that's looking forward
I just read a fascinating thing about one of my favorite movies, the colorful and beautiful The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I always love to hear stories about how people look ahead. One of my favorites concerns the massive oak beams in New College, Oxford. In the early twentieth century, they became infested with beetles. Folks in charge panicked because after all where are you going to find such huge oak trees in the twentieth century? Never fear: the college's Foresters had been planning for this day since the college was founded in 1379. They knew that the beams would rot eventually, so they planted a grove, with the expectation that Foresters over the centuries would protect them. Miraculously, they did.
On a somewhat lesser scale, Jacques Demy, director of Umbrellas, shot the film on Eastman negative stock. The problem is that, besides the fact that the copies sent to theaters lose their luster with use, the original stock itself fades quickly, and eventually decays completely. For a colorful film like Umbrellas, this is a disaster. The movie rests on three pillars of cinema: Catherine Deneuve's face, Michel Legrand's sparkly-sweet score, and the insanely bright colors that can make you a different person just from seeing them. Take away any one of those things, and the movie just isn't the same.
Demy must have felt the same way about his masterpiece, because he went to the trouble and expense of having color separation masters made. That is, the three colors that go to make every other color in film — yellow, cyan, and magenta — he printed separately in black on black-and-white negatives. Since black-and-white negatives don't fade, the information stays intact, and then you can go back and print number 1 in yellow, number 2 in cyan, and number 3 in magenta, then combine them on fresh full-color film.
A generation or so passed, and in the 1990s they did just that. Now, instead of seeing a faded or off-color version of the movie (as you often do with old films), you see the original, vibrant Cherbourg of Demy's imagination.
And it's worth seeing. If you've never seen it, do yourself the favor. It's simply one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema ever. It's a great technical achievement, with superb music and sound editing to go along with all that color. And it's got heart. Demy can bring French tears to any eye.
Let's be glad that he can also plan ahead. Man. I'm doubly committed now to transferring all my 90s music off DAT.
On a somewhat lesser scale, Jacques Demy, director of Umbrellas, shot the film on Eastman negative stock. The problem is that, besides the fact that the copies sent to theaters lose their luster with use, the original stock itself fades quickly, and eventually decays completely. For a colorful film like Umbrellas, this is a disaster. The movie rests on three pillars of cinema: Catherine Deneuve's face, Michel Legrand's sparkly-sweet score, and the insanely bright colors that can make you a different person just from seeing them. Take away any one of those things, and the movie just isn't the same.
Demy must have felt the same way about his masterpiece, because he went to the trouble and expense of having color separation masters made. That is, the three colors that go to make every other color in film — yellow, cyan, and magenta — he printed separately in black on black-and-white negatives. Since black-and-white negatives don't fade, the information stays intact, and then you can go back and print number 1 in yellow, number 2 in cyan, and number 3 in magenta, then combine them on fresh full-color film.
A generation or so passed, and in the 1990s they did just that. Now, instead of seeing a faded or off-color version of the movie (as you often do with old films), you see the original, vibrant Cherbourg of Demy's imagination.
And it's worth seeing. If you've never seen it, do yourself the favor. It's simply one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema ever. It's a great technical achievement, with superb music and sound editing to go along with all that color. And it's got heart. Demy can bring French tears to any eye.
Let's be glad that he can also plan ahead. Man. I'm doubly committed now to transferring all my 90s music off DAT.
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