New DCP restoration of "Chimes at Midnight"

[Wellesnet]

Chimes at Midnight played recently at the Film Forum in New York as part of their "Welles 100" series. It was shown three times in a new DCP restoration courtesy Filmoteca Española. Here are some of the comments from those who attended (from the Criterion Forum):

Frau Blucher: Yesterday I got to see Chimes At Midnight at the Film Forum. It is oh so Welles and it's one of his best. The restoration looked terrific as far as I could tell. Not sure how bad it was beforehand.

On a bit of a side note, afterwards, I asked Bruce Goldstein if the rights were picked up for a home release. He said it's in the works but the rights issues were difficult and that's why he could only show it on a very limited basis. I didn't ask specifically about CC because I don't think he would have told me. My guess is Criterion, Cohen or Kino. Goldstein has a strong relationship with all three.

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Drucker: The restoration did look good, but seemed to be restored from a print? There were cigarette burns at the reel changes on the restoration. It was a great experience, but it didn't match the likes of Shanghai or Othello's restoration.

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Frau Blucher: I thought the resto was a bit uneven. The close ups and many of the interiors looked terrific, with strong detail. I'm sure the source was a total mess. I hope Criterion or Cohen get the rights. They will continue to work on the restoration, where as Kino will put out whatever they receive from Filmoteca Española.

Hopefully, this DCP restoration will make the rounds of Welles fests this year. The 35mm print of Chimes shown at this year's Harvard Welles fest received some complaints in terms of it's quality.

[jbrooks]

I regret that I was not able to get to any of Film Forum's three screenings of "Chimes."

I will note for the record that I caught two screenings of a 35mm print of "Chimes" at the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C. in 1996 (or thereabouts). That print was darn near perfect in terms of image quality, though it suffered from the sound issues that have been said to have always plagued "Chimes."

Any word on whether the sound issues were addressed in the new "restoration"?

[jbrooks]

I still sometimes pinch myself that we live a world where I can pull up a fairly-decent video transfer of "Chimes at Midnight" on my Smart TV 24 hours a day (off Youtube). Heck, I can watch it on my Iphone while walking down the street. In the early 90s, the film was nearly impossible to see anywhere. Even in New York City, then with a wealth of specialty video stores, the only available copy was a nearly unwatchable third generation VHS dub at Kim's Video -- which seemed to have been derived from a foreign TV broadcast of a very poor print of the film.

[Wellesnet]

The Youtube Chimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf6fxz1mI6g
is, I think, from the French Studio Canal DVD. It has good picture and sound quality, but is in what looks like an aspect ratio of 1.85. The correct ratio is 1.66.

Here are some more comments from the Criterion Forum, regarding the 35mm print shown recently at Harvard. Flawed sound seems to be the main issue there too:

Mr. Sausage: “The sound track was so murky, coupled with the Shakespearian dialogue and the accents, that 65% of the time I couldn't follow a single word being said. When people are using words and phrasing you’re not as familiar with, muffling the sounds makes figuring out what they're saying nearly impossible...
Made the whole thing a desperate chore to watch, and I ended with no real enjoyment from the movie. I can’t help but wish for a DVD as well.”

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Criterion 10: I caught a film print that screened tonight at the Harvard Film Archive and had the exact same problem. I originally attributed it to the low quality of the print itself (full of dirt, scratches, specks, hisses, crackles, pops, etc.), the Shakespearean dialogue, Welles mumbling most of his lines, and my own, sometimes poor, hearing. Though a quick glance around online seems to render this somewhat common among viewers.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I genuinely found it impossible to understand what was being said, no matter how hard I tried. I eventually gave up and just focused on the visuals...
EDIT: Just spot-checking the version uploaded to YouTube, the sound is significantly better. Still poor, but definitely better.

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Here's what Joseph McBride said about the new DCP restoration:

"Film Forum programmer Bruce Goldstein] expects this revival of Chimes to be one of the major events of the retrospective. He obtained what is said to be a newly restored print from the Filmoteca Española...I actually don't think it needs restoration; I don't mind a little being out of synch, and it has a magnificent soundtrack. So I hope the restoration is what I first saw in 1967 when I watched it three times in a row on one night at a Chicago theater..."

[jbrooks]

The sound problems in the 35mm print I saw in DC in 1996 were synch problems -- and even they weren't that bad. The actual quality of the sound was not bad -- it lacked the clarity of a modern film soundtrack but didn't sound terrible for a film made in 1965. Certainly, I did not have trouble hearing the dialogue or following the film -- despite never having read Henry IV one or two or the Merry Wives of Windsor.

[Le Chiffre]

Here’s what Michael Dawson said about restoring the Chimes soundtrack in my interview with him last year:

“Chimes” was not nearly as over-modulated as Othello, and the music score - again by Alberto Lavaginino - was originally recorded in stereo so there would be no need to re-record it…It’s mainly just a matter of equalizing the audio stem tracks and shifting the soundtrack four frames, and 40 percent of the film would be synced perfectly. We may polish and remix the music score as well…then take the ¼ inch music track and utilize it in the remix, so you will essentially have a stereo music score. We’re talking “A Hard Day’s Night” stereo, not a 5-channel, “Avatar”-mix. But it’s still stereo, and it sounds wonderful.

So with “Chimes” you’ve got three basic problems that are easily rectified. The original 2-track ¼-inch music score is beautiful, and if you equalize the effects track, that’s all you’ve got to do, and it’ll sound great. I think everyone will be quite amazed by it. Some of those speeches in the film, such as Gielgud's "Uneasy lies the head" soliloquy and Margret Rutherford's speech at the end, are just wonderful when synched perfectly.

So much less work would be involved than “Othello” in getting it ready, and if we had the necessary funds and rights issues cleared up, we could complete the project in about three months’ time.

I agree with you, JBrooks, that the syncing is not really that bad, although I can't say how it was back in 1967. If it can be made better, or even close to perfect, why not go for it? I also agree with Dawson that, if the music score was recorded in stereo, the sound should be remixed so that the music can be heard with the film IN STEREO. Why record something in stereo if you're not going to use it that way? My guess is that Welles didn't have the remaining budget to do that, so he didn't.

I’ve been a Welles fanatic for 30 years now, but I’ve only seen CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT in a theatre twice, and both showings were unsatisfactory. The version of the film that’s on Youtube is, strangely enough, the best I’ve ever seen the film look and sound, despite the incorrect A/R. I dream of seeing this film with perfect video and audio quality on the big screen sometime, and it seems to me that, with DCP technology, there is at last the opportunity to create a perfect big-screen edition of the film…ONCE AND FOR ALL! It sounds like this new restoration from Spain has some flaws, so it is not quite what we’re hoping for, but it’s a step in the right direction.

[Wellesnet]

Looks like the new DCP restoration of Chimes will be shown at the TCM film festival next week:
http://www.wellesnet.com/tcm-classic-fi ... -midnight/

[Dark Horse 77]

https://twitter.com/CriterionCast/statu ... 0688583680

[Dark Horse 77]

I hope Criterion helps us all out and adds The Immortal Story as an extra on their release of Chimes.

[atcolomb]

Saw the first five minutes of Chimes on TCM and compared it to my Mr. Bongo dvd release. The TCM version opens with the Janus logo so it looks like Criterion will release it soon and the print looks brighter and sharper then the Bongo version with a better sound to it. Did notice that the TCM version has more print damage but still a better looking image then the Bongo release.

[Le Chiffre]

The Chimes shown on TCM tonight is the same DCP restoration from Spain that's making the festival rounds this year. It's a good restoration, but not great. I was hoping Criterion would do better.

[RayKelly]

The Chimes shown on TCM tonight is the same DCP restoration from Spain that's making the festival rounds this year. It's a good restoration, but not great. I was hoping Criterion would do better.

The DCP restoration shown on TCM was done by Filmoteca Española, not Criterion. If the upcoming U.S. home video release is done by Criterion as we assume (since Janus is handling the theatrical release of the Filmoteca Española DCP), I expect they will want to do their own restoration. I prefer the StudioCanal version you turned me on to. The recently found 35mm pristine print might make a fine source.
Watching the restored Othello as I write this. It looks wonderful. I can't wait for the Criterion Blu-ray of that.

[Le Chiffre]

Didn't you think it was odd that they showed OTHELLO in widescreen? It looked great that way I'll admit, but strange that they would do that to a Welles film. MACBETH was shown normally and that looked great too.

Yes, it would be nicer if they get the newly discovered pristine print for the Criterion CHIMES. It'll probably depend on how hard to get the owners play, something not unheard of in the Welles world.

[mido505]

I greatly enjoyed watching CHIMES on TCM last night but, like Ray, I prefer version available on YouTube downloaded by Citizen Welles. The DCP restoration exhibits extraordinary detail, and the sound is synched beautifully, but the image is often soft and lacks contrast. Also, dialogue that is perfectly clear in the Youtube version seemed garbled in some spots in the DCP. Oddly, both the DCP and the Youtube versions are matted at 1.85:1, whereas the correct ration is, I believe, 1.66:1. I did not, however, find that this slight overmatting detracted from the viewing experience.

What is the status of the CHIMES negative?

[atcolomb]

Didn't you think it was odd that they showed OTHELLO in widescreen? It looked great that way I'll admit, but strange that they would do that to a Welles film. MACBETH was shown normally and that looked great too.

Yes, it would be nicer if they get the newly discovered pristine print for the Criterion CHIMES. It'll probably depend on how hard to get the owners play, something not unheard of in the Welles world.

Did notice too that Othello was wide screen and i did a quick comparison to my Image dvd release and the TCM print is much brighter and sharper but streched out to cover my HD screen and Macbeth was shown in it's original 1:33 image so do not understand what happened there. I also notice the TCM host did say there where some audio problems and thought this would be the original audio track but instead was shown the restored audio version.