To Catch a Thief: The Real Story Behind the New Restoration

[00:00:00] Welcome to Perf Damage. Welcome. I'm Adam. And I'm Charlotte. And this is the show where we dive into the lost histories of Hollywood. That's right. It's hilarious. And today, we're gonna talk about not a lost history, but a film restoration. Yes, we've been teasing this one for a while. We're gonna cover Charlotte's, one of Charlotte's favorite Hitchcock movies. That's right. One that I recently got to restore work on the restoration with a group of people because a

[00:00:29] restoration is a collaboration to catch a thief from 1955. We're gonna go into the details of the restoration. And we're gonna hit you with a bunch of did you know some behind the

[00:00:43] scene tales from the production that we did some research on because we can't help ourselves. Yeah, we love did you knows it's not something that we can really do. I can't I can't not do it. Did you know? Yeah. So if you want to hear some

[00:00:55] tales behind the scenes of to catch thief and of the restoration stay tuned. Hey, movie lovers, I'm Adam, and I'm Charlotte, and welcome to Perf Damage. We're a movie obsessed husband and wife team who work in the film industry. I oversee film restoration at the oldest studio in Hollywood, and I bring the inside track from film development and production. And we love to explore the hidden tales of movies past and present.

[00:01:37] So join us for a cinematic journey like no other from classic gyms to examining the art of the double feature. This is Perf Damage. Popcorn pop, wine at the ready. Let's press play. All right. So I think we should start this by saying, we are going to talk about the whole movie here. So if you haven't seen it, and you don't want it to be spoiled. Don't watch this episode.

[00:02:17] I mean, it's 70 years old. So it's a 70 year old movie. So I think we're safe on this one. But you have been warned.

[00:02:41] And this year's Academy Award winner, Grace Kelly, two exciting personalities who were made for each other. And now Alfred Hitchcock brings them into very close contact in this perfect tale of romantic intrigue filmed on the beautiful French Riviera.

[00:02:56] We have a very strong grip. The kind of burglar needs. That's why you came out here, isn't it?

[00:03:10] The scandalous romance that shocked even the Blase International set.

[00:03:22] We paused to shoot.

[00:03:43] When this movie came out, it had really good reviews.

[00:03:48] Why is that shocking?

[00:03:49] Because I feel like people think that people didn't like this movie.

[00:03:54] Do you get that sense too?

[00:03:55] Well, I always personally thought it was lesser Hitchcock and have come to appreciate it much later.

[00:04:02] Yeah, it was definitely not one of my favorites.

[00:04:04] Yeah.

[00:04:04] Even though this is his prime period.

[00:04:07] This was the one that kind of stood out as kind of fluffy.

[00:04:10] Yeah, I think Hitchcock himself didn't really like this one.

[00:04:13] Yeah, I think he said it was something dismissive like that, right?

[00:04:16] I can't remember.

[00:04:17] Yeah, in the book where he's interviewed by a true foe.

[00:04:20] I think he dismisses it.

[00:04:22] Yeah.

[00:04:22] He doesn't even want to talk about it.

[00:04:25] And it's the only film that Paramount still owns from his prime period.

[00:04:30] Yeah, it is.

[00:04:31] Yeah.

[00:04:33] Unfortunately.

[00:04:33] So, you know.

[00:04:35] All right, where are we going with that?

[00:04:36] I don't really know.

[00:04:37] But it's the one he left behind.

[00:04:39] He orphaned it.

[00:04:42] Whatever that means.

[00:04:43] Take it for what you will.

[00:04:45] While we were doing a lot of research for this, I actually went with you to the Herrick Library here in Los Angeles.

[00:04:51] Yeah, when I started doing the restoration on the film, we always...

[00:04:54] Part of that is always research.

[00:04:56] Research.

[00:04:56] Right.

[00:04:56] And what better excuse to go to the Herrick Library?

[00:04:59] Lots of paperwork from the studios.

[00:05:03] They donated all their paperwork so you can find production files, camera reports.

[00:05:07] I was looking at camera reports, which I thought was fascinating.

[00:05:10] All kinds of stuff.

[00:05:11] So we grabbed all the files on To Catch a Thief.

[00:05:14] So we gathered some stories for you.

[00:05:17] Cary Grant retired from acting two years before this film came out.

[00:05:24] On the film Dream Wife, 1953, that was his last film.

[00:05:27] He said, you know, with the rise of all these method actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando, why would anybody want to see me?

[00:05:35] He said, I'm aging out of this leading actor thing.

[00:05:38] But another big reason that he was going to call it quits at that point was that he was really unhappy with the way that HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee, we talk about them a lot.

[00:05:50] We do.

[00:05:51] It's like we have a problem with them.

[00:05:53] Yeah.

[00:05:53] Well, we definitely have a problem with what they did, for sure.

[00:05:56] Yes, we do.

[00:05:57] He was very unhappy with the way that HUAC had treated Charlie Chaplin, who was a close friend of his.

[00:06:02] And Hollywood kind of shunned his career after that.

[00:06:06] You read a book, right?

[00:06:07] Yes.

[00:06:07] When you told me that, I ended up looking into that a little bit more.

[00:06:12] And there's a book.

[00:06:13] It's just, it's really heartbreaking what they did to him.

[00:06:16] So I can understand why Cary Grant would have been upset by that, especially if he was a close friend of his.

[00:06:22] Yeah, yeah.

[00:06:23] Cary Grant was also from Britain.

[00:06:26] And he said to himself, you know, if they could do this to him, they could do it to me.

[00:06:30] So if I retire, then they can't go after me.

[00:06:33] I have nothing to lose.

[00:06:34] Yeah.

[00:06:35] So, yeah.

[00:06:36] So he retired.

[00:06:38] And it took him almost two years to come back.

[00:06:42] Hitch had to go and lure him back with the promise of a vacation in the south of France.

[00:06:49] I mean, who wouldn't want to do that?

[00:06:51] Right?

[00:06:52] Oh, but this was the real kicker.

[00:06:55] He also promised that he would get to work with Grace Kelly.

[00:06:58] So he said, well, you know, the France thing's good.

[00:07:03] But for Grace Kelly, I'll come back.

[00:07:05] So I've got a good one for you that's about John Roby's villa.

[00:07:10] You might actually want to grab your wine for this because it's a pretty good story.

[00:07:13] Okay.

[00:07:15] Okay.

[00:07:16] So.

[00:07:17] You don't have to tell me twice.

[00:07:17] So they find this villa and they work out a deal with this guy who ended up being a nightmare to rent this villa from.

[00:07:26] And they shot a lot of pictures because they were going to have to do the interiors back on a soundstage at Paramount.

[00:07:34] And they paid this guy a crazy amount of money to shoot the exteriors at this villa.

[00:07:43] And then at the end of the shoot, the guy started demanding that they pay him more money.

[00:07:50] So I have this memo that I actually want to read.

[00:07:53] Okay.

[00:07:55] And this is from Don Erickson, the production manager of To Catch a Thief, written back to Frank Caffey at Paramount.

[00:08:02] He said,

[00:08:03] The fella who owns the property we used for Roby's villa has threatened to sue us if he sees any of his interior ideas recreated on the screen unless we give him a large gratuity in addition to the enormous rental fee according to our contract.

[00:08:18] Rather than be blackmailed by this greedy man who gave us nothing but trouble from the very start, I told him to go ahead and sue.

[00:08:26] I doubt very much that he would carry out this threat.

[00:08:28] But in the event he is crazy enough to do it, it might be wise if Mac would avoid a direct match of any of the interior details of his house.

[00:08:39] I know Mac took stills of the interior and it is possible that he has incorporated some of the ideas in the set.

[00:08:46] But perhaps we should ignore the threat entirely.

[00:08:49] But I mention it in case you wish to take the necessary precautions.

[00:08:53] So he sends that letter and then a few days later there is a copy of a follow-up letter that Doc writes.

[00:09:01] Oh, I can't wait for this one.

[00:09:03] Which says,

[00:09:08] So if it is not too late, perhaps Mac should revise some of the interior details.

[00:09:20] So they were banking on him not suing and it sounds like he was like completely prepared to sue.

[00:09:26] Yeah.

[00:09:26] The guy was making noise.

[00:09:28] So I thought that was kind of funny.

[00:09:29] Yeah.

[00:09:30] He was probably one of those guys that's like, oh yeah, come on, come shoot my house.

[00:09:33] And then slowly, once they agreed to it, then it just got worse and worse and worse for them.

[00:09:40] Yeah.

[00:09:41] There's some more lead up in the email or emails.

[00:09:45] The memo chain.

[00:09:47] Yes.

[00:09:47] In the memos back and forth.

[00:09:49] They start out, they're weekly letters that were written from Doc to Frank Caffey about how the production's going.

[00:09:58] And mostly they're about the weather here sucks.

[00:10:00] We can't shoot anything.

[00:10:03] We were advised by the National Weather Committee that this month was the best month to shoot in France,

[00:10:10] but it's nothing but fog and it never burns off.

[00:10:14] And then it's rainy and we have yet to see the sun.

[00:10:18] So there's a lot of that in the correspondence.

[00:10:21] But there's also mention of the guy at Roby's villa being kind of a nightmare and asking for a lot of money.

[00:10:28] And I don't think he was the first choice.

[00:10:33] The first element that was important was for a group of us to go to the south of France to find various locations.

[00:10:41] Finding locations in the south of France wasn't particularly difficult because it's all there and it's all so beautiful.

[00:10:48] The only one exception that I keep recalling is that we were looking for the house where Cary Grant would be living.

[00:10:56] And we found just a spectacular place, we thought, not far out of Cannes, just a couple of miles,

[00:11:03] and situated on a bluff that overlooked the Mediterranean.

[00:11:06] It was absolutely gorgeous and the view was spectacular.

[00:11:11] But when Hitch came a couple of months later and we started showing him all the places we'd seen,

[00:11:17] we took him up to this spot and that morning it was fogged in so heavily,

[00:11:24] we couldn't find the gateposts of the estate.

[00:11:27] So Hitch wouldn't even get out of the car.

[00:11:28] So we never went back to look at it again, even in good weather.

[00:11:31] So he says, no, no, no.

[00:11:33] Then we went off in another direction and took another house up in the hills.

[00:11:37] There was a lot of production going on in the south of France at the time.

[00:11:41] So trying to get labor was really difficult.

[00:11:44] Trying to get French actors was really difficult.

[00:11:48] And in France at the time you had to hire so much French labor, French actors,

[00:11:54] which is probably still similar to today.

[00:11:56] I'm pretty sure it's like that in almost any country.

[00:11:59] Yeah.

[00:11:59] Another interesting thing, all of the French actors had to wear French labels.

[00:12:05] Like their clothes, their costumes in the film all had to be from French designers.

[00:12:09] Well, of course, that's so French.

[00:12:11] But apparently at this point there was not a lot of helicopter photography like where,

[00:12:17] you know, became really, really popular in like the 60s and 70s.

[00:12:21] And this was originally Alma's idea.

[00:12:24] She came up with the idea.

[00:12:25] Hitchcock's wife.

[00:12:26] Yeah.

[00:12:26] Alma Hitchcock said, hey, why don't you shoot France from a unique perspective?

[00:12:32] Something that no one's seen before.

[00:12:34] They had to rent this helicopter.

[00:12:35] It was called a Sikorsky S-51.

[00:12:38] I love that you know what model helicopter it is, by the way.

[00:12:42] Yeah.

[00:12:42] That's the sort of research we do around here.

[00:12:45] Because the VistaVision cameras are so heavy, they had to remove the door on the side of

[00:12:50] the helicopter.

[00:12:51] And then they had to come up with this crazy rig with a bunch of cables and ropes and literally

[00:12:59] kind of hang it out of the helicopter to shoot down.

[00:13:02] I read this really funny memo that said that finally the day that the weather was good

[00:13:10] and that they could shoot these aerial shots, the car they were using, the clutch went out.

[00:13:16] So the car died.

[00:13:19] Oh, that's classic.

[00:13:20] So the car went to the, yeah.

[00:13:21] So that they were delayed yet another day because of the car.

[00:13:24] Yeah.

[00:13:24] Most of these are because they use them in that big chase sequence when the cops are

[00:13:29] following or chasing what they think is John Robey.

[00:13:33] We got to talk about the Hitchcock cameo.

[00:13:35] So where's the Hitchcock cameo in this one?

[00:13:37] Well, it's pretty close to the beginning.

[00:13:39] He's on the bus.

[00:13:41] I don't know if it's cool, but I remember from seeing this whenever I was younger, seeing

[00:13:45] the VHS tape and his face would always be kind of cut off whenever Cary Grant looks over

[00:13:50] at him.

[00:13:51] But now, of course, you can see his full face, which you've been able to see for a while,

[00:13:55] but it's kind of cool.

[00:13:56] This is all about ages, like what I'm going to talk about here.

[00:13:59] You got some ageism?

[00:14:00] Yeah.

[00:14:00] So Cary Grant was 50 years old.

[00:14:03] He's romancing Grace Kelly, who was only 26 on this film.

[00:14:06] Brigitte Aubert, who played Daniela Foussard in this, she was 30, which makes that scene

[00:14:12] between her and Grace Kelly where she's calling her old.

[00:14:18] Say something nice to her, Daniela.

[00:14:20] She looks a lot older up close.

[00:14:26] To a mere child, anything over 20 might seem old.

[00:14:30] A child?

[00:14:32] Shall we stand in shallower water and discuss that?

[00:14:38] Well, she was actually four years.

[00:14:40] Yeah, she's four years older than Grace Kelly in that scene.

[00:14:42] She does look a lot younger, though.

[00:14:43] Which I think is funny.

[00:14:45] Yeah.

[00:14:45] You know that Danielle was actually her side gig when she wasn't acting.

[00:14:50] She was an acrobat.

[00:14:52] Oh, wow.

[00:14:53] Which Hitch didn't know when he hired her, which came in handy towards the end of the film when

[00:14:59] she's climbing on the roof.

[00:15:00] Yeah, crawling across the roof.

[00:15:01] She looks really natural doing it, too.

[00:15:03] Because she was, because that was easy for her.

[00:15:05] And Cary Grant also had a little history as an acrobat.

[00:15:10] Yeah, he traveled with a bunch of tumblers back in the day.

[00:15:13] A tumbler.

[00:15:14] Yeah.

[00:15:15] So it doesn't end there.

[00:15:16] There's more age stuff here.

[00:15:18] It is.

[00:15:19] So Jesse Royce Landis, she plays Grace Kelly's mother, Jesse Stevens.

[00:15:23] She was actually only eight years older than Cary Grant at the time.

[00:15:27] But interestingly enough, she was cast again in another Hitchcock film, North by Northwest,

[00:15:33] as his mother.

[00:15:34] Yes.

[00:15:34] They are so good together.

[00:15:36] They are.

[00:15:36] They're amazing.

[00:15:37] In North by Northwest.

[00:15:38] They have amazing chemistry in this film, though, too.

[00:15:40] Such good chemistry in this.

[00:15:41] And then it's taken to the next level in North by Northwest.

[00:15:45] They are so good together.

[00:15:46] Hey, I'm going to pour myself some more wine.

[00:15:48] Okay.

[00:15:49] Because the dog spilled mine.

[00:15:52] The dog did spill his wine.

[00:15:55] In the other room.

[00:15:55] I might just lock her in the back.

[00:15:57] Oh, my God.

[00:15:58] Something.

[00:16:04] While you're doing that, there's an interesting thing.

[00:16:08] If you look closely in the scene where Cary Grant is in Bertani's restaurant at the beginning

[00:16:15] of the film, there is a very tall man who breaks a plate and walks towards Cary Grant.

[00:16:22] This very tall man's name is Wee Willie Davis.

[00:16:25] And I found a personal injury report where he cut his hand breaking a plate during a scene.

[00:16:32] And there is a quick shot where you can actually see that he's got a little bandage on his hand.

[00:16:39] Aw.

[00:16:39] From where he hurt his hand.

[00:16:41] When they're fleeing the restaurant and they get onto this boat, which is named the Maquis

[00:16:46] Mouse, which always reminds me of, you know, the Maquis from Star Trek for all my, you know,

[00:16:53] Star Trek fans out there.

[00:16:54] Nerd alert.

[00:16:55] That's the first thing I think of.

[00:16:57] But, you know.

[00:16:59] What is the Maquis?

[00:16:59] The Maquis is the resistance.

[00:17:00] The Maquis is the resistance.

[00:17:01] Yeah, the French resistance.

[00:17:02] That Cary Grant's character worked for.

[00:17:05] They talk about it a little bit at the beginning of the film.

[00:17:08] Bertani said you were something of a celebrity in the underground army.

[00:17:11] I was in the resistance.

[00:17:13] Did you kill many people?

[00:17:15] 72.

[00:17:19] It's also sort of a play on Mickey Mouse.

[00:17:22] Right.

[00:17:22] You know, that's...

[00:17:24] Wordplay.

[00:17:24] Wordplay there.

[00:17:26] Very Hitchcock.

[00:17:27] He loves wordplay.

[00:17:28] He does.

[00:17:28] Yep.

[00:17:29] But I like to think that there's another meaning there, too, because if you've seen the film,

[00:17:33] we've already spoiler alerted you.

[00:17:35] Danielle is actually...

[00:17:37] She's the fake John Robey, right?

[00:17:40] Right.

[00:17:41] And the real John Robey is trying to find who is pretending to be John Robey, right?

[00:17:47] So it's a cat and mouse game, right?

[00:17:49] So in essence, she is the mouse that he is chasing as John Robey the cat.

[00:17:54] Right.

[00:17:55] So it's the McKee Mouse that she is driving this boat.

[00:17:59] Right.

[00:17:59] The McKee Mouse.

[00:18:01] And it is her father's boat.

[00:18:02] And he is John Robey the cat.

[00:18:04] It's a cat and mouse.

[00:18:05] I don't know.

[00:18:06] I like to think that there's a little bit of a play there, too, whether it was intentional or not.

[00:18:12] No, I think that's a good read.

[00:18:13] I mean, all of that is, you know, it's perfectly in line with everything that Hitch would do.

[00:18:18] Yeah.

[00:18:19] You know, he loves layers on layers.

[00:18:20] He does.

[00:18:21] And I've never read that anywhere before.

[00:18:23] It was just one of those things after watching it, you know, 40 times.

[00:18:27] I'm like, huh.

[00:18:29] Huh.

[00:18:30] You know.

[00:18:30] Yeah.

[00:18:31] No, that tracks.

[00:18:37] Yeah.

[00:18:39] All right.

[00:18:40] So this was the first of Hitchcock's five films that he eventually shoots in VistaVision.

[00:18:46] Yes.

[00:18:46] Yes.

[00:18:48] And before we even get into that, it's really his first widescreen film.

[00:18:55] You could argue that Rear Window is his first.

[00:18:58] That was released in Paramount's faux 166 widescreen aspect ratio, which is just really, it's like they did with Shane where they just zoomed in.

[00:19:08] Right.

[00:19:09] Released in 166.

[00:19:10] Is that real widescreen?

[00:19:11] No.

[00:19:12] I don't think so.

[00:19:12] No, it's matted.

[00:19:13] It's matted.

[00:19:14] This is real widescreen folks.

[00:19:17] VistaVision.

[00:19:18] So this is really his first outing with widescreen and he really takes advantage of it.

[00:19:24] And I think really it's the first real VistaVision film.

[00:19:31] And what I mean by that is all the VistaVision films that came before that, a lot of them were shot indoors.

[00:19:37] Yeah.

[00:19:38] They were studio bound, right?

[00:19:39] Yes.

[00:19:40] And by VistaVision, you mean they're on location.

[00:19:42] On location.

[00:19:43] Capturing real vistas.

[00:19:44] Gorgeous views.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:46] I mean, you had a lot of those VistaVision visits shorts that kind of showed off landscapes and stuff like that.

[00:19:52] Strategic Air Command came out the same year before this one and it showed off the skies, but it didn't really show off the landscape.

[00:20:00] Not like this one does show off the south of France.

[00:20:03] I mean, this is an advertisement for the south of France.

[00:20:07] Who doesn't want to go to Monte Carlo after you see this film?

[00:20:36] Let's talk about why this particular movie was special to you.

[00:20:40] Whenever I got the job that I have now in 2019, I said, oh man, I really want to work on that film.

[00:20:46] But it had just been worked on in 2017.

[00:20:47] Right.

[00:20:47] And you're like, oh man, I missed my chance.

[00:20:49] Yeah.

[00:20:49] It had just been worked on.

[00:20:50] Yeah.

[00:20:51] Even though the last release had been done in 2020, the film had been restored in 2017.

[00:20:56] And I thought, man, I missed my chance.

[00:20:58] And one of my mentors, Ron Smith, said, stick around long enough and you will work on it.

[00:21:05] You always work on films over and over.

[00:21:08] Yeah, they will work on it again.

[00:21:09] And look what happened.

[00:21:12] Yeah.

[00:21:12] You know, just a few years later, they said, hey, we want to release this and we want to do a new version of it.

[00:21:20] That's just the way technology works, right?

[00:21:23] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:21:24] You know, back then it was Blu-ray and now it's 4K.

[00:21:27] Yeah.

[00:21:28] And back then the, you know, transition for changing technology was a little bit longer.

[00:21:33] Longer or in between, yeah.

[00:21:34] Now it's shorter.

[00:21:35] So that happens a little bit more rapidly.

[00:21:38] But whenever this title came up and they said, who on your team do you want to assign it to?

[00:21:43] And I just went, no, no, I'm going to work on it.

[00:21:46] I think everybody, everybody was like, uh, we're not touching that.

[00:21:50] They already knew that.

[00:21:51] They already knew.

[00:21:52] That's all her.

[00:21:52] Yeah.

[00:21:53] Yeah.

[00:21:53] There's a couple films like that.

[00:21:55] Yeah.

[00:21:55] You've been very vocal about this one from the time you took your job.

[00:21:59] So, yeah.

[00:22:00] So it was, yeah, it was a very, um, very exciting.

[00:22:03] Um, I think I was practically skipping home that day.

[00:22:07] I think you did.

[00:22:08] I mean, when you, when I got home that day, you were like, you're never going to believe what happened today.

[00:22:14] Yeah.

[00:22:15] So it was very, very exciting to, to get the chance to work on it.

[00:22:19] In addition to like being excited about working on this film that you've always just loved this film.

[00:22:24] Yeah.

[00:22:24] From the time you worked at Paramount and got to see things like, let's talk about the costumes.

[00:22:30] Yeah.

[00:22:31] Uh, you were talking about the jacket story.

[00:22:34] Yes.

[00:22:34] The jacket.

[00:22:35] Yeah.

[00:22:35] So when I joined the archive, uh, there was a little presentation given.

[00:22:40] And one of the things they had displayed, they had some costumes displayed and they had

[00:22:44] Cary Grant's jacket from to catch a thief.

[00:22:46] And it's the gray jacket that he's wearing when he's sitting with Grace Kelly.

[00:22:51] They're above Monte Carlo and they're eating fried chicken and beer.

[00:22:56] And it's the jacket and the shirt.

[00:22:59] And there's a little, I think there's an ascot, but it's not the original one.

[00:23:02] And I was looking at the jacket and I got super close to it.

[00:23:06] And the costume archivist said, you can touch the jacket.

[00:23:10] And I looked at, I said, no, I can't.

[00:23:13] That's Cary Grant's jacket.

[00:23:15] I can't touch that.

[00:23:17] It just laughed at me, but I've still never touched it.

[00:23:22] And I've worked next to it for years because it's just, it's Cary Grant's jacket.

[00:23:27] Can't touch that.

[00:23:29] Yeah.

[00:23:29] It's kind of fun working for a studio and being so close to those kinds of iconic.

[00:23:35] Yeah.

[00:23:35] Yeah.

[00:23:36] Yeah.

[00:23:36] We have a couple of costume pieces from to catch a thief.

[00:23:39] We have the, one of the green dresses that you see towards the end of the film.

[00:23:42] Oh, at the costume ball.

[00:23:43] Yep.

[00:23:43] Yeah.

[00:23:44] There's a bracelet.

[00:23:45] I think that's there.

[00:23:47] And I think, I think that's all that's been identified.

[00:23:50] I mean, you have to remember that the costumes were often reused.

[00:23:54] All right.

[00:23:54] So let's get into the nuts and bolts, the stuff, the good stuff that everybody wants to hear

[00:23:59] about.

[00:23:59] Yeah.

[00:24:00] The stuff people probably just tuned in for.

[00:24:02] They've zoomed through to get to this part right here.

[00:24:06] Yeah.

[00:24:07] Just about the restoration stuff.

[00:24:09] Right.

[00:24:09] So, well, let's talk about what was the source for this and like, what condition was it in?

[00:24:17] So the source for this restoration was the original negative, which is the VistaVision original

[00:24:23] negative.

[00:24:24] We had the fortune of having clean scans.

[00:24:28] So we didn't have to go in and do any kind of DRS work to get rid of all the scratches

[00:24:34] and stuff like that.

[00:24:35] But I did go and look at the raw scans and man, were they dirty.

[00:24:41] There were some really nasty horizontal scratches, which is something that you get with VistaVision

[00:24:46] that you don't get with regular 35 millimeter film.

[00:24:49] So remember, VistaVision film travels through the camera horizontally, regular 35 millimeter

[00:24:55] film travels this way.

[00:24:56] So if you get a scratch in the camera, you're going to get a scratch.

[00:24:59] Sometimes you'll get it right down the middle and that's annoying.

[00:25:00] But with VistaVision, they just come straight across.

[00:25:05] And there was one scene in particular.

[00:25:07] It's the scene where Grace Kelly is showing off her necklace to Cary Grant.

[00:25:13] It's the firework scene.

[00:25:14] Right.

[00:25:15] And I was looking at the raw scans for that.

[00:25:18] And there are two gigantic scratches, like one on each side of the necklace, one right

[00:25:24] across her face during that scene.

[00:25:26] Oh, man.

[00:25:26] And then when Cary Grant sits down next to Grace Kelly on the couch, a third scratch enters

[00:25:31] the party.

[00:25:32] It's like a menage a trois of scratches just running horizontally over that.

[00:25:38] Even in this light, I can tell where your eyes are looking.

[00:25:51] But all of that fortunately was cleaned up.

[00:25:53] So we were able to just use the clean scans that didn't have all of those.

[00:25:57] But originally, that's the condition that the negative was in.

[00:26:00] And in restoration, those are the hardest scratches to fix, right?

[00:26:04] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:26:04] A horizontal scratch that runs through the entire image.

[00:26:06] Well, even a vertical scratch is really costly and time-consuming to fix.

[00:26:10] What other problems do you commonly encounter with VistaVision?

[00:26:15] So VistaVision is prone to its own bit of problems.

[00:26:20] So you get flickering issues.

[00:26:22] That was something that was prone with the cameras.

[00:26:25] And a lot of this stuff isn't unique to VistaVision, but it's stuff that we see really common.

[00:26:29] Commonly with those scans.

[00:26:31] Yeah.

[00:26:31] And it depends on the cameras, too, that were used.

[00:26:34] So you get flickering issues a lot.

[00:26:36] There's a particular set of years that seem to have more color fade than other years, which I've been trying to document and try to target as years to go after to restore first.

[00:26:49] First, right.

[00:26:50] Yeah.

[00:26:51] I don't know if it was the stock that was used during that time just seems to be more susceptible to fading worse than others.

[00:26:58] And this is the actual negative that fades.

[00:27:00] Correct.

[00:27:01] Yeah.

[00:27:01] Yeah.

[00:27:02] Yeah.

[00:27:02] So there's problems with that.

[00:27:03] And then within whenever the negative fades, it doesn't fade evenly.

[00:27:08] So it's not like, okay, the blue is now just gone.

[00:27:12] The blue's gone here and here and here.

[00:27:15] So what it does is...

[00:27:17] It's kind of patchy, right?

[00:27:17] Yeah.

[00:27:17] It's patchy.

[00:27:18] And it does this thing that we call color breathing.

[00:27:20] Okay.

[00:27:20] So that happens a lot.

[00:27:21] And that's very difficult to balance out in a restoration.

[00:27:25] Right.

[00:27:25] So that's something that we have to deal with.

[00:27:28] Other things are...

[00:27:30] That often appears in finished work as you'll see the color go from bluish to greenish to yellowish.

[00:27:39] Yeah, it can do that too.

[00:27:40] Right?

[00:27:40] Yeah.

[00:27:41] That's a shifting color.

[00:27:42] Yep.

[00:27:43] Yeah.

[00:27:43] Yeah.

[00:27:43] You can see that too.

[00:27:44] And that's...

[00:27:45] So that's something to look out for.

[00:27:46] You now know that that is color breathing when you see something shift in color.

[00:27:51] It can also look like bands too.

[00:27:53] Right.

[00:27:54] It can kind of like bands.

[00:27:55] Like if you've ever seen an old VHS tape that you were trying to adjust the tracking.

[00:27:59] Right.

[00:27:59] Sometimes it can hit like that too.

[00:28:01] Oh, wow.

[00:28:01] Yeah.

[00:28:01] Which is really difficult to fix.

[00:28:02] That's probably way more severe.

[00:28:03] Yeah.

[00:28:04] Yeah.

[00:28:04] To do.

[00:28:04] Yeah.

[00:28:05] Very difficult to fix.

[00:28:07] So it can...

[00:28:07] It just depends on how the negative is and what the condition is.

[00:28:12] You know, another thing that we found with some of the VistaVision negatives,

[00:28:16] they would mount lights right next to the camera.

[00:28:19] And again, this isn't something unique to VistaVision,

[00:28:22] but sometimes the lights that they would mount because they were trying to

[00:28:26] light the scene so brightly will cause heat waves.

[00:28:30] And sometimes that'll look like the film is warped.

[00:28:34] Warping, right?

[00:28:34] Yeah.

[00:28:35] Yeah.

[00:28:35] You can see it really well in White Christmas.

[00:28:41] Where the treetimes glisten.

[00:28:45] And it almost looks like the film is kind of warped,

[00:28:47] but it's actually heat from the lights around the camera.

[00:28:52] Right.

[00:28:52] Where did you do all the work for this film?

[00:28:54] The work was all done on the Paramount lot of the Paramount Post facility.

[00:28:59] Worked with a colorist named John Persichetti,

[00:29:02] who we've worked with on a couple films before.

[00:29:06] Recently, we worked on the film The Day of the Locust together

[00:29:09] with Senior Preservation Manager Jeff McCarty.

[00:29:12] And that one I'm mentioning because it was just nominated

[00:29:17] for the HPA Award for Outstanding Restoration.

[00:29:23] Oh, that's cool.

[00:29:24] So I got a...

[00:29:24] What does HPA stand for?

[00:29:26] That is the Hollywood Professional Association.

[00:29:30] And this is a pretty new award.

[00:29:33] They just started it last year.

[00:29:34] And Paramount won the very first year for The Godfather.

[00:29:39] So we won the Restoration Award last year.

[00:29:41] We've got some pretty stiff competition this year.

[00:29:43] We're up against The Searchers, Warner Brothers.

[00:29:47] Oh, wow.

[00:29:47] That's a good one.

[00:29:47] It's really stiff competition.

[00:29:48] Sugar Land Express from Universal.

[00:29:51] Disney has two of them.

[00:29:52] They have Planet of the Apes and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

[00:29:57] So it is a...

[00:29:59] That's a big one.

[00:29:59] It's a big category.

[00:30:01] Yeah.

[00:30:01] So stiff competition this year.

[00:30:04] So, you know, good luck to everybody.

[00:30:06] This is the first time this was ever going to be

[00:30:08] in its original aspect ratio.

[00:30:10] I mean, when it was released,

[00:30:11] it was in its original aspect ratio.

[00:30:13] Other than when it's projected.

[00:30:15] Sorry, I'm just making fun of your hands, your jazz hands.

[00:30:17] Yeah.

[00:30:18] One of the unique aspects of this version

[00:30:21] that you guys are putting out

[00:30:22] is that it will be available in 185

[00:30:25] for the very first time, right?

[00:30:27] That's VistaVision's native aspect ratio.

[00:30:30] Yep.

[00:30:30] Yep.

[00:30:30] That is the preferred aspect ratio for VistaVision.

[00:30:33] Although, technically,

[00:30:35] Vista was shot to be a flexible system,

[00:30:37] which they said could be shown in 166,

[00:30:41] even 137,

[00:30:42] if the theater chose to show it that way.

[00:30:44] Right.

[00:30:44] Because at the time,

[00:30:45] they weren't asking theaters to upgrade

[00:30:47] like CinemaScope was.

[00:30:49] Right.

[00:30:49] They were saying,

[00:30:50] hey, you know,

[00:30:51] no matter what size screen you have,

[00:30:53] you can show our film.

[00:30:54] Yeah.

[00:30:54] So you talked about Robert Burks,

[00:30:56] the cinematographer on this.

[00:30:57] Well, he won an Academy Award for this film.

[00:30:59] Yes, he did.

[00:31:00] It was nominated for three,

[00:31:01] but he was the only one to take home the gold that year.

[00:31:04] Yes, he did.

[00:31:05] The winner for color cinematography

[00:31:08] in New York

[00:31:09] to catch a thief,

[00:31:11] Robert Burks.

[00:31:25] Thank you very much,

[00:31:27] and thank you too, Hitch.

[00:31:30] Didn't you have some unique story

[00:31:31] about the way he shot that really iconic scene

[00:31:35] with Grace Kelly pushing down the accelerator?

[00:31:38] Yes, yes.

[00:31:40] So there is a classic shot

[00:31:42] where it's a close-up of Grace Kelly's feet

[00:31:46] slamming on the brakes

[00:31:47] with the clutch and the brake.

[00:31:58] I got to tell you,

[00:32:00] I still drive a stick shift to this day,

[00:32:01] and anytime I'm in heels and I do that,

[00:32:03] I think,

[00:32:04] I just Grace Kelly'd.

[00:32:05] Grace Kelly'd it.

[00:32:07] I'm not joking.

[00:32:07] Robert Burks specifically requested

[00:32:10] a lens that was used on the War of the Worlds,

[00:32:14] which was a mirrored periscope lens

[00:32:17] to shoot that scene of her feet

[00:32:21] hitting the clutch and the brake.

[00:32:24] So the thing that was used to shoot that

[00:32:26] was the same one that was used

[00:32:27] to shoot on War of the Worlds,

[00:32:29] which I think is pretty cool.

[00:32:30] Yeah, that's really, really cool.

[00:32:31] And he requested the specific one,

[00:32:33] and I guess what they originally sent to him

[00:32:35] or gave to him was not the same one,

[00:32:37] and he knew it somehow.

[00:32:38] Oh, wow.

[00:32:39] And the memo I found was,

[00:32:41] no, you sent me the wrong one.

[00:32:42] I want the one that was used

[00:32:44] on War of the Worlds,

[00:32:45] and they got that sent over.

[00:32:47] So there's a little connection

[00:32:48] between War of the Worlds

[00:32:49] and Togetch Thief there.

[00:32:50] Oh, that's really cool.

[00:32:51] With a lens, yeah.

[00:32:52] You worked with a colorist on this.

[00:32:55] Yep, John Persichetti.

[00:32:56] What does that exactly entail?

[00:32:57] Like, where do you start with color?

[00:33:01] So we get assigned a colorist.

[00:33:04] So John got assigned to this one.

[00:33:06] And right at the beginning,

[00:33:08] we start doing color research together.

[00:33:11] So we were lucky with this film

[00:33:13] that there had been several transfers

[00:33:15] done beforehand.

[00:33:16] So we get all of the transfers

[00:33:19] that have already been done,

[00:33:20] and we get those,

[00:33:21] and we look at all of them

[00:33:22] so that we can compare

[00:33:24] what's been done before

[00:33:25] and try to figure out

[00:33:26] what we're going to do with this one.

[00:33:28] Because with this film,

[00:33:29] we started at the clean scans,

[00:33:31] and we did everything new

[00:33:32] from there up.

[00:33:33] So brand new color grade,

[00:33:35] brand new framing,

[00:33:36] all of that stuff.

[00:33:37] So what we found

[00:33:38] whenever we compared

[00:33:39] some of the old transfers

[00:33:40] was that the color

[00:33:42] was completely different

[00:33:43] when we compared some,

[00:33:45] you know,

[00:33:45] like the 2012,

[00:33:46] the 2017,

[00:33:48] very different color grades.

[00:33:49] So we found a 1960 IB print.

[00:33:54] Oh, and if you...

[00:33:55] IB Technicolor print.

[00:33:56] Right.

[00:33:57] And if you have seen

[00:33:58] our Technicolor episodes,

[00:33:59] you'll know the importance

[00:34:00] of an IB print

[00:34:01] and why that makes that special.

[00:34:03] Yes.

[00:34:04] So I don't want to go

[00:34:05] too far into the weeds with that,

[00:34:07] but basically it's...

[00:34:12] The reason you go to...

[00:34:13] Here, let me help.

[00:34:14] Yes, thank you.

[00:34:15] The reason you go to an IB print,

[00:34:17] right, as we talked about before,

[00:34:19] is that the colors do not fade

[00:34:21] because of the specific

[00:34:22] dye transfer process.

[00:34:24] Yes.

[00:34:24] So by going back

[00:34:26] to that vintage print,

[00:34:27] that is the closest thing

[00:34:29] you're going to have

[00:34:30] because Hitchcock approved

[00:34:32] the final colors

[00:34:32] on the print that was released

[00:34:35] to talking to Hitchcock.

[00:34:37] That is...

[00:34:37] Isn't he so great?

[00:34:38] I would hire him.

[00:34:40] The closest thing you have

[00:34:42] to his actual input, right?

[00:34:44] Right, right.

[00:34:44] And this print was from 1960,

[00:34:46] which is pretty close to...

[00:34:48] Yeah, it came out in 55.

[00:34:49] Yeah.

[00:34:50] And what's great is that

[00:34:51] these prints just,

[00:34:52] like you said,

[00:34:53] don't fade.

[00:34:55] So we reviewed the IB print

[00:34:57] and one of the things

[00:35:00] that was the craziest revelation

[00:35:02] from that review,

[00:35:03] and in that review,

[00:35:04] we had the colorist,

[00:35:05] I was there,

[00:35:06] we had some other people

[00:35:07] from the department

[00:35:08] because we tried to get

[00:35:09] as many eyes in there

[00:35:10] as we can.

[00:35:11] Right.

[00:35:11] Um,

[00:35:12] was that some of the opening shots,

[00:35:14] like there's a scene

[00:35:15] with a cat walking on a roof.

[00:35:17] Mm-hmm.

[00:35:18] And in one of the transfers,

[00:35:21] it was, you know,

[00:35:22] there was more of a green hue,

[00:35:23] another,

[00:35:24] there was more of a blue hue.

[00:35:26] And in the print,

[00:35:27] it was super green.

[00:35:30] Yeah.

[00:35:31] Like super green,

[00:35:32] like way more green

[00:35:33] than I would have thought.

[00:35:35] So we took a lot of notes like that.

[00:35:38] Another thing that we were doing

[00:35:39] with the print,

[00:35:41] we were also taking notes

[00:35:42] about framing.

[00:35:44] So headroom,

[00:35:45] if there was a lot of headroom

[00:35:46] with, you know,

[00:35:47] just an interior shot

[00:35:48] or an exterior shot,

[00:35:50] or, you know,

[00:35:50] if someone's,

[00:35:51] if there's a vista

[00:35:52] of someone walking down the stairs,

[00:35:53] you know,

[00:35:54] sometimes I'll take a little picture

[00:35:55] on my phone

[00:35:56] or, you know,

[00:35:57] the colorist will take notes

[00:35:58] and stuff like that.

[00:35:59] So we took a lot of notes like that.

[00:36:00] And again,

[00:36:01] we, we know that there's been

[00:36:03] some fading with the print.

[00:36:05] We are well aware of that,

[00:36:07] but these prints

[00:36:08] are in such great condition

[00:36:10] that they're really

[00:36:11] just such a good guide

[00:36:13] to let you know where to go.

[00:36:15] And again,

[00:36:15] it's a print.

[00:36:17] It's going to look different

[00:36:18] than an HDR transfer

[00:36:20] where we have a much

[00:36:21] wider range of color.

[00:36:23] So you're already going to be

[00:36:24] completely different there,

[00:36:27] you know.

[00:36:28] So it gave us a really good guide

[00:36:30] of where to go

[00:36:31] with our new restoration

[00:36:33] on, on that.

[00:36:35] So that's where we started from.

[00:36:36] And right after the review,

[00:36:37] we went straight from there

[00:36:39] back to the color bay.

[00:36:41] And then with some

[00:36:42] of the key scenes

[00:36:43] that we had the most questions of,

[00:36:45] because before we actually

[00:36:46] went to the color review,

[00:36:47] we had sort of,

[00:36:48] you know,

[00:36:48] kind of went through

[00:36:51] the clean scans

[00:36:52] and the colorist

[00:36:53] had pointed out some things

[00:36:54] that he had questions on.

[00:36:55] Yeah.

[00:36:55] We went back

[00:36:56] and we made some notes

[00:36:57] and made some changes.

[00:36:58] Well, in addition to that,

[00:36:59] you did extra research too,

[00:37:02] right?

[00:37:02] Like you went back

[00:37:03] to the interview

[00:37:04] with Truffaut

[00:37:06] that Hitchcock did

[00:37:07] and he talked about

[00:37:08] how he shot through

[00:37:10] a green filter

[00:37:11] for those scenes.

[00:37:13] And so you thought green,

[00:37:14] but when you saw it

[00:37:15] and you saw how brilliant

[00:37:16] that green actually was.

[00:37:18] Yeah.

[00:37:18] In the print,

[00:37:19] I was really shocked

[00:37:20] at how green it was.

[00:37:22] But we know

[00:37:23] from subsequent films

[00:37:24] like Vertigo

[00:37:25] that how much he liked

[00:37:27] that saturated color,

[00:37:28] the, you know,

[00:37:29] because like you said,

[00:37:31] it's telling you

[00:37:32] something about the film.

[00:37:33] Yeah.

[00:37:34] It's that light motif.

[00:37:36] Yeah.

[00:37:36] I mean,

[00:37:36] the scenes in

[00:37:37] To Catch Thief

[00:37:38] with the fireworks

[00:37:39] and the green light

[00:37:41] coming in,

[00:37:41] you know,

[00:37:41] that's very green.

[00:37:42] But really what struck me

[00:37:44] were the scenes

[00:37:44] of like the cat

[00:37:45] on the roof

[00:37:46] that were just

[00:37:47] very saturated

[00:37:49] that I wouldn't have

[00:37:50] expected

[00:37:50] to be as green

[00:37:52] as they were

[00:37:52] in the print.

[00:37:53] So you had the IB print

[00:37:55] as documentation.

[00:37:56] You had the interview

[00:37:58] with Truffaut

[00:37:59] as further backup.

[00:38:02] Yeah.

[00:38:02] And it's been mentioned

[00:38:04] elsewhere too

[00:38:04] and stuff like that.

[00:38:05] So that's what we used

[00:38:06] as our guide.

[00:38:07] Right.

[00:38:07] You know,

[00:38:07] and again,

[00:38:08] you know,

[00:38:09] you always just try

[00:38:09] to do the best you can

[00:38:11] with the information

[00:38:11] you got.

[00:38:12] And that's where

[00:38:13] we went from this.

[00:38:14] And but having

[00:38:15] two sources like that

[00:38:16] is it's a good

[00:38:17] a good guideline then.

[00:38:18] Yeah.

[00:38:18] Like you kind of knew

[00:38:19] where you needed to go

[00:38:21] because of those things.

[00:38:23] What are some

[00:38:24] of the challenges

[00:38:25] of bringing a classic film

[00:38:26] like To Catch a Thief

[00:38:27] into the HDR color space?

[00:38:32] There's a lot

[00:38:33] because on the one hand

[00:38:35] you want to embrace

[00:38:37] the technology.

[00:38:38] You want to use it.

[00:38:39] Right.

[00:38:40] Because otherwise

[00:38:41] why did we buy this

[00:38:42] in HDR?

[00:38:43] It looks just like

[00:38:45] the Blu-ray.

[00:38:46] Well,

[00:38:46] this is in Dolby Vision guys.

[00:38:48] Yeah.

[00:38:48] Just so you know.

[00:38:48] They did a Dolby Vision

[00:38:50] color grading.

[00:38:51] We did.

[00:38:53] And you don't want it

[00:38:54] to look unrealistic.

[00:38:56] You don't want it

[00:38:57] to look not like

[00:38:59] To Catch a Thief.

[00:39:00] The thing with this film,

[00:39:02] there's all kinds of jewels.

[00:39:03] Right?

[00:39:04] Right.

[00:39:04] So you get lots

[00:39:05] of highlights

[00:39:07] in the jewels.

[00:39:08] So at first,

[00:39:10] whenever you first

[00:39:11] look at it

[00:39:11] in Dolby Vision,

[00:39:12] those are just blinding.

[00:39:14] So I always like

[00:39:15] to roll back on those.

[00:39:16] I don't like them.

[00:39:17] I mean,

[00:39:18] don't get me wrong.

[00:39:19] It looks awesome.

[00:39:20] Yeah.

[00:39:21] When you're just being

[00:39:22] blinded by jewels

[00:39:23] or when Grace Kelly's

[00:39:25] in the water

[00:39:25] by the raft

[00:39:26] and the light

[00:39:27] from the water

[00:39:28] is kind of almost

[00:39:29] blinding you.

[00:39:30] You need sunglasses

[00:39:31] and it does look pretty cool.

[00:39:32] Yeah,

[00:39:32] those reflections are cool.

[00:39:34] But you gotta roll that off.

[00:39:35] You also don't want them

[00:39:36] to take away from the film.

[00:39:37] You don't.

[00:39:38] You don't want to only

[00:39:39] be staring at the jewels

[00:39:40] or the reflections

[00:39:41] in the water.

[00:39:42] No.

[00:39:42] You want it to look

[00:39:44] realistic

[00:39:44] as if you're actually

[00:39:46] looking at it

[00:39:47] because that's,

[00:39:47] I think,

[00:39:47] the beauty of HDR.

[00:39:49] It's like the ability

[00:39:50] to capture the sunset

[00:39:52] that you can't normally

[00:39:53] capture on a camera.

[00:39:54] You know,

[00:39:55] or at least you couldn't

[00:39:55] used to capture

[00:39:56] the sunset on a camera

[00:39:57] but now you can.

[00:39:58] That's what HDR can do.

[00:39:59] Yeah,

[00:39:59] all the crazy colors.

[00:40:00] So I think you have

[00:40:01] to ride that line

[00:40:02] of making it look real

[00:40:04] but not unreal.

[00:40:07] Yeah,

[00:40:07] and you don't want

[00:40:07] to burn people's

[00:40:08] retinas out either,

[00:40:09] right?

[00:40:09] You don't want to peg it

[00:40:10] constantly with the top knits

[00:40:12] that you can possibly

[00:40:13] put out, right?

[00:40:13] Yeah,

[00:40:14] and with,

[00:40:14] you know,

[00:40:15] with a kind of

[00:40:16] a normal film

[00:40:17] not a sci-fi film.

[00:40:18] I think sci-fi is

[00:40:19] what looks best

[00:40:20] in HDR in my opinion

[00:40:21] because you get

[00:40:22] the explosions,

[00:40:23] fire,

[00:40:24] lasers,

[00:40:25] that kind of stuff.

[00:40:27] But,

[00:40:27] you know,

[00:40:27] a normal film,

[00:40:30] you're getting

[00:40:32] highlights,

[00:40:33] you're getting

[00:40:33] highlights,

[00:40:33] you're getting

[00:40:34] more color.

[00:40:46] But again,

[00:40:46] it's just trying

[00:40:48] to be faithful

[00:40:49] to the original

[00:40:49] which ultimately

[00:40:50] you can't

[00:40:51] because that's

[00:40:52] not what it

[00:40:53] looks like.

[00:40:53] Your color space

[00:40:54] is so far

[00:40:55] expanded above

[00:40:56] film color space.

[00:40:57] Your brightness

[00:40:59] and darkness

[00:40:59] are so far

[00:41:00] that it's just,

[00:41:02] it's not film.

[00:41:04] Right.

[00:41:04] You know,

[00:41:04] so you have

[00:41:05] to keep that in mind

[00:41:06] but then you try

[00:41:08] to be faithful

[00:41:08] to that but then

[00:41:09] also try to

[00:41:10] embrace the technology

[00:41:11] because if you don't,

[00:41:12] people are going

[00:41:13] to be upset

[00:41:14] that it doesn't

[00:41:15] look much

[00:41:16] advantage of the

[00:41:16] technology.

[00:41:17] Right.

[00:41:17] So it's a fine

[00:41:18] line to walk

[00:41:19] and you try

[00:41:19] to just,

[00:41:22] you know,

[00:41:23] embrace it

[00:41:23] without going

[00:41:24] overboard.

[00:41:24] Yeah,

[00:41:25] in a lot of ways

[00:41:25] it's exciting

[00:41:26] though too

[00:41:26] because you get

[00:41:27] to see this film

[00:41:28] in kind of a new

[00:41:28] way.

[00:41:29] Yeah,

[00:41:29] yeah.

[00:41:30] I mean,

[00:41:30] sometimes like

[00:41:31] again with the

[00:41:31] jewels,

[00:41:32] they're sparkly

[00:41:33] and that's great.

[00:41:35] Yeah.

[00:41:36] Yeah.

[00:41:38] So I know

[00:41:39] Charlotte really well.

[00:41:40] I mean,

[00:41:41] you should.

[00:41:41] because I'm married

[00:41:42] to her but I also

[00:41:44] know that she's a

[00:41:45] perfectionist and no

[00:41:47] matter what she does

[00:41:48] to these things,

[00:41:49] there's always stuff

[00:41:50] left in that she

[00:41:51] wasn't able to

[00:41:53] change or wasn't

[00:41:54] able to fix.

[00:41:56] So is there anything

[00:41:57] left in to catch a

[00:41:58] thief that you were

[00:42:00] not able to fix

[00:42:01] that you would like

[00:42:02] to?

[00:42:03] Oh,

[00:42:04] because we just

[00:42:05] didn't have the

[00:42:05] stuff for like,

[00:42:07] right?

[00:42:07] Yeah.

[00:42:07] Like,

[00:42:11] yes.

[00:42:12] right near the

[00:42:13] beginning of the

[00:42:14] film.

[00:42:15] So there is

[00:42:16] the helicopter

[00:42:17] shots that you

[00:42:18] mentioned earlier.

[00:42:18] we talked about

[00:42:19] helicopter shots,

[00:42:20] right?

[00:42:20] Yes.

[00:42:20] Yep.

[00:42:21] Okay.

[00:42:21] So there are,

[00:42:23] there's a series,

[00:42:24] there's a montage

[00:42:25] that happens right

[00:42:27] near the beginning

[00:42:27] of the film when

[00:42:28] Cary Grant is

[00:42:30] fleeing from the

[00:42:31] cops and it's a

[00:42:33] montage shot from a

[00:42:34] helicopter and

[00:42:35] they're all

[00:42:35] opticals.

[00:42:37] and basically

[00:42:38] what I'm going

[00:42:39] to,

[00:42:39] I'm going to

[00:42:40] explain it.

[00:42:40] Okay.

[00:42:40] I'm going to

[00:42:41] explain it.

[00:42:41] I got,

[00:42:41] I got this,

[00:42:42] but thank you.

[00:42:43] Basically what an

[00:42:44] optical is,

[00:42:45] it's not the

[00:42:46] first generation.

[00:42:47] It's not the

[00:42:48] original negative,

[00:42:49] right?

[00:42:49] It's a copy.

[00:42:51] It's a copy.

[00:42:51] So it doesn't look

[00:42:52] as good.

[00:42:53] So what you've

[00:42:54] got in a film,

[00:42:55] you've got a

[00:42:55] montage of images

[00:42:56] that are cross

[00:42:57] fading,

[00:42:58] dissolving into the

[00:42:59] next,

[00:42:59] right?

[00:43:00] Da,

[00:43:00] da,

[00:43:01] dissolve,

[00:43:01] da,

[00:43:02] da,

[00:43:02] dissolve,

[00:43:03] da,

[00:43:03] da,

[00:43:03] dissolve.

[00:43:04] And all these

[00:43:05] images,

[00:43:05] you know,

[00:43:06] they just,

[00:43:06] they just don't

[00:43:07] look as good.

[00:43:09] And when you're

[00:43:09] watching the

[00:43:10] original negative

[00:43:11] in 6k and it

[00:43:13] just looks amazing

[00:43:14] and then you've

[00:43:15] got all these

[00:43:15] shots that just

[00:43:16] don't look as

[00:43:17] good and it's

[00:43:17] just going on

[00:43:18] and on and on

[00:43:19] and then it

[00:43:19] cuts to the

[00:43:20] amazing thing

[00:43:20] again.

[00:43:21] It just,

[00:43:21] it drives you

[00:43:22] crazy.

[00:43:23] So I would

[00:43:25] love to have

[00:43:25] all those

[00:43:26] original pieces

[00:43:27] so we could

[00:43:28] recreate the

[00:43:29] opticals because

[00:43:29] I know I'm,

[00:43:30] I've lost so

[00:43:31] many people now

[00:43:31] and I'm sorry,

[00:43:32] but imagine if

[00:43:33] you had the

[00:43:33] original things

[00:43:34] that you could

[00:43:36] replace.

[00:43:37] Well,

[00:43:37] so an optical

[00:43:38] is created

[00:43:39] when two pieces

[00:43:40] of negative

[00:43:41] are then,

[00:43:43] um,

[00:43:44] like you said

[00:43:44] in a fade,

[00:43:45] it's a cross

[00:43:46] fade,

[00:43:46] a cross fade.

[00:43:47] So they take

[00:43:47] the original

[00:43:47] pieces,

[00:43:48] put them on

[00:43:49] top of each

[00:43:49] other and

[00:43:50] then do a

[00:43:51] fade and

[00:43:52] then they

[00:43:52] take that

[00:43:52] copy that

[00:43:53] includes the

[00:43:54] fade and

[00:43:54] then that's

[00:43:54] what goes

[00:43:55] into the

[00:43:55] film,

[00:43:55] basically.

[00:43:56] So those

[00:43:57] other two

[00:43:58] pieces are

[00:43:58] discarded.

[00:43:59] We don't

[00:43:59] need those.

[00:44:00] Yeah.

[00:44:00] Sometimes they

[00:44:00] keep them and

[00:44:01] sometimes we

[00:44:02] can find them

[00:44:02] and then we

[00:44:03] can put them

[00:44:03] back in and

[00:44:04] recreate that

[00:44:05] fade.

[00:44:05] Oh,

[00:44:05] it looks

[00:44:06] pretty,

[00:44:07] but all we

[00:44:08] have on this

[00:44:09] one is that

[00:44:10] copy.

[00:44:11] And so they

[00:44:12] stand out.

[00:44:12] It's just one

[00:44:17] working on

[00:44:17] it.

[00:44:18] You just

[00:44:18] think,

[00:44:19] oh man,

[00:44:20] this could

[00:44:20] look so

[00:44:21] good.

[00:44:22] And this is

[00:44:22] super common

[00:44:23] now that we're

[00:44:24] working in 4K.

[00:44:25] So if you're

[00:44:26] ever watching a

[00:44:27] film and you

[00:44:28] wondered why

[00:44:28] this scene didn't

[00:44:30] look as good as

[00:44:31] another scene,

[00:44:32] it's usually

[00:44:32] because there

[00:44:33] is some

[00:44:33] sort of

[00:44:33] optical printing,

[00:44:35] some sort of

[00:44:35] effect that's

[00:44:36] taking place.

[00:44:37] And so even

[00:44:38] in the original

[00:44:39] negative,

[00:44:40] there is not

[00:44:40] that original

[00:44:41] negative.

[00:44:42] That is not

[00:44:42] original negative.

[00:44:43] That is a

[00:44:44] dupe down.

[00:44:44] Yeah,

[00:44:44] you can see that

[00:44:45] a lot in

[00:44:45] older films when

[00:44:47] something's about

[00:44:48] to fade to

[00:44:48] black.

[00:44:49] Right.

[00:44:49] You can always

[00:44:50] tell like,

[00:44:50] oh,

[00:44:51] here's the

[00:44:51] optical,

[00:44:51] we're about

[00:44:52] to fade to

[00:44:52] black because

[00:44:53] all of a sudden

[00:44:53] the quality

[00:44:54] got not as

[00:44:55] good.

[00:44:55] Right.

[00:44:56] And then it

[00:44:56] fades to

[00:44:57] black.

[00:44:58] That's an

[00:44:58] optical.

[00:44:58] Right.

[00:44:59] Didn't stand

[00:44:59] out as much

[00:45:00] when everything

[00:45:00] was photochemical

[00:45:02] now that we're

[00:45:03] all in.

[00:45:03] But I suggest

[00:45:03] that you don't

[00:45:04] look for that

[00:45:04] because once you

[00:45:05] see it,

[00:45:05] you can't

[00:45:06] unsee it and

[00:45:06] then it

[00:45:07] drives you crazy.

[00:45:08] So that's

[00:45:09] one thing.

[00:45:10] It's like

[00:45:10] horizon lines for

[00:45:11] me.

[00:45:12] Like I go

[00:45:13] crazy about

[00:45:13] horizon lines

[00:45:14] when steady

[00:45:16] and it drives

[00:45:17] her crazy

[00:45:18] because I'm

[00:45:18] always pointing

[00:45:18] it out.

[00:45:20] I don't want

[00:45:20] to know about

[00:45:21] them.

[00:45:21] I don't want

[00:45:22] to know.

[00:45:22] Because you

[00:45:23] can't unsee

[00:45:23] that afterwards.

[00:45:24] Yeah.

[00:45:25] Anyway,

[00:45:25] so I have

[00:45:27] to address

[00:45:27] the elephant

[00:45:27] in the room.

[00:45:29] Everybody

[00:45:29] talks about

[00:45:30] this.

[00:45:30] Anytime

[00:45:31] anybody talks

[00:45:32] about a

[00:45:32] restoration.

[00:45:33] What about

[00:45:34] grain reduction,

[00:45:34] on the

[00:45:35] how much

[00:45:35] grain reduction

[00:45:36] was put

[00:45:36] into this

[00:45:37] restoration?

[00:45:40] We got to

[00:45:40] talk about it.

[00:45:41] People want

[00:45:42] to know.

[00:45:48] It's just

[00:45:49] it's so

[00:45:49] crazy that

[00:45:50] that's always

[00:45:51] the first

[00:45:51] question people

[00:45:52] ask.

[00:45:53] Well,

[00:45:53] Everybody

[00:45:53] wants to

[00:45:54] know about

[00:45:54] DNR.

[00:45:55] If you

[00:45:55] watch the

[00:45:55] Heath

[00:45:56] interview,

[00:45:57] I'm just

[00:45:58] not some

[00:45:58] Heath

[00:45:59] Holland

[00:45:59] serial at

[00:46:00] midnight

[00:46:00] interview that

[00:46:01] drove a lot

[00:46:02] of people

[00:46:02] over here.

[00:46:03] Thank you,

[00:46:03] Heath.

[00:46:05] I don't

[00:46:06] do a lot

[00:46:07] of it and

[00:46:07] it may

[00:46:08] just be

[00:46:08] the films

[00:46:09] that I've

[00:46:09] worked on

[00:46:10] just haven't

[00:46:10] needed it.

[00:46:11] With Vista

[00:46:11] Vision,

[00:46:12] you're lucky

[00:46:13] because there's

[00:46:13] really not a

[00:46:14] lot of grain.

[00:46:15] Yeah,

[00:46:16] because of the

[00:46:16] extra resolution,

[00:46:17] right?

[00:46:17] Because of the

[00:46:17] extra resolution,

[00:46:18] so you don't

[00:46:19] need it.

[00:46:19] So this film

[00:46:19] didn't need

[00:46:20] it.

[00:46:20] There was

[00:46:22] one shot.

[00:46:24] Ooh.

[00:46:26] One shot.

[00:46:27] Controversial

[00:46:28] people.

[00:46:29] Where there

[00:46:30] was a shirt

[00:46:32] where it

[00:46:33] was going

[00:46:33] crazy.

[00:46:34] It looked

[00:46:34] like a

[00:46:35] rainbow

[00:46:35] shirt.

[00:46:36] Oh,

[00:46:36] it was

[00:46:37] color

[00:46:37] mooring,

[00:46:37] right?

[00:46:38] Yes.

[00:46:38] That'll

[00:46:38] happen.

[00:46:39] And I

[00:46:39] did about

[00:46:40] a 20%

[00:46:41] little

[00:46:42] kind of

[00:46:43] tweak

[00:46:43] thing and

[00:46:44] the colors

[00:46:45] kind of had

[00:46:45] to twist

[00:46:45] my arm

[00:46:46] to do

[00:46:47] it.

[00:46:47] Oh,

[00:46:47] yeah.

[00:46:47] But it

[00:46:48] really,

[00:46:49] it wasn't,

[00:46:49] that's not

[00:46:50] what grain

[00:46:50] looks like.

[00:46:51] It was

[00:46:51] adding this

[00:46:52] digital noise

[00:46:52] just because

[00:46:53] of it and

[00:46:54] it really,

[00:46:55] it made

[00:46:56] it so

[00:46:56] much better

[00:46:57] and it

[00:46:58] really was

[00:46:58] incredibly

[00:46:59] distracting.

[00:47:00] So we

[00:47:00] did that

[00:47:00] a one

[00:47:01] shot in

[00:47:02] the film.

[00:47:03] So I'll

[00:47:03] be really

[00:47:04] interested to

[00:47:04] see what

[00:47:05] everybody

[00:47:07] says,

[00:47:08] you know,

[00:47:08] if they think

[00:47:08] that grain

[00:47:09] reduction's been

[00:47:10] done because

[00:47:10] it hasn't.

[00:47:11] This is just

[00:47:12] one of those

[00:47:13] things that

[00:47:13] just keeps

[00:47:14] coming up.

[00:47:15] Hey,

[00:47:15] I had to

[00:47:16] ask the

[00:47:16] question because

[00:47:17] I know

[00:47:17] somebody will

[00:47:18] ask it.

[00:47:18] No,

[00:47:18] absolutely.

[00:47:19] And I

[00:47:20] think it's

[00:47:20] a fair

[00:47:20] question.

[00:47:21] And here's

[00:47:23] the thing.

[00:47:24] Back in

[00:47:25] the,

[00:47:25] I know,

[00:47:27] everybody has

[00:47:28] one of their

[00:47:28] catchphrases and

[00:47:29] that's definitely

[00:47:30] my catchphrase.

[00:47:31] So it's like a

[00:47:31] drinking game.

[00:47:33] Here's the

[00:47:34] thing.

[00:47:34] No,

[00:47:35] here's the

[00:47:36] thing.

[00:47:38] Back in the

[00:47:39] DVD era,

[00:47:40] if you didn't

[00:47:40] do grain

[00:47:41] reduction to

[00:47:42] things,

[00:47:42] which they

[00:47:42] were using

[00:47:43] a lot of

[00:47:43] IPs,

[00:47:44] which had

[00:47:44] more grain

[00:47:45] than the

[00:47:46] negatives

[00:47:46] we're using

[00:47:47] now.

[00:47:48] Yeah,

[00:47:48] interpositives

[00:47:49] are one

[00:47:49] removed.

[00:47:50] Yeah.

[00:47:50] So people

[00:47:51] know.

[00:47:51] Thank you.

[00:47:52] Yeah.

[00:47:52] Wine.

[00:47:53] Yeah.

[00:47:54] Uh,

[00:47:54] you had to

[00:47:55] do a little

[00:47:55] bit of that

[00:47:56] because it

[00:47:56] would,

[00:47:57] the compression

[00:47:57] would cause

[00:47:58] like all this

[00:47:59] crazy blocking

[00:48:00] and stuff

[00:48:00] like that.

[00:48:01] Right.

[00:48:01] So you

[00:48:02] had to do

[00:48:03] grain reduction

[00:48:03] to avoid

[00:48:04] that sort of

[00:48:05] thing.

[00:48:05] Yes.

[00:48:06] We get to

[00:48:06] the high

[00:48:06] def world

[00:48:07] and that

[00:48:08] sort of.

[00:48:08] Well,

[00:48:08] in addition to

[00:48:08] that,

[00:48:09] they also

[00:48:09] did a lot

[00:48:09] of digital

[00:48:10] sharpening

[00:48:10] because the

[00:48:11] size of

[00:48:12] pixels back

[00:48:12] then was

[00:48:13] much larger.

[00:48:14] And the

[00:48:14] grain reduction

[00:48:15] would create

[00:48:15] a softer

[00:48:16] image.

[00:48:16] Right.

[00:48:17] So then you

[00:48:17] had to

[00:48:17] sharpen it to

[00:48:18] compensate for

[00:48:19] that.

[00:48:19] So there

[00:48:19] was a bit

[00:48:20] of that

[00:48:21] happening.

[00:48:21] So you

[00:48:23] get to

[00:48:23] the HD

[00:48:24] world and

[00:48:25] it takes a

[00:48:26] little while

[00:48:26] for I think

[00:48:27] workflows to

[00:48:27] sort of catch

[00:48:28] up with

[00:48:29] technology

[00:48:30] changing.

[00:48:30] So I think

[00:48:31] that there

[00:48:31] was a time

[00:48:32] when,

[00:48:33] you know,

[00:48:33] it was just

[00:48:34] still common

[00:48:35] practice to

[00:48:35] do grain

[00:48:37] reduction to

[00:48:38] an entire

[00:48:38] film.

[00:48:39] Well,

[00:48:39] yeah,

[00:48:39] you know,

[00:48:40] they would

[00:48:40] do a grain

[00:48:40] pass.

[00:48:42] So I think

[00:48:43] that that was

[00:48:44] just common

[00:48:44] practice for a

[00:48:45] while and it

[00:48:45] just took

[00:48:45] people a while

[00:48:46] to sort of

[00:48:47] get on board

[00:48:47] that it

[00:48:48] just wasn't

[00:48:49] needed anymore.

[00:48:50] Right.

[00:48:50] Right.

[00:48:51] Mentalities have

[00:48:51] definitely changed

[00:48:52] recently,

[00:48:53] which is great.

[00:48:54] But just back

[00:48:55] to your original

[00:48:55] point.

[00:48:56] Yeah,

[00:48:56] I did one

[00:48:57] little bit

[00:48:59] and that's

[00:49:00] it.

[00:49:00] And in one

[00:49:01] scene,

[00:49:01] in one scene,

[00:49:02] if people want

[00:49:02] to try to find

[00:49:03] it,

[00:49:03] sure,

[00:49:03] have fun.

[00:49:04] But no,

[00:49:05] I will be

[00:49:06] interested to

[00:49:06] hear if

[00:49:07] people think

[00:49:08] that there's

[00:49:08] been a ton

[00:49:09] done because

[00:49:09] there hasn't

[00:49:11] there hasn't.

[00:49:12] I know you

[00:49:12] guys care about

[00:49:13] the films and

[00:49:14] you want to

[00:49:15] know that it's

[00:49:15] being cared for

[00:49:16] and that the

[00:49:17] right thing is

[00:49:17] being done to

[00:49:18] it.

[00:49:18] And I know

[00:49:19] what that means.

[00:49:20] So I'm just

[00:49:21] trying to do my

[00:49:22] part to get that

[00:49:23] information out

[00:49:24] there to people.

[00:49:25] Yeah.

[00:49:25] As film nerds

[00:49:26] like you guys

[00:49:26] nerds,

[00:49:27] I'm telling you,

[00:49:28] we are just as

[00:49:28] passionate as you

[00:49:34] know.

[00:49:35] Well,

[00:49:35] if you watch

[00:49:36] this channel,

[00:49:37] then you probably

[00:49:38] have a pretty good

[00:49:38] idea.

[00:49:39] You may know.

[00:49:39] So yeah.

[00:49:41] Well,

[00:49:41] this was fun.

[00:49:43] Was it?

[00:49:43] A little bit

[00:49:44] different.

[00:49:44] I don't know.

[00:49:45] I was really

[00:49:45] nervous.

[00:49:46] Well,

[00:49:46] you shouldn't be

[00:49:47] nervous.

[00:49:47] I'm nervous.

[00:49:48] I'm telling people

[00:49:49] ahead of time I

[00:49:50] worked on something.

[00:49:51] What if they hate

[00:49:51] it?

[00:49:52] Well,

[00:49:53] you already said

[00:49:53] they could direct

[00:49:54] all of their

[00:49:55] problems with

[00:49:56] anything towards

[00:49:56] me.

[00:49:57] So I saw the

[00:49:58] final color grade

[00:49:59] on this and I

[00:50:02] think the movie

[00:50:03] looks amazing.

[00:50:04] It looks better

[00:50:04] than it's ever

[00:50:05] looked before.

[00:50:06] It's beautiful

[00:50:07] seeing it in its

[00:50:08] original aspect

[00:50:09] ratio instead of

[00:50:11] the 178 is

[00:50:12] fantastic.

[00:50:13] Not that the 178

[00:50:14] is bad.

[00:50:15] It's similar,

[00:50:15] but you know.

[00:50:16] I mean,

[00:50:19] just a little

[00:50:20] something extra

[00:50:21] about seeing the

[00:50:22] 185.

[00:50:23] I know.

[00:50:23] As a purist.

[00:50:24] It's the Vista

[00:50:25] Vision.

[00:50:25] It's the Vista

[00:50:26] Vision aspect

[00:50:27] ratio,

[00:50:27] which makes it

[00:50:28] special.

[00:50:29] Yeah.

[00:50:29] No,

[00:50:30] and the colors

[00:50:30] are so vibrant

[00:50:32] and the sparkliness

[00:50:34] of the jewels

[00:50:35] and I hope people

[00:50:37] are happy with it.

[00:50:37] I really do.

[00:50:38] I don't see how

[00:50:39] they couldn't

[00:50:40] respond well to

[00:50:40] this because it's

[00:50:41] fantastic.

[00:50:41] It's the internet.

[00:50:42] They can do

[00:50:43] whatever they want.

[00:50:45] I hope you guys

[00:50:46] have enjoyed this.

[00:50:46] Hope you've

[00:50:47] enjoyed hearing some

[00:50:48] of those stories

[00:50:48] behind the scenes,

[00:50:49] learning about

[00:50:50] all the sources

[00:50:52] that we use,

[00:50:53] some of the stories

[00:50:54] behind it,

[00:50:55] and some of the

[00:50:57] thoughts that go

[00:50:58] into actual

[00:50:58] restoration.

[00:50:59] Yeah,

[00:50:59] and if you have

[00:51:00] questions about

[00:51:00] restoration or

[00:51:02] questions about

[00:51:03] things,

[00:51:03] if I was confusing

[00:51:04] here,

[00:51:04] I'm sorry,

[00:51:04] it's the wine

[00:51:05] probably,

[00:51:05] so you just

[00:51:06] ask them below

[00:51:07] and I'll try to

[00:51:07] clarify that

[00:51:09] information for you

[00:51:10] because,

[00:51:10] again,

[00:51:11] we started this

[00:51:12] channel with the

[00:51:12] hopes of sharing

[00:51:13] stories that we

[00:51:14] learned during

[00:51:15] restorations or

[00:51:16] books that were

[00:51:17] read.

[00:51:18] Bringing things

[00:51:19] from our jobs

[00:51:20] into this.

[00:51:21] Yeah,

[00:51:21] and I just

[00:51:22] wanted to share

[00:51:23] information that I

[00:51:24] know just from

[00:51:25] working on the

[00:51:25] films with you

[00:51:27] guys because I

[00:51:27] know you guys

[00:51:28] really care about

[00:51:28] the films in a

[00:51:29] way that I

[00:51:30] really care about

[00:51:30] the films and I

[00:51:31] think,

[00:51:32] you know,

[00:51:32] what would I want

[00:51:34] to know if I

[00:51:36] didn't work here

[00:51:36] and have this

[00:51:37] information and so

[00:51:38] that's what I'm

[00:51:38] trying to do.

[00:51:39] So,

[00:51:40] yeah,

[00:51:40] so go out and

[00:51:41] buy to catch a

[00:51:43] thief on 4k.

[00:51:44] Yeah,

[00:51:45] watch it in UHD

[00:51:45] for the very first

[00:51:46] time.

[00:51:47] Yeah,

[00:51:47] and then let me

[00:51:47] know what you

[00:51:48] think,

[00:51:48] but only if you

[00:51:49] liked it.

[00:51:50] No,

[00:51:51] and I hope you

[00:51:52] guys love it and

[00:51:53] thank you for

[00:51:54] joining us today on

[00:51:55] this restoration

[00:51:56] tale.

[00:51:58] Until next time,

[00:51:59] thank you for

[00:51:59] joining us here on

[00:52:01] Perf Damage.

[00:52:03] All right,

[00:52:22] welcome to

[00:52:23] Perf Damage.

[00:52:24] Welcome.

[00:52:24] I'm Adam.

[00:52:25] I'm Charlotte.

[00:52:26] And this is the

[00:52:27] show where we go

[00:52:28] and dive into the

[00:52:29] deep shit.

[00:52:31] Sorry.

[00:52:31] Into the deep

[00:52:32] shit.

[00:52:32] Into the deep

[00:52:33] shit,

[00:52:34] sorry.

[00:52:37] Yes,

[00:52:37] we do.

[00:52:39] All right.

[00:52:40] Welcome to

[00:52:41] Perf.