Classic Resurrections and Restorations

Several new restorations are either completed or in the works:

* “The Guns of Navarone,” the 1961 World War II adventure starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and David Niven. Columbia has been funding the restoration for more than two years. As supervised by UCLA Archives preservation chief Bob Gitt, the work has proceeded slowly and has focused on sound and image restoration. “Navarone” will be the opening-night attraction for UCLA’s annual Festival of Restoration, to be held in April.

* “The Wild Bunch,” the classic 1969 Western starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, directed by the late Sam Peckinpah. Warner Bros. is expected to release a 147-minute version (the one currently available on video runs 141 minutes), struck from the Panavision roadshow negative that includes overture and intermission. The extent of the theatrical release, which may happen next spring, will probably resemble the one given to the recently expanded “Blade Runner” and “Once Upon a Time in America.”

* “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the original 1951 classic starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. Roughly five minutes of sexually risque footage, cut at the behest of the Catholic Legion of Decency and accidentally rediscovered in the Warner Bros. vault, has been added on. The Warner Bros. print, according to a reliable source, will probably be screened at New York’s Lincoln Center sometime in the spring or early summer, with a video release to follow.

* “The Lion in Winter,” the 1968 historical epic starring Peter O’Toole, Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Hopkins. Katz and Harris have engaged the support of O’Toole and others and are raising funding for a full-blown restoration.