100 Years of Olympic Films
07: St. Moritz 1948/London 1948
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Synopsis
Spanning fifty-three movies and forty-one editions of the Olympic Summer and Winter Games, this one-of-a-kind collection assembles, for the first time, a century’s worth of Olympic films—the culmination of a monumental, award-winning archival project encompassing dozens of new restorations by the International Olympic Committee. These documentaries cast a cinematic eye on some of the most iconic moments in the history of modern sports, spotlighting athletes who embody the Olympic motto of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”: Jesse Owens shattering sprinting world records on the track in 1936 Berlin, Jean Claude-Killy dominating the slopes of Grenoble in 1968, Joan Benoit breaking away to win the first-ever women’s marathon on the streets of Los Angeles in 1984. In addition to the work of Bud Greenspan, the man behind an impressive ten Olympic features, this stirring collective chronicle of triumph and defeat includes such landmarks of the documentary form as Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia and Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad, along with lesser-known but captivating contributions by major directors like Claude Lelouch, Carlos Saura, and Miloš Forman. It also serves as a fascinating window onto the formal development of cinema itself, as well as the technological progress that has enabled the viewer, over the years, to get ever closer to the action. Traversing continents and decades, and reflecting as well the social, cultural, and political changes that have shaped our recent history, this remarkable marathon of films offers nothing less than a panorama of a hundred years of human endeavor.
Picture 9/10
Continuing on through Criterion’s box set 100 Years of Olympic Films the seventh disc contains two films covering the first set of Olympic Games after WWII: André Michel’s Fight Without Hate, covering the Winter Games, and Castleton Knight’s XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport, covering both the Winter and Summer Games. There are no specific notes on the restorations for either film but they have either been done in 2K or 4K resolution.
The Glory of Sport marks the first colour film in the set and it’s yet another big surprise. I’m not sure what materials were used for the restoration, whether the 3-strip negatives or a print a generation or two out were used, but the end results are striking regardless. The colours look wonderful, vibrant and keeping that Technicolor look. The snow during the first portion of the film (covering the Winter Games) looks really spectacular, balanced well as to not kill detail, all tracks and drifts and the like clearly visible. The rest of the film, covering the Summer Games, doesn’t have the same bright look thanks to the browns and greens of the track field, but again the colours look beautiful and are saturated well, while still keeping a Technicolor look. It’s also worth noting I didn’t detect any issues with colour separation or bleeding at any point during the film. In all it’s a striking Technicolor restoration.
Fight Without Hate is a black and white film but no less impressive. Contrast looks lovely, the image delivering distinct tonal shifts in the grays, strong blacks and whites, and excellent shadow detail. Textures look nice throughout, the fine details of the various sweaters and fur coats that appear popping off of the screen, and the scratches in the ice from the figure skaters are clearly visible.
Both films have also been restored extensively, damage rarely an issue during either film. Though there are a few shots that can be a little out of focus detail levels are otherwise superb. Grain is present and rendered naturally, though maybe looking a bit more impressive in Fight Without Hate, and digital artifacts are not a problem. They’re both, in the end, very film-like.
For whatever reason I wasn’t expecting much from either of these films but again this set just continues to surprise me. It’s easy to tell an overwhelming amount of work has been put into them and it has paid off extensively as they both look exceptional.
Audio 6/10
Both are sound films, Fight Without Hate a French film, Glory of Sport English, and both come with lossless PCM 1.0 mono tracks. Neither are terribly dynamic, with the narration found on Fight sounding particularly flat, but it’s easy to hear what is being said, music sounds fine, and neither present any obvious damage.
Extras 5/10
The only disappointing aspect to this set is that there are no on-disc special features to speak of. The set does come with an incredibly thorough 216-page hardbound book, featuring material on the restorations by Adrian Wood along with essays covering the films, all written by film scholar Peter Cowie. It also filled with photos from the various events. Cowie writes an essay for each film found on this disc, giving some background to the makers behind Fight Without Hate and explaining it’s rather joking tone (trying to offer levity after the war) and admitting some of the humour hasn’t aged particularly well. He then writes about specific events presented in each film and brings up notable athletes. (The grade given here refers to the supplements for the set as a whole, which, in this case, is just the included book.)
Closing
Another batch of surprising restorations, the two films found on this disc look exceptional.
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