MovieChat Forums > The Thing from Another World (1951) Discussion > Two Changes in Film's B+W Contrast

Two Changes in Film's B+W Contrast

posted 10 years ago by opalockamishabob-1
5 replies | jump to latest

For those of you who have this movie recorded and can view these two parts I am talking about...

About 6 minutes into the movie, the B&W "contrast" changes dramatically when Captain Henry reports to General Fogherty's office.

Fogherty tells Henry he's going to the North Pole because of a wire sent by Dr. Carrington, about an unusual airplane that has just crashed in the vicinity. Fogherty tells Henry, "...don't worry, you're going..."

Right after that conversation, the messenger comes in with a weather report.

What do you think has caused the terrible transition from the rich, dark, black-and-white footage in the beginning, to the washed-out and bleached-out film that follows?

The film resumes to its brilliant black-and-white with the plane taking off for the Pole.

Then the "contrast" changes again!

This time at the 32 minute mark, when they deliver the block of ice [w/James Arness inside it] to the outpost. Capt. Henry tells Barnes to keep trying to get through, working with "Tex" the radio man to get a message to General Fogherty.

This time, the change in "contrast" lasts for almost 7 1/2 minutes, until Barnes, locked in the room with Arness, begins to see through the block of ice.

The remainder of the film resumes normally in traditional black and white tones. I've asked someone I know who works in Hollywood and she could not tell me.

What do you think?

[–] Cult_of_Kibner 10 years ago

I haven't watched the movie in a couple of years but I do seem to remember what you're talking about. I think it's a case of an incomplete print being supplemented with footage from another (inferior) source.

[–] sonnyt1813 10 years ago

I think you're right. The movie was chopped up a lot for showing on TV and I suspect much of the original negative is missing. I hope this is not the case as this is one of my favorite 50's sci-fi movies and probably one of the best. I hope it can be restored and released on Blu-Ray some day.

[–] SimplySteve 10 years ago

The second part is a little clearer to me than the first.

From what I can see, the contrast gets poor as soon as the captain, Scotty and Bob walk into the hallway after sending the message with Barnes. Then the quality returns when they show the dogs reacting to the Thing thawing out and it cuts back to Barnes about to see the Thing.

Reason? Cut corners? I don't know. But maybe it happens more often than we realize with B sci-fi pictures, which this one is despite Hawks presence.

What a gem either way.

.

[–] Newsgroupie 10 years ago

What do you think has caused the terrible transition from the rich, dark, black-and-white footage in the beginning, to the washed-out and bleached-out film that follows?

The DVD copy I have has excellent exposure from the beginning. That is until the following segment you refer to as ...

The film resumes to its brilliant black-and-white with the plane taking off for the Pole.

When I get to this point, the picture looks badly underexposed, but only during the plane taking off.

Then the "contrast" changes again!

Much of this depends on what you are using to watch it with. What kind of playback device, what kind of display, and how it is adjusted, and the quality of the source material can vary greatly.
Getting the right exposure for the best contrast in this kind of environment is problematic at best. IMO, overall, this picture looks quite good given the extremes in brightness levels of various objects in any particular frame.

For comparison, I watched my DVD using my quad core computer and a separate 24" LED monitor that has an excellent contrast ratio specification.

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[–] theoctobercountry 8 years ago

Well, this has already been covered in other discussions on this board, but...

The film was edited slightly for a re-release (perhaps to fit on a double bill?). And at that time, not only were the prints shortened, but the original 35mm negative was trimmed as well. WHY the negative also had to be trimmed, I have no idea---it was a stupid decision.

At any rate---far as I know, they never found the 35mm trims; that footage may have been discarded. However, the missing scenes still existed in the form of a more complete 16mm print. So, this 16mm footage was put back in the film---but since it's a 16mm reduction, the quality of the picture and audio isn't nearly as good as the rest of the film.