Hello!

Sage movie biz observer Joe Dante has been distributing interesting links about AI and the Writer’s strike, but also items about older video issues. I like this one a lot — it reminds me of a discussions back in 1984, after watching a miserable colorized VHS tape of Topper . . . and later, trying to figure out why Ray Harryhausen authorized the colorization of his four B&W Columbia Dynamation pix. There’s also the depressing precedent of the colorized It’s a Wonderful Life.  ↑ It plastered the same smeary sort-of-colors over the noir-stylized segment, that were imposed on the rest of the movie.

It turns out that Ted Turner was a booster of the process. The big quote here is ‘I own the movies, I can do whatever I want with them.’ At that time we were still naíve enough to believe that old movies were sacred, a part of our heritage, and that movie history was about more than just $$money$$. Turner was basically saying that, if he felt like it, he could dump movies he didn’t like in the ocean. What if a Saudi Arabian company were to purchase the MGM-RKO library — and then destroyed all the films that offend their specific ethnic-religious-cultural prejudices?

Writer Jake Rosson’s Mental Floss article presents a more basic argument: Colorizers: When Ted Turner and Hollywood Clashed Over Colorizing Classic Movies.

What a surprise!  The nicest things happen when you don’t expect them. Out of the blue Saturday morning Gary Teetzel forwarded the news that Vinegar Syndrome was up online with a full announcement of a  Gorgo Ultra HD / Blu-ray.

We expected to read that the date for release would be ‘this fall’ or ‘2024.’  Nope, unless there’s some mistake, we’re fixated on the page’s message: Ships Later This Month. It could be weeks away — what a treat. That beats waiting 1-2 years for CineColor Martians and furry 3-D invaders.

The 2013 Blu-ray had some serious issues, and was greatly appreciated anyway. Vinegar Syndrome’s 4K Promo Trailer shows quite an improvement in video quality. The stack of 4K frame captures on the announcement page make the new encoding seem even more impressive — that wide shot of Piccadilly Circus is as dark and dramatic as we remember it — and not green.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson