LOWRY DIGITAL COMPLETES DIGITAL RESTORATION OF OSCAR®-WINNING FILM THE ROBE

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.lowrydigital.com/therobe.html



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The Oscar®-winning, classic motion picture The Robe has been digitally restored by Lowry Digital utilizing the company’s proprietary Lowry Process™ to create pristine, new picture elements that maintain the visual intentions of the original masterpiece produced in 1953. The restored film premiered at the Rome International Film Festival on October 30, as part of the festival’s ongoing partnership with The Film Foundation. The restoration was a collaboration between the Academy Film Archive and 20th Century Fox with funding from The Film Foundation.

“As the first CinemaScope film, The Robe represents an important milestone in cinema history,” says Schawn Belston, vice president of Asset Management and Film Preservation at 20th Century Fox. “The restoration of the film was a unique and complicated challenge, and we chose to work with Lowry Digital because they are a clear leader in advanced image processing. The final result of their work on this film is a testament to the fact that, beyond their extraordinary digital toolbox, the people at Lowry Digital sincerely care about recreating the authenticity of the original cinematic experience.”

The Robe was released in CinemaScope format, which was a new way of presenting images in a widescreen 2.55:1 aspect ratio. The biblical epic was directed by Henry Koster and photographed by Leon Shamroy, ASC, with Richard Burton, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature in starring roles. The film garnered two Academy Awards® for Best Art Direction and Costume Design among its five nominations, including ones for Best Cinematography and Best Picture.

“The Robe is the most complex and challenging restoration Lowry Digital has done to date,” says Lowry Digital’s Chief Operating Officer Mike Inchalik. “We worked from an amazingly disparate array of elements, including original camera negative, black-and-white YCM separations, and more than a dozen different types of duplicate negative from different eras.”

FULL article and larger scans at link. For the larger scan clink on before and after just below each photo.

Plus this: Fox has also officially confirmed the DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of The Robe on 3/17 (SRP $19.98 and $34.99), after an HD restoration process that took over a year, involving Fox, the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation. The film will be presented in the "Fox CinemaScope Version" with a 2.55:1 aspect ratio (AVC, BD-50, DTS-MA HD). Extras on the DVD will include an introduction by Martin Scorsese, audio commentary with film composer David Newman and film historians Jon Burlingame, Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman, The Making of The Robe featurette, The Music of The Robe (Alfred Newman's score presented as an isolated music track), still galleries and an interactive pressbook. The Blu-ray will include all of the above, along with vintage celebrity introductions by Richard Widmark, Susan Hayward, Robert Wagner, Clifton Webb and Dan Dailey, 2 featurettes (The CinemaScope Story and From Scripture to Script: The Bible and Hollywood), a 1969 audio interview with screenwriter Philip Dunne, 5 Movietone News shorts, trailers and TV spots, a gallery of poster and lobby card art, and a special BonusView picture-in-picture viewing mode featuring The Robe Times Two (a comparison of the full frame and widescreen versions) and 10 A Seamless Faith: The Real-Life Search for The Robe featurettes. Very, very cool. I'm really pleased to see Fox going all out like this on their classic films on Blu-ray Disc.

[Longhorn]

1. While I'm not a fan of The Robe,

I think what they're doing to restore these films is absolutely amazing and I'm so glad they're doing it to preserve these films, especially those that we could lose forever.

Thanks for taking the time to share this article! :hi: