Flicker Alley

[Tommaso]

Brief first glance at "J'accuse" at Silent Era. And now this comes somewhat unexpected:

French language intertitles, optional English language subtitles

WOW! =D>

[What A Disgrace]

And my copy shipped today from the Planet.

I know what I'm doing this weekend.

[Mark Metcalf]

"and if you wait for the big sale, they'll both be down to under $23. "
When's the big sale?

[domino harvey]

November

[What A Disgrace]

Nope.

December 2.

[wpqx]

I'm glad Wild and Wooly is included in that Fairbanks set.

Anyone know if/when the Howard Hughes silents are going to be released? I'm dying to see The Racket and Two Arabian Nights.

[Ashirg]

See Scharphedin2's reply from November 25, 2007 on page 4 of this topic.

Douglas Fairbanks discs is up at Amazon (not yet available for pre-order, but will be soon)

[htdm]

But it has been up for some time at DeepDiscount.

[MichaelB]

On the evidence of disc one of J'Accuse, which I've just finished watching, this ranks very high amongst the finest silent film presentations I've seen on DVD.

It improves on La Roue in two crucial aspects: the print quality is almost entirely exceptional (no 9.5mm interpolations here!), and - as already mentioned - it has the original French intertitles and optional subtitles.

The source print is tinted, pin-sharp and in remarkable condition for its age (obviously not absolutely pristine, but way above expectations for a nearly 90-year-old film), and Robert Israel's orchestral score fits it like the proverbial glove - the 'Dies irae' motif that opens it might seem hackneyed, but it's entirely of a piece with Gance's blend of stock melodrama and visionary insight.

Right, off to watch disc two...

[wpqx]

That is sad news (about the Hughes films) seems I'm not alone in my eagerness to see them.

[Max von Mayerling]

According to the FA website Judex is out of print, which shouldn't be cause for panic, since Gaumont will probably be releasing this one next, with the Artificial Eye port to follow.

Poking around the FA website. It looks like Judex is back in print, with a slightly updated cover to match the current FA format.

[jbeall]

Critic's Choice: New DVDs reviews the Fairbanks set.

The Flicker Alley set offers “Zorro” in a glisteningly sharp print made from a source close to the camera negative, and the other titles in the box have been mastered with consummate care, even when the source material is not perfect. The movies are presented with period-accurate color tinting and accompanied by appropriate scores performed by some of the leading figures in silent-film music, including Philip Carli, Robert Israel and Rodney Sauer, the leader of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

A 32-page booklet offers an essay by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta, the authors of “Douglas Fairbanks,” a new pictorial biography that the University of California Press is releasing next week. This one’s a keeper.

[jbeall]

Netflix has been slow the past week, which gave me time to attack my kevyip, so I watched disc 1 of J'accuse. In a word, incroyable! I'll watch disc 2 tonight, but I just had to register my appreciation for Gance's brilliance--everything in this film works. Just to take one example, the scene early on, after the general mobilization has been ordered, where lovers and spouses face impending separation, and Gance shows only their hands, was incredibly affecting.
Note to Flicker Alley: more Gance, please!

[Saturnome]

I can't wait until they announce anything new at Flickey Alley. In these times were everything seems to close or have some difficulties I certainly wouldn't want FA to go away.

[What A Disgrace]

Amazon.com has a listing for a new Flicker Alley title, entitled Under Full Sail: Silent Cinema on the High Seas. Details below.

Discover a time when the truest adventure had the wind at your back and an infinite horizon all around. UNDER FULL SAIL: SILENT CINEMA ON THE HIGH SEAS proudly collects five breathtaking films that preserve the romance, grandeur and allure of windjammers sailing open waters, exquisitely photographed in the style of the time.

The Yankee Clipper (1927), produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Rupert Julian, restored to the most complete version available since the film s release, is a feature-length melodrama recreating the real-life race from Foo Chow to Boston for the China tea trade. The gorgeous production filmed at sea for six weeks aboard the 1856 wooden square-rigger Indiana with stars William Boyd, Elinor Fair and Frank Junior Coghlan. Renowned organist Dennis James, in his solo DVD premiere, accompanies the film on an original-installation 1928 Wurlitzer pipe organ, recorded at Seattle s Paramount Theatre.

Around the Horn in a Square Rigger (1933) was filmed by noted sailor and author Alan Villiers documenting the record-breaking 83-day voyage of the 1902 barque Parma from Australia to England in the 1933 Grain Race. Villiers writes, We wanted to make a picture that would capture some of the stirring beauty of these ships, that would perpetuate, in the realm of shadows at least, something of the glory of their wanderings ... some glimmer of understanding of the attraction which they hold over those who sail in them. Music by Eric Beheim.

The Square Rigger (1932), an early sound short filmed as part of Fox s Magic Carpet of Movietone, shows life aboard the schoolship Dar Pomorza, The White Frigate. Built in 1909 as the Prinzess Eitel Friedrich, it was ceded from Germany to France as a prize of World War I, and was later donated to the Polish State Maritime School in 1930 where it served 50 years and trained more than 13,000 cadets.

Ship Ahoy (1928) is a unique record of the conditions and traditions of the North American lumber trade featuring an unidentified schooner equipped with a fore and aft rig as it transports lumber from the Carolinas up the coast to a northern port. Music by Eric Beheim.

The collection is rounded off with a ten-minute sequence from Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) documenting an authentic whale hunt from the 1878 wooden ship Wanderer out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The camera- men risk their lives to capture practices unchanged since Herman Melville immortalized them in Moby Dick. Music by Dennis James.

DVD bonus features include an audio reminiscence by Frank Junior Coghlan about the filming of The Yankee Clipper. An enclosed booklet includes detailed program notes by film scholar and U.S. Navy marine engineer John E. Stone and an essay about the scoring of The Yankee Clipper by organist Dennis James.

[Scharphedin2]

Nice set! From a reliable source, I heard that this year will also bring a set of films starring John Gilbert.

[htdm]

At a screening of Bardelys the Magnificent this weekend, David Shepard announced that Flicker Alley would be releasing a Gilbert double feature late this summer which will include this title and Monte Cristo.

[Matt]

Apparently there are some playability issues with some of the Fairbanks discs. Flicker Alley is offering replacements if you need them.

[Cash Flagg]

From Classic Flix:

Flicker Alley has announced a July 7th release date for a The Lost Films of John Gilbert. The titles are the King Vidor directed Bardelys the Magnificent (1926) and Monte Cristo (1922).

The two-disc release will retail for $39.99, but it's available at ClassicFlix.com for only $29.99. Details below.

Bardelys the Magnificent (1926, 85 min.)
Based upon the novel by Rafael Sabatini and directed by King Vidor, who just one year before had directed Gilbert in the smash hit The Big Parade. In France “in an age of light loves and lively scandals,” the Marquis de Bardelys (Gilbert), casual womanizer and accomplished swashbuckler, is entranced by Roxalanne de Lavedan (Eleanor Boardman); and against a background of knavery and intrigue, he sets out to woo and win her. Lavishly mounted and superbly directed with spectacular action scenes, Bardelys is a hugely entertaining action romance given an A-plus MGM production.

The sole surviving print was found in France in 2006; the English titles are restored according to the original script. A gap in the recovered footage is bridged with stills, titles, and footage from the original trailer so the story is complete; the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra provides a lovely score of period photoplay music. This release is possible through the graciousness of Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures.

Monte Cristo (1922, 100 min.)
Adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, and directed by Emmett J. Flynn, Gilbert is Edmond Dantes, a sailor unjustly imprisoned for twenty years, time he spends acquiring education and finesse. Later the accidental heir to a vast fortune, Dantes reinvents himself as the Count of Monte Cristo, and wreaks revenge on those symbols of the decadent monarchy that wronged him.

Fox Film spared no expense on this prestige film with lavish sets and a distinguished supporting cast. The sole surviving copy of Monte Cristo is a worn and choppy print found in the Czech Republic, but nearly complete. English titles have been restored with the help of the original script. Pianist Neal Kurz arranged and performs a score of obscure yet beautiful French music of the period.

BONUS FEATURES:

* Film historians Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta draw from their own extensive historical research into the life of John Gilbert to provide:
o A full-length audio essay on Bardelys the Magnificent
o An enclosed booklet
o A brand-new thirty-minute documentary Rediscovering John Gilbert, featuring an on-camera interview with John Gilbert’s daughter and biographer, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain
* Plus a 200+ Image slide show

[htdm]

DVDTalk on Bardleys the Magnificent/Monte Cristo

[Scharphedin2]

I just received The Lost Films of John Gilbert in the mail today, and it is another gorgeous disc from Flicker Alley. Do not hesitate to go to their site and order a copy.

Stills are posted in the captures thread. Considering that Bardelys was considered lost for 70 years, and that they only had one recently discovered nitrate print to work from in restoring the film, the result is nothing short of sensational. The accompanying feature -- Monte Cristo apparently had a fate very similar to that of Bardelys, and in the case of this latter film, the restoration is less spectacular, but still absolutely fine for a film of this vintage and rarity.

To finally see the sequence with Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman in the boat beneath the weeping willow branches was incredible, and look at those stills!! This is as hyper-romantic as things get in old Hollywood. The branches hanging into the shot, and the shadowplay they create on Boardman's umbrella, and on the scene in general. Just perfect.

Huge thanks to Jeffery Masino and David Shepard for continueing to bring these silent treasures out of the vaults.

[What A Disgrace]

Fyodor Otsep's Miss Mend

[Saturnome]

And Boris Barnet's, apparently.
I know Otsep for the single fact that he directed the first French Canadian features (they're available to watch whenever I want on my TV cable service, in HD, but I haven't watched them yet), that's very interesting.

[jsteffe]

I'm so glad to see that MISS MEND is coming out in December! I met the film historian Maxim Pozdorovkin at a conference at Harvard, and he's really sharp. The special features that he and Ana Olenina are putting together should be extremely thoughtful and well-researched.

[HerrSchreck]

Would have been a monstrous one-two punch of this were released with By The Bluest of Seas and/or Okraina.