Welcome to Perf Damage! The podcast hosted by Adam and Charlotte, a husband and wife team, who work in the film industry.
Adam, the in-house industry expert, will share stories of movie production and development, while Charlotte, a film restoration expert, will share behind the scenes stories about saving older films. Together, the pair form the ultimate film geek duo, ready to unravel lost treasures and untangle subgenres, with their in-depth analyses that shed new light on beloved movies and undiscovered masterpieces.
And that's not all! Our channel welcomes special appearances from friends in the industry, adding fresh voices to the conversation and tackling those burning questions about the art of filmmaking.
If you're as enamored with the magic of movies as we are, hit that subscribe button and join our film-loving community. Let's dive into the thrilling world of cinema together!
About Jose Ferrer: Very interesting info. about his being a progressive and almost being black listed. Sorry to correct you, but you are mispronouncing his last name. It rhymes with air (pronounced "furair"). I find that a number of younger podcasters who are experts on classic film never the less mispronounce some relevant people's names (FYI, I'm 74 y.o. and have been watching classic films, documentaries about them and the people who made them for many decades.) But I am enjoying your podcasts and look forward to watching and listening to more, thanks.
Hi, thanks for watching! If you pay attention to the video you will see that I make fun of myself, via text on screen, several times, for mispronouncing his name. For whatever reason I started saying “Fur-rar” when we started recording the episode. I was horrified when we went to edit the episode, because I’ve never pronounced his name that way before. It’s amazing what happens to your brain when you’re trying to act natural for the camera. For a brief moment I considered re-recording the whole thing, or trying to dub the correct pronunciation in, but ultimately we just decided to leave it and make fun of it.
Adam and Charlotte, I just discoverd your video podcasts on RU-vid, it's right up my alley as a longtime classic film fan. I'd like to access your audio podcasts, but don't see any info. on how to do that on your RU-vid channel. Please provide it, and I suggest you make include it or make it easier to find on the opening page of your RU-vid channel.
If you go to any podcast provider you should be able to find us by searching “Perf Damage.” You can also go to our website www.PerfDamage.com and find them there.
Here's a question for you that I've been curious about. Vista vision almost always used an optical soundtrack which was very sonically inferior to Magnetic soundtracks that most other movies and movie processes were using at the time. Paramount had pioneered magnetic sound and won an Academy Award for doing so in 1950. So why did they switch to inferior optical sound for Vista vision? It wasn't that Vista vision couldn't accommodate a magnetic stereo soundtrack. The Ten Commandments was released with a 6-track stereo magnetic soundtrack in first run theaters because DeMille insisted on it.
Sorry but I don't think it's Bob Fosse. Interesting fact John basca was a choreographer for Donald O'Connor at Universal, perhaps that's how he got onto the movie White Christmas. Another interesting fact, Danny Kaye is wearing gray dance shoes in the best things happen while you're dancing number. That was to help the audience not look at his feet since they Blended in with the color of his pants him not being a real dancer.
Yes, I think that’s exactly why John Basca got hired on White Christmas. I’ve also heard the same about Danny’s wardrobe, but let’s be honest- no one is looking at Danny when he is dancing with Vera-Ellen! Sadly I do agree with you about it probably not being Fosse. The guy we highlighted in the film seems a bit too muscular to be him, but there is definitely a slight resemblance in the face. It’s just fun to imagine that he could be in there somewhere!
Hi. I enjoyed your interview a lot. For me it was timely as I have just returned from a UK trip where I got to go to the BFI national archive, which was incredible and I got just a small taste of all the work they do. If you’re at all interested I will hopefully have a couple of videos up soon showing some of the experience. It’s an exciting job that you have!
We’d love to see them. We saw a lot of photos on LinkedIn of the BFI open house and were jealous we weren’t there. Thanks for watching the interview. I love my job and love to share stories about it. -CB
Thank you for sharing. I’ve borrowed so many elements from the BFI over the years and believe it or not, i have never seen video or photos from inside their vaults. Looking forward to your part 2 video to see if I can spot any cans we’ve accessed before.
@@PerfDamagePodcast Thanks for watching. That’s fascinating. I wish I had been able to explore the aisles and record hours of footage but obviously that was not possible, it was just such so wonderful to experience a little of it. I’m working on part 2 and hope to have it up soon (you’ll see just a little of inside some of their work stations, presumably a little like yours).
I was wondering if "Godzilla: Minus One" would be on your list. Takashi Yamazaki has been on my list of favourite Japanese directors for over two decades. I've been a follower of his movies since 2002 with "Returner". When I heard three years ago that he was writing, directing and designing the visual FX for Minus One, I felt deep in my bones, he was gonna deliver an extraordinary and engaging Kaiju film ...and he did. Can't wait for the Blu-ray steelbook to arrive...
We both LOVE Godzilla Minus One and saw both that one and Minus One Minus Color in the theater. We can’t wait for the steel book to come too! Neither one of us has seen “Returner” and will put it on our immediate to-watch list. Thanks for the recommendation! -CB
@@PerfDamagePodcast Other films by Yamazaki which may of interest to you... the "Always: Sunset on Third Street" trilogy, (2005, 2007, 2012) , Space Battleship Yamato" (2010), "The Eternal Zero" (aka: "The Fighter Pilot" - 2013 }, "Parasyte": Part 1 (2014) : Part 2 (2015), "The Great War of Archimedes" (2019) . So far I haven't been able to track down "Juvenile" (2000, his directorial debut), "Fueled: The Man They Called Pirate" (2016) or "Destiny: The Tale Of Kamakura" (2017). The above list are all live action films. He's also directed, designed and/or written several anime films including "Lupin III: The First" (2019) and "Doraemon 2: Stand By Me" (2020).
Recently saw for the first time, "Black Narcissus" on Hollywood Suite. OMG! Commenting here as a 73 yr old Canadian movie fan and this is first time I've heard of Natalie Kalmus, her career accomplishments or her on-set escapades. Truth indeed, is stranger than fiction... I guess Natalie Kalmus (in the later stages of her life), is where Donnie TRump's lawyers originated his 'sue me-sue you blues' playbook from. lol For all her foibles, her legacy to cinema is still undeniable though.
This summer (2024), Max rebranded both DC's currently airing "The Penguin" and Legendary's upcoming "Dune: Prophecy" under HBO's umbrella so that in itself may an indicator David Zaslav's and his regime may have read the signals you referenced... Now, if they would only reinstate "House Of The Dragon"' and the "The Last Of Us"' production budgets to their former levels so they could make the same number of episodes each show started with. Both series had their second season episode counts cut by 2. "HOTD" was only 8 of a planned 10 and "TLOU" was reduced to 7 from 9 in its first season.
Just discovered the channel through Cereal at Midnight. Loving listening to these. Maybe you've already gotten into this but why is the podcast called perf damage?
Hi! We’re so happy that you’re here. We love Cereal at Midnight and it was a pleasure chatting with Heath. To answer your question- Perf Damage is the shortened way of saying perforation damage. A film perforation (“perf”) is the technical name for the sprocket holes found on film. The holes on each side of the negative that help feed it through a camera or projector. When you’re restoring a film, generally you have the negative inspected and cleaned frame by frame and any damage to the sprocket holes will be noted on the “inspection report” as “perf damage.” When naming the podcast we wanted something that sounded interesting but wasn’t a commonly known film term.
I wish Donald O'Connor had done the picture. He and Vera-Ellen were so great together in "Call Me Madam" - Too bad they couldn't have waited for him to recover.
So glad this video was recommended to me! Very well researched and super informative. Y’all have great conversational skills. Definitely subscribing for more!
Your research is incredible! I don’t know how or where you get your information but it’s fascinating and Natalie’s name was on so many movies of the golden age. You are being very respectful to her contribution to film despite her shortcomings 😊
Thank you! We are so happy that the tone came across as we had hoped. This was a very hard subject to balance. We left out quite a few stories from our original audio podcast where we were able to focus on Herbert and Natalie’s relationship more. If you enjoyed this and want to hear even more Natalie stories, I’d recommend checking it out TECHNICOLOR PART II: THE DRAMA. perfdamage.com/episode/technicolor-part-two-the-drama-episode-22
This was amazing, guys❤ I recently stumbled upon that Technicolor documentary narrated by Angela Lansbury, so this was a nice companion piece. I'd love for more of these deep dives into the talent behind the camera that contributed so much to film history. Maybe one day delve into Busby Berkeley
Isn’t that a great documentary?! We’re glad you found us and thanks for the suggestion! Neither one of us knows much about Busby behind the camera. Our next episode is about a special effects team made up of two brothers from the 1930s.
The only movie Deanna Durbin did in Technicolor was in 1944 - "Can't Help Singing." Get the DVD and be prepared to be blown away. The color is breathtakingly beautiful.
Trigger Jr. (1950) is an absolute must watch! Not only for the Murder Horse, but also for the beautiful Trucolor. And At just under 70 minutes, I cannot think of a better way to spend an hour. And in case I haven’t mentioned … it has a freakin’ Murder Horse in it!!!! Kino Lorber put out a nice Bluray of Charlotte’s restoration.
I can't get to Cinecon, but am happy it exists. I think film restoration is important, but lament that there are so few places to see vintage films (projected.)
Cinecon is great, and we’re sorry to hear that you can’t make it. We’re very lucky in LA to have so many places that project film, but usually the “old movies” they show don’t go past the 80s! At least places like AMC Theaters are starting to really embrace showing more classic films, and new restorations, albeit only on DCP. We’re just happy to see them getting out there.
No murder horses at Cinecon this year, but maybe there will be by popular demand in 2026 (since as the rumor we’re starting suggests, 2025 will be all VistaVision)
Small correction: "Suspiria" was NOT shot in 3-strip Technicolor (confirmed on IIMDB). It was printed in IB Technicolor at the Technicolor plant in Rome on Via Tiburtina, just outside the city. I worked there back in 2004 and spoke to some of the technicians who were around at the time. Nobody shot in 3-strip after about 1955. It's true that Argento's films are brilliant and have an amazing look.
Thanks for the correction, that part is being removed. That’s so interesting that you worked at Technicolor Rome. I’ve read so many not-so-kind stories about them from the 1950s-1970s when they damaged a few Paramount negatives.
We are always open for all things that are both alcoholic and beverages! We were drinking Mead from Manoa Honey, a Hawaiian company that makes delicious beverages and delectable honey. Thanks for watching!
We are eagerly awaiting that sequel too. We were really impressed by how confidant Talk To Me was as a debut feature. The Philippou brothers were an absolute delight during their Q & A too. So much energy!
One of the main reasons for the down fall of VistaVision was simply the improvement in Eastman Color film. By the late 1950s the grain structure had been reduced, so that cropping a vertical 35mm film to 1.85:1 was no longer drastically grainy. Sharpness had been improved as well. A good way to compare is to look at 2 Hitchcock films. Rear Window made before Hitchcock's VistaVision phase and cropped to 1.66:1, and The Birds, made after the VistaVision phase, and cropped to 1.85:1. The Birds is remarkably sharper, and less grainy.
Totally agree. VistaVision certainly wouldn’t have the legacy that it does, if it didn’t get picked up by the effects industry in the late 70s. VistaVision is currently going through another Renaissance, with filmmakers like Jordan Peele and PT Anderson shooting with it now to circumvent using the cumbersome 70mm cameras. Please write in with any other thoughts you have, we love talking camera formats.
I am one of those strange persons that can buy blurays based solely on what camera system was used shooting them (I aim to own a bluray copy of EVERY Cinerama film ever made for example... not because they are particularly good films... mostly because it was used on relatively few films). So yes. I would really enjoy a VistaVision centric episode. Especially if it goes on to cover Technirama and the resurgence the Lazy 8 cameras got for the first Star Wars and being the format of choice for ILM up until digital cinema cameras finally got good enough for getting plates.
We are endlessly fascinated by all things VistaVision! You really nailed it on the head, because you cannot have a conversation about VistaVision without bringing up the wider discussion of the widescreen wars. Cinerama and CinemaScope are vital to that discussion. Thanks for writing in, we’d love to hear more about your thoughts on the widescreen wars.
For a good holiday movie, try REMEMBER THE NIGHT. Also, try CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT. Both star the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck. THE BISHOP'S WIFE is worth a watch.
We have never seen REMEMBER THE NIGHT, but you had us at Barbara Stanwyck and Fred McMurray directed by Preston Sturges! CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT and THE BISHOP’S WIFE are both always on our Christmas list. Thanks for the recommendation! Write in with any more, we are always looking for new movies for our nightly double features.
Such interesting content, and love your presentation! Question...I always thought "Perc" was pronounced "Perk," and "Monte" was pronounced as "Monty." At the end of the day, it's probably tomato/tomahto...just curious to know if you researched the proper pronunciation. Again, I'm just asking - not trying to call anyone out or "correct" anyone. I may be guilty of pronouncing their names incorrectly in my own head. Again, so glad I ran across your podcast, and I'm looking forward to enjoying more of your content! Oh...and btw...Asta is adorable!
Thanks so much for your comment! We're so happy to hear that you enjoyed seeing Asta, too. We wanted to change the set-up so the dogs could hang out with us on camera, since they are usually at our feet when we are recording anyways. Hopefully, Ripley will join the party next time. There's an interesting tale about Perc's name pronunciation. During our research, we came across stories about Perc that said he hated when people mispronounced his name as "Perk," especially those who worked for him. One story said that if you called him "Perk" at work (Warner Bros), you would be sent packing! Who knows if it's true, but what seems to be true is that he did NOT like being called "Perk." (We both thought it was pronounced "Perk" for the longest time and by the time we found out, we were happy that we didn't work for him!) Mont, on the other hand, wasn't as particular. His family members called him Mont (pronounced "Mont"), but he was called "Monte" or "Monty" by almost everyone else. We read that Mont's son, Mont Jr. was referred to as Monty by the family, instead of Mont Jr. (on a side note - you may have noticed that I "misspelled" Mont's name in our video (out of habit for how we kept seeing it written in the trades), but we didn't catch it until after it was posted and I was too lazy to fix it. Since he didn't seem to mind, we decided not to change it)
