I was watching Clash of the Titans this weekend and I started thinking that, in a way, I kind of like it when these old movies have less than stellar transfers. The speckles and scratches on some old movies actually add to the charm in a way. If a new version came out with a flawless transfer, I'd probably buy it anyway but part of me thinks I might miss those imperfections.

Am I nuts?

I perversely enjoy the old pan-and-scan and smeared transfers on my CED videodiscs!

like an album you've had for years that snaps and cracks in all the right places? well, I understand what you are saying. I wouldnt/dont miss them....but dont bitch about it when it's there. I just enjoy the flick.

Man that's a great comparison. There are so many songs that to this day don't feel right if I don't hear a skip where I was so used to hearing one.

Yeah, there is some truth to it. Don't get me wrong, I want the very best transfer for every movie. But, I have some movies I taped of cable years ago on VHS. I watched part of Temple of Doom that I taped off HBO back in the day and it is kind of nostalgic -- but it will be funny to compare when the DVD comes out.

I first saw one of my favorite movies "If..." years ago on local TV, late at night. A few years later I saw it on cable and the print looked much brighter and the colors a bit cleaner. Strange, but I actually prefer the first print that I saw. It has a grungy kitchen-sink feel that really fits well in certain scenes. I still have both versions on tape but mainly dig out the grungy one from time to time.

didn't The Godfather Trilogy have that gritty look on purpose??

I think Tombstone would have benefitted from this kind of treatment.....kinda like aged to perfection

Naw, not nuts,. I can see what you mean. But I do feel a restoration process pays tribute to a great film. I differ with my friends in that, I'd rather have a cleanedup mono sound track to an old film than an enhance 5.1 DTS on lets say, The Ghost and Mrs Muir :-)

On print clean up,.... well, to go with the record analogy, I switched to CD pretty early.

You'd love the laserdisc of Clash of the Titans, then... it has to be one of the worst transfers in history.

Some old special-effects movies work better with crappy transfers, because you spend your time imagining how much better those effects are supposed to look if only the transfer were decent.

But then you see a decent transfer, and you realize that the effects just look bad and it's a huge letdown.

It's reverse psychology at work.

check this out. I do like the bad dubbing and crappy prints used for old kung-fu films.....but I was just floored last night while watching one on my newest dvds...Master of the Flying Guillotine, from Pathfinder. I was not sure how the restored transfer would make it look, but it enhanced the film to a new level, despite a few imperfections. this is one hot film....and hope someone aside from me is turned onto it for the first time. kicks major booty!!

To quote my old Art History Prof: I love dirt.

I like bad transfers on OLD movies, the Universal mosnters are the best examples. Somehow the new transfers on the DVD releases left me feeling VERY cold about them...

Scratches and specks adds charcter to an old film IMO...

like wine aging, I perfer my films to look their age.

Mostly I prefer a better transfer, but I think if/when I see any Godzilla movies non-dubbed, with a decent transfer, in wide-screen, it just won't seem quite right.

i enjoy a dirty transfer, especially since i'm using front projection -- there is a hair on the transfer of Criterion's Rushmore and for a few seconds a wasn't sure if the hair was on my projector or on the disk -- loved it, it was just like being at the movies

Are the dvd's of the original frankinstein and dracula that bad? i have seen dracula on amc and it looked horrible! Frankenstien had a few scatches and lots of pops when I rented the vhs years ago (it had the girl drowning scene)

Dracula is eaten up by DVNR and is from a very dark print. It's not terrible, but could have been better. The Spanish version looks superb (save for about 8 minutes of awful quality dupe from Havana) and has a better transfer.

Frankenstein has a superb transfer, IMO. The other B&W transfers are very good at the least. Phantom of the Opera is a flawless Technicolor transfer.

There's something about old b-movies, I'm talking obscure horror movies from the 60s and 70s, and dark, faded, dirty, scratched prints just give them a certain charm. Even full-frame transfers that give them a "midnight movie" feel. It's like being ten years old and staying up until midnight to watch them on a UHF station.

That's why Alpha Video exists. Check out their atrocious DVDs. If you like that old tyme movie theatre vibe buy the DVDs from Madacy, too. Quality has never stained their reputation, either.

You have a valid point. Although, I do like the best transfer available, could you even imagine watching a pristine grain-free episode of The Three Stooges or The Little Rascals?

About 15 years ago (when I was a teenager), USA network ran a 24-hour marathon of Friday the 13th movies on, of course, Friday the 13th. I taped them all and still have them.

I have all the films on dvd (not that the dvd's are that great anyway), and have watched them all and enjoy them. But sometimes I get a real kick out of watching the old crappy videos I made (Commercials, cuts and all) - so I know what you mean about the nostalgia thing. With a F-13th coming up next month, I think I may break them out, make a day of it and get all misty-eyed.

I have the Aliens laserdisc box set. Compared to the DVD, the transfer is atrocious. Still, for some odd reason I enjoy watching the laserdisc as much as the DVD. Even though I have a 65" TV and laserdiscs don't look so hot on it, there's something about that Aliens LD transfer that appeals to me.

Dammit, you're not crazy at all!

After some thought, I guess I am the minority in this tread. If the process of restoration on a Three Stooges original resulted in a cleaner print, that would be the one I purchase

Though I fully submit to the idea of the charm of seeing a dirty print, as we all have as kids and adults, same point taken with the friday the 13th and alien transfers.

Note also that I'm speaking only of the well established practice of restoration, not the recent trend of digital enhancement, along the lines of curley poking first :-)