#nitrateshow2015

thefyuzhe said: i so wanted to go to the nitrate picture show in rochester!  Did it look really different being shown on nitrate film (to you anyway)?

I got this question in response to my “Casablanca” post, which was part of my AFI Top 100 series as well as the only thing close to a write up that I did on attending the Nitrate Picture Show a few weeks back. My answer?

Yes, seeing a vintage nitrate print of a pre-1951 film, does look really different. Some of the nuance does require a trained--or at least informed--eye, but also comes down to the condition of the print and cinematography on display.

So what makes nitrate prints so different from their safety counterparts? Many nitrate enthusiasts will tell you prints produced on cellulose nitrate film stock have more silver in their emulsions, and that accounts for a lot of the beauty of them. Paired with that will also come the argument that carbon arc lamps, which were replaced by Xenon arc lamps in the post-nitrate era, are necessary for projection to fully appreciate them. Both have been dismissed by people who think nitrate is overrated as grasping at reasons to justify an obsession for a base that is really rooted in love of a bygone cinematic viewing experience.

In my professional opinion, and based on personal experience, the real reason nitrate looks so good, even projected via a Xenon arc lamp, has to do with the early generation of the prints and the thickness of the stock.

“Casablanca” (Dir. Michael Curtiz, 1942)

American Film Institute 100 Years… 100 Movies rank:

Original 1998 list: 2

10th anniversary 2007 list: 3

# of previous times seen: 5

The audience gathered in the Dryden Theatre, at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, NY, for the opening night screening of the Museum of Modern Art’s print of “Casablanca” at the Nitrate Picture Show film festival on Friday, May 1, was shocked, shocked when Festival Director and GEH Motion Picture Department Senior Curator Paolo Cherchi Usai proclaimed that there was someone in the audience who had never seen the movie before. Despite the fact that the schedule for the first annual festival of conservation was kept secret until that morning, thus attracted devotees of the inflammable yet beautiful nitrocellulose film stock and film technology history in general more than the average classic movie fan, amid these hardcore cinema experts some neophytes had slipped in. One of them was theinnkeeperlibrarian, and when Cherchi Usai made his proclamation, she and I both outed her as the person who had not seen “Casablanca” ever. It turns out she was not alone, but she was the minority. To her and the other first timers, Cherchi Usai told them how lucky they were to see “Casablanca” for the first time this way, theatrically and on a vintage nitrate print: “it’s like having your first kiss in front of the Taj Mahal.”

It is hard to argue with Cherchi Usai’s simile, because I doubt the Inn Keeper Librarian or anyone else in the audience that night will ever forget their first viewing of “Casablanca.” They are lucky. I cannot remember the first time I saw it. Unlike “Star Wars” this lack of recall is not based on having seen the film so many times from such an early age that I do not remember a time where I had not seen it. I simply do not recall the exact circumstances of how I first saw it. My mom had a copy on VHS, and I assume I just plucked it out of the cabinet where our movie collection lived and watched it some evening between the ages of 14 and 18. I appreciated “Casablanca” from the first watch, but I never loved it as much as “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) during my formative years of cinephilia. If I made a list of my top 10 favorite movies of all time, it would not rank, yet with each passing year I seem to love “Casablanca” more. Seeing it via a well used, yet still luminous nitrate print just cemented it.

“Citizen Kane” may be the critically best American movie ever made, and “The Godfather” may have knocked “Casablanca” down a notch on the 2007 revision to the American Film Institute’s Top 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list, but “Casablanca” is more accessible and beloved. As I have noted many times before, it is one of the movies that people quote and reference frequently without necessarily realizing the origin or context of “Here’s looking at you, kid,” “Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine,” “We’ll always have Paris,” “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” “Round up the usual suspects,” and “Play it again, Sam;” even though the last of these oft referenced quotes is technically “Play it, Sam.” The climactic scene where Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) tells Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) that regardless of their feelings for each other she needs to go with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), is widely known by the general public, even if they have never seen the film. Heck, Bogart in the trench coat and fedora he wears during that scene is his signature look in pop culture. “Casablanca” is firmly woven into the fabric of American pop culture, and lacks the pretentiousness of “Citizen Kane,” yet since it does not have the annual screenings that “The Wizard of Oz” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” continue to have on television, nor as frequent revival screenings as “Gone with the Wind,” it does not surprise me when people have not seen it.

Print source: George Eastman House Running time: 95 minutes

Screening Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m. at the Nitrate Picture Show.

About the film The frame enlargement reproduced above was taken from the nitrate print to be presented in this program. If you are able to identify its title from the image, you are more than welcome to spread the news ahead of the screening.

All of the other films featured in the official schedule of the Nitrate Picture Show were announced on the morning of the festival’s opening day. We are now asking you to take a further leap of faith and come to this show without knowing what the film is.

In the months preceding this weekend, our technicians and curators inspected all sorts of films, ranging from undisputed classics to relatively obscure items. Our pleasure in looking at them didn’t derive much from the reputation of their creators, or from their stylistic achievements; we were, quite simply, in awe at how beautiful they looked after so many years. We would like to share some of this joy with you, regardless of the film’s critical pedigree.

The second reason for inviting you to a blind date with nitrate is the element of surprise. Each of us, at least once in our lives, has gone to the movies without knowing anything about the title we would see. This condition of blissful ignorance was, to some extent, part of the game. Not infrequently, the will to embrace the unknown is rewarded with a revelation, whether of a major work or an undiscovered gem. The sense of surprise achieved through this humble gesture has given these films a special place in our itinerary as moviegoers. It is a precious gift that deserves to be honored.

Print source: UCLA Film and Television Archive Courtesy of Twentieth Century-Fox Running time: 110 minutes

Screening Sunday, May 3 at 10 a.m. at the Nitrate Picture Show.

About the print This is a vintage release print on deposit with UCLA for Twentieth Century-Fox. Slight scratching and wear are visible. Shrinkage rate: 0.85%.

About the film “All those who derogate the word ‘psychological’ as applied to the modern movie of crime will find in ‘Leave Her to Heaven,’ at long last, a picture that sensationally and completely fills the bill. Gene Tierney, in fact, has a role to play that is veritably psychopathic in its violence, yet so solidly motivated that you view her as a thoroughly poisonous heroine. She is the hopeless victim of a selfishness so consuming that when it manifests itself in love, she sacrifices everything for possession, and for vengeance when she cannot possess.” —Edwin Schallert, The Los Angeles Times, December 29, 1945

“The film has some moments of mounting suspense, inasmuch as John Stahl has given it capable direction for the most part, and the color is lovely to look at, with magnificent outdoor shots and attractive interiors. In fact, the stunning sets are likely to distract your attention from the story, and it’s almost too pretty for the subject matter.” —Mae Tinee, The Chicago Daily Tribune, December 31, 1945

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, UK 1948 Print source: Academy Film Archive Running time: 100 minutes

Screening Saturday, May 2 at 10 p.m. at The Nitrate Picture Show.

About the print Very likely to have been the property of J. Arthur Rank, this nitrate print has some splices in the early reels, and it exhibits some cinching that causes crackling and popping on the sound track. There is some oil on the print throughout, but the general condition is excellent. Shrinkage rate: 0.80%.

About the film “‘Black Narcissus’ is the only picture in several months to which I have returned eagerly. . . . And again I found it an exquisite cinematic jewel, an exotic bloom among the potted plants of Hollywood. . . . The production, designed by Alfred Junge, unfolds a series of Technicolor tapestries as rich, detailed and beautiful as any I have ever seen.” —Philip K. Scheuer, The Los Angeles Times, September 19, 1947

“I don’t recall ever seeing such stunning screen photography. Technicolor has caught sunrise in India’s Himalaya Mountains with haunting fidelity. The incredible softness of India’s early morning sky fire used to drag this quondam soldier from his bunk betimes even in lesser mountains, and here it all is in Himalayan setting and heavenly glory.” —Richard L. Coe, The Washington Post, March 6, 1948

In the year 2000, the International Federation of Film Archives held a special program at the British Film Institute. It was called “The Last Nitrate Picture Show.” David Francis, former head of BFI’s National Film and Television Archive, was its godfather. His successor, Clyde Jeavons, was the chief curator of the series. A book was published for the occasion, titled This Film Is Dangerous, edited by Roger Smither. Fifteen years later, nitrate film hasn’t gone away. Its valedictory appearance at the National Film Theatre in London turned out to be a “see you later” rather than a farewell. Francis, Jeavons, and Smither are also doing fine. They are the guardian angels of the festival you are about to attend.

More than being dangerous, nitrate film was an endangered species from the beginning of its tormented, beautiful life. Because it is chemically unstable, archives and museums have tried to transfer its images onto other carriers; hence the catchphrase “nitrate won’t wait,” adopted in the 1970s as the mantra of preservation activists. In some countries, nitrate film must be destroyed after duplication. Projecting it is forbidden everywhere except at a handful of specialized venues. The Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House is one of them.

In quantitative terms, nitrate prints are a legion—well over a million reels worldwide. Because of their fragile condition, most of them can be used only for the purposes of preservation. Some prints, however, still possess most of their original radiance and can be projected on a big screen. You are about to witness their resurrection in a unique event where cinema will speak on its own terms.

Nitrate film projection is a curatorial discipline in itself; as such, its performance is a synthesis of art and science. The Nitrate Picture Show is also a celebration of all of the individuals and organizations in charge of this mission. Its motto is a variation of our predecessors’ call to action: nitrate can wait. It did. Here it is.

Full 2015 program schedule: eastmanhouse.org/nitratepictureshow

Making Nitrocellulose Film!

Are you attending one of our Making Nitrate Film workshops this weekend? Process Historian Mark Osterman is preparing for your arrival!‪#‎nitrateshow2015‬