To Catch a Thief 4K UHD (Paramount Presents #3)

[PonyoBellanote]

Originally Posted by geomon

I can't believe James Cameron, George Lucas, and Peter Jackson are going to ruin another classic!

The ever loving irony of those being the ones who have most contributing to the history of cinema in the 20th century and yet, they're the ones who don't mind *****n up the legacy of old movies. The irony.

[UHDLoverForever]

There are plenty of directors more important and influential than them. Hitchcock immediately comes to mind.

[Olmo]

Originally Posted by UHDLoverForever

There are plenty of directors more important and influential than them. Hitchcock immediately comes to mind.

Lucas' donations to film restoration via the George Lucas Family Foundation seem to go under the radar somewhat.

Films as obscure as Rosi's Illustrious Corpses & Lucky Luciano were restored and released because of it, just to name but two.

It's easy to snipe.

[Richard--W]

To Catch a Thief is a lifelong favorite.

I'm hopeful Paramount will do everything right.

Looking forward to it.

[Dredd1]

There’s literally no reason or rationale that this can’t be done correctly. Look at Universals VistaVision Hitchcock’s as an example. Bearing in mind that this is the kind of release that appeals to the more discerning collectors (particularly in the more expensive 4k format), and an age demographic that checks for reviews and quality, economically the costs of not releasing a corrected disk from Paramount will result in very poor sales. And remember, this disks image quality from the 2020 release was panned on pretty much all review sites including an abysmal one and a half stars for picture quality on this platform.

Could Paramount stick their collective heads in the sand and release a botched 4k version of this beautiful film? Of course they could. But that would be in the context of their restoration efforts being compared to Universals Hitchcock restoration efforts and the imminent release of Warner’s/MGM North by Northwest.

If they want this disc to sell and want to salvage their rep with the only remaining Hitchcock that they still have the rights too then this must be released in a corrected form. If it is then it’ll be glorious. If it isn’t then it’ll be a gut punch.

[BobSimms]

It really seems like that woman is still beaming with pride over the last DNR mess they made of this film, so while it would be nice if they fixed it, I wouldn’t hold my breath. It’ll be a very poor seller (one hopes) if it’s just the same godawful underlying master, but there’ll be no consequences for her or the team that oversaw the project, and no one at Paramount will care.

It’ll simply join the ranks of the other “worst UHDs ever” and nothing will ever be done about it.

[DavidRoylance]

Looking at Once Upon a Time in the West, it doesn't hold out much hope for this or many things Paramount release.

Though I understand an Italian 4k of that is planning to fix the problems.

Does anyone on this forum have any contact with Paramount?

[cda1143]

Originally Posted by BobSimms

It really seems like that woman is still beaming with pride over the last DNR mess they made of this film, so while it would be nice if they fixed it, I wouldn’t hold my breath. It’ll be a very poor seller (one hopes) if it’s just the same godawful underlying master, but there’ll be no consequences for her or the team that oversaw the project, and no one at Paramount will care.

It’ll simply join the ranks of the other “worst UHDs ever” and nothing will ever be done about it.

Total agreement with your assessment, but do we have a name for this person? Is she still at Paramount? And do we have a recent statement form her or Paramount beaming with pride?

I'm genuinely curious.

[ilenewoodsfan99]

How did Paramount end up being left with only To Catch a Thief? It had something to do with Hitchcock, right?

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by ilenewoodsfan99

How did Paramount end up being left with only To Catch a Thief? It had something to do with Hitchcock, right?

The others under Paramount were sold to Hitchock and went on to Universal. To Catch a Thief remained with Paramount, yes.

[UHDLoverForever]

I don't believe it is impossible that the 4K master will be fixed for this release (and later streaming). But if that happens, it will be a quiet fix. Andrea Kalas will never admit there was ever anything wrong with the master to begin with. As long as it gets fixed, I can accept the complete refusal to apologize and recognize that errors were made.

[UHDLoverForever]

Originally Posted by cda1143

Total agreement with your assessment, but do we have a name for this person? Is she still at Paramount? And do we have a recent statement form her or Paramount beaming with pride?

I'm genuinely curious.

It's Andrea Kalas. Back when the restoration was released in blu-ray in 2020 and was lambasted by everyone, she said they stood by the restoration work.

[whiteberry]

Here's the statement she asked Robert Harris to post to this forum:

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

As of 5-22, I have been asked to update the studio information and position regarding To Catch a Thief:

Paramount undertook a full restoration of To Catch A Thief from a 6K 16-bit scan of the original VistaVision negative, making it the first time the original negative has been directly sourced for a home entertainment release. The 2012 Blu-ray was sourced from an interpositive (IP) that was printed in 2006 from the Vista Vision negative (IN).

The original negative contained some duplicate negative that was added to replace damaged sections in 1999. For this restoration, those duplicate sections were replaced with original YCM material so that we were sourcing the most original elements available.

The blue in the original negative was slightly faded in sections so the 35mm yellow separation master was scanned and recombined with the negative to restore the blue channel. An original IB print was used to verify that the color and optical fades matched the look of the original theatrical release. We find IB prints extremely valuable for restorations because they are known for their more stable, permanent dyes.

For the opening titles, the textless background from the original negative was scanned and the titles were rebuilt and overlaid on the original negative. This allowed us to improve the resolution and quality of the main titles while minimizing issues inherent to the older title creation technology.

This restoration also includes a new 5.1 audio mix that was created after cleaning up the 2007 mix and we also created UHD HDR-10 files for future use.

We made every effort to accurately restore this beautifully produced film by referencing the original print throughout the process. In addition, using the original negative allowed us to minimize the need for digital noise reduction. With these facts in mind, we stand by this restoration. We continually endeavor to restore Paramount’s great films using the best technology available alongside every resource we can find to bring the original vision of the filmmakers to audiences.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...6#post17634476

[brian9229]

Yep, and then they completely ruin the restoration with copious dnr, heathens!!!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Dredd1

There’s literally no reason or rationale that this can’t be done correctly.

And yet there's every chance they may manage to do it incorrectly.

At least Amazon has generous return policies. I'll leave mine unopened until I see screencaps.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

The others under Paramount were sold to Hitchock and went on to Universal. To Catch a Thief remained with Paramount, yes.

Rear Window, The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo weren't actually sold to Hitchcock. When Hitchcock made his deal to work at Paramount, his agent got Paramount to agree to give Hitchcock the full rights to the films he made there 8 years after each was released theatrically, because Paramount saw no value in the films after a few theatrical runs.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...ing-his-movies

Hitchcock kept the films out of circulation for decades, denying all requests for screenings, intending them to be a nest egg for his daughter. The estate licensed them to Universal after he died.

I've always wondered why To Catch a Thief stayed at Paramount.

[BobSimms]

“minimize the need for digital noise reduction”

…okay.

[cda1143]

Originally Posted by UHDLoverForever

It's Andrea Kalas. Back when the restoration was released in blu-ray in 2020 and was lambasted by everyone, she said they stood by the restoration work.

Originally Posted by whiteberry

Here's the statement she asked Robert Harris to post to this forum:



https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...6#post17634476

Thank you. Good to site it again, but that statement was over four years ago. Have there been any recent statements?

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by cda1143

Thank you. Good to site it again, but that statement was over four years ago. Have there been any recent statements?

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

we also created UHD HDR-10 files for future use.

Don’t really know how the above quote can be misconstrued as meaning anything else. This upcoming 4K disc will be the “future use” she was talking about. After all the outcry from before, if a second scan had been done, we would have already heard about it.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

Don’t really know how the above quote can be misconstrued as meaning anything else. This upcoming 4K disc will be the “future use” she was talking about. After all the outcry from before, if a second scan had been done, we would have already heard about it.

There's no need for a second scan though. The underlying restoration is largely fine (color timing complaints aside), it's the DNR that ruins the disc. Hopefully they quietly cave and fix that issue.