Cohen Film Collection

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Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Cohen Film Collection

#1 Post by Calvin » Sat Oct 20, 2012 7:08 pm

Cohen Media are preparing (what appear to be) impressive releases of D.W. Griffith's Intolerance and Raoul Walsh's The Thief of Bagdad, both due for release in 2013 from new 2K scans (I'm not entirely sure if they're 'restorations')

The Thief of Bagdad (trailer here) will be accompanied by the Carl Davis score and "the disc will also include a feature length audio commentary by Fairbanks scholar Jeffrey Vance, a featurette comprised of more than 80 behind-the-scenes photos and explanatory text, plus high resolution scans of the original 1924 souvenir booklet".

Intolerance will also be accompanied by the Carl Davis score and the release will include The Mother and the Law and The Fall of Babylon, both of which will be scored by Mont Alto.

It looks like Luis Bunuel's Tristana will be getting released by them too.

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Drucker
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#2 Post by Drucker » Sat Oct 20, 2012 7:15 pm

The restoration of Thief of Bagdad is playing at Film Forum at end of December in what is advertised as a new "DCP restoration". Was about to buy the DVD, but I'll wait up for the hopeful blu ray!

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

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#3 Post by Minkin » Sat Oct 20, 2012 7:18 pm

Calvin wrote:It looks like Luis Bunuel's Tristana will be getting released by them too.
Isn't this a Janus title?

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andyli
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:46 pm

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#4 Post by andyli » Sat Oct 20, 2012 8:21 pm

Good news all around. Any words that Intolerance could be the long-sought-after Photoplay version? And Going by their description Tristana is the same restored version (by Filmoteca Española) that was screened a few years ago at Cannes Classics.

Calvin
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#5 Post by Calvin » Sat Oct 20, 2012 8:38 pm

Since it has the Carl Davis score, I'm assuming it's the Photoplay version. I'm pretty sure the print comes from the Rohauer Collection, since Cohen bought that a few years ago.

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What A Disgrace
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#6 Post by What A Disgrace » Sat Oct 20, 2012 9:26 pm

When I saw "D.W. Griffith's Intolerance" and then "Raoul Walsh", my brain immediately read "Regeneration" and I was freaking out and giddy with excitement for a few moments. I was pretty let down when I actually finished reading, but...that trailer. Wow.

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bainbridgezu
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:54 pm

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#7 Post by bainbridgezu » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:21 am

Tristana looks good. The shot of Fernando Rey carrying the dog out of the bedroom does look a little rough, but I imagine this is the result of problematic materials and not the fault of the transfer or restoration. Hopefully they will include a commentary or some other worthwhile supplements.

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

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#8 Post by Sloper » Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:05 am

Calvin wrote:Since it has the Carl Davis score, I'm assuming it's the Photoplay version. I'm pretty sure the print comes from the Rohauer Collection, since Cohen bought that a few years ago.
I've seen a crappy old VHS recording of the Davis-scored version (screened in the early '90s, I think), and it's amazing; a definitive score, really, and far preferable to Turrin or Carter. I actually quite like the Carter score, but this film benefits greatly from the bombastic, full-orchestra Carl Davis approach. Fantastic news.

Calvin
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#9 Post by Calvin » Mon Dec 03, 2012 3:05 pm

The Thief of Bagdad has been dated for Feburary 19th.

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Ashirg
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#10 Post by Ashirg » Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:18 am

Tristana on DVD and blu-ray - March 12

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Cash Flagg
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:15 pm

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#11 Post by Cash Flagg » Mon Jan 14, 2013 5:03 pm

It looks like Import CDs has the best prices for these - $12.99 plus shipping for Tristana and $10.79 for Thief of Bagdad, although they won't be available for pre-order until roughly a month before release.

Calvin
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#12 Post by Calvin » Wed Jan 16, 2013 12:47 pm

Park Circus is now representing the Cohen catalogue theatrically, which means that we can now see what the Rohauer Collection actually consists of.

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captveg
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:28 pm

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#13 Post by captveg » Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:38 pm

Calvin wrote:Park Circus is now representing the Cohen catalogue theatrically, which means that we can now see what the Rohauer Collection actually consists of.
Interesting. A lot of potential overlap with Kino. Or did they pick up the library that Kino had been using?

Adam
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#14 Post by Adam » Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:17 am

Yes, pretty much the latter. Tim Lanza was overseeing the Rohauer collection, and Kino made their avant-garde sets drawing from it, but Cohen bought that collection.

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captveg
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#15 Post by captveg » Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:47 pm

So, I guess that means that any further releases of those titles won't be coming from Kino. So Kino basically got a handful out as well as all the Keatons and now we will need to look to Cohen for the rest.
Last edited by captveg on Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Calvin
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#16 Post by Calvin » Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:01 pm

Cohen's restoration of The General will be making its world premiere at the TCM Classic Film Festival. "For this restoration, The General was scanned from the original nitrate camera negative and restored through the collaborative efforts of the Cohen Film Collective, the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation and TCM."

peerpee
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#17 Post by peerpee » Wed Jan 23, 2013 6:37 pm

From what I understand, the Rohauer collection appears to be a collection of prints collected by Raymond Rohauer over a number of decades. At one point they claimed to own worldwide rights to all German films made prior to 1939.

The Rohauer collection was once represented in the UK by Granada/ITV and they claimed to own THE BLUE ANGEL, VAMPYR, etc. All they had for many titles appeared to be dodgy 16mm prints.

I've always been rather sceptical about what rights they do actually own to any of these films. I see Epstein's THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is listed. Surely that's owned by Cinémathèque Française?

EDIT: I see they're still trying to hawk VAMPYR. They have zero rights to that film, Dreyer left it to the DFI in his will and Criterion and MoC licenced VAMPYR from the DFI. A lot of these other "Cohen/Rohauer" titles look suspicious to me also.

Jonathan S
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#18 Post by Jonathan S » Thu Jan 24, 2013 3:16 am

Rohauer is of course widely regarded as having been a pirate and a parasite - and they're two of the milder epithets! He didn't even bother to preserve properly some of the unique prints he confiscated from others. This (in PDF) is the best piece I've read about him, by the late film historian William K Everson, who knew him well. (Thanks to Mike Gebert at Nitrateville.)

Those ITV/Rohauer prints, including Vampyr, used to turn up on Channel 4 and some (e.g. The Old Dark House) have even been issued on DVD in the UK.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#19 Post by Matt » Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:08 pm

There is a review on Amazon claiming that the ending of Tristana is cut on the new Blu-ray. This person could be a total crackpot (especially since the release date is still several weeks away), but it (along with Cohen's lack of reputation) is enough to keep me from pre-ordering.

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Arthur Bannister
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#20 Post by Arthur Bannister » Mon Jan 28, 2013 4:48 pm

The U.S. theatrical run of the Tristana restoration began in November '12 so it's possible that this person saw it at a screening. It's also possible that there was something wrong with the exhibition of the film rather than with the film itself, but until someone either corroborates or refutes this assertion we'll just have to wait and see. Has no one else who's familiar with this film gone to see it? I do find it odd that there's no other reports on the resto (which the Filmoteca Española had a hand in).


Calvin
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#22 Post by Calvin » Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:07 pm

Their new website has a PDF detailing all the films (they claim to be) in the collection

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

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#23 Post by Minkin » Fri Feb 01, 2013 8:07 pm

That's rather hilarious in areas. I expect some complaints to start coming in about some of their supposed copyright claims: Vampyr, Fire over England, Olympia, The Lodger, Phantom of the Opera, a few of the Paul Robeson titles, Trip to the Moon (just the few I noticed right away).

I'd like to see how some of those claims will stand up under litigation. That or I'm sure many companies won't even bother with Cohen's "supposed claims."

Orlac
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am

Re: Cohen Film Collection

#24 Post by Orlac » Fri Feb 01, 2013 11:26 pm

And their listing for One Exciting Night (someone PLEASE release this!) has a still from the lost 1930 version of The Gorilla!

acf171072
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Re: Cohen Film Collection

#25 Post by acf171072 » Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:24 am

The Old Dark House, The Southerner, South Riding, Fire Over England and Vessel of Wrath would be good, the Griffith, Fairbanks, assorted shorts and Keatons, etc, speak for themselves. But prize pieces for me, Hallström's The Witch with Eng subs and Torre-Nilsson's The Fall. Have the unsubbed Finnish DVD of the former and it looks incredible - lots of nudity that would given Will Hays a seizure - and The Fall only in an NTSC tape a friend taped off Argentinian TV years ago. They would be fantastic. Mind you, there are lots of Finnish and Swedish classics in there that would be good for a boxset.

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