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I attended the 20th Century Studios/Disney 4K digital projection screening of
Master and Commander last night at the Grauman's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Executives from 20th Century and Disney were in attendance for what was a packed, sold-out screening. I'll do my best to recount the evening, but if someone else was there, feel free to correct me in case I've erred on any details.
Steve Asbell, the head of 20th Century Studios, introduced the film and said this was a title that had been in the works for a few years and was personally his most anticipated release. He welcomed everyone to the world premiere of the 4K "restoration" of
Master and Commander: The Far Side of The World. He emphasized that the whole title was important to him. Peter Weir was unable to travel for the screening and sent his best wishes and gracious thanks for coming out. He had seen the footage and was excited and touched that so many people have an affinity for this film, which remains very near and dear to his heart.
Asbell said the film was really important to him personally, as it was one of the first films he worked on as a junior executive 22 years ago, and he had two funny stories he wanted to share (out of many).
The first one involved being in charge of dailies, where they would screen them literally in the basement of 20th Century. He remembers getting dailies back with some of the cast members wearing hats in a few scenes, and a senior executive telling Asbell, "I need you to let them know I hate the hats. Tell them no hats!" Asbell remembers literally asking, "Uh, you want me to pick up the phone and call Peter Weir and tell him to stop shooting the hats?" And the senior executive replied, "Yes! Call him right now!" Asbell said the last thing he was going to do was call Peter Weir and tell him he couldn't shoot something. Plus, the footage they were getting was beautiful. So Asbell picked up the phone and secretly dialed his own apartment number and let it ring and ring. When there was no answer, he hung up the phone and told the executive, "I tried. Mr. Weir isn't picking up." The executive left in a huff, but he never heard about the hats again.
He said the second incident involved receiving dailies during the eulogy scene when Jack Aubrey is speaking to the crew about the recently deceased. Asbell had a copy of the script, and part of his job was to follow along and make sure they were adhering to the screenplay. On one of the takes, Russell Crowe gave his eulogy, but Asbell quickly realized what he was saying wasn't in the script. He realized that Oliver Reed, who had worked with and become good friends with Crowe, had recently passed away. What Crowe was giving was the most beautiful eulogy for Oliver Reed that he made up on the spot in memory of Oliver Reed, and they filmed it. He said now, 22 years later as the head of 20th Century Studios, he wanted to find that piece of film and made an extensive search of the archives looking for it, but no one can find those missing elements. Asbell told himself, "I know I didn't imagine it, I know it happened." That missing footage is a great loss to him.
At the end of the introduction, he took out a phone and they filmed the audience in unison shouting "Oceans Are Now Battlefields!" One person shouted out, "One must always choose the lesser of two weevils!"
The projection was gorgeous. The green screen effects, though apparent only a handful of times, were not distractingly so. In fact, the entire presentation looked filmic and beautiful. It had character and authenticity. It wasn't overly clean and sharp like modern films. There was texture and density to the image. Minor criticism, in one of the night scenes of Aubrey and Maturin talking alone, Maturin's single looked soft and slightly out of focus while Aubrey's single remained sharp and in focus. There were only a couple of instances where some footage looked as if it were from an older generation or dupe.
They touted this release as featuring a new Atmos mix of the film, but the audio presentation was my biggest criticism. While the sound was often very present and clear, there were frequent moments where the dialogue became muffled. I initially thought it might just be me, but after talking with others in attendance, we all agreed that the dialogue seemed to sit in a lower register and was often difficult to make out. I found myself straining to understand what the characters were saying, during both quieter dialogue scenes as well as moments where conversation was layered over ship activities or battle sequences. This may have been a fault of the theater's sound system, though the Egyptian supposedly features a state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos setup.
Overall, it was an amazing experience seeing the film after so many years projected on a huge screen in a theater filled with moviegoers. I'm hoping the 4K release matches what I saw projected last night, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm concerned about the sound mix. Thanks for reading.
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