Blog of Round Things

B-fest aftermath

(Sun 01/28/2007 11:21am)

I was going to add this entry right after the 'fest ended, but was a bit drowsy and decided to take a nap. So here I am at 10:52 on Sunday morning.

This year's B-fest ended with some controversy, and perhaps a look to the future. As an experiment, KING KONG VS. GODZILLA was shown on DVD via video projector. As B-fest organizer Wyatt Ollestad pointed out, the availablility of film prints, especially for obscure genre titles, is beginning to dry up, and a lot of the available prints are falling apart. The show opener THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE was nearly unwatchable - and not because of its reprehensible content and acting. The print is so warped and brittle that it was impossible to keep it in focus. B-fest is famous for its technical problems, but these are more often caused by poor print condition than damaged equipment or sleepy projectionists.

That said, KKvG started with a fumbling attempt to get both picture and sound. Once righted, we were treated with one of the most flawless presentations the 'fest has ever offered. The widescreen image - overmatted at the bottom on DVD, but that's Universal's fault - could have been bigger, but they would',ve had to set up the projector a few rows into the crowd. I found myself nodding off through most of the movie, but that's more due to the fact that I've seen this one 50 times. Despite fatigue, I watched all of Roger Corman's TEENAGE DOLL (presented from a TV print with the YOUNG REBELS title) a bit earlier, as I'd never seen it before.

With plans in place to upgrade equipment, we're looking to a future when spots in the program will be filled more ad more via video, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It might prevent the projectionist from being able to show THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME backwards, but there are plenty of B-fest-worthy titles available on DVD, and the event has never relied on format for enjoyment. Sure, it was great when they were able to secure a gorgeous 35mm widescreen print of KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS one year, but the crowd stilled loved it a couple of years later when all they had was a16mm TV print.

This was a great year for B-fest, and it will go on to have more great years. Even in the year 2048, when it moves out of the Norris Center (BTW, named after Chuck Norris) to a specially constructed space station, we'll be slinging paper plates across the theater in zero gravity, every time we spot a flyig saucer, whether it's in a scene in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, or just out the window.