com/~stfamily/fpres.htm

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

| IP: Logged

John Walsh
Film God

Posts: 2490
From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 02-05-2001 11:27 AM

Ha, that's pretty funny! I see them tossing in film instead......

A theater near me is running "Kane", as part of a fund-raiser next week. It's $500 per person (you get dinner, too.) I know the operator there, but he says he can't sneak me in.... I seriously consitered sneaking in anyway, but it's a black-tie affair and my waistline said goodbye to my tux a long time ago, so I'd be ID'ed in a moment.......

| IP: Logged

Randy Stankey
Film God

Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-05-2001 11:43 AM

Whadda ya' mean can't sneak in?

Just put on a white shirt and tie, no blazer. Grab your tool case in one hand and an empty film can in the other and head up to the booth. Look the doorman right in the eye and say "Hi" as you walk right past without stopping. If anybody questions you don't say anything. Just ask, "Which way to the booth?"

Your buddy should be waiting at the bottom of the booth stairs when you get there. The two of you stop briefly to exchange pleasantries then head STRAIGHT to the booh and don't stop.

I've walked straight into theatres where nobody knows I'm comming and nobody knows who I am and have only been questioned once or twice. When I ask, "Where's the booth?", they just point me in the right direction.

Only ONCE have I been actually "stopped".

| IP: Logged

John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 02-05-2001 11:57 AM

Randy: Shhh! Don't give away the "tricks of the trade".

Most projectionists welcome having other operators visit. I especially liked the older General Cinema Theatre designs (like the GCC Northpark in Dallas, or the GCC Boulevard Mall in Buffalo) that had a private "projectionist's balcony" just in front of the booth.

| IP: Logged

System Notices
Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi

Posts: 215

Registered: Apr 2004

posted 05-24-2008 03:06 PM

It has been 2665 days since the last post.

| IP: Logged

Amanda Mundin
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 122
From: Belper, Derbyshire, UK
Registered: Sep 2005

posted 05-24-2008 03:06 PM

Received a print of this, from the 1999 re-release, which has 'Dolby A Encoded' printed onto every head leader, has anybody heard of this? We've never had an old academy mono film that states it is Dolby A Encoded

| IP: Logged

Jack Theakston
Master Film Handler

Posts: 411
From: New York, USA
Registered: Sep 2007

posted 05-24-2008 08:46 PM

Dolba A mono, of course. Prints are out there, but not common.

| IP: Logged

Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 05-25-2008 10:14 AM

Nice that when they did the rerelease they rerecorded the track and if they went thru that process, one would hope that additionally, they applied some of the modern processing techniques available to remove background noise. That said, I wonder why it wasn't encoded SR instead of A, unless they were using a sound negative from an earlier release.

Amanda, how did it sound?

| IP: Logged

Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 05-25-2008 10:42 AM

Actually, Dolby-A makes a lot of sense.

Dolby-A plays in mono theatres just fine with a little bit of HF preemphasis...which in typical mono systems tends to help their HF response. If you have a modern processor, Dolby-A is supported. The soundtrack of that film, even if gone back to original elements, is not going to take advantage of the extra dynamic range that SR would provide.

SR would, at best, sound no better, and at worst make a mono theatre sound worse. Citizen Kane is most likely to play in Art/Rep houses, which often have compromised sound sytems due to being multi-use facilities or running on shoe-string budgets and those that are well equipped always can handle Dolby-A.

Steve

| IP: Logged

Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 05-25-2008 10:46 AM

Very good point.

Who is releasing this nowadays? Is it a Criterion title?

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.