Well, dear readers, this is actually the anniversary day of our first notes on this here site, but we’ve already celebrated but we can celebrate again. Who says there can’t be too celebrations for our anniversary. I, for one, like two, don’t you? But I must also write these here notes in a hurry because I must be up very early and go to a video shoot in Pasadena. A Video Shoot in Pasadena – that’s the title of my next novel, a story of desperate characters in search of a video shoot occurring in Pasadena. So, I mustn’t dawdle, Amaryllis.
Yesterday was just the sort of day I needed – restful. We had our morning rehearsal with Sandy, which went very well. I made a couple of tiny patter adjustments, but she’s got everything down and is completely ready for her Monday night show. It does look like we’ll have at least sixty people there, so that’s quite a nice crowd. After that, I had to hurry to the Coral Café for a lunch meeting. I had three scoops of things – two chicken salad and one egg salad, and I shared some onion rings. After that, I picked up some packages, then came home. I then wrote a little something for Juliana Hansen to say in our video shoot and I sent that off to her. I answered a backlog of e-mails, updated my two iPods, had a couple of dealers pick up some CDs, and did a few other things before sitting on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched the first two hours of a very long motion picture on Blu and Ray, long as in three hours and twenty minutes long – a motion picture entitled Giant, starring Mr. Rock Hudson, Miss Elizabeth Taylor and Mr. James Dean. Giant, based on the novel by Miss Edna Ferber, is a big old sprawling film that covers many years, but just sort of ambles along at a steady clip, yet is always interesting enough to keep you going. I first saw Giant at my beloved Stadium Theater and I have a vivid, razor-sharp memory of sitting there wondering if the film would ever end. I distinctly remember the scene where James Dean gets drenched in oil from a gusher, and I remember other scenes as if it were yesterday. The fact is, I’ve only seen the film once all the way through since then, and that was on DVD. I’ve seen snippets on TV and may have even seen it partially at a screening. I know when I watched the DVD I just didn’t care for it and it looked so horrible it was barely watchable. So, I didn’t know what to expect from the Blu and Ray because of the dreaded WarnerColor and because the film has a huge number of very long optical dupe sections that have always looked horrid, even back when the film came out. I began to read comments from the usual “experts” on the usual sites, many of which were along the lines of some of it looks really nice and some of it looks really bad. Genius. Even though the “experts” profess to know everything about everything, they apparently don’t know what opticals are, and that Warners used the worst lab in the world at that time. They immediately assumed that there were the dreaded “haloes” which meant horrible edge enhancement. They think that about everything, and they are frequently wrong, these “experts” and certainly they are wrong on this film – what they think are edge enhanced haloes are, in fact, called Mackie lines and were a product of the bad opticals – they’ve been there since day one and will always be there. When a person who IS an expert posted about the Mackie lines, suddenly the “experts” all started using that phrase as if they’d known it all along. Funny stuff. Others said it was the worst Blu-ray PQ they’d ever seen while admitting they’d only watched ten minutes of it and admitting they’d never seen the film before. Experts indeed. But when they have usernames like Maggot, well, you know what to expect. But Robert A. Harris had written nicely about the transfer, so I held out hope that all the “experts” were wrong. And I’m happy to tell you, boy are they wrong. Warners has basically performed a miracle of a transfer. Anyone who compares the DVD to the Blu-ray will see it instantly – it’s night and day. The terrible opticals, while still being what they are – soft and grainy – are tolerable here and look better than they’ve ever looked. But it’s the non-optical original production photography that shines here – the wonderful William C. Mellor’s work finally looks as it should, stunningly beautiful with perfect color. If Warners can deliver this kind of color, one wishes that they would go back and redo both The Searchers and The Wild Bunch with these colorists. Oh, the blues and the greens – so beautiful. The lighting is pure film art. For anyone who knows the history of this film, this transfer will be a revelation. No, it doesn’t look like East of Eden or Rebel Without a Cause, nor did it ever look like those films. But suddenly we have Giant looking as good as it ever has and probably better and Warners and MPI deserve major kudos.
As to the film, I’m enjoying it like crazy. With it looking this good, the whole thing just plays beautifully. Scenes are acted wonderfully, Mr. George Stevens’ staging is perfect, and Dimitri Tiomkin’s score keeps everything humming along. For me, this is one of Elizabeth Taylor’s best roles and she’s quite excellent, especially in the first half of the film. The scene where the menfolk try to get her to leave the room so they can discuss politics is classic. So, I’ll probably finish it later this evening, but even at this point I can say that it is highly recommended by the likes of me.
I then watched another motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Lovelace, a film from this year, 2013. Yes, it’s a film about Linda Lovelace and I didn’t hate it and I didn’t like it much either. I just sort of sat there like so much fish and then it was over. The structure is interesting, I suppose – in the film’s first two-thirds you get the story of Linda Lovelace told in a kind of non-negative way. But the final third we see it the way she told it in her book, Ordeal, although they do leave out some of the more lurid revelations of that book. Amanda Seyfried is very good as Lovelace, and Peter Skarsgaard is very good as the reprehensible Chuck Traynor. Sharon Stone is also excellent as Linda’s mother, and there’s even a cameo by Eric Roberts, who, once upon a time, played the equivalent of Mr. Traynor in Star 80. The photography attempts to emulate the look of 1970s film and it’s pretty successful at it. One reviewer gave it only 3.5 stars for its transfer – but was basically blaming the film’s style of photography for the low marks. Say what? Here’s the simple deal – if a transfer perfectly replicates the film as shot, then the transfer gets five stars. The End. What else can you ask of a transfer? I’m not sure I can recommend the film, but I was interested enough to want to, and if you were around during that era, it will probably hold your interest.
Today, I shall be up very early and on my way to the Pasadena Playhouse for a nine o’clock video shoot. I’ll only stay two hours and then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, do some banking, and then be on my way to our two o’clock rehearsal, which will last until about five or six. Directly from there I have to go to The Smoke House for a meeting, so I probably won’t eat anything until then. I’m hoping the meeting will be done by nine.
Tomorrow, we have an eleven to two-thirty rehearsal, then I’ll come home and write liner notes and relax and we may have a quick Sandy rehearsal, too. Monday is sound check and Sandy’s show at The Federal. The rest of the week is run-throughs at night and hopefully days filled with finishing four sets of liner notes, because right now we have nothing to release in two weeks and we need to.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a video shoot, hopefully pick up some packages, bank, have a rehearsal, attend a dinner meeting and then try to finish Giant. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films about the South? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall do A Video Shoot in Pasadena.