Flicker Alley

[jsteffe]

Okraina/Outskirts seems unlikely since the Image DVD is still available. But yes, By the Bluest of Seas would be nice some day. For that matter, I really liked Barnet and Yudin's The Wrestler and the Clown (1957).

[Ashirg]

Okraina/Outskirts and The Girl With The Hatbox DVD is also from Blackhawk Films. Miss Mend is being shown on TCM on December 6th.

[zone_resident]

Beaver on Miss Mend

[Michael Kerpan]

Dave Kehr on Miss Mend.

[Ashirg]

Their new release is....

Méliès Encore: 26 Additional Rare and Original Films by the First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1911)

Coming February 9 according to Amazon

Georges Méliès built the world's first movie studio in 1896 and from it cascaded many fantastic films, as featured on Flicker Alley’s monumental thirteen-hour, five-DVD box, Georges Méliès, First Wizard of the Cinema. Since it was published, an additional 26 films produced by Méliès between 1896 and 1911 have been found and made available for this single-disc, supplemental collection. They further support that Méliès was the most accomplished filmmaker in the world during the first years of cinema.

The films collected here are presented as in the earlier set, in chronological order with excellent new music. Although the print quality is variable, most look very nice; five boast beautiful, original hand-coloring, while another five have original English narrations written by Méliès. Two are fragments, as the complete films are lost. As a bonus, this collection also includes two films in the Méliès style by Segundo de Chomon, which for many years were misidentified as Georges Méliès’ own work.

[HerrSchreck]

Most excellent. Bravo Jeff!

[Saturnome]

Yes ! That's great, great news.

Where is that hand-colored version of Le Voyage dans la Lune that Wikipedia mentions though? Is it even real?

[MichaelB]

Excellent news - Jeff told me he was working on a follow-up Méliès disc when I met him in mid-2008, because the immediate upshot of the release of the original box was a flood of offers of superior prints/hitherto unreleased shorts. So I'm glad he tracked down enough to make it viable.

[What A Disgrace]

I love you guys so much.

[zedz]

Wow! It's only a few weeks ago that I finally finished making my way through the Melies set, which I'd assumed would be the last word on the guy in my lifetime, but now they're tossing in a free set of steak knives!

[HerrSchreck]

Not only that, but a hand-colored apple-peeler to boot!

[gyorgys]

Anyone acquainted with the Georges Méliès set Le Premier Magicien du Cinéma (1896-1913) of Lobster in France?
I assume a direct port of the Flicker Alley edition, but without PAL speed up (782 minutes :-k, at least if Amazon is right in this regard, i.e. mostly not).

[MichaelB]

Flicker Alley sourced many of its masters from Lobster, so it may not be quite as straightforward as a direct port.

[gyorgys]

Flicker Alley sourced many of its masters from Lobster, so it may not be quite as straightforward as a direct port.

Thanks for the clarification MichaelB.

[Jonathan S]

I presume that's the same release offered in the Filmmuseum shop: http://www.edition-Filmmuseum.com/produ ... a9267b349f" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Several years ago, well before the Flicker Alley release, Lobster announced a big Melies set for France, but then had to cancel it due I gather to claims of copyright infringement (under European law) by his descendants. I wonder if some sort of deal was worked out for the set to be released in France after the FA edition was issued.

[MichaelB]

I suspect it's more a case of Melies dying in 1938 - so his work has been in the public domain even in Europe since 1 January 2009.

[Jonathan S]

Ah yes. That may also account for the enormous interest on eBay when I sold some of the (quite common) Melies film prints I'd owned for 30 years in December 2008. Just one of them paid twice over for my Flicker Alley set. One of the winners told me he was going to screen the prints he bought from me at a semi-public New Year's Eve party. I can just imagine the Melies descendants infiltrating it and checking their pocket watches if he tried to do so before midnight.

[jbaart]

If anyone has compared the contents of the German Edition Filmmuseum box with the Flicker Alley one yet I'd appreciate if you could point if there are any differences at all. I've been wanting to buy the set for ages but now that it's been released in my home country I should have no excuse not to!

[jurples]

Flicker Alley's Second 2010 Release: A fin de siècle comedy of manners

[Ashirg]

René Clair's Un chapeau de paille d'Italie?

[Jonathan S]

Certainement! Actually, David Shepard wrote about this release on the Nitrateville forum as far back as July 5 2009:

Anyway, I agree that "The Italian Straw Hat" truly sparkles. I've been spending a lot of time with it lately and the more I watch it, the better it gets.

Usually we do not disclose our DVD plans this far in advance, but I cannot resist reporting that later this year Flicker Alley will be releasing our fully complete version of "The Italian Straw Hat". It is mastered in HD from the original 35mm negative of the English-language release, and looks great; with the scenes originally cut from this version restored with footage from an original European print.

Ours will be the first really good US video edition of this film, since the nice-looking VHS from Connoisseur had completely inauthentic titles and inappropriate music, the VHS from Interama/Kino, although almost complete and with very good picture quality, runs both way too fast (at 24 fps) and way too slow (stretch printed for the equivalent of 16 fps), plus the English subtitles are out of synch; and the DVD from Grapevine is beneath serious consideration.

We hope to have a really astonishing score, but negotiations are not yet final with an Italian music publisher; and some yummy extras.

David Shepard
Film Presrvation Associates

[What A Disgrace]

Another essential release of something I've been wanting to see for ages. 2010 might be another staple year for French silent film on DVD.

And maybe I'm a man of poor taste, but that better be the cover art.

[Ashirg]

Already available for pre-order at Amazon

[What A Disgrace]

I like that cover art even better. God bless you dudes.

[Jonathan S]

Flicker Alley seem to be the only company actually increasing their output of pressed discs. According to the latest Classic Coming Attractions column:

In fact, it looks as though the company will have more releases than in 2009. Melies Encore has already been announced and Rene Clair's Italian Straw Hat is definitely in the plans. There's also a box set coming and two or three other individual titles as well. One of those will be a silent that has not been previously released on home video and that the company is planning on mastering for Blu-ray in order to gauge the interest and viability of doing more in the future.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/ ... 20210.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;