Von Stroheim's Greed

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FilmFanSea
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:37 pm
Location: Portland, OR

#26 Post by FilmFanSea » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:25 pm

godardslave wrote:i think i missed this when it was announced...
Dvdbeaver has just announced that Warner shall be releasing Greed on DVD, as well as The Crowd, The Parade, the Unholy Three, and the Wind. No specifics yet, except that these titles will be released in 2006 and 2007.
has this been confirmed as definite? Any more specifics/dates?
That information came from the last HTF Chat with Warner Home Video in February 2006:
[BrianPB] Thanks for coming back. Warner continues to sit on a unrivaled cache of silent masterpieces which are begging for release. Examples would include von Stroheim's GREED (which made a respectable showing--9th--in DVD Decision 2004, and is currently the top vote-getter in TCM's poll of "most requested films not on DVD"), Victor Seastrom's THE WIND and THE SCARLET LETTER, King Vidor's THE BIG PARADE (restored in 2004), THE CROWD, and SHOW PEOPLE

[Warner] Every one of the films you mentioned will be released either at the end of this year or during 2007. We recognize their importance and are certainly doing more with our silent films than any other major studio. We have 6600 films in our library and only so many release slots per year, so bear with us.

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SoyCuba
Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:30 pm
Location: Finland

#27 Post by SoyCuba » Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:40 am

Still no news for the release of any of these silent titles? Being a huge fan of silent films I find this situation of them not getting the treatment they deserve highly frustrating...

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Derek Estes
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:00 pm
Location: Portland Oregon

#28 Post by Derek Estes » Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:14 pm

I predict January. At least I hope it comes that soon.

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stereo
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:06 pm

January comes and goes...

#29 Post by stereo » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:22 am

...and still no DVD of Greed.

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

#30 Post by HerrSchreck » Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:44 pm

..and still no Chaney, or the Vidors, etc. With Ford's silents sprung on us (whoda thought?), WB have become the shithouse in terms of silents.. approaching Universalville.

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#31 Post by Gregory » Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:33 am

From this evening's Warner chat:
GREED will be coming out through our planned series of the silent filmsd prepared by Kevin Brownlow. We hope we can get these in production shortly...but all plans are still formative.
All plans are still formative... just astonishing.

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Ashirg
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:10 am
Location: Atlanta

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#32 Post by Ashirg » Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:37 am

They are still looking for the complete print... Please stand by...

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

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#33 Post by Jonathan S » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:05 am

Ashirg wrote:They are still looking for the complete print... Please stand by...
Ditto the Warner DVD of Ambersons, though that has at least reached "development" stage! :roll:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#34 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:40 pm

No that's not the sound of canteloupes hitting the ground from great skyscraper heights.

WB is a joke.

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#35 Post by Gregory » Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:14 pm

If ever there was a justifiable case for the usually exploitative strategy of bare-bones-release-first/special-edition-later, it's these silents and Magnificent Ambersons. Instead we get to wait years while they make plans for special features.

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JacquesQ
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:14 am
Location: Third-row-center-seat (more often couch, actually)

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#36 Post by JacquesQ » Thu Jun 04, 2009 2:08 am

1999 : 75th anniversary release of reconstructed version.
2009 : 10th anniversary of promise to release it on home video (still meant to be VHS initially !).
Let's wait and see what happens in 2024 ?

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Tommaso
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:09 am

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#37 Post by Tommaso » Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:14 am

JacquesQ wrote:Let's wait and see what happens in 2024 ?
Low quality DivX download from the Warner Archive Collection.

mentalist
Joined: Tue May 08, 2007 7:38 am

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#38 Post by mentalist » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:56 pm

I just saw The Big Parade on the big screen with live piano accompaniment at the Sydney Film Festival last night. Excellent epic melodrama. I wish Warners would pull their fingers out of you know where :x

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Saturnome
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:22 pm

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#39 Post by Saturnome » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:10 pm

Yeah yeah. Every time these Warner silents topics are updated without announcements I die a little. I'm a lot dead now.

Props55
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:55 am

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#40 Post by Props55 » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:19 pm

Fingers???!!! They've had both fists and a jelly jar up there for the last year at least.

You are indeed lucky. Atlanta seemed to be on the cusp of a silent revival about a dozen years ago. Saw THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA accompanied by the ASO (Carl Davis conducting the former) at the Rialto and live organ score to THE MERRY WIDOW at the Fabulous Fox. Still waiting on WIDOW on DVD. And GREED. And the silent Vidors. And the Seastroms. And L. Gish. Etc., etc., etc.

Tommaso I fear is correct.

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Sloper
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 10:06 pm

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#41 Post by Sloper » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:21 pm

Saturnome wrote:Yeah yeah. Every time these Warner silents topics are updated without announcements I die a little. I'm a lot dead now.
Isn't it awful? I think we should all keep up a daily stream of histrionic lamentation on this thread, just to avoid these moments of disappointment.

jaredsap
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 1:24 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#42 Post by jaredsap » Sun Sep 06, 2009 6:13 pm

The 4-hour cut is now available on iTunes. Transfer looks pretty good.

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Peacock
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:47 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#43 Post by Peacock » Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:31 pm

US only! ](*,)

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perkizitore
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:29 pm
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Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#44 Post by perkizitore » Mon Sep 07, 2009 9:29 am

Peacock wrote:US only! ](*,)
Is the quality similar to the TCM/Arte broadcasts, or better? [-o<

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

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#45 Post by knives » Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:59 pm

Do I have to pay/ please link?

jaredsap
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 1:24 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#46 Post by jaredsap » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:09 pm

perkizitore wrote:Is the quality similar to the TCM/Arte broadcasts, or better?
I've never seen them.
knives wrote:Do I have to pay/ please link?
You can watch the "trailer" (i.e. the first three minutes) for free. You, of course, have to pay to rent or buy the feature. Go into iTunes and search for "Greed."

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Antoine Doinel
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
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Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#47 Post by Antoine Doinel » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:24 pm

knives wrote:Do I have to pay/ please link?
It's $9.99 to buy or $2.99 to rent. You have to purchase or rent it through the US iTunes store only.

I watched the first few minutes, and while I haven't seen the TCM broadcast for comparison sakes, the quality is quite good.

I would imagine this is the final word on a "release" of this film for a while given Feltenstein's recent comments regarding classic films. It boggles the mind they aren't licensing the film and extras (which surely by now are produced) out to the Criterion or Kino's of the world to handle, instead dumping the film in a very limited, digital only release. At least with the Archives, if someone around the world wanted the title, there was a way to get it, but to make it an iTunes US "exclusive" is pretty much a middle finger to everyone. If any silent director needs to be seen on fancy big screen televisions, it's Von Stroheim. To make it only available via iTunes is a further insult to the director who has probably turned ten times over in his grave by now. My guess is that WB would've released it through the Archives if they could have but given the running time, this was the next "best" option.

Does anyone here have a Kevin Brownlow connection? It would be nice to hear if his involvement with the development of silents at WB is still ongoing or a pipe dream at this point.

Of course, the most maddening thing about this is when the iTunes release doesn't sell or rent well, WB will cite that as further "evidence" that classics aren't doing well blah blah blah. I can't wait for WB's next brilliant idea which will probably be a streaming flash video of The Magnificent Ambersons.

Calling HerrS to thread.....

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headacheboy
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:57 pm

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#48 Post by headacheboy » Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:25 pm

Honestly jaredsap, I thought you were playing a joke on us. I went to check it out and yes indeed, there it is, Greed on iTunes. I would have to agree with Antoine Doinel that this will be the way Warners says, 'oh, sorry but the dismal sales and rentals of this film on iTunes now precludes us from releasing it, even on a crappy DVD-R through our wonderful Archives.' I'll admit the trailer does look quite nice but for pity sakes, what exactly are they putting in their water over at Warners? I'm sure people are just waiting to pounce on a silent film to watch on their iPod.

If anyone lives in Illinois, the Decatur Public Library has a copy of Greed on VHS. It isn't the best copy you'll ever see but at least you'll get to see it. The library does interlibrary loans throughout Illinois, so check with your library and see if they deal with Decatur. For living in the midst of a cultural cesspool the library has had a true cinephile picking the films for the past 30 years (and we've even gotten technologically advanced via DVDs; they have damn near every Criterion and Kino a person could want to see).

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#49 Post by HerrSchreck » Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:44 pm

Antoine Doinel wrote:Calling HerrS to thread.....
Trust me.. I've been reading.

I just came back from vacation where I got fucking destroyed by mosquitoes and sinister little noseeums. Last thing I need is to break out inna rash over further von Stroeheim abuse. I pretty much gave up on this and the Chaneys/Seastrom-Sjostroms (and stuff like the Vidors) a long time ago.

I feel bad for fans of silents on into the future who missed the dvd golden age of the past 9 years, as those editions slowly fade from print. They'll be stuck p2p'ing mpeg4/avi encodes of all the great discs of silents we own, which will barely translate even on a decent sized tube television.

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

Re: Von Stroheim's Greed

#50 Post by knives » Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:32 pm

Antoine Doinel wrote:
knives wrote:Do I have to pay/ please link?
It's $9.99 to buy or $2.99 to rent. You have to purchase or rent it through the US iTunes store only.
Gross, I don't even have their stupid pod.
Couldn't they have at least side released it on Hulu?

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