Universal's Film Restoration Projects

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Gary Johnson
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Universal's Film Restoration Projects

Postby Gary Johnson » Sat Jul 18, 2015 3:23 pm

This has been floating around the Web the past few days..........

Universal posted their Q2 report today. You may be interested in some of the on-going projects.

Mastering & Restoration
- Completed 4k feature restoration project: Spartacus
- Continued to work on the 4k restorations of: “Animal Crackers”, “Cocoanuts”, “Duck Soup”, “Horse Feathers”, “Monkey Business”, My Man Godfrey” and “Shanghai Express”. These will be completed in Q3
- Began 4k restoration work on “Ghost of Frankenstein”, “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman”, “House of Dracula”, “House of Frankenstein”, “Son of Frankenstein” and “The King of Jazz”. These will be completed in Q4
- Began 4k restoration work on silent features: “Last Warning”, “Oh Doctor” and “Outside the Law”. These will be completed near the end of 2015
- Began film element research and scan tests for the 4k restoration of “One Eyed Jacks”, Marlon Brando’s only directorial effort. This work is being partially funded by the Film Foundation
- Completed standard (non-restoration) feature re-mastering work on “Phantom Lady”. Also began standard re-mastering work on “Something for a Lonely Man”, “Winchester ‘73”, “Desperado Outlaw Wars” and “Desperado Badlands Justice”


Most of the online talk concerns The Marx Bros, films, Have new film elements been uncovered this past decade or will they just restore the same battered prints that have been in use since the days of VHS? No one knows anything. It's all just rumors and wishful dreaming.

This report (which some on the Home Theater Forum suspect was accidentally leaked) mentions that work is ongoing on the Marxes and should finish up by the next quarter report. Well, if they were working with previously unused film elements wouldn't they be blowing their trumpets loudly and hyping this to the film world? Instead all we get is a leaked report. It doesn't bode well that this will be a must-have Marx set.
About 15 years ago I cornered Joe Adamson at the hotel lobby during Cinecon and asked him if there is much hope of a clean, pristine copy of HORSEFEATHERS ever turning up. He was rather pessimistic over that happening.
Has anything changed?

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