'The Big Heat' Restoration (cont'd)

A new duplicate negative was struck in 1999 from the 1956 fine grain. Used as a B-roll negative for printing in conjunction with the 35mm original picture negative, more than twenty sections of the damaged original were successfully replaced with the new duplicate. Earlier testing of digital techniques for replacing the damaged original proved somewhat problematic because of unnecessary digital artifacting and was subsequently abandoned in favor of a more traditional photochemical approach. There were also many sections of the film that were inherently soft or grainy with built-in dirt or artifacts, primarily in the optical dissolves. These sections ultimately were graded, or timed, to match surrounding shots as closely as possible. Original magnetic soundtrack elements were used as source elements for the digital restoration of the English soundtracks. Multiple protection master positives and duplicate printing negatives have been made for each title.

Sony Pictures Entertainment restored THE BIG HEAT in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Film Archive. Picture restoration was done by Cinetech Laboratory in Valencia, California, with audio restoration by Chace Productions in Burbank, California. Michael Friend completed the original negative inspection and evaluation for THE BIG HEAT. The restoration was supervised by Grover Crisp and Michael Pogorzelski.