The Silver Screen column discussion - Blu-ray Forum

Robert Siegel · 08-15-2011, 07:18 PM

This is where we will discuss columns of "The Silver Screen."

Several times I have been asked how the idea for this column came about, and why it is presented as it is. So I thought I'd share a bit about the making of one of these columns.

I have loved movies ever since I was a child. My grandfather worked in the film business for years, for RKO, then Universal and also Rothstein Theaters of Canada. My mother was from Winnipeg, Manitoba and worked for RKO in the offices and Paramount as an editor. I have always been fascinated by movie advertising and publicity, and started my collection when I was about 10. Since then the collection has grown to a point where I now have about 24,000 pieces of memorabilia. At one point I almost sold it, but then I decided in 1994 to print the magazine "Movies on Laserdisc." which was a 110 page glossy magazine with some color pages but all movie advertising and publicity. Unfortunately it was shortly after that laserdisc died due to DVD. I then did some writing for the Minneapolis Star/Tribune, and did some classic reviewing for Widescreen Review magazine. I then decided to sell the collection again, but along came the internet. Since then I have written for and had wonderful experiences at The DVD File and The Digital Bits (my columns are under their archives), and now here I am at Blu-ray.com

When I was deciding how to present this column, I had two basic choices. One was to present a history of the movie the same way every other website does. But I wanted to retain the old-time Hollywood spirit and feel of going to the movies when they were released. I decided the best way to do this was to present what the public would have been reading at the time of the film's release (as well as additional updated material), graphics and information that you cannot find on many (if any) sites on the web. It's a new way of presenting these films on the internet with information released by the studios at the time of release.. Not many people have older newspapers or access to any of this material anymore except major collectors or limited libraries. So this format was developed on purpose and the hyperbole is meant to be there. That simply was classic Hollywood.

A good example is the release on Blu-ray of a classic movie, let's use South Pacific as an example. Almost all classic connoisseurs want the film released on disc as close to the original theatrical presentation as possible. This was my angle for the column from the beginning. The posters would have been seen outside the theater, the lobby cards inside, the advertisements in the newspaper, interviews in the movie magazines and so on.

Now on editing and designing this column...Let's take South Pacific again. I had no publicity materials for the Broadway production and had to do research including talking to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. A good part of this column is about the Broadway version. I also talked to Fox about the remastering that was done, another large section. Fox also helped me with historical material. I also explain the Todd-AO process, something I put together myself from a vast amount of historical materials and current information on the film format and talking to several industry experts on the subject. There is a section on how the film was promoted, which was not in the original publicity materials, and finally the release and premiere information, grosses and boxoffice intake and remakes (TV South Pacific) which is also not part of any studio press. So I combine the collectibles/promotion material with the other information available and by requesting it.

I then take and scan every poster and ad in my collection for that movie and digitally correct them to take out dozens of crease and fold marks, spots and wear and fading that has occurred throughout the years so that every graphic looks as close to perfect as I can get it. Contrast almost always has to be increased a bit due to fading. You would be surprised how poor some of these graphics looked before I "remastered" them. But then again some are 50-60 years old and I have not used some of them in over 30 years. They are stored in a temperature-controlled environment. You may notice that even the column logo (with the marquee) always contains the original film logo (Typeface) to simulate what would be seen on the marquee of the theater if you were going to a big city engagement of the film and standing outside the theater.

I hope this gives readers who have inquired a small background into how my work evolved into The Silver Screen column and some of the sources for the material and why I use the format I do..

I hope you are all enjoying the column. This is the place to discuss any of the Silver Screen columns.

--------

Silver Screen Columns

12 Angry Men https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7921
American Pie https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8343
Anatomy of a Murder https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8233
Ben Hur https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7408
Big Country (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7760
The Blues Brothers https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6937
Boeing Boeing https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8163
Charade https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7145
Chinatown https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8394
Citizen Kane https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7303
Close Encounters of the Third Kind https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7977
Crack in the World/ Damnation Alley https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6740
Demetrius and the Gladiators https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8290
Dumbo https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7557
Egyptian (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6811
Footloose https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7505
Fox and the Hound (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6979
Grand Prix https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6537
It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8120
Jurassic Park https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8186
King of Kings https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7939
Kiss Me Deadly https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6691
Le Mans https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6473
Marriage Italian Style https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6437
Misfits (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6354
Mutiny on the Bounty https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7691
My Fair Lady https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7697
National Lampoon's Animal House https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6905
Notorious https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8073
Once Upon a Time in the West https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6245
Papillon https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6513
Psycho https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7644
Rocky Horror Picture Show (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7605
Scarface https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7236
South Pacific https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7032
Star Wars https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7341
Stars and Stripes Forever https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7855
Superman: The Movie https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6588
Ten Commandments (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6005
To Kill a Mockingbird https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8092

08-15-2011, 07:18 PM	#1
Robert Siegel Power Member Member since:Aug 2007 Blu-ray collection:2296 Blu-ray reviews: 65 Trading Score:7	The Silver Screen column discussion This is where we will discuss columns of "The Silver Screen." Several times I have been asked how the idea for this column came about, and why it is presented as it is. So I thought I'd share a bit about the making of one of these columns. I have loved movies ever since I was a child. My grandfather worked in the film business for years, for RKO, then Universal and also Rothstein Theaters of Canada. My mother was from Winnipeg, Manitoba and worked for RKO in the offices and Paramount as an editor. I have always been fascinated by movie advertising and publicity, and started my collection when I was about 10. Since then the collection has grown to a point where I now have about 24,000 pieces of memorabilia. At one point I almost sold it, but then I decided in 1994 to print the magazine "Movies on Laserdisc." which was a 110 page glossy magazine with some color pages but all movie advertising and publicity. Unfortunately it was shortly after that laserdisc died due to DVD. I then did some writing for the Minneapolis Star/Tribune, and did some classic reviewing for Widescreen Review magazine. I then decided to sell the collection again, but along came the internet. Since then I have written for and had wonderful experiences at The DVD File and The Digital Bits (my columns are under their archives), and now here I am at Blu-ray.com When I was deciding how to present this column, I had two basic choices. One was to present a history of the movie the same way every other website does. But I wanted to retain the old-time Hollywood spirit and feel of going to the movies when they were released. I decided the best way to do this was to present what the public would have been reading at the time of the film's release (as well as additional updated material), graphics and information that you cannot find on many (if any) sites on the web. It's a new way of presenting these films on the internet with information released by the studios at the time of release.. Not many people have older newspapers or access to any of this material anymore except major collectors or limited libraries. So this format was developed on purpose and the hyperbole is meant to be there. That simply was classic Hollywood. A good example is the release on Blu-ray of a classic movie, let's use South Pacific as an example. Almost all classic connoisseurs want the film released on disc as close to the original theatrical presentation as possible. This was my angle for the column from the beginning. The posters would have been seen outside the theater, the lobby cards inside, the advertisements in the newspaper, interviews in the movie magazines and so on. Now on editing and designing this column...Let's take South Pacific again. I had no publicity materials for the Broadway production and had to do research including talking to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. A good part of this column is about the Broadway version. I also talked to Fox about the remastering that was done, another large section. Fox also helped me with historical material. I also explain the Todd-AO process, something I put together myself from a vast amount of historical materials and current information on the film format and talking to several industry experts on the subject. There is a section on how the film was promoted, which was not in the original publicity materials, and finally the release and premiere information, grosses and boxoffice intake and remakes (TV South Pacific) which is also not part of any studio press. So I combine the collectibles/promotion material with the other information available and by requesting it. I then take and scan every poster and ad in my collection for that movie and digitally correct them to take out dozens of crease and fold marks, spots and wear and fading that has occurred throughout the years so that every graphic looks as close to perfect as I can get it. Contrast almost always has to be increased a bit due to fading. You would be surprised how poor some of these graphics looked before I "remastered" them. But then again some are 50-60 years old and I have not used some of them in over 30 years. They are stored in a temperature-controlled environment. You may notice that even the column logo (with the marquee) always contains the original film logo (Typeface) to simulate what would be seen on the marquee of the theater if you were going to a big city engagement of the film and standing outside the theater. I hope this gives readers who have inquired a small background into how my work evolved into The Silver Screen column and some of the sources for the material and why I use the format I do.. I hope you are all enjoying the column. This is the place to discuss any of the Silver Screen columns. -------- Silver Screen Columns 12 Angry Men https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7921 American Pie https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8343 Anatomy of a Murder https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8233 Ben Hur https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7408 Big Country (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7760 The Blues Brothers https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6937 Boeing Boeing https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8163 Charade https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7145 Chinatown https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8394 Citizen Kane https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7303 Close Encounters of the Third Kind https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7977 Crack in the World/ Damnation Alley https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6740 Demetrius and the Gladiators https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8290 Dumbo https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7557 Egyptian (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6811 Footloose https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7505 Fox and the Hound (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6979 Grand Prix https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6537 It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8120 Jurassic Park https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8186 King of Kings https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7939 Kiss Me Deadly https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6691 Le Mans https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6473 Marriage Italian Style https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6437 Misfits (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6354 Mutiny on the Bounty https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7691 My Fair Lady https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7697 National Lampoon's Animal House https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6905 Notorious https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8073 Once Upon a Time in the West https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6245 Papillon https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6513 Psycho https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7644 Rocky Horror Picture Show (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7605 Scarface https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7236 South Pacific https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7032 Star Wars https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7341 Stars and Stripes Forever https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7855 Superman: The Movie https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6588 Ten Commandments (The) https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=6005 To Kill a Mockingbird https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=8092 Last edited by Robert Siegel; 03-22-2012 at 06:26 PM.

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