One of the great things to come out of the now-sundering Paramount-DreamWorks match-up—aside from Michael Bay’s forthcoming “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen”—is Steven Spielberg’s discovery that Paramount had, through various forms of neglect, demolished the negatives of the “Godfather” trilogy. He stepped up and insisted that the corporation restore at great expense one of the crown jewels of American cinema. Restoration expert Robert Harris worked with Coppola and retired cinematographer Gordon “King of Darkness” Willis to bring the picture to an equivalent of its 1972 Technicolor glory. Forget your HDTV: see this on the Music Box screen. (“Godfather II” will also be shown.) 175m. (Ray Pride)
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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