2018-05-27, 03:21 AM
I am seeing the new 70mm at the Castro, and intermission just started. It basically looks identical to the last two prints I saw. The comment above that makes it seem like the "turquoise and teal" is some brand new 2018 revisionism are mistaken - the colors are the same as the last two prints I saw which were also struck from a circa 1999-2000 element. The scenes with noticeably odd colors, like a few teal skies in the Dawn of Man section, or the slightly yellow tinge of the space station, or the moon taxi interior with a teal wash and the view of the moon out the window looking purple, all match between the Cinematheque print I saw in 2016, the c.2001 print I saw at the Castro last year, and the new one. The Jupiter mission sequences have the same warm/cool, 80s/90s LPP-esque dichotomy (e.g., there's a scene where the pod bay looks teal and cyan, then takes on a warmer, faintly gold hue with brighter white highlights when the lights turn on).
As for "weak contrast" and "virtually no blacks or whites," I am seeing neither issue on the print as projected. I think it either just doesn't convert well to consumer digital color space, or they tried to match a digital transfer to the print's colors for that trailer and botched it. The colors in the trailer look similar, but the balance and white/black levels look much better when seeing it on film, projected in a theater.
I am not saying this is accurate to 1968, but it is accurate to the timing I've seen on other 70mm prints from the last 15-20 years. This has to be from a sister element to the one used to make the 2001 reissue prints and the 2016 American Cinematheque print; there is damage I did not see on the other prints, so it may not be the SAME element, but regardless, there is no brand-new revisionism going on in how the print looks as projected. As far as I can tell, any issues with the color are consistent with all the other prints struck since the late 90s. Right or wrong, all I can say is that these colors are not new to *this print*, and whatever they are, they are *not* a brand-new revisionism cooked up in 2018.
As for "weak contrast" and "virtually no blacks or whites," I am seeing neither issue on the print as projected. I think it either just doesn't convert well to consumer digital color space, or they tried to match a digital transfer to the print's colors for that trailer and botched it. The colors in the trailer look similar, but the balance and white/black levels look much better when seeing it on film, projected in a theater.
I am not saying this is accurate to 1968, but it is accurate to the timing I've seen on other 70mm prints from the last 15-20 years. This has to be from a sister element to the one used to make the 2001 reissue prints and the 2016 American Cinematheque print; there is damage I did not see on the other prints, so it may not be the SAME element, but regardless, there is no brand-new revisionism going on in how the print looks as projected. As far as I can tell, any issues with the color are consistent with all the other prints struck since the late 90s. Right or wrong, all I can say is that these colors are not new to *this print*, and whatever they are, they are *not* a brand-new revisionism cooked up in 2018.