Cohen Film Collection

[Calvin]

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.

[Drucker]

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!

[Minkin]

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

Isn't this a Janus title?

[andyli]

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]

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.

[What A Disgrace]

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.

[bainbridgezu]

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.

[Sloper]

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]

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

[Ashirg]

Tristana on DVD and blu-ray - March 12

[Cash Flagg]

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]

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

[captveg]

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]

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.

[captveg]

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.

[Calvin]

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]

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]

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.

[Matt]

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.

[Arthur Bannister]

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]

Blu-Ray.com have some info on upcoming restorations and releases

[david hare]

The Rohauer list linked to above interestingly includes Sternberg's The Salvation Hunters which I have always assumed to be PD. Maybe I'm wrong about that. But it doesn't include Sternberg's The Shanghai Gesture every print of which I've ever seen (and both current DVD versions on Image in the US, and Films sans Frontieres in France) always inserts a matt optically printed Rohauer copyright into the title credit page of the film.
There's some interesting stuff there, however some of it like the avant garde shorts are already available in excellent transfers on either or both the amazing Image seven disc boxset Unseen Cinema or the Kino Vols 1 to 3 American Avant Garde two disc boxes.

EDIT: The Tristana youtube clip looks terrific! I just wish they could have included a French audio track like the otherwise dreadful BfI. And I fail to understand what they could cut from the final montage without wrecking the circularity of the film. AFAIK Tristana was always 95 minutes from word go. The prem screening in Oz (French audio) was 95, and theatrical releases in the 70s were 95.

[Calvin]

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

[Minkin]

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]

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