frankebe wrote:
Not much to say about the last of the 4K Marx Brothers restorations, Horse Feathers. Sadly, the scene where the boys visit Thelma Todd is still peppered with censor cuts. It's another good-looking job overall. There are a handful of scenes where there is some bad jitter in the source element that has not been quite eliminated. Barring a better source element turning up, it's hard to imagine the film looking much better than this.
Looks like a job for... CGI.
I ACTUALLY believe that one could use computer generated imagery to make up for missing frames in many old films. After all, Robert Wise did for his original Star Trek movie, and I've seen it—looks pretty good! Especially interesting is the scene where you SEE the crew walk out on the "honycome walkway...supplied by V'ger"... even the the actors were not recalled for the far shot... (heh)...
http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/s/startrek01tmp.shtmlNow I realize we're stepping into disturbing territority when it comes to restorations. I mean, you can fix a broken pot from a Egyptian tomb, but... if you only have a little shard and you MAKE the rest of the pot, say, 90% of it, on your 21st Century potter's wheel.... how much has it been "restored" versus, rather, having been made anew, and you are no longer looking at the original artifact.
Well, in some cases, I wouldn't care. For instance, the "loading the rocket" scene in the restored hand-colored "Trip to the Moon" really looks like a black-and-white film all colored in. Take a look at what they had to work with and I don't see how they could possibly have restored the original. But... I do NOT care! I prefer that scene over the opening scene with all the flicker and jumping around that drives me crazy.
So I say... DO IT. If it can look truly realistic, some day, some one, restore Horsefeathers with... CGI characters!
Ha ha! I bet some of you are spitting at your computer screen at me![/quote]
Note that Robert WIse made a big deal out of restoring STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE using only what he could have used back in 1979 if he hadn't run out of time.