Ziegfeld Theatre

Is there going to be any films shown in 70mm? It didn’t look like it from the ad.

In regards to “My Fair Lady,” I mistakenly used the word “faded.” Let me just say that the print was in horrible shape all around.

I saw the 1994 re-issue at the Century Plaza and it was spectacular. The opening credits and the scene at the races were simply beautiful on the big screen in 70mm. I had caught bits and pieces of this film on television and never liked it. But seeing it properly made me really like this film.

The last time I saw MFL in 70mm was during a special screening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. It was James C. Katz’s personal print and looked very good. I think it can help to have a professional projectionist, like Paul Rayton, who babies the print and makes sure the presentation is nearly perfect.

This Ziegfeld film festival has a very good line-up, despite the lack of 70mm prints. “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” had a brand-new 35mm print struck in 2001, and it was one of the best 35mm presentations I’ve ever seen. (This was an instance when Cal State Long Beach’s film dept. started getting better prints.) With any luck, the Ziegfeld will so happen to get this print (provided it’s still in great shape).

Bill
www.fromscripttodvd.com

William, the Ziegfeld has reel to reel capabilities. They just choose to run platters most of the time. I will be happy to know the prints are going to be shown reel to reel and not mounted on a platter.

When is the Ziegeld supposed to show MFL? Not that I can get there to see it.
Also I posted this on the posting from Jan 10 on the DVD No More Joy which is a documentary about New Orleans theaters that closed. It is wonderful. I only wish we could get one on all the wonderful theaters Phila and NYC lost. It is well worth the $15.00 and is a benefit for hurricane Katrina victims. Any movie buff will really enjoy this even if you never have been to New Orelans.

Thanks for that Peter, I was not aware of the Dolby SR prints of WSS
I suppose if all the movies are shown with either Dolby encoded SR, Type A, or DTS tracks, although I am not sure the Ziegfield has a DTS processor, it won’t be bad. In fact some of the older 70mm tracks I listened to a few years back did not sound all that good, lots of hiss, and a deficiency in high frequencey, which of course is the result of too many runs thru the mag reader. You are certainly correct about the 70mm prints and I am sure no new prints will be struck, with the execption of IMAX, 70mm seems dead. I thought there would be a resurgence of 70mm with DTS after “Vertigo” and “Hamlet”, there was talk of doing “Rear Window” but I don’t believe it ever happened. It was very promising for a while since the expence for both the studios and the theatre owners was not very high. The studios cost would be the large 70mm prints (3x the cost of 35mm) but no mag-stiping costs, which because it was done reel to reel would up the cost to 12x that of a 35mm print.All that would be required in theatres already equipt with DTS was a 70mm reader for the time code. Alas it never came to pass.

The 35mm prints of West Side Story that MGM distributed until last year were on LPP stock from the mid-90s and had Dolby SR soundtracks. Now that Sony distributes West Side Story, they’ve struck even newer 35mm prints with Dolby SR and DTS digital tracks. I don’t know if they’ve struck any new 70mm prints but I doubt it. The My Fair Lady prints that currently circulate via the company Hollywood Classics are all 35mm Dolby (Type “A”, if I recall correctly) from the 1994 restoration. I don’t know that any of the 70mm prints from 1994 survive. Most likely that every film in the series will be shown on 35mm.

There has to be a reason the Ziefeld is doing this festival….at a low price no less…is it an experiment based on this room?? or is it a sign of a closing…I myself am really psyched…I hope the prints are good….I hope they put an effort into this…I wonder how successful “Chicago” and “Gladiator” and “Rings” will be as they might be just too recent..I’m looking forward to WSS, MFL, Ben….I’ll keep checking for reviews on the prints..

I worked at the Ziegfeld in the 80’s. The projectionist was a crack addict who put BACKDRAFT on in the wrong reel order at the World Premiere. The run of MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON was destroyed because the asshole never seemed to be able to run a complete show. Has the Ziegfield really survived local 306?

God help the Ziegfeld and may it survive tragically bad history of projectionists!

Hey Vito & RC – I’d love to continue this with you via e-mail before everyone gets pissed about this being off topic ;–)

You are absolutely right that some people do try to put on a good show – the guy at the Ziegfeld does a good job, Stanley at the Astor Plaza used to put on a great show . The people at the Union Square and Battery Park do the best job out of all the multiplexes in the city. They don’t use the fader memory feature or dual fader setting capability – they just leave it set for the feature and seem to deal well with the trailer complaints. At Loews E-Walk I can tell which projectionist is on duty based on the presentation – I believe they have 3 guys on staff – ONE of them does a good job. The Chelsea 9 (already a crappy theatre – even on a good day) took 45 minutes to manually switch over formats because “we can’t find the projectionist.” The dialog for MatchPoint at the Village 7 came from the right channel speaker and the projectionist had no clue how to fix it (it was running in the wrong program – he couldn’t figure out how to push one single button and quite frankly his attitude was one of “I couldn’t care less.”) I had to explain to the manager what to do and he manged to fix it. And it cost him 4 free passes and two refunds. AND he invited us to stay and see the movie anyway.

I don’t mean to demean the profession – and I’m sure all you guys are consummate pros who actually took/take pride in putting on a good show – but I’m also sure that you can see why I’m a little miffed.

As for the fader settings, why not do as my friend does: My buddy runs a 6 screener – 5 Dolby Digital & 1 SDDS. In the Dolby houses he sets the trailers to 4.5 and the feature between 6 and 7. In the SDDS house, he tries to get all the trailers to run in the SDDS format and sets it to -2.0 and sets the feature between -0.5 and 1.5. He actually goes into the auditorium and listens to the movie. He has said that on ocassion, he has had to run some movies at 7.5 and 2.5 DD/SDDS respectively to get clear dialog. He does have to move films a couple times a week for screenings, etc and says it’s not a big deal ‘cause it is just two cues. Sure, every commercial/trailer has a different level, but you can group all the commercials/trailers/etc and set them at one fader setting and the feature at another. No need to babysit the volume. I’ve watched him do it and I’ve heard the results. It’s a great and relatively simple solution.

OF COURSE THEATRE CHAINS DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PRESENTATION – THEY ARE WAY TOO CONCERNED WITH SELLING POPCORN!!! That’s why you’d assume that theatres with fulltime projection staff would do a better job – all the projectionist has to do is work with the film. But again, in my experience, here in the city, it doesn’t seem to make a difference. They put on just as crappy a show at the AMC as they do at the UA East as they do at Lincoln Square and Lincoln Plaza (where we just tried to see Mrs Henderson Presents – which was presented at a volume so low that about half the dialog was inaudible. Mrs Henderson herself couldn’t hear what she was saying!!! My complaint was greeted with “I’ll let the projectionist know.” Ten minutes later we were getting a refund.

Sorry Movieguy, I simply cannot accept your comments regarding projectionists. Sure, in every industry you have people who are as you described, but in my many years in theatre business I have found the guys in the booth to be hard working, dedicated profressionals who would never disrespect the the fine art of projection. We are a breed of individuals who love the job and get great satisfaction and joy in putting on a good show. As for volume in trailers, it was a major problem for a while, the studios and producers recorded them at a high level to get your attention in selling the picture. several of the industry’s most prominent organizations, including the Motion Picture Association of America, the National Association of Theatre Owners, and THX’s Theatre Alignment Program have decided to work together on developing a set of guidelines to regulate trailer volume. As a result, an industry committee dubbed the Trailer Audio Standards Association has been formed to help ensure that volume levels enhance, rather than hurt, the moviegoing experience, so as you pinted out, have improved over the last few years. Problematic, too, was that the difference in dB levels between trailer and feature presentations was still quite discernible. Trailers were so loud, theatres turned down the volume because they were getting complaints, and then not turning them back up for the features. You are quite correct in your statement regarding level adjustment settings in sound processors and automation panels, however, their are some flaws contained in those options as well. As the Loews guy said it can be troublesome, due to the fact that in a multi screen operation, prints are moved from house to house and trailers are interchanged, replaced, updated on a regular basis, so it can become difficult to keep track of all those settings. Keep in mind not all trailers are recorded at the same level so it’s not just one level adjustment involved. Hopefully I have caused you to change your opinion of “the guys in the booth"
honestly, the vast majority want to put on the best show possible.

It was interesting to hear about the 70mm print of “The Exorcist.” The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) screened a special 70mm print of the film, if memory serves, in 1997. The print I saw was in pristine shape and the sound was very good. You never know how these prints will end up in the future. As for “My Fair Lady,” there was a 70mm screening at California State University at Long Beach sometime in the late 1990s. That print, however, was severly pink, faded and had a “click” running through one of the front channels via one of the reels. The head of the festival, Gary Prebula, stopped the film midway and said that it was the same print that screened at Century Plaza in Century City during its re-release in 1994! How could a print get so beat up in so little time?

There are some new or fairly new 70mm prints around.

“The Sound Of Music”
“Vertigo”
“The Agony and the Ecstasy”
“Doctor Dolittle”
“Playtime”
“Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines”
“The Greatest Story Ever Told”
“It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World”
“Hello, Dolly"
"2001”
“Lord Jim”
“Patton"
"The Sheltering Sky"
"Tron”

These have all screened in the Los Angeles area in recent years in 70mm DTS (except for “The Sheltering Sky” and “Tron”). It probably depends on which theatre, if any, has a DTS decoder for 70mm in New York, to book a print. And most of these screenings were either near capacity or sold out.

Hey Movieguy, I dont know what theaters you are going to but if what you said was happening, the union guy would be replaced. To say that the managers do a better job than the union prjectionists is absurd and shows what little you know about it. As far as the loud trailers, that has been a problem for years. Everyone knows about it. If you can show me a processor that can change levels for each trailer I would love to see it.