I just saw Forbidden Planet in a REAL movie theater last night and it was like I was seeing it for the 1st time. I have seen this movie several times on Laserdisc & DVD, but holy crap! I never saw Forbidden Planet like this! The color JUMPED off the screen! it was amazing!!!! The color on the DVD and LD is AWFUL compared to what it is supposed to look like!!!!!! What also amazed me was there were a lot of people there. Here is a pic of the theater:http://www.bigscreenclassics.com/Images/lafayetteinterior-large.jpg
http://www.bigscreenclassics.com

Yeah, you tend to forget how much the TV screen diminishes a really good theatrical image. As sad as it is to realize, a lot of films don't survive the trip down, as it were.

A few years ago out here in LA, they showed a restored version of "The Guns of Navarone" at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. I'd loved this movie since I was a kid, but always seen it on Laser Disc or TV.

Wow. Completely different on the big screen. The level of detail and texture in the photography was much deeper. When you first see Gregory Peck getting out of that jeep in his tropical suit, he just about leapt off the screen. You could literally feel every woman in the audience go "whoa".

Of course it all depends on the print. I've been to some revival showings where you could barely see the film through all the watermarks and such.

I've been fortunate to see Forbidden Planet on the big screen a couple times. What always impresses me is how WWWWWIIIIIIIDDDDDEEEEEE the movie is. Really diminished on TV. BUT, that said, the DVD isn't really bad.

Steve

I've been fortunate to see Forbidden Planet on the big screen a couple times. What always impresses me is how WWWWWIIIIIIIDDDDDEEEEEE the movie is. Really diminished on TV. BUT, that said, the DVD isn't really bad.

SteveThe print I saw was very colorful, the DVD is very muted compared to what I saw last night. I would love to see this film again & again from film on a big screen. I hope the next DVD or Hi-Def release of Forbidden Planet looks as good as what I just saw. It was truely AMAZING!!

Yeah, you tend to forget how much the TV screen diminishes a really good theatrical image. As sad as it is to realize, a lot of films don't survive the trip down, as it were.
When a DVD is done right, it can look almost as good as what you see in a theater. I have some hi-def tapes that look better than what i have seen in theaters. I wish there were more theaters like the Lafayette around showing classic films every weekend!

I saw the Lugosi "Dracula" at the Music Hall (oops - The Wang Center) in Boston with the Philip Glass score performed by the Kronos Quartet. Without commenting on the music, seeing the film THAT BIG was amazing. The screen is about four times the size of a regular movie screen.

It depends SO much on the quality of projection (no DLP thankyou!) and the quality of the print. I saw 2001 in LA in 68 in one of the prime theaters, 70mm, and I gotta say, when I saw it in 35mm in Portland about 2 years back, it looked even BETTER than I remembered (except for one shot in the hotel room at the end, where they had to substitue a pink-faded shot).

Color saturation was incredible on this 35mm print, just gorgeous.

I have seen a lot of crummy prints of 2001 in the intervening years (have seen it in the theatre close to two dozen times), but the viewing conditions often compromise it.

I saw FP in a revival theater in 1978 and it was amazing, I agree. Only complaint was that the clarity worked against the effectiveness of some paintings (too clear as paintings), but the model work seemed much better, more detail visible.

Wasn't there supposed to be a special edition DVD of Forbidden Planet released this summer?

Wasn't there supposed to be a special edition DVD of Forbidden Planet released this summer?

Yeah, there was. Delayed I guess.