Masters of Cinema

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NABOB OF NOWHERE · #126 Post by **NABOB OF NOWHERE** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 5:27 pm

A question to Nick....

Having just wrestled the TV remote control from my Xmas Holiday incumbent 70 year old Polish Mother in law, glued her eyelids open and force fed her the Eureka DVD of 'Sunrise', I was wondering whether there was any detailed answer regarding the question as to whether significant changes can be expected for re-issued titles (particularly the Murnaus). If yes there's one Xmas 2005 present settled as Mum in law wept buckets and thought it the most beautiful film she'd ever seen.

peerpee · #127 Post by **peerpee** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:46 pm

Nice SUNRISE story Casper!

If we redo FAUST it will be totally different (ie. the recently discovered domestic German release print. instead of the export print).

We have another Murnau lined up (never before released by Eureka).

We'll get to SUNRISE in a month or so when we've got through the current titles, so we'll have more info then.

ellipsis7 · #128 Post by **ellipsis7** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 7:29 pm

Annie, Arrow Films are releasing ROME OPEN CITY in the UK in March.

Interesting - the BFI told me recently that they hoped to release Rossellini's 'War Trilogy' on DVD, but were still searching for adequate quality source materials... (And they appear to still have the video rights, if not the DVD)

denti alligator · #129 Post by **denti alligator** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 7:56 pm

Crossing my fingers for that new Faust

We have another Murnau lined up (never before released by Eureka).

Crossing my fingers that this will be Phantom.

Will your Sunrise be spine #1. I can't imagine a better film for that spot.

peerpee · #130 Post by **peerpee** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 10:39 am

We haven't started work on it yet - so we don't know what we're going to be doing. Hence, I can't answer any questions about it.

I haven't seen the Accent version, but if it's just a one-disc and it has all the extras (4 DEVILS docu, etc) -- then it has been badly compressed.

The current Eureka version is 2 x DVD5 - 4GB and 3.5GB.

iangj · #131 Post by **iangj** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 7:18 am

dmkb wrote:I'm coming a bit late to this thread but I am completely thrilled that you would even consider releasing Yamanaka's Humanity and Paper Balloons! Bravo!!

If you are still considering other titles, may I also suggest Mizoguchi's haunting silent Taki no Shiraito (1933) sometimes rendered in English as The Water Magician with a Benshi track and conventional Japanese accompaniment? Sawato Midori of Matsuda Productions regularly performs this with an ensemble both in Japan and abroad (in Japanese and English) and such a disc would have the distinction of being the first dvd anywhere (to my knowledge) to have a benshi track... (I don't count the Urban Connections DVD-ROM as it only contains snippets of films)

If you have connections at the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art's Film Center they supposedly have the only copies of:

Furusato or Home Town (1930, Mizoguchi) a Japanese part- sound film with the fascinating opera star Fujiwara Yoshie

or the non-Japanese silent

Sylvester (1924, Lulu Pick)

At any rate, kudos to you!!! =D>

I'd second that request for the Mizoguchi film, aka White Threads of the Waterfall. I saw this a couple of years ago on a 16mm print from the Japan Film Council (I think that's their name). It had a subtitled benshi soundtrack. A great film, too.

Lino · #132 Post by **Lino** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 12:08 pm

So, peerpee, when are you going to announce the 2005 Eureka/MoC series of DVDs complete catalogue? Or are you deciding to do that on a monthly basis?

peerpee · #133 Post by **peerpee** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 1:16 pm

I can't say when announcements will be made, but we shan't be jumping the gun, and it will definitely be on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.

Subbuteo · #134 Post by **Subbuteo** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 1:42 pm

Like many on this site I was overjoyed when 'Michael' fell through my letterbox.

The artwork throughout is exquisite and the attention to detail sans pareil in the world of DVD releases. It reminded me a little of those wonderful publications put out by that wonderfully subversive publishing house - 'Atlas Press'
The Renoir tribute had me in tears, wonderful inclusion.

Nick you should feel mighty proud of the design.
Long live MOC

peerpee · #135 Post by **peerpee** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 3:09 pm

Thanks for the kind words, Subbuteo.

We're trying our best and it's great that folk are enjoying them.

ola t · #136 Post by **ola t** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 5:14 am

In September, I attended a lecture by Michael Pogorzelski of the Academy Film Archive on the restoration of Sunrise. I guess I should have taken notes, but if I remember correctly, he mentioned that the European release version (which has different takes and edits, no Movietone soundtrack and hence presumably slightly wider aspect ratio) is currently being restored too. That would make an interesting second disc on a future edition.

I remember being confused by one thing Pogorzelski said about the restored Movietone version -- he mentioned that they'd been able to eliminate the jump cuts due to missing frames in the famous scene in the moonlit swamp, by interpolating those frames from a lower-quality but less damaged (at least in that particular reel) print. When I got home that night, I fired up the laserdisc (which uses an earlier restoration) and the Fox DVD to compare the two versions of that scene, and couldn't detect any difference in terms of missing frames -- both versions still had 'em. The DVD is superior in all other respects but this still made me wonder if the disc derives from a not-quite-final restoration print. I was unfortunately unable to attend a screening of the restored film print, so I couldn't compare with that. Of course, a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this would be that I misunderstood what scene, or part of a scene, Pogorzelski was actually talking about.

Off-topic addendum: nice to see I'm not the only Atlas Press fan here!

Lino · #137 Post by **Lino** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:01 pm

Peerpee, you missed the "4:16 pm, January 5, 2005" deadline...

Please tell us what the supplements for April releases will be, won't you?

peerpee · #138 Post by **peerpee** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:25 pm

The numbers got mixed up... should've been "5:41pm, January 6, 2005"

Lino · #139 Post by **Lino** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:08 pm

Do you mean CET or GMT?

Steven H · #140 Post by **Steven H** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:41 pm

Specifications for Francis and Humanity and Paper Balloons are up. Both sound amazing. I'm especially looking forward to the special features on St. Francis. Sound right up my alley.

Will Humanity and Paper Balloons include the extant bits from those other two films that were on the japanese set? Not the Pot Worth a Million Ryu or the other fully existing film, but weren't there snippets of something else? Sorry to be so vague... I couldn't find anything listed.

Michael Kerpan · #141 Post by **Michael Kerpan** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:16 am

...were in the Nikkatsu set in Japan, not on the "Humanity and Paper Balloons" DVD. So, they presumably belong to a different company. I don't recall the name of the two films that were the source of these tiny fragments.

htdm · #142 Post by **htdm** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:26 am

harri wrote:Will Humanity and Paper Balloons include the extant bits from those other two films that were on the japanese set?

The problem almost certainly has to do with rights.

Toho Studios produced Humanity and Paper Balloons and still holds all rights to the film. It released HPB on DVD this last summer in Japan without extras (unless you count Japanese subtitles as an extra). Tange Sazen: The Pot Worth a Million Ryo and Kochiyama Soshun were both produced by Nikkatsu Studios and they hold the rights to the films and extras on their DVD box set. Nikkatsu released their DVD set to tie in with their 2003 remake of The Pot Worth a Million Ryo.

I can certainly imagine why Toho has no interest in promoting Nikkatsu's remake (anyone who's ever had to deal with Toho knows that when it comes to protecting their product they are just a bit to the right of Hitler) but the two companies have a history of this sort of behavior. When Nikkatsu released its 4-film Yamanaka LD box set (2 of the 4 weren't even directed or written by Yamanaka!) a few years back, Toho decided to piggyback and bring out its own remastered version of HPB then too. It's just marketing.

So here are what the major extras on the Nikkatsu DVD box set include:

*Snippets from the climatic sword battle scene in Tange Sazen: The Pot Worth a Million Ryo. This was was cut after WWII　by order of the American Occupation authories who were convinced that sword battles = feudalistic thinking, which left unchecked = remilitarization. So, it was snipped and hadn't been seen by the general public for about 60 years until a 16mm fragment running about 20 seconds in total length turned up in a private collection in 2003. This is what was added to the disc.

*The only surviving segment from the climatic sword battle in Isono Genta Hoshin no Nagawakizashi (1932). This was Yamanaka's first film as a full director. It's a silent film which he wrote and directed for Arashi Kanjuro (aka "Arakan," one of the most influential actor/producers of his day. He would later be chosen to be the first actor to portay the Japanese emperor on film.) Productions. It's got speed, it's got thrills (think Orochi [1927]) but it's short.

*Kaito Shirozukin (1935/6) Honestly, I don't know much about this film other than that it was produced in two parts (zenpen and kohen) as many films were before the war (like Mizoguchi's Chushingura). The clip runs less than a minute in length so you don't get much of a sense of the story. The script isn't even included in any of the collections of Yamanaka's scripts that have been published over the years.

As to the reason why only the battle scenes survived, collectors generally saved only the parts they liked best or what they could take without getting caught. Even as late as the mid-90s it was still fairly common to find film collectors in Japan who would trade individual frames of film among themselves. This is one of the reasons why you could buy collections of battle scenes by certain period film stars (like Arakan or Bando Tsumasaburo) on VHS from places like Matsuda -- many collectors saved films in that form. These collections could be quite interesting and In some instances the battle scenes were the only existing footage from certain films.

Steven H · #143 Post by **Steven H** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:28 pm

dmkb wrote:The problem almost certainly has to do with rights.

Thanks for the explanations. I was thinking they were from the same company and that seemed to be the root of my confusion. I'm looking forward to it. Now I'm just hoping the other two see western DVD release, and maybe some Shimizu as well.

Steven H · #144 Post by **Steven H** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 2:28 pm

I'm thinking it would be nice if MoC supplied replacement covers for other companies as well.

denti alligator · #145 Post by **denti alligator** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 10:43 am

Got my replacement cover too, finally, after some delays. It's very nice indeed.

Any plans for The Golem? I'm tempted by the Transit edition, but will hold out if MoC plan on a release.

peerpee · #146 Post by **peerpee** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:33 pm

The Transit version of DER GOLEM is the same as the Eureka. There's no plans for an MoC Series reissue of this version. It'd have to be redone for us to MoCize it (not likely at the moment).

Ashirg · #147 Post by **Ashirg** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 10:28 am

Will we see a large cover for Spione on the website?

peerpee · #148 Post by **peerpee** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 4:02 pm

Not for a while. It might be changed.

denti alligator · #149 Post by **denti alligator** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 1:39 am

peerpee wrote:The Transit version of DER GOLEM is the same as the Eureka. There's no plans for an MoC Series reissue of this version. It'd have to be redone for us to MoCize it (not likely at the moment).

Why will it not simply enter the MoC catalogue, then, like the other titles you suggested would be re-printed with the same disc content, but under the MoC banner?

At the current time, it looks like THE BLUE ANGEL, THE LAST LAUGH, SUNRISE, THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE, MABUSE: THE GAMBLER and M will be released with the same disc content. Most of them have been out for less than a year, and we're very happy with the transfers on all of them. They are simply entering the MoC Series when new copies need printing up.

From the following comment

Eureka titles that won't be entering the MoC Series *in their current form*: DER GOLEM, FAUST, NOSFERATU, and many others.

I assumed the current Eureka version of DER GOLEM left something to be desired. Also, a reviewer at the Erureka website intimated that the German intertitles are not original, so I got suspicious.

So will the Mabuse films, LAST LAUGH and SUNRISE as well as BLUE ANGEL still be re-issued as part of MoC? And should we expect a NOSFERATU and FAUST in a different form?

peerpee · #150 Post by **peerpee** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 1:25 pm

All I can say is that, with regard to the reissues, THE LAST LAUGH will be coming first - disc content will be the same (but it will have a new sleeve and booklet).

SUNRISE is to appear in the MoC Series, will be rejigged, but will be the same transfer.

If it looks like a cynical double-dip marketing ploy, then I apologize, but some of these titles need repressing and it makes sense for them to be in the MoC Series. Where at all possible we are upgrading or adding content.