The Godfather Trilogy 4K UHD

[zoidberg]

I agree, it's just the 2007 version done better. It's still not accurate to the original prints. The crazy thing is, this was displayed in 2007 when they exposed captures of the negative of the restaurant killing. The negs was bathed in blue light, and they removed it, but forgot it in the last exterior shot. The whole project was killed right there.

I'm not sure I follow what you are saying Stamper. Do you have any links

[captainsolo]

The blue restaurant negative is also glimpsed in the new restoration docu. I thought it was because of color layer failure since that scene was the most damaged in Part I and how they had to source it from elsewhere at great challenge.
The set stills and scans of those included in the new extra on the UHD clearly show it with the red, browns and yellows.

[captainsolo]

Godfather Part III UHD for Coda and box exclusive theatrical/1991 discs

Dolby vision grade
Generic menus use noisy still of main Al photo
5.1 true hd from old bd it seems
4k trilogy exclusive disc with theatrical and 1991 directors video cut
4k main disc is Coda cut only

1991 cut/theatrical:
90’s Paramount logo
Godfather part 3 logo has grain or noise that is moving
Different timing color much darker on Fredo killing flashback plus frame source wobble on Michael shot in window.
Some noisiness but grain looks healthy not seeing frozen
Color palette is much more natural without the 2008 red golds. Darker too on the black levels.
Some color noise on the faces in shadows and black levels again
Noise on Michael face and hand when sitting in darkness
Noisy behind Vincent on front of window perhaps a tiny frozen grain halo?
Noise grain behind whole office Vincent Joey ear biting scene in windows
Fade out and in from party to apartment shows some color noise
Noise on face when dude trying to kill Vincent in room. Noise on faces when they close door at end of scene then flash when door closes transition to Michael
Perhaps frozen grain halos very small around people or am I just seeing things??
Some grain or noise issues on top of church establishing shot and then some color grain noise in bishops face
Fade from cars to Vatican is weird
Aliasing and sharpness on subtitles
Fade from Vatican to nyc weird
Maybe some noise around Kay in hospital also some noise in wall.
Fade from hospital to Vincent’s apartment is weird
Fade weird from Zaza killing to Michael hospital room
1:21:16 audio tic in surrounds
Frozen grain halos light putting Michael to bed
1:35:51 some sort of halo around Vincent in front of house wall or moving something
Fade from Vincent and Don to church is weird and goes gray splotch for a bit
1:45:50 frozen grain around Connie and then a small white scratch almost in a circle pops up
2:00:00 light brightness fluctuations on Michael sitting at table medium shot
Frame wobble on stock shot of crowd waiting for pope announcement
Frozen grain or total DNR on Don tommasino in casket next to Michael
Some flicker on fade into City before opera house
Noisy on final fade-out of opera
Cymbal crashes a bit harsh
Some sort of spots or noise on end credit card that appears gray when fading out may be frozen grain I don’t know


Coda cut has modern Paramount logo
Coppola introduction
New title card and subtitle card which is superimposed over church shot and now meeting with archbishop is the new opening. This should have always been the opening.
Not seeing frozen grain it’s the same base transfer as the other versions. Probably no frozen grain because coda cut was down first years ago for Blu-ray only.

Thoughts on Coda recut
Coda cut removes several of Eli’s scenes. STUPID! ABSOLUTELY STUPID! Several small trims all over kinda like the theatrical cut did. Many nice little bits missing that are only in the video dc-and some essential little pieces are now gone seemingly just to make it shorter.

Glasses killing is more brutal and bloody apparently uncut but the big blood spurt looks hilariously overdone. I can see why they cut it or used an alternate take before. It’s not as good with the fake blood spurt.

Does trim the 1 and 2 flashbacks in the ending which is good and goes for a saying and freeze instead of Michael falling over dead. Glad the flashbacks are gone. Flashback to dancing with Mary still there and they fade to the full shot panning down of old Michael sitting there already with sunglasses on-then cut in to him putting them on them instantly this new quote which is….uh idk. I miss him falling over dead to parallel Vito with the dogs nosing around and no one else there.

Opening being the meeting and flashbacks removed from end are the two changes that should have always been. But the gap left by removing the flashbacks in the end doesn’t work and neither does recutting it in the way they did. Video dc is the proper version and would be made perfect if archbishop scene was the opening.
Cutting some of the only Eli Wallach scenes and Michael’s speech at Tommasino’s casket was criminal.
Ends with new zoetrope coda restoration credit card

[Stamper]

I tried googling the original blue restaurant images, but couldn't find them anymore. Basically, when they first remastered the films in 1080p, they used as an example a shot from the restaurant. Only the original is all bathed in blue, and in the remaster, they over brightened it and changed the colors... Except the last exterior shot which clearly shows the interior of the restaurant is blue and thus doesn't match.
That was, right there, the poster boy of their botched remaster attempt. It doesn't matter if the blue was the result of an accident in the lab. It was how it was shown to the world initially. Their goal should be to preserve that, not reinvent it.

[PDB]

Is it from this doc:

[Stamper]

Thank you, at 14:27 it's like "we were able to take all the atmosphere out of the negative". My god, how crazy is this? Accidents happens for a reason and should be integrated in the film. This is what happened here originaly, the accident forced them for a certain look, and it made the scene stand out. They took a unique piece of cinema, and destroyed it, and then claimed they improved it just because "now we can see everything". We don't want to see everything. Pacino is in a dark place and the scene should be dark. Bloody hell, and then they wonder why places like this exists.

[Yarp]

Thank you, at 14:27 it's like "we were able to take all the atmosphere out of the negative". Accidents happens for a reason and should be integrated in the film. This is what happened here originaly, the accident forced them for a certain look, and it made the scene stand out. They took a unique piece of cinema, and destroyed it, and then claimed they improved it just because "now we can see everything". We don't want to see everything. Pacino is in a dark place and the scene should be dark. Bloody hell, and then they wonder why places like this exists.

I know I'm the minority opinion on a site like this, but I really disagree. I like to see blatant mistakes/technical issues like this fixed especially when they woulda fixed it back in they day if they could have. Accidental blue lighting doesn't help me get into the characters headspace more than being able to really see his face.

[captainsolo]

The blue was never meant to be seen. That scene was mostly multiple dupes and long away from the original negative. They were having to use color separations and CRIs from a long while ago with scraps of negative they could find to try and reconstitute the original in 2007. Also most of scene was messed up by the processing lab because they didn’t follow the printing notes so this scene had to be corrected back in the day by Technicolor for the original release. So when you look at the source which is overly blue that was never shown to any audience.

[Stamper]

Blue is the warmest color!

[captainsolo]

I’ve been having the hardest time trying to get examples of all the transfer problems for putting in a review. Does anyone have suggestions about how to get the frozen grain to be more visible in clips or screencaps? The best I’ve been able to do is brief barely there visibility with my phone camera zooming in on the screen.