Remember The Alamo

[John Johnson]

According to Robert A. Harrs, all versions of The Alamo are currently endangered. The film’s original 65mm elements are essentially gone, both for the 202-minute roadshow version and the 167-minute cut down version. The roadshow version could possibly still be salvaged in a half-decent home video version, but it's no longer possible to restore it to anything remotely like original quality. Sadly, the same is also true of the 167-minute version created by UA, because the original negatives can no longer be printed to anything viewable. According to Robert: “All that remains [of The Alamo] are old 35mm dupes, which do not represent the film as a large format epic, and even those elements are less than stellar.”

Interestingly, in response to e-mails and “tweets” from cinephiles on this issue, Trish Francis, MGM’s senior VP for Library Rights Management, has issued this statement: “Thank you for your email. I have spoken with our Technical Services staff who assured me that the film is not in danger of being lost. They proactively and routinely monitor and assess the condition of the various elements of all of MGM’s films and take steps as needed to protect and preserve them. The film is a valuable part of film history and naturally want to protect it. We appreciate your interest in THE ALAMO. it. I will mention your concerns to the appropriate people.”

Here’s the problem with that statement: There are few people with more knowledge and expertise on film preservation than Robert A. Harris. Among the classic film restorations that Robert has supervised are: Lawrence of Arabia (in 1989, done with the involvement of director David Lean and cinematographer Freddie Young), Spartacus (in 1991), My Fair Lady (in 1994), Vertigo (in 1996), Rear Window (in 1998), The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II (in 2006, done with the involvement of director Francis Ford Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis), and most recently It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (in 2013). Those of you who have seen these restorations will know one thing: Robert has abundant experience on this issue. What’s more, Robert has very recently examined the extant 35mm dupe elements for The Alamo in MGM’s possession and has conducted tests to both determine their condition and determine what the best possible outcome of a restoration would be. His conclusion is that the elements are very close to having deteriorating beyond saving. As we’ve said recently, if a restoration were started right now, the best result would be just 60% of original quality. The reason for this is that restoration has been needed for a number of years (since at least 2009, per Robert’s column at the time), but MGM has continued to delay, during which time the photochemical element degradation has continued unchecked. In any case, The Alamo preserved at 60% is far better than the film being lost entirely.

Now… it’s widely understood that MGM is in a difficult position financially. And while The Alamo is important from a cinema history standpoint for any number of reasons, it’s not usually considered among the studio’s A-list classics. So I can understand completely that MGM may feel they just can’t afford to invest the money to do a proper restoration at this time. That’s a sad situation, but I get it – I am entirely sympathetic to that argument. It’s understandable. The problem is this: There have been efforts to fund this restoration with outside monies, at no cost to MGM. And there has been interest in doing so from outside parties. But MGM has chosen not to allow it, seemingly in an effort to save themselves the embarrassment that would result from essentially admitting that they can’t or don’t want to put up the money themselves.

How can MGM studio executives possibly think that the embarrassment of letting outside parties fund the restoration of The Alamo is worse than the shame that will surely result from letting the film be lost on their watch?

Anyway, that’s where things sit at the moment. Our hope is that MGM will finally relent in letting outside parties fund the restoration effort, and then ride the positive PR that would result from having done so and finally issuing a proper Blu-ray and DVD release of the roadshow version.

Bottom line: Either The Alamo will be saved… or it won’t. From both a PR standpoint and that of preserving our Hollywood film heritage, only one of those outcomes is positive. Let’s hope MGM comes to its senses in time.

You can reach MGM Studios on Facebook here. Tell MGM to save John Wayne’s The Alamo (1960) from being lost on Twitter: @MGM_Studios (use #savethealamo).

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/m ... 53014_1445

[John Johnson]

Oops.

[AndyDursin]

double post?

[Monterey Jack]

I truly is appalling that a movie like this is in danger of being lost forever, but bullcrap like Congo and Dreamcatcher are getting released to Blu-Ray this year.

[AndyDursin]

1960s titles won't sell as many units, in general, as 1990s titles...and MGM isn't going to put the money up for a costly restoration on something like THE ALAMO which isn't regarded as a classic and isn't going to sell enough units to justify it. Maybe Criterion could tackle it like MAD WORLD but I doubt they'd ever sell the same number of copies. A sad state of affairs, but that's where we're at.

Of course, if MGM was more forward-thinking, they could probably raise the money for a restoration with Kickstarter never mind allow a 3rd party to pay for it, but, you know, why do something smart like that??

[Jedbu]

I think from Wayne fans alone the funds could be raised to save the film as much as possible, and considering how well the long version did on laserdisc and even VHS you would think that even if MGM did not want to do it, they would at least allow a well-intentioned group of investors to save it. Also surprised that no one from the Wayne family or Batjac has not spoken up-I do not think that they have cut all ties to the film except for financial ones. Maybe they have offered to either fund it themselves or work with MGM together and have been turned down-don't know, but would love to find out.

This reminds me of what one film historian I know told me some years ago about Hallmark Video and the Hal Roach/Laurel & Hardy movies: there was a woman who pretty much ran that division for the company and according to him, he would ask why more of the Boys films were not coming out on DVD, despite numerous requests from fans and the success of the disc they did release. She told him plain and simple: she did not like Laurel & Hardy and did not feel like taking the time and the company's resources to bring them out! She also felt that the first disc's success was just a fluke and that she felt that was all she required to make available. So I just wonder if there is one person at MGM who either does not like Wayne, does not like the film or both and is just doing this for that reason alone (would be almost funny if it were the same person), and does not give a flying flamingo about what buyers want. That would be a shock, wouldn't it?

[John Johnson]

Just to bump this thread, did anyone get the German release of The Alamo? I have heard it contains the Roadshow version. Is that true?

[Jedbu]

What company released this in Germany? I am going to check with a couple of sources about this.

[AndyDursin]

Yes it's true, I bought this last year. It's fully licensed and put out by Koch, who does every bit as good a job with their Blu-Rays as Arrow does in the UK. They're Mediabooks that were exclusive to Amazon.de except for one cover variant that Koch sold (only to Europe) on their website.

One disc has MGM's current HD master of the theatrical (non roadshow) version. The transfer and sound are both superb. For the Roadshow edit, no HD sources exist as we know, so they took the laserdisc added sequences, upscaled them, and edited them into the existing HD master. The results are really pretty good short of an actual restoration of the film -- which it sounds like we're never going to see -- so long as you know there's going to be a dip in resolution for scenes that come off a laserdisc.

It sold out quickly -- at least by last fall they were gone -- so it's going to be hard to find a copy unless you want to spend the $100-ish they go for on Ebay.

[John Johnson]

Andy is correct. Looks like copies are quite expensive.

[John Johnson]

Yes it's true, I bought this last year. It's fully licensed and put out by Koch, who does every bit as good a job with their Blu-Rays as Arrow does in the UK. They're Mediabooks that were exclusive to Amazon.de except for one cover variant that Koch sold (only to Europe) on their website.

One disc has MGM's current HD master of the theatrical (non roadshow) version. The transfer and sound are both superb. For the Roadshow edit, no HD sources exist as we know, so they took the laserdisc added sequences, upscaled them, and edited them into the existing HD master. The results are really pretty good short of an actual restoration of the film -- which it sounds like we're never going to see -- so long as you know there's going to be a dip in resolution for scenes that come off a laserdisc.

It sold out quickly -- at least by last fall they were gone -- so it's going to be hard to find a copy unless you want to spend the $100-ish they go for on Ebay.

I'm not sure Koch have ever shipped to the US. I know a friend of mine from the UK tried, but they don't ship there either.

[AndyDursin]

They don't, but Amazon.de sold it. It was only one cover variant that was exclusive to Koch's online shop that we couldn't get. There were two other covers (I think) and they were "exclusive to Amazon.de" and could be shipped overseas (but it also explained why no specialty shops or other vendors sold it).

It's funny nobody has released THE ALAMO in the US. Even if they were just going to release the theatrical/non-roadshow HD master MGM produced, it exists and looks good. Makes you think whoever has the title in the US is trying to restore it or trying to wait for something to pop up in relation to source materials for the Roadshow edit.

[Paul MacLean]

“Thank you for your email. I have spoken with our Technical Services staff who assured me that the film is not in danger of being lost. They proactively and routinely monitor and assess the condition of the various elements of all of MGM’s films and take steps as needed to protect and preserve them."

Much in the way that "nothing was lost in the Universal fire".

[John Johnson]

What could have been...

https://www.in70mm.com/news/2009/the_alamo/index.htm

https://forums.tcm.com/topic/23836-robe ... lamo-1960/

[John Johnson]

Looks like the German release is available once more.

Release date September 15th.



https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Alam ... ay/317641/