Post Focus

Esther/Vicky (Judy Garland) laments “The Man That Got Away” in this digitally restored frame from A Star Is Born (1954). Fifty years after the film’s release, Warner Bros. found that the original Eastmancolor negative had lost 60 percent of its yellow layer.

A Star is Born Restoration Starts With 8K Scan formats. (For more details on the Haver project, see AC Feb. ’84.) I By Robert S. Birchard The Library of Congress selected A Star is Born for inclusion in the National Film Registry in 2000, deeming the film “culturally, It was Sept. 24, 1954, and the atmosphere at Hollywood’s historically or aesthetically significant,” and Warner Bros. undertook Pantages Theatre was electric. It was a movie premiere that rated live a photochemical preservation in 2004, making new black-and- TV coverage, with actor Jack Carson playing host on the red carpet white color separations and a new interpositive. However, time had as the town’s A-list gathered to see Judy Garland’s comeback picture, not been kind to this landmark film. One of Garland’s signature A Star is Born. The 3-hour-16-minute film they saw that night songs in the film is “The Man That Got Away,” and A Star is Born became legendary, but it would never be seen again. very nearly became the film that got away. By the time A Star is Born played its first road-show engage- “Our photochemical preservation was not entirely successful ments a few weeks later, editor Fulmer Blangsted had trimmed the in terms of correcting for color fading,” says Ned Price, vice presi- picture by 14 minutes. But the 3-hour-2-minute cut was problematic dent of mastering at Warner Bros. Technical Operations. “It did as the film moved into general release, and it was trimmed by capture the color remaining in the original [Eastmancolor] negative, another 28 minutes so exhibitors could squeeze in an extra show a but only 40 percent of the yellow layer remained in that negative, day. so it yielded an image with yellowish whites and purplish blacks, in The film’s director, George Cukor, disowned the 154-minute addition to density flickering. There was also a noticeable loss of version, claiming that a carefully crafted dramatic story had been highlight and shadow detail — also a result of color fading.” turned into an episodic mess. Audience response was lukewarm, Furthermore, he adds, “The original 1954 YCM separation master and box-office receipts were disappointing. Garland’s grand come- positives were heavy, grainy and incapable of generating a picture back — after a four-year absence from the screen — was a bust, and that would do justice to the CinemaScope imagery of director of it would be seven years before she appeared in another film. Never- photography Sam Leavitt [ASC].” theless, critics and film buffs championed A Star is Born as much for A Star is Born seemed like a good candidate for a digital what it might have been as for what it actually was. restoration. However, even a famous title like that cannot be In 1981, one of those buffs, Ron Haver, who was then head projected to generate revenue close to what a contemporary film of the film department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, might yield. “I’m an executive with a major film company who has set out to reconstruct the 182-minute road-show cut of the film. The a responsibility to the company and the shareholders to make these result, revealed in 1983, included rediscovered footage and a recon- sorts of projects profitable, but I’m also a film buff who would like struction of several minutes of missing scenes using available still to see everything released on DVD,” says George Feltenstein, senior pictures. It clocked in at 176 minutes; the six-minute deficit resulted vice president of theatrical-catalogue marketing for Warner Bros. from trimming pauses in the 182-minute soundtrack to snap up the “It’s a struggle to balance the two, but our digital restorations of pace where it was felt that stills would not hold the attention of the Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz and North By Northwest audience. Widely acclaimed, Haver’s reconstruction was given a were sensationally successful in bringing back those films’ visual

theatrical release, and it has been available on home video in various splendor, and everyone agreed that [restoring] A Star is Born would Frame grabs courtesy of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging.

72 May 2010 American Cinematographer be a wonderful thing to do.” In preparing for the new digital restoration, all of the film’s surviving elements were taken out of storage and evaluated. The search was meticulous, and although it turned up several thousand feet of alternate takes, it didn’t unearth any new footage from the finished film. Price did uncover original separation materials for the number “Here’s What I’m Here For,” and the scene in which Norman Maine (James Mason) proposes to Esther/Vicky (Garland), both of which had been cut for the general- release version, and he was able to improve on the material Haver had used for these scenes. Price explains, “The separations survived by chance — an editor made dele- tions to the separation masters but did not realize the camera negative had been rebal- Central to the story is anced to accommodate the new shortened Esther’s running time. Because of this oversight, the troubled scene survives in the masters.” relationship with alcoholic The original four-track stereo mag actor Norman master had been erased in order to re-use Maine (James the 35mm magnetic stock back in the Mason). These images were 1950s. “That was a common practice in the both cropped early ’50s, as good stock was scarce,” says from the Price. There was a monophonic mag track restored CinemaScope for the 182-minute version, but three origi- frames. nal mag-striped release prints were used for most of the sound track. Warners had one such print, and the Library of Congress provided the other two. “We also found a restoration work at 4K.” important part of the restoration, and, just 35mm four-track stereo music and effects Color timing was done by MPI as with the picture material, we were work- track in France,” says Price. “The track was colorist Janet Wilson, who spent almost five ing with multiple sources. Most of the track incomplete, but it contained the majority of months on the project over the course of a was re-recorded and pieced together from Garland’s vocal performances in English. year. “It was one of the more difficult the surviving stereo release prints; Jim We also located isolated vocal units for projects I’ve worked on,” she says. “The Young did that work at Chace Audio.” Garland and chorus, as well as the majority of the film was scanned from the The digital restoration had its world complete orchestral scoring sessions.” original negative, but there was added premiere last month at Grauman’s Chinese It was decided to scan A Star is Born material from different sources. The original Theatre as part of the inaugural TCM Clas- at 8K resolution; this was done at Warner material was very early Eastmancolor, and sic Film Festival. According to Feltenstein, Bros. Motion Picture Imaging on a North- there was dye fading, especially in the opti- the supplements on the Blu-ray, set for light scanner. “Some might argue that an cal dupe sections, which looked entirely release June 22, will include some material 8K scan is overkill for this feature, given that different from the surrounding camera neg. that hasn’t been seen before, including the film stock and the early ’Scope lenses Oftentimes when working on older films, alternate takes of the numbers “Gotta Have limited the picture resolution on the nega- the original scan does not bear any relation a Go” and “Lose That Long Face.” G tive,” says Price, “but I’m unable to address to how the film is actually supposed to look. that at this moment because our ability to In retiming and correcting the color, it was see what the scans can yield is limited by also important to stay as close as possible to current monitoring devices. With the view- the filmmakers’ intent.” ing equipment we have today, I can’t really “The overall work took about nine tell the difference between a 4K scan and months,” says Price. “Janet is as meticulous an 8K scan. We decided to scan at 8K and as she is patient, and she really brought the complete the color correction and digital- picture back to life. Sound was also an

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