Re: Plan 9 from Outer Space

On Wednesday, in article
     <cvjju3dqik9vovjqu5abk1flaa62mj4jmc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
     fairportfan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 "mike weber" wrote:

> On 10 Mar 2008 21:20:01 -0400, "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
> 
> >Paul Dormer <prd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 
> 
> >> Ironically, last time I saw the silent film Napoleon, it was shown
> >> in a tinted print, which was how it was originally shown.  They had
> >> to go back an investigate how silent films were tinted so that they
> >> could duplicate it.
> >
> >Weren't there any tinted prints of that movie remaining?
> 
> The old nitrate stock stock is subject to deterioration (not to
> mention being a fire hazard), and the dyes used may have been no more
> stable than those used in colour film.
> 
> While true Technicolor is a pain to shoot - since it requires three
> separate strips - unlike standard colour film, new prints can be
> struck at any tme and will not suffer from colour shift or fading of
> the negs.

I've sometimes wondered if the decay products of the dyes can be 
distinguished, and measured, by some non-destructive process. Something 
like scanning by carefully-tuned lasers would be a near-enough handwave. 
Since so much done in Hollywood now is in the digital domain, either all 
the way from the camera or by scanning film, cracking the problem for 
such things as that 1950s Kodak colour emulsion could pay off.

If I remember right, it was only one of the dye layers that turned out 
to vanish.

-- 
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

On the horizon, a carrier task force of the Salvation Navy was 
turning into the wind, preparing to launch Zeppelins.