Charade (1963)

[Bluyoda]

I watched "Charade" last night.

The first shot really scared the heck out of me, but then it luckily got better, but there was one problem that popped up from time to time that saddened me a little.

It's an issue also spotted by the reviewer at highdefdigest.com:

There seems to be some damage to the material used, as right around the 34:23 mark, the picture can temporarily darken and move slightly on screen, almost like it were being compressed briefly, for a few frames. This error only appears in this one scene, one shot that was used interspersed with a few cut-aways, but it is distracting nonetheless.

I noticed several times during the film, not just once, and it almost looks like compression artifacts you normally find on VCDs.

I just checked and at 34:23 it seems more like a print issue.

I spotted it at least 3 times:

1. At 19:25 mark
2. The one at 59:32 is the longest and most distracting

to lazy to find the third one.

Wasn't this the BD that was taken off Amazon.com for a while due to an error????
(I guess that was "Days of Heaven" which I had zero issues
with.)
Please shed light on this if you can.

[Arkadin]

is this the same thread as the one I saw yesterday or the day before?
I'm confused because I know I saw this question posed.
is this a duplicate thread?
what's the deal?

[s00perd00per]

I saw the one highdef digest was referring to, which seems to be a problem with the film itself. The other ones you mentioned, I couldn't find anything wrong with my copy.

Edit: In the 59 minute mark, are you talking about the sort of blue flickering spots?

[KrugStillo]

Film has a tendancy to fade over time and that is probably what you are seeing. They most likely fixed it as good as they could without overdoing it. Sometimes older films will fade in and out and achieve the effect that you are experiencing. Unfortunately we may notice this with more films as time goes on because there is only so much a film can be digitally manipulated.

[pro-bassoonist]

There are no errors with the BD.

There are various color pulsations and a couple of stronger warps that obviously could not be effectively addressed, but these are inherited limitations.

Pro-B

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

is this the same thread as the one I saw yesterday or the day before?
I'm confused because I know I saw this question posed.
is this a duplicate thread?
what's the deal?

I had posted it in the Criterion thread without much response, so I decided to create a thread.

Originally Posted by s00perd00per

I saw the one highdef digest was referring to, which seems to be a problem with the film itself. The other ones you mentioned, I couldn't find anything wrong with my copy.

Edit: In the 59 minute mark, are you talking about the sort of blue flickering spots?

Yeah, that's it.

Did you also see the error at 19:..?

Look at her red coat at said time when she walks to the left of the screen.


Thanks for your replies, guys!
I appreciate it.

I was just worried that I might have a defective copy, because some of the issues do not appear to be due to the aged source elements.

[chazr]

Now I don't expect anyone to even see this post, but one thing that has always bugged me about the various video transfers of one of my favorite films is the dissolve to black at the end of the titles. This is exactly like the one at the end of the title sequence on the West Side Story transfer everyone was up in arms about.

That one was fixed but for archival purposes I want it to be known:

Back in the day, I saw Charade in the theater and I was really impressed with the imagery of the fade to white, then dark blobs appeared to fad in to produce a landscape in the snow. Cool. It now fades to black for a second and then goes white for that landscape fade in. If you have the video tools try to remove that black section, or use your imagination to see how it would look without it.

I know many will ask why Stanley Donen wouldn't have pointed this out but being from the old guard he was probably just grateful to have his film on video.

Perhaps the editor Jim Clark can confirm.

[Clark Kent]

There is a West Side Story thread found here, where your concerns will receive more attention.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=176723

[Arkadin]

I'm not sure, but I think he is saying Charade has an error similar to West Side Story that causes the opening title sequence to be slightly incorrect as opposed to the original theatrical appearance.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

I'm not sure, but I think he is saying Charade has an error similar to West Side Story that causes the opening title sequence to be slightly incorrect as opposed to the original theatrical appearance.

That is what I get for skimming his post. He mentioned a problem in West Side Story and figured he couldn't find that thread.

[Arkadin]

gotcha!
(would be interesting to find out if what he is saying is correct)

[Shanghai Express]

I want Universal to release this on 4K.

[martydmc12]

Originally Posted by Shanghai Express

I want Universal to release this on 4K.

I popped it in the other night, and perhaps I've been spoiled with all the recent 4K scans, but this film definitely needs a new scan and restoration. Does anyone know the history of the original elements might be, original camera negative and such?

I could see Kino doing a helluva good job with a new scan.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by martydmc12

I popped it in the other night, and perhaps I've been spoiled with all the recent 4K scans, but this film definitely needs a new scan and restoration. Does anyone know the history of the original elements might be, original camera negative and such?

I could see Kino doing a helluva good job with a new scan.

Universal owns the film and certainly controls the negative.

The bigger issue with this film is that there was a public domain issue for many, many years. Universal forgot to put a copyright sign next to the copyright notice in the opening credits. As a result of that clerical mistake, anyone who wanted was able to release PD VHS and DVD copies for decades. That was why it was a miracle when Criterion did their first DVD, then upgraded it to anamorphic DVD. I haven't seen any PD BDs, so perhaps Universal resolved that issue.

Unfortunately the damage to the title's value in the catalog was done.

[martydmc12]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Universal owns the film and certainly controls the negative.

This is my biggest concern/question. Is there an original camera negative still in existence, or at least in relatively good condition.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by martydmc12

This is my biggest concern/question. Is there an original camera negative still in existence, or at least in relatively good condition.

The liner notes for the Criterion BD say their master was created from an interpositive, but I'd be surprised if Universal doesn't have the negative.

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Universal owns the film

I haven't seen any PD BDs, so perhaps Universal resolved that issue.

It isn't an "issue", the film was always in the PD since it's release.

It's only the score by itself that's copyrighted by Universal, like how the Fleischer Superman cartoons are in it but not Superman himself: https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pw...06004650&SID=1

But that has no standing on the film itself.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

It isn't an "issue", the film was always in the PD since it's release.

It's only the score by itself that's copyrighted by Universal, like how the Fleischer Superman cartoons are in it but not Superman himself: https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pw...06004650&SID=1

But that has no standing on the film itself.

Then perhaps the way Universal resolved the issue I was talking about (of a market flooded by public domain copies of the film) was by rigorously enforcing the copyright on the music. I've read the same thing happened with It's a Wonderful Life.

When I was younger, in the 80s and 90s, you'd see numerous public domain VHS and DVD releases of Charade all the time in stores, and you'd rarely see official releases from Universal. My first copy of Charade on VHS was a cheap public domain version, though I had no idea of that at the time, because I wasn't aware of such things as a kid. Once I learned to distinguish them, I bought a legit Universal VHS of Charade, and I was astounded by how much better it looked.

I don't know of any public domain Blu-Rays for Charade, so something clearly changed at some point and Universal found a way to make them go away.

[MovieBuff647]

Very curious if this is a new restoration (or at least an improvement on previous releases), considering StudioCanal and MK2 were involved? https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Charade-Blu-ray/233827/

[James Luckard]

Charade was restored this year by Universal:

https://www.nbcuniversal.com/article...ns%20to%20come

Hopefully they do a UHD, or Criterion does one, very soon.