color video of 1939 new york

[sanlyn]

It means to run (the cops are coming!) or cease and desist immediately. Dates from Britain in the early 20th century. I remember hearing it used on an audio-book CD of one of the Jeeves novels by P. G. Wodehouse and had to look it up too see what it meant. Saw an old 1929 flick on TCM where gals in the story said cheeze-it twice.

Meanwhile I'm ready to accept the word video in any way anyone wishes to use it.

[Cornucopia]

It's true, the older you get, the more "meanings" become meaningful. I'm over the hill, so maybe that's why I keep up this claptrap!
(Plus, I have living nonegenarians as parents who have some doozies for expressions!)

Scott

[sanlyn]

Right. And the younger you are, the more you think that not much happened before you arrived. I'm afraid I'm so far over the hill myself that I even remember 3D in the early 50's (most of them were really awful, too, but there are a few goodies that still show up now and then -- but not in 3D, thank heaven) and the revival of OZ and King Kong in the late xx's (I decline to fill in the xx's). I was too young then to recall exactly the quality of what I saw, but I saw color newsreels of the 1939 NY World's Fair in a 1950 documentary on the big screen. I was fascinated then. I recall thinking, hey, someone ought to start a business that revives those historic old newsreels. I think AMC thought of it first. Wonder why they don't show 'em any more.

You'd be surprised how many old classics from 75 years ago or more are now restored from crappy 16mm release prints and look like Bluray. I should have gone into that business long ago instead of programming. But hindsight is wonderful, isn't it?

[smrpix]

Best 3D from the first wave were the shorts -- 3 Stooges "Pardon My Backfire" where Moe, wrestling with wires under the hood manages to stick one up larry's nose and out his ear. then he pulls back and forth, back and forth in 3D! Also, Woody Woodpecker on a construction site. And OK, Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder"

Had the unfortunate hallucinatory experience of watching "Kiss Me Kate" with the L and R projectors one frame out of sync. I'll never get over those swirling dresses in the dance numbers going in and out of depth.

[Cornucopia]

I got to see Dial M, House of Wax, and Creature from the Black Lagoon when those were restored and re-shown in select theatres in the Early '80s (in Polarized, single strip, dual-lens format) and they were AMAZING. Ushered in a 3D revival and similarly got me revved up for doing 3D ever since. No out-of-sync then with the single strip (though that did make the print slightly less sharp than theoretically possible, but the lenses and print quality in ~1980 was so much better than in '50s, it probably looked better than expected).

@sanlyn, yeah, I would say that many well-produced 16mm, or Super16, as well as almost ALL 35mm films, have inherently enough resolution in them to put out a pristine Blu-ray copy (assuming well-maintained existing print/neg, and well-executed film-to-tape scanning process). That's why there was always a huge gulf of division between the film crowd and the video crowd. Only in the last few years/decade has that started merging together.

...boy, did this really get Off-topic!

Scott

[Mephesto]

I used to think the reason the distant past looked so depressing was the fact that all records of it is depressing monochrome that couldn't capture the vibrance of life that was not so different.

OP's video proved me wrong. Watching that brings back nothing but bad memories. The great depression even more fucked up than this one, gulags, mass starvation. Some bald stupid **** mustachinoid a half-trillionaire from your misery, laughing while he does it.

Video oughta be burned. I get a headache watching that part of the past displayed in vibrant color.

[2Bdecided]

Yay, let's burn all history!

Or just not teach it - similar effect.

Cheers,
David.

[smrpix]

I would say that many well-produced 16mm... films, have inherently enough resolution in them to put out a pristine Blu-ray copy

Yeah, that's why the new release of Magical Mystery Tour is disappointing. Looks and sounds better than ever, but still....

[sanlyn]

Hm. I don't think we're teaching history anyway. Or most people ignore it. I'm with George Santayana, who long ago said something that has proven itself to be true again and again: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"

Some one posted earlier that one fascination behind watching ancient movies is that it's the closest thing we have to a time machine. Also reminds us how many bad movies have been produced over the years, as well as keeping the good stuff alive.

[smrpix]

Sanlyn, could you say that George Santanaya thing again? I missed it the first time.

[sanlyn]