The Restoration Business Part 4: In Black and White—Reel Two

With the arrival of sound in 1927, the role of the optical printer grew in importance. The restrictions imposed by early sound filming saw an end of most of the in-camera effects, particularly scene transitions like fades and dissolves. For a short while, they almost disappeared altogether. When the French feature “L' Atalante” was restored, researchers found that although dissolves were indicated in the shooting script they never appeared in the prints shown at the time of its original release in 1934. For the new preservation copy, it was decided to include them this time, an act, which many purists may consider to be a case of “over-restoration.”

Print ISSN

0036-1682

Published

2000-07

Content type

Information

DOI

10.5594/J05296