The joys of living in the 21st century are not especially plentiful, but one such has been the recent flood of old British films remastered and issued on Blu-ray. Most have been commercial ventures; some have been renovated by the British Film Institute, a body to which cinephiles owe a considerable debt (and not just for restoring British films: they have done a pretty good job with some jewels of international cinema too, notably French). But there has been no systematic initiative. While most of the obvious classics have been done, quite a few haven’t, although a number of objectively third-rate films have found their way on to Blu-ray.
The restorations also vary starkly in quality. Some are so sharp and clear that one almost imagines one is on the set – the Blu-ray restoration of Brighton Rock, for instance, makes one feel one is walking through the town in 1947. Others give new force to the phrase “the mists of time”.
Source: We list historic buildings – why don’t we do the same for endangered British films?