TCM Film Foundation Team Restoring Giant (1956)

After announcing a multiyear financial commitment to support education and the restoration of classic films, Turner Classic Movies is expanding its partnership with The Film Foundation.

A restored version of Giant (1956) will be shown in 4K at the TCM Classic Film Festival on April 22 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood as a result of this partnership.

Steven Spielberg, Margaret Bodde and George Sr., the son of the director who won an Oscar for directing the film, will join TCM host Ben Mankiewicz for an informal discussion before the film begins at 7pm on Thursday, October 25th. The Film Foundation, founded by Martin Scorsese in 1990, has restored more than 900 films since then. For their latest restoration project, Scorsese and fellow board member Steven Spielberg selected Giant and worked with the Warner Bros. archives team for a year to complete it.

Spielberg said in a statement, “Anything that presumes to call itself Giant better have the goods to keep such a lofty promise.”. “Both [novelist] Edna Ferber and George Stevens far exceeded the title to bring such an epic American story to the big screen, and I’m proud to have been a small part of the restoration team of this classic motion picture.”

It was completed by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services: Motion Picture Imaging and Post Production Sound by sourcing and color correcting in high dynamic range for the latest picture display technology the original camera negatives and protection RGB separation master positives.

The majority of the audio was taken from a 1995 copy of the Original Magnetic Mono soundtrack that had been sealed. During the year, the restoration will also be made available on HBO Max.

As TCM GM Pola Changnon explained, “Working with The Film Foundation allows us to preserve these important films for future generations to experience across multiple platforms. There is so much to learn from classic movies, and we are honored to host the world premiere screening of the 4K restoration of Giant.”

Stevens Jr. also added: “I was with my father during the writing of the Giant screenplay, and he measured films by how they stood the test of time. Giant has more than met that test, and he would be grateful that Steven, Marty, The Film Foundation and Warner Bros. have achieved this brilliant restoration so a new generation can see Giant on the big screen, streaming and Blu-ray.”