Restoration Spotlight: MILDRED PIERCE

A look inside the process of creating our brand new 4K restoration of Michael Curtiz's noir melodrama

[@SrUlloa]

Criterion deserves a nobel prize.

[@nlmatta]

I could watch videos of every restoration you guys do! Keep up the amazing work!

[@1977Suspiria]

I wish they did one of these features as an extra on the disc for every restoration they do, I love this stuff.

[@nikosvault]

One of the most gorgeous black and white movies ever.

[@janetennison3818]

one of the best most beautifully filmed films ever i totally adore the black and white cinematography is gorgeous

[@Adrian-uc4ox]

Criterion is so important to global cinema, they creating a timeless archive of the worlds best film.

[@BjornOlsson_se]

Yes! More restoration videos please!

[@SWSimpson]

Wonderful to see this. I retouch pictures digital all the time and colorize on the computer too - nothing this high tech and nothing this big or important. I love Joan and love Mildred Pierce. Great job.

[@garycurry4600]

This was perhaps my mom’s favorite movie. Thank you for the work you’ve done to help restore this masterpiece.

[@CornerStoreVideo]

I own the Blu-ray and it looks fantastic! Great job guys!

[@donspringstead1649]

Joan Crawford was without a doubt the best actress of that time....maybe of all time. Thanks Joan. Good work. You're at peace now.

[@vibeology9432]

Yes!! No truer words have ever been spoken !

[@daviddeltoro1808]

These are an absolute pleasure to watch. Please keep 'em coming Criterion, you never cease to fascinate me.

[@debcarrara1318]

I have such respect for these guys. Amazing!

[@frederickcombs8661]

THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS RESTORATION SO LOVINGLY

[@lassepettersson1061]

I love what you do and I've been buying your releases for as long as I can remember. Keep up the good work. My only 'regret' (for lack of a better term) is that I feel that you aren't releasing as many classics from Hollywood's golden era as you used to. I wish you'd release more movies like this, but that's just my personal preference, of course.

[@lasse1612]

I love and appreciate what you do.

[@DarrylCUR]

This was so amazing, cool, and interesting. Great job!

[@BaileeWalsh]

This is so interesting! Please do more!

[@jusme164]

Got my blu ray from their site for 19.99. Thank you Criterion

[@keith536]

I noticed that scene where they out Veda and the picture quality changes. The part where they take her off to book her and she tells Mildred, "Don't worry about me mother, I'll get by". The contrast is bright and the film jerks. That is on the VHS. It was on another copy of a DVD but on the latest Blue-ray, you get the Criterion fix. Bravo to you guys!

[@hyrule2486]

Wauuu!That scanner.

[@tedwatson9929]

Awesome restoration! Here's a funny... the scene in front of the fireplace at the beach house, when Mildred is sitting on the pillow and Monty sits down beside her, the music playing is the love theme from Now Voyager with Betty Davis. I'm thinking that because Max Steiner did the music for both pictures, he recycled a bit of the music now and then... or maybe it was a private joke.

[@2getha5eva]

Bette Davis was supposed to do Mildred Pierce, but she turned it down. That might explain why they recycled the theme.

[@southendonseaarts]

superb they do amazing work with these restorations

[@Clay3613]

Wish I could get hired to do restoration.

[@lettylynton1932]

Fascinating stuff - I always wondered what went on with the digital transfer of one of my favourite films of all time!!

[@grahameprince4773]

I enjoy the great movies form the golden age of Hollywood ,especially the excellent and beautiful quality off the black and white nitrate cinema masterpieces , I am so delighted when warner brothers have a department called warner archive , which print on dvd great films on demand , all I know off from my knowledge off the excellent period , but never viewed , thank you for sharing a wonderful insight into the magnificent restoration off great Hollywood movies from the 1940s . Yours sincerely Grahame Prince

[@gwae48]

TERRIFFIC THNX 😘

[@warnersfan2o9m]

I have wanted to restore films for many years. A dream of mine.

[@NEMIHEMERA]

BRAVO!

[@petersolomon5227]

Well yes, money and resources can work wonders.

[@Capgungoesbang]

These are so amazing to watch. What exactly would you have to major/study in college to be able to get the kind of training and skills to do restoration?

[@RaymondHng]

Look at Film Schools & Careers in Preservation at www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/resources/film-schools-and-careers/ for resources available to prospective students, employers and employees You might also want to subscribe to the CaLibArc-Preserve online mailing list at calpreservation.org/information_resources/discussion-list/ and post your question there

[@hebneh]

A great deal of this is learned on the job. That's how I did it - not restoration, but being a moving image archivist.

[@notnek202]

@@hebneh and what did you major in at college ?

[@hebneh]

@@notnek202 My education ended up having nothing to do with getting a job as an archivist; it was more being in the right place at the right time when a job opened up, and I'd already been volunteering in this same archive working on cataloguing photographs. But there are two fields under discussion here. The first is the archive itself, which stores the films, catalogues them, and makes them available to researchers. The second is the commercial labs that do the restoration and copying. Then work together, but each does different stuff.

[@notnek202]

@@hebneh it sounds like like a rewarding and interesting occupation. I figured you would need some form of extended education just high school ain’t going to cut it.

[@FrancoisDressler]

I wish WB put this much effort into the director's cut of Once Upon A Time In America :(

[@skateordie002]

They did. But they didn't have as much to work with.

[@chrism.4544]

Ann Blyth is still alive in 2022.

[@antoniach4190]

el trabajo de mis suenos, una lastima que viva en el tercer mundo

[@andersmelchiorsen6739]

I wonder to which degree Criterion use machine learning to restore the old films. I mean how much ML can assist manual work to enhance the workflow.

[@sideshowtim89]

criterion, you're doing the lord's work

[@Jorge_Ambruster]

Do you do a film out of your restorations?

[@dornravlin]

Long live Criterion yeah hahahahahha

[@eduardodifarnecio2336]

How do I get a job there!

[@JamesTaylorMain]

3:10 This can easily be fixed using PFClean, so the "fine-grain" will not be needed.

[@BruceWayne-pm6co]

I want all of the Criterions but have no money! :(

[@BruceWayne-pm6co]

Not all literally but a lot.

[@fredl.7873]

Sell your body...!

[@Moosetta]

Filmstruck streaming service has all the Criterions. You could get a free trial.

[@danielshade710]

I waste my life in live performance work. I should be tweaking parameters like my hobbies

[@DaveTexas]

Dear Lee Kline, I need to tell you that the idiom is NOT "take out all the stops." It’s "pull out all the stops." The idiom originated from organ-playing, where pulling out a stop (a mechanical action that occurs when you physically pull on a knob to allow air through to a set of pipes) is what adds a rank of pipes to what is being played. Pulling out all the stops therefore means you’ll hear every rank of pipes - you’re playing all the pipes. Your "take out all the stops" shows that you neither know the idiom nor have understanding of the meaning of the phrase. It makes you look uneducated. Best to avoid using English phrases when you don’t know what they mean. Stick to being literal instead of trying to color you speech with idioms.

[@markjanssens1658]

Waste of money to buy this Criterion DVD. The original Warner DVD release is crisp and clear and looks identical. These guys could've done a far better job restoring what was already a perfect looking print and making it that much more perfect. They restored an old copy that wasn't restored already. Big deal

[@KillThad]

mark janssens Then don't buy it :/

[@houstonhughes184]

This a 4K scan/restoration.

[@1977Suspiria]

DVD? Yuck! This is the BluRay age. Keep up. 😄

[@paulconway384]

The DVD is crap and barely audible.