XANADU questions ...

[Osi Osgood]

I had thought of doing a third review of this corny but fun film, but I actually have some questions about this curiosity of a film, and people who own the low fade versions of this can answer. My print, that I just acquired is the original U8 edition, Kodak SP, and clearly faded. However there is a strange element to the two versions. The low fade version, with clearly great color, is obviously not the letterboxed print that the original U8 print is. The question is, if they reprinted the U8 edition, why wouldn't it have the same letterboxing? Also, for those who own it, does this low fade version also have the U8 presents title card at the beginning, or does it go immediately into the digest itself, that is, with the Universal logos throughout the decades?

[Douglas Meltzer]

Osi,

Red Fox Films printed up the LPP versions in 1983. I have never seen one and it's fascinating to hear that they aren't letterboxed.

[Osi Osgood]

Doug, there are screenshots from the LPP print, in the XANADU 2 review. Could you possibly place those in this series of posts as well? I will send you some screenshots from my print in a few days, probably Monday, for the comparison. The low fade print has a slight letterboxing, but no where near the original U8 letterboxing.

[Osi Osgood]

Xanadu really isn't that bad of an edit. I agree with one of the reviewers in that the beginning sequence could have been edited down quite a bit. Cut from just a little of the illustrator, just have him toss the paper to the wind. That would have saved more than a minute, as well as cutting the two little numbers ... rock and country, after the Xanadu number, and you could have had the animated sequence for the song "Don't Walk Away", or, even better, the dance sequence between Gene Kelly and Newton John to the tune, 'Whenever Your Away From Me", which was truly a highlight of the film. Now the scene between Kelly and Beck and the cutting between yesteryears band and the rock band is actually quite well done. I am just as curious as to why Red Fox Films,when releasing this, chose to make it full frame instead of theU8 letterboxing. Another surprise is how sharp the mono soundtrack is. Just about the best mono track I have ever heard.

[Osi Osgood]

Update! I have just received screenshots from the author of that second review, and it turns out that somehow the screenshots were cropped, taking away the actual letterboxing of his screenshots. It turns out that the LPP print is the same letterbox as the U8 Kodak SP faded prints.

[Adrian Winchester]

I recently saw an old Red Fox advertisement posted online that included this release, and I was astonished to see that it was also offered on 16mm. As I understand it, Universal 8 didn't offer any of their 2 x 400' releases on 16mm.

[Osi Osgood]

I wonder if they simply used the 16mm master negative, used for the super 8 release? Could they do that?

[Brian Fretwell]

For the picture that would be OK but the soundtrack may have needed a separate negative, I would have thought. I would doubt the edited picture negative would have been made with one one as the 8mm was magnetic sound.