Restored classics enjoy screen revival
Preserving old films is important as they provide a tantalizing glimpse into the past, Xu Fan reports.
For example, when the archive was restoring The Eternal Wave, an espionage movie set in the late 1940s, Li recalls that the restorers spent a lot of time and effort to check the historical details, varying from the color of the epaulets on the military uniforms of the Communist Party of China's army to a type of vase at Shanghai's renowned Peace Hotel.
In 2021, The Eternal Wave, which was originally shot and released in black and white, was restored to a 4K version full of color, the first of its kind in China. When the restored version was rescreened across domestic theaters, it earned more than 3.4 million yuan ($493,200), making it an inspirational case for generating financial profits, says Sha Dan, a veteran movie critic.
"The case has provided a good pattern for how to balance the cultural preservation and market usage, thus helping us better preserve old movies and benefit academic research," says Sha.
