Among the reasons for this are the generally excellent care with which MGM has long maintained their preprint picture elements (original cut negatives, fine grain interpositives, etc), and the origination of NBNW on VistaVision negative.
This was a process that, utilizing standard 35mm negative, yielded a large-format picture area by running it through a specially-built camera horizontally rather than vertically, producing an image twice the size (8 perforations wide) of that of standard 35mm (4 perfs high).
It's what we'd now call "high-resolution" or "-definition;" introduced by Paramount in 1954, before those terms existed, it was marketed as "Motion Picture High Fidelity," and was the forerunner of IMAX, which employs the same basic technology with 70mm rather than 35. One of the benefits of this increased resolution was that it translated to a deeper and more detailed image even when printed down to standard 4-perf 35mm.
Never widely adopted by studios other than Paramount (due to the expense of greater negative and lab costs and the requirement of the custom-built cameras), NBNW is one of only two films produced in VistaVision by MGM (the other being the 1956 High Society). All of Hitchcock's Paramount releases save for the first (Rear Window) and the last (Psycho) were produced in the process, and in my personal opinion, one of those, To Catch A Thief, looks even better than NBNW, and - with its more vibrant color palette - is knock-your-eye-out stunning.
I know you didn't ask for any of that, but there it is for anyone interested.
Poe! You are...avenged!
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