Unknown Video

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Scharphedin2
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 7:37 am
Location: Denmark/Sweden

Unknown Video

#1 Post by Scharphedin2 » Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:38 am

Unknown Video

Here is a small label of interest to friends of the silent cinema. I ordered their two volumes of Nickelodia, each of which features six one-reelers from the era of the Nickelodeon (1909-1915). Included on the discs are several otherwise unavailable films by D.W. Griffith, Thomas Ince, Mack Sennett, and several other directors. The following links show the full lists of films included along with short descriptions:

Nickelodia 1

Nickelodia 2

I have posted a series of stills from a number of the films in the screen captures thread. In general, I was very positively surprised by the quality of the presentations. Nothing is perfect, when it comes to films of this vintage, but as far as I could tell all the prints are complete, and there is minimal wear and tear. The actual pedigree of the transfers, I am not sure of; someone more technically savvy than I can probably comment. The stills do not reflect the fact that there is consistent combing latent in the transfers. I did not notice this until creating the captures on my computer; while screening these films through my projector, the appearance of the films were much like the stills posted.

The films themselves are of course fascinating. What is nice here is that we are presented with a fairly broad range of material. Some of the films are "merely" entertainments, and are rather crudely made (As a Boy Dreams). The Griffiths are generally a notch below the best of his Biograph shorts that I have seen, although the high production values -- Bitzer's photography, the quality of the acting, and the polish of the editing and pacing -- really place his films in a league of their own for the time. Fate's Turning and The Adventures of Billy are striking for being very direct in their social commentary, while A Country Cupid is an interesting slice of Americana beneath its somewhat overheated romantic hysteria. Then there is The Romance of Little Deer, which stars James Young Deer and Red Wing, who were autual American Indian stars of the early silent cinema. There is a lot of flailing with the arms and wild gesticulation, and the film attempts to pack more action into its short 15 minutes than is advisable, however, the sense of authenticity of the nature that serves as the film's backdrop, and the sympathetic depiction of the Native Americans in the film, makes it a very interesting early western.

The discs come with nice imitation silent film posters for covers, and label owner Christopher Snowden has provided several inserts with insightful and humorous notes on the films.

Unknown Video has released a considerable list of other silent films. These are covered in detail at their site, and include several William Hart westerns, a double-bill of Wallace Reid pictures, a series of "Silent Comedy Mafia" sets, and several other feature films that look very interesting -- Dimitri Buchowetzki's The Swan (1926) with Adolphe Menjou; a "reconstruction" of the Mabel Normand film Suzanna; and, Fred Niblo's Sex (1920) starring Louise Glaum, who apparently rivalled Theda Bara in screen vampism (this disc also features what promises to be one of the most outlandish and "cult" extras of the DVD medium -- a gallery of unclad and under-clad stars of the silent era, including Louise Brooks, Douglas Fairbanks, Clara Bow, Mae West, Bessie Love and many more...!!!) If the quality is close to as good as the Nickelodia sets, then these are real treasures. I aim to find out, and will update this thread with my findings. Comments and recommendations from anyone else, who owns any of Unknown's releases would be most welcome.
Last edited by Scharphedin2 on Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

Jonathan S
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:31 am
Location: Somerset, England

Re: Unknown Video

#2 Post by Jonathan S » Sun Mar 08, 2009 9:32 am

Yes, I think Unknown are one of the best labels that release silent films on DVD-R. Their output is only a tiny fraction of Grapevine's but the transfer quality is, on the whole, far superior. Their prints come from the Blackhawk Collection, and it has always been my impression that Unknown release the films David Shephard doesn't feel would be commercially successful enough to release himself (though in a few cases he has since done so and then the Unknown edition is usually withdrawn).

The label name has always seemed rather badly chosen to me - it sounds like a low-quality bootlegger, when nothing could be further from the truth. Christopher Snowden has pointed out elsewhere that all Unknown releases are legal, unlike some of those by his rivals!

In VHS days they had a wider range available and the earlier releases like The Swan and Sex - both of which I own in the DVD-R versions - have rather dull and very drily recorded organ accompaniments that are not to my taste. They have improved greatly in that department in the last few years. I know collectors who have had player compatibility problems with their earlier disc releases (also playback issues apparently due to the paper labelling) though I have not experienced that myself. If you enjoy minor American silents, I would certainly recommend this label.

RomeoJA
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:50 am

Re: Unknown Video

#3 Post by RomeoJA » Fri Oct 26, 2012 2:01 am

I am doubtful that Young Deer and Red Wing appear in Little Dove's Romance, based on the release date of the film. Although they had worked for Bison from 1909 to early 1910, by late 1910 they were working for Pathe, where they remained until 1913. The "Indian" woman in the still that you posted does not look like Red Wing. Can you post more stills from the film of the leading characters?

RomeoJA
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:50 am

Re: Unknown Video

#4 Post by RomeoJA » Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:44 am

The "Indian" woman in the still photo taken from Little Dove's Romance is Mona Darkfeather.

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Unknown Video

#5 Post by Minkin » Mon Nov 05, 2012 6:42 pm

Had never heard of this label, but was interested in their Mack Sennett releases after the recent TCM airings.

To my surprise, the label died a little over a year ago, with Snowden shutting the website, and ending his sales.

As a springboard for life for other silent film distributors, where might others recommended for Mack Sennett films?

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Unknown Video

#6 Post by knives » Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:01 pm

Image's Slapstick Enclyopedia has several Sennett films.

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Rufus T. Firefly
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 4:24 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Unknown Video

#7 Post by Rufus T. Firefly » Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:36 pm

Minkin wrote:As a springboard for life for other silent film distributors, where might others recommended for Mack Sennett films?
Looser than Loose has quite a few Sennett releases, though I have not seen any of their work and can't comment on the quality.

JonasEB
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:02 am

Re: Unknown Video

#8 Post by JonasEB » Tue Nov 06, 2012 2:44 am

Cinemuseum, the group that restored and assembled the September TCM Mack Sennett festival, is planning a huge boxset of Sennett films (everything on TCM plus another 48 or so, and not just on DVD, supposedly on Blu-ray) but I don't believe any potential release date has been announced.

*Edit - Read that it was due in December but that seems unlikely.

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