There’s a lot that goes into restoring old films but I think that I might speak for a lot of people when I say that we should be grateful for it. If not for the restoration of old films we’d be losing a lot of influential and important cinematic moments that might never be retrieved. So in truth, Criterion is doing a bang-up job by bringing these many older films back to life so to speak. Their efforts are allowing us to keep hold of a great many cinematic triumphs and favorite moments that we might otherwise lose to time and lack of use, which would allow them to essentially fade away as the films continually deteriorate.
Old films tend to age very badly unless they’re kept safe and sealed, and even then they can begin to fade away as the years go by. The colors, the sound, everything that goes into them can start to fade away due to damage brought on by age and lack of use. The type of material used for negatives back then was known to deteriorate and pick up a lot of different issues as time went by. One of those was the degradation of color that can be seen in the old films, in which you might see a band of yellowish-green running across the screen or some discoloration at the edges. There are also film reels that show a great deal of scratching and damage at the edges of the shot. Even the sound can be distorted since the filters back then were either non-existent or were nowhere near adequate enough. The sound can even be affected by material being on the frames, which can produce a strange and unsettling crackling noise that must be filtered out.
In order to bring these films ‘back to life’ it’s necessary for the films to even be available. Some negatives are simply too far gone, others faded away some time ago, and some are not available for various reasons. When it’s possible to find them however Criterion takes the films and does what is necessary to restore them. They scan each frame and reformat by adjusting the color, removing the damage on the edges, and even filter out the different noises that take away from the film experience. In doing all this they restore the film to its former glory and grant those who desire to watch these old films a chance to see them as they once were, without changing or editing the film in any way except to make it look and sound like its original self.
Fans of older movies can likely appreciate this since before digital became the thing movies were still shot and shipped on reels that could be damaged or even start to fade after time. It’d be a shame to lose a lot of the classic older movies simply due to time and wear, but thanks to Criterion this is no longer an issue. It might take a while for each film to be completely restored but the effort is most definitely worth it and is something that a lot of film buffs can get behind.
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