Chimes at Midnight: Restored and re-released??

[RayKelly]

Who knows what to believe when reading the British press these days. I am just passing this along. The website for the film festival says " Orson Welles’ little-seen masterpiece will screen in a newly restored version before its DVD release later in the year."

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/orson-welles-rarely-seen-masterpiece-is-restored-and-rereleased-2313302.html

Orson Welles' rarely seen masterpiece is restored and re-released

The money ran out during shooting, leading to a bailout and then litigation over the distribution rights

By GEOFFREY MACNAB
Independent.co.uk
Thursday, 14 July 2011

It was Orson Welles' favourite among his own films and many critics bracket it alongside Citizen Kane as his masterwork, yet Chimes At Midnight (1965) has been impossible to see for many years.

This is why there is such excitement among Welles' devotees about plans to screen the movie in a "brand new, never-seen-before restoration" early next month as part of Picturehouse Cinemas' "Screen Arts Festival."

The film is Welles' sprawling adaptation of Shakespeare's history plays, his "lament for Merrie England" as he called it. He gives arguably his finest screen performance as Falstaff.

Like many of Welles' films, Chimes At Midnight was made on the hoof. It's a full-blown epic shot in the director's customary improvisatory style, but on a modest budget – one reason that it has subsequently proved so hard to see. The rights issues have proved so complicated that no one – until now – has been able fully to untangle them.

The money ran out during shooting, leading Welles to turn to Harry Saltzman for help. When Saltzman pumped in a reported $750,000 (£465,000) so it could be completed, he received worldwide distribution rights (excluding France and Spain, which belonged to Spanish producer Emiliano Piedra).

Saltzman gave his rights to another company, which got taken over. Piedra died in 1991 and Saltzman in 1994.

Litigation soon followed as to exactly who owned which rights and Chimes At Midnight disappeared from film screens. When the National Film Theatre in London held an Orson Welles' season in 2003, Chimes At Midnight wasn't shown.

When a major Welles' retrospective was held at the Locarno Festival in 2005, the organisers had to secure permission from Saltzman's widow Adriana for a one-off screening of a very ropey print. Now, it appears that the 1965 film has finally been liberated. David Buttle of British distributor Mr Bongo, working with Dolores Piedra (the Spanish producer's daughter), is the person behind the British screenings of the restored version.

"I've been in touch with her (Dolores) since 2006," he explained. "It has taken her that long to sort out the legal aspect of it."

Whenever Welles' films are revived, there is nearly always a sting in the tail. No one knows who might emerge to lay claim to the rights or to complain about not being consulted.

But at least audiences can savour (at least for now) Welles' magnificent performance in the role of Falstaff.

[Roger Ryan]

Well, Macnab has written intelligently about Welles for years and you'll notice that his own reservations are expressed in the last few lines of the article (note the cute MR. ARKADIN allusion by the use of the phrase "sting in the tail"). I suppose all lawsuits have to be settled eventually and anyone in the film business should know by now that the opportunity to release any kind of DVD product is quickly vanishing.

[RayKelly]

I am not familiar with Mr. Macnab, but I agree with his reservations.
However, I wish his article had detailed what was meant by "restored." Just a a quick cleanup of a nice print or something more elaborate?
And why not address the 800-pound gorilla in the room and ask the parties if they have spoken with Beatrice Welles. Better yet, call the estate's legal reps and see if she is going to contest this?

[Roger Ryan]

I am not familiar with Mr. Macnab, but I agree with his reservations.
However, I wish his article had detailed what was meant by "restored." Just a a quick cleanup of a nice print or something more elaborate?
And why not address the 800-pound gorilla in the room and ask the parties if they have spoken with Beatrice Welles. Better yet, call the estate's legal reps and see if she is going to contest this?

You're right that The Independent's story appears to be a report on an announcement by those on one side of this situation. Note that Mr. Bongo is a European-only DVD label that is behind the upcoming screenings; I have a feeling there is no deal in place for a North American release. This could turn out to be just like AMBERSONS where the European disc is on the market years before a North American disc makes it's debut.

[Le Chiffre]

You wonder how they could call it a "brand new, never-seen-before restoration" unless they have access to the original negative. I thought Beatrice and co. were in possession of that and were working on their own restoration. Of course, we haven't heard much about that project in years.

[Roger Ryan]

You wonder how they could call it a "brand new, never-seen-before restoration" unless they have access to the original negative....

Well, they could take a public domain print and use lots of Digital Noise Reduction just like the DVD company that issued the Blu-ray of THE STRANGER this year. The result didn't look as good as MGM's DVD release from a few years back, but it was a brand-new, never-seen-before restoration. There's no mention if the upcoming CHIMES festival screening is going to be a 35mm film print or a digital source, so this release may have nothing to do with an original negative.

[Le Chiffre]

Well, they could take a public domain print and use lots of Digital Noise Reduction just like the DVD company that issued the Blu-ray of THE STRANGER this year. The result didn't look as good as MGM's DVD release from a few years back,

Then it wouldn't look nearly as good as the STRANGER I saw on the MGM HD channel not long ago. That's the best I've ever seen the film look, obviously from the same pristine source as the DVD release.

There are some pretty bad looking PD prints out there. I've seen some pretty bad looking prints of CHIMES as well, that no amount of DNR could save. I hope they're not going to waste their efforts on something like that.

[Roger Ryan]

The company that is spearheading the restoration, Mr. Bongo (yeah, I know), has a hit-and-miss reputation. There have been a lot of versions of CHIMES coming out on DVD and for download recently, which makes me wonder if the (now legal) copyright holder is licensing the film to different companies for releases in different regions. Perhaps Mr. Bongo is trying to get an edge on the competition by going the "new restoration" route. Again, "restoration" doesn't necessary mean working with the best readily available material. We'll see.

[Roger Ryan]

A member of the Criterion Forum site attended the "restored" CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT screening last night in Aberdeen and reported being "very underwhelmed" by the image quality. He described the image as soft and riddled with artifacts.

This does indeed sound like just another "gray area" release where the "restorers" took a old print of the film and tried to digitally clean it up.