Tonight, before network TV kicked in, I watched Shirley Temple's 1935 film THE LITTLE COLONEL. I've always liked it though the major entertainment value now is seeing Shirley match screen stealing know-how with Lionel Barrymore (and the two dances with Bojangles Robinson). The story is pretty lame. And in the picturing of the slaves of Barrymore, I'm surprised the PC police hasn't confisciated this film. It makes the slaves in SONG OF THE SOUTH look sophisticated.
I didn't notice any particular scratches or print damage, but it's VERY clear the videotape masters are what was used for this transfer. It's soft and grainy.
Now, here's the thing I found the most interesting. The black and white movie is noted for having a final sequence in three strip Technicolor. This sequence has always looked unreal because of the lack of subtlty in the colors of flesh, etc. There are lots of overly saturated pinks and blues. But that's what very early Technicolor footage looked like.
For a lark, I watched the last few moments of the film and the Technicolor sequence in the colorized version which is also on the disc, and GET THIS: the geniuses at Fox used a black and white separation master for the Technicolor sequence and COLORIZED it so that it matches the awfulness of the rest of the colorization! This has to be a first!