897 Barry Lyndon

[Drucker]

Leibowitz is mistaken, or someone was having a joke on her. You cannot project a negative. Aside from anything else, there is no soundtrack on a camera negative. An answer print from the negative, perhaps Warner's own reference copy, seems the likeliest option.

That would be hilarious if she added, "Why are the colors fucked up and why is this silent?" to which Marty replied "it's the original camera negative!"

I remember reading a profile of Steven Spielberg in a major magazine which mentioned that he was inspired to join the nascent Film Foundation after watching “the original negative of Jaws in 1989,” which shocked me, too. Aren’t there any fact checkers who are well-versed in film?

Of course, didn't Scorsese make a comment a few years after Taxi Driver and was astounded how much it had already deteriorated? Maybe Spielberg was viewing the negative and was distressed about the condition it had fallen in.

[hearthesilence]

See also people - sometimes round here, although we’re generally better informed - who refer to “the source print” when talking about a Blu-ray transfer.

Sometimes a projection print is used because there genuinely isn’t an alternative, but for the most part this should be avoided, especially if the film is in colour; the contrast will generally be much too high. There’s a notorious release of Straw Dogs from Fremantle in the UK (Beaver) that’s a textbook example of the problem.

(Optimal sources are the original camera negative, the original interpositive or the original internegative. The OCN is notionally the best, but requires a full regrade, so sometimes the interpos just makes life easier. I remember one project where we went for the interpos because the cement used to hold the various bits of camera neg together was so brittle that we feared for the OCN’s integrity!)

This interview with Torsten Kaiser on restoration was a pretty good crash course on the subject - I :

Ken Brown: What does true restoration entail?

Torsten Kaiser: True restoration, in the most complete term, involves photo-chemically working with the best surviving and most complete elements available. It's a selection process, number one. Then, when you reach the photo-optical stage, you come to scanning, telecine work, and color timing. Even then it depends on whether the material has faded, or whether color timing has to be a re-timed in order to get the colors to register exactly as they should register. This is extremely important. Eureka recently bought a master from Fox for an early Robert Wagner film -- Prince Valiant, I think it is. And it says, "Technicolor." But what I saw on the Blu-ray was everything… but it was not Technicolor. Robert Wagner was green in the face. Green. Hiring Mr. Wagner as Prince Valiant is a strange idea already, considering his thick Western-state accent. (Laughs) But he stands out in the picture even more because of the color timing mistakes. Because the background is supposed to be blue, but skews green, the actors' faces are extremely magenta. But Technicolor had a very beautiful registration in terms of brownish and slightly reddish colors, and could capture facial tones really, really well. The same occurs with Deluxe pictures. I don't have An Affair to Remember yet, and that should be quite interesting. Reviewers have been stating that it looks beautiful and absolutely stunning. I hope that it does because it's a Deluxe picture and many of the Deluxe productions were dead on when it comes to facial tones. That was what Deluxe could really do. It was natural, but still very lush. It was a little bit deeper than natural colors would be in reality, but it would still register wonderfully. Yet, what I've seen so often is faded images and faces that derive from inexact color timing.

Ken Brown: How do modern colorists fare in your opinion?

Torsten Kaiser: Unfortunately, and through no fault of their own, more and more colorists don't know anything about the various photo-chemical color processes and their differences. Now the vast majority of colorists work with new negatives or with new IP [interpositive] material. They work a lot for television - with what we call samples for new projects - any they don't have ties to older material. As a result, errors are being made all the time. If you take a look at the Blu-ray release of Galaxy Quest, for instance, it's clear that the transfer was done from an IP. How do I know this? How can I determine that without having worked on the project? Well, it's pretty easy. An IP always has a much higher black level so that it doesn't crush the film element itself. That can only be achieved if you make it as flat as possible. So you don't have a very contrast-y image, but have all the stops in there. Or at least close to it. That's different than a print, which is very contrast-y – it looks very sharp and very punchy when you hold it against the light. On a telecine, a print would really give you a run for your money because it is very difficult to get all the detail out of that thing. However, with an IP, you can get all the detail out of it, but you have to remember the IP is developed to be very flat. As a result, you have to mimic the process from the IP to the intermediate negative to the print; the print being the ultimate end stage; the answer print, one should say, since that is the one being QC'd by the maker. So if you take an IP with the rather flat imagery and reproduce it only as it is on the IP, it doesn't work because the colors don't register as they should. Whites don't appear as they should, and so forth. And that's why Galaxy Quest doesn't work. The Galaxy Quest prints look stunning. They're an absolute knockout. It's the only picture that I was so frustrated with that I changed the settings on my projector. Fortunately, I have a projector which has different user levels, and that's exactly what I used when watching Galaxy Quest. Otherwise, I would have been like Peter Finch in Network. I would have gone to the window and screamed I was mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. It's really that bad.

[Farley Flavors]

(Optimal sources are the original camera negative, the original interpositive or the original internegative. The OCN is notionally the best, but requires a full regrade, so sometimes the interpos just makes life easier. I remember one project where we went for the interpos because the cement used to hold the various bits of camera neg together was so brittle that we feared for the OCN’s integrity!)

Do seperation masters ever enter into the equation, or were they only created for high-end productions?

[Maladroit Aggregator]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=380768

Post with calendar image purports to show several upcoming UHDs, including Barry Lyndon (and Caddyshack - a perfect double feature) as well as supposition about Eyes Wide Shut (which makes sense)

[ryannichols7]

it would be really wacky if WB did Barry Lyndon themselves, I don't believe they've upgraded a title to 4K themselves that Criterion released?

I also would've guessed Boogie Nights and Dog Day Afternoon would go big C. let's see what happens

[TechnicolorAcid]

There’s a key thing to mention though which is that it’s split into 2 sections, UHD releases and Anniversaries. And since Barry Lyndon and Dog Day Afternoon are in the Anniversaries section then it means that at least WB doesn’t have any 4K plans for either title.

[andyli]

There’s a key thing to mention though which is that it’s split into 2 sections, UHD releases and Anniversaries. And since Barry Lyndon and Dog Day Afternoon are in the Anniversaries section then it means that at least WB doesn’t have any 4K plans for either title.

Exactly. Those dates in the second row aren’t even on Tuesdays. Don’t get your hopes up.

[captveg]

There’s a key thing to mention though which is that it’s split into 2 sections, UHD releases and Anniversaries. And since Barry Lyndon and Dog Day Afternoon are in the Anniversaries section then it means that at least WB doesn’t have any 4K plans for either title.

Exactly. Those dates in the second row aren’t even on Tuesdays. Don’t get your hopes up.

One shouldn't expect anything, but I'm thinking some of those are making their way to 4K UHD from Warner or a 3rd party label simply because of raw numbers of how many titles got released by Warner and licensing parties each of the past couple years. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure would be an ideal fit for Shout Factory, for example.

[MichaelB]

(Optimal sources are the original camera negative, the original interpositive or the original internegative. The OCN is notionally the best, but requires a full regrade, so sometimes the interpos just makes life easier. I remember one project where we went for the interpos because the cement used to hold the various bits of camera neg together was so brittle that we feared for the OCN’s integrity!)

Do seperation masters ever enter into the equation, or were they only created for high-end productions?

Sorry, I've only just seen this (over a year later!).

The only project I've worked on where separation masters were part of the equation was Voices, where the video-shot footage had been transferred to 35mm separation masters at the time of production - meaning that we could be reasonably certain that we'd restored the colours correctly. Or at least as certain as it's possible to get without access to the original videotape (which may not even exist any more, and which may of course have its own age-related problems even if it does).

[rrenault]

it would be really wacky if WB did Barry Lyndon themselves, I don't believe they've upgraded a title to 4K themselves that Criterion released?

I also would've guessed Boogie Nights and Dog Day Afternoon would go big C. let's see what happens

Pan’s Labyrinth and Enter The Dragon.

[ryannichols7]

it would be really wacky if WB did Barry Lyndon themselves, I don't believe they've upgraded a title to 4K themselves that Criterion released?

I also would've guessed Boogie Nights and Dog Day Afternoon would go big C. let's see what happens

Pan’s Labyrinth and Enter The Dragon.

that's right. Enter the Dragon especially makes sense given that Arrow put out the (amazing) box of all the other Lee titles

I can see Pan's Labyrinth being "redone" by Criterion as I believe the current 4K is listed as rather poor in our dedicated thread. I'm sure Del Toro would love to fix that

[eerik]

Warner have uploaded the full film to their Classics YouTube page. Not sure if it is a temporary thing or will stay there, old 1080p master though.

[ivuernis]

More butchering of the Barry Lyndon AR. Warners seem to have taken their 1.78:1 Blu-ray master* and cropped the sides to make it 1:59:1

* which itself cropped the top and bottom of the 1.66:1 image to make it 1.78:1

Update: On later viewing there appears to be a bit more vertical image than the Warner Blu-ray 1.78:1 image but less horizontal image than the Criterion Blu-ray 1.66:1 image.

[MichaelB]

People are complaining in the comments that music cues are missing.

[MichaelB]

One thing I've noted is that so many still images are re-used across the various extras; not a huge thing, but it gets a bit repetitive when working through a bunch at once.

I've never worked on the Blu-ray of a Warner title, but I have worked on a title licensed from another major, on which we were explicitly banned from using any stills other than the comparatively small handful of official ones created for marketing purposes. So Criterion's hands may well have been tied in this respect.

[Oedipax]

People are complaining in the comments that music cues are missing.

That really sucks for anyone who was viewing the film for the first time.

The video has been set to private now, so hopefully a fix is coming for those who want to watch this way.

[Finch]

4K coming in July

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
Interviews with the cast and crew as well as archival audio featuring director Stanley Kubrick on the film’s cinematography, costumes, editing, and production
Interview featuring historian Christopher Frayling on production designer Ken Adam
Interview with critic Michel Ciment
Interview with actor Leon Vitali about the 5.1 surround soundtrack, which he cosupervised
Interview with curator Adam Eaker about the fine-art-inspired aesthetics of the film
Trailers
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien and two pieces about the look of the film from the March 1976 issue of American Cinematographer

Cover by F. Ron Miller based on an original theatrical poster by Saul Bass

[captveg]

Excited to be buying this for (ideally) the final time. Dolby Vision HDR was made for this movie

[Fus1on]

I genuinely might cry, I never thought this day would come...

[ryannichols7]

I'm glad this is happening, and also glad that it's proof that Warner graphic does not mean that Warner will be bringing out all of those anniversary titles themselves. please roll on the Criterion of Dog Day Afternoon I've been looking for every month

[ivuernis]

The 4K disc will only be available in 1.78:1

[ryannichols7]

The 4K disc will only be available in 1:78:1

what's your source? Criterion's page shows 1.66:1

[ivuernis]

The 4K disc will only be available in 1:78:1

what's your source? Criterion's page shows 1.66:1

Was just a joke

[Maladroit Aggregator]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=380768

Post with calendar image purports to show several upcoming UHDs, including Barry Lyndon (and Caddyshack - a perfect double feature) as well as supposition about Eyes Wide Shut (which makes sense)

There’s a key thing to mention though which is that it’s split into 2 sections, UHD releases and Anniversaries. And since Barry Lyndon and Dog Day Afternoon are in the Anniversaries section then it means that at least WB doesn’t have any 4K plans for either title.

Exactly. Those dates in the second row aren’t even on Tuesdays. Don’t get your hopes up.

I'm glad I didn't get my hopes up

[hearthesilence]

More info on the new restoration from the Film Stage:

A Warner Bros. and Park Circus Presentation. Barry Lyndon is presented in the film’s photographed aspect ratio of 1.66:1, as specified in a December 8, 1975, letter from director Stanley Kubrick to projectionists. This new 4K restoration was sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative. The high-definition transfer, created in 2000 under the supervision of Leon Vitali (Kubrick’s personal assistant), served as a color reference for this restoration. The 5.1 surround audio mix was created from restored original soundtrack stems. Color Grading: Sheri Eisenberg at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging. Digital image restoration: Prasad Corporation, Burbank.

Audio restoration: Chris Jenkins at WB. Post Production Services Sound

This 4K digital restoration of Barry Lyndon was undertaken by the Criterion Collection in 2025, from a scan of the 35 mm original camera negative. The sound was sourced from the original 35mm magnetic tracks.