GBU IB tech screening at The New Beverly Cinema in LA!

[Lil Brutto]

Anyone here live in the area and planning to check it out??

[cigar joe]

cool wish I could.

[dave jenkins]

As it happens, I'm heading to the west coast on the 28th. Nowhere near LA, though. Hmmmmmm . . . .

[drinkanddestroy]

The only regular board member I know of who lives in the Western Time Zone is Cusser, who lives in Arizona. He's such a GBU nut, it wouldn't shock me if he went to LA for this 

[Lil Brutto]

It's a 3h non-stop flight for me and I'm seriously considering it. Fly in and out in less than 24h. A bit extreme so I'm hoping someone trustworthy and WAY closer can enjoy the show and report back.

[drinkanddestroy]

Where do you live?

[Lil Brutto]

Vancouver

[dave jenkins]

I'm thinking of dropping down from Seattle--where I'll be at the time--to see it. I'd probably want to see it twice. I checked and the Beverly Inn, a few blocks away, has vacancies. It looks like I could do a round-trip for about $400. Hmmmmmmmm . . . .

[Cusser]

The only regular board member I know of who lives in the Western Time Zone is Cusser, who lives in Arizona. He's such a GBU nut, it wouldn't shock me if he went to LA for this  

Yep, that's me.  I last saw GBU on the big screen at the classic Valley Art Theater in Tempe, AZ for the United Artists 90th Anniversary Tour, took the afternoon off, went to dinner, Mrs. Cusser and I made a day of it.  I have made "pilgrimages" to Los Angeles for the Sergio Leone exhibit, that was well worth it, and also to Monument Valley to see the arch from Once Upon a Time in the West.

But I won't be going to California until late August, so I'll miss this showing.  

What's an IB Tech Print anyway?  I saw this back in first run, remember, and this is the original US-length version of 161 minutes.

[dave jenkins]

But I won't be going to California until late August, so I'll miss this showing.  

What's an IB Tech Print anyway?  I saw this back in first run, remember, and this is the original US-length version of 161 minutes.

There's some info about IB Tech prints here: http://www.in70mm.com/news/2010/technicolor/

Here's the meat:

Technicolor shut down its imbibition (IB) dye transfer Cahuenga facility in 1975. Its new lab next to Universal Studios became an Eastman-only processor. Technicians who worked at the Hollywood lab claim that the last new American film released before Technicolor ceased printing dye transfer was Disney’s uninspired adaptation of Jules Verne’s "Island At the Top of the World" (1973). Other sources say it was "The Godfather, Part II" (1974). (I have an I.B. Technicolor 35mm reissue print of Disney’s "Swiss Family Robinson" with edge code symbols of 1974 visible on some reels.) So, who knows for certain the last film released in IB in America? In 1977, Dario Argento used the last dye-transfer printer in Rome for "Suspiria" (1978). Put simply, gone were the days when one could purchase a nice No-Fade 35mm I.B. Tech print of a movie from the seventies, like "Jaws" (1975) or "Star Wars" (1977), unless you were lucky enough to obtain it from England where the IB process was still employed.

Technicolor was the second major color film process for motion pictures (following England’s Natural Colour Kinematograph Company), and the most mass-produced color motion picture process in Hollywood from 1922-1952. Not only did it afford a richer, almost 3-dimensional look to film, but, from an archivist’s point of view, it possessed one very cool quality: It was virtually fade proof! Since 1982, Eastman color film stocks like LPP have also been “low fade,” but Technicolor dye-transfer prints have been “no fade” since the 1920s. Since a Tech print employed stable Azo dyes (dyes which are also used in current DVD technology), it could retain its original colors for decades. Even when stored under improper conditions, the colors in a Technicolor print survived longer than early Eastman color prints that might maintain only the magenta record after a mere ten years.

So seeing an IB Tech print of a film is to see pretty much what the film looked like when it was first released. This is particularly true for the colors. I saw an IB Tech print for Vertigo recently and it gave me an idea about what's right and wrong with recent transfers of that title on home video. Given all the monkeying around lately with the look of GBU's image on dvd and Blu-ray, it's nice to have the chance to see what the film is actually supposed to look like. Hence the excitement.

[Lil Brutto]

I'm thinking of dropping down from Seattle--where I'll be at the time--to see it. I'd probably want to see it twice. I checked and the Beverly Inn, a few blocks away, has vacancies. It looks like I could do a round-trip for about $400. Hmmmmmmmm . . . .

The original theatrical release prints were IB technicolor. Subsequent screenings over the decades were not IB tech prints unless, on the very rare occasion such as this, the cinema was able to get their hands on a super rare IB tech. (I'm guessing the IB tech being screened is Quentin Tarantino's personal copy.) Prints of the extended English language edition are definitely not IB tech prints. In the mid-90s, there were some prints of the 161 min version struck on LPP stock. We acquired one of these prints for our preservation project. It showed that printing technology obviously improved over the decades as the image was sharper. However, the color timing was quite different from the IB techs. The beauty of IB tech is that it's essentially a time capsule due to it being fade-proof. Due to the fade-proof quality of the print, a screening nearly 50 years later takes you back to 1967 and let's you see the film as the director intended for it to be seen. That "cool factor" alone is enough to make this journey.

My plan is to use my air miles and fly down in the AM of the 26th. I believe it takes about 1.5 hours to travel from LAX to The New Bev. Catching an early non-stop flight gives me some cushion against potential delays, which is more unlikely for the first few flights of the day. After the show I'd head back to LAX (before public transit shuts down) and catch the earliest flight back to Vancouver (6AM). So no need for a hotel/motel. I'm still undecided but I went ahead and purchased a ticket for the July 26 screening. Worst case scenario, I'll just pass it off to someone willing to report back on their experience.

It would serve as further motivation if I knew someone else from this forum was going to make the trek.

[dave jenkins]

(I'm guessing the IB tech being screened is Quentin Tarantino's personal copy.)

Yeah, that was going to be my guess as well.

My plan is to use my air miles and fly down in the AM of the 26th. I believe it takes about 1.5 hours to travel from LAX to The New Bev. Catching an early non-stop flight gives me some cushion against potential delays, which is more unlikely for the first few flights of the day. After the show I'd head back to LAX (before public transit shuts down) and catch the earliest flight back to Vancouver (6AM). So no need for a hotel/motel. I'm still undecided but I went ahead and purchased a ticket for the July 26 screening. Worst case scenario, I'll just pass it off to someone willing to report back on their experience.

It would serve as further motivation if I knew someone else from this forum was going to make the trek.

I'm still considering it, although the earliest I can go is the 29th. I'm also thinking flying into Burbank is better than going to LAX, but maybe it doesn't make much of a difference. I got a reservation at the Beverly Inn for the 29th--it didn't cost anything to make and there's no penalty for cancelling.

[dave jenkins]

Added bonus for flying into LA: visiting Nightcrawler film locations! http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/n/Nightcrawler.html#.VaFP9k3bJjp

[Lil Brutto]

Well, I booked my flight. I'll be there for the screening on the 27th.

[dave jenkins]

OK, looks like I'm in for the showing on the 29th. Lil Brutto, don't eat all the popcorn.