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MichaelB wrote:I was lucky enough to see John Boorman's The General on its blinkworthy original theatrical release in black-and-white 2.35:1, a combo that I don't think ever made it to home video.

I also saw this at the Toronto Festival of Festivals (I had to walk out of Don McKellor’s Last Night to make my screening) and had completely forgotten it was in black-and-white.

What a beautiful film. No regrets on leaving the McKellor, I tells ya.

Mike Flannigan’s Hush also just got a black-and-white (and almost entirely absent of score) version from Scream Factory, and it greatly improves upon what was already a terrific little thriller.

And let’s not forget forget Guillermo’s long-awaited release of Nightmare Alley.

MichaelB wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2025 11:45 am

pianocrash wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2025 6:20 amKindly reminder that any movie can be turned into monochrome if you adjust your color levels on your device of choice (works best with older models, but YMMV)

This is true, but it's not the same thing as having it properly graded shot by shot under the director and DOP's supervision.

For instance, I imagine the colour version of Parasite with the colour turned down looks somewhat different from the official black-and-white version.

Of course it's not! But cheap & incorrect can always be pretty effective in a pinch (I wouldn't lend out something I fixed with duct tape, for instance), but if I want to use my own crayons & watch Another Stakeout in monochrome, I promise not to tell John Badham if you won't :-$

Mostly circles back to my personal preference that the best Criterion extra ever was "Color Bars" :-#

pianocrash wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 3:53 amMostly circles back to my personal preference that the best Criterion extra ever was "Color Bars" :-#

And the best of these being the Little Edie voicemail message over the color bars on the original Grey Gardens DVD.