Milestone

[matrixschmatrix]

Yeesh, I'm interested in the film but I wish I could get the actual movie for less than $75

[Peacock]

Hey you should have picked up the SecondRun release then!

[matrixschmatrix]

Well, I never heard of it before tonight. Besides, I'd be happy to kick money into the Kickstarter, I'm just saying it seems a bit odd to make you go three levels up before you get to one that includes the movie.

[Matt]

Yeesh, I'm interested in the film but I wish I could get the actual movie for less than $75

Give $10 to help the restoration now and then buy the BD at the best price when it's released next year. Everybody wins.

[drdoros]

First, thank you for all the notice on the PORTRAIT OF JASON restoration. We're up to $5,000 in Kickstarter in just a few days and before the press gets out there. As for the prizes, the poster itself goes for $25 from Milestone (and more from other distributors) and as we have a producer, every DVDs and Blu-Ray given away still has a royalty payment involved. Since it's a restoration that has fairly extensive costs, its more complicated that most kickstarters with filmmakers. Thankfully, we have some wonderful friends out there!

Also, I should announce that CUT TO THE CHASE: THE CHARLEY CHASE 2-disc collection is out on the Milestone website and now available for sale. We're having a pre-Street Date sale of 25% OFF.

[Calvin]

Maborosi - DVD and Blu-Ray coming soon

[drdoros]

Maborosi - DVD and Blu-Ray coming soon

Yes, it's been a long-running dream and I'm still working on it. The main problem is getting to the original camera negative to make a really beautiful 2K master....

[warren oates]

Maborosi - DVD and Blu-Ray coming soon

Yes, it's been a long-running dream and I'm still working on it. The main problem is getting to the original camera negative to make a really beautiful 2K master....

Unless I'm reading you wrong, that doesn't necessarily sound so soon, at least not like it's a sure thing within the next year. Any similar plans afoot with Bodhi-Dharma or I Am Cuba?

[drdoros]

Unless I'm reading you wrong, that doesn't necessarily sound so soon, at least not like it's a sure thing within the next year. Any similar plans afoot with Bodhi-Dharma or I Am Cuba?

Well, you're reading skills are fine, but I can't say you're 100% in tune. We're a two-person company who not only distributes films but we also restore them as well. (And that includes new interpositives and internegatives that nobody outside of the studios is doing.) And then there's the work for AMIA -- for example, I've been spending many hours trying to help preserve Albanian cinema this year and traveling around the country this fall giving speeches. So we are constantly on the move and concrete projects can move slowly.

BUT, as we do have dozens of balls up in the air at once -- and the above are among them -- there's often a lucky bounce and where before we hadn't planned on doing a film for a while comes through quickly.

[JonasEB]

Maborosi - DVD and Blu-Ray coming soon

That's great news, I was considering breaking down and getting the expensive Japanese release but not anymore. Eagerly looking forward to this.

[Finch]

Great news about Maborosi, Dennis. I'd also buy a Blu-Ray of I Am Cuba in a heartbeat.

[Calvin]

Yes, it's been a long-running dream and I'm still working on it. The main problem is getting to the original camera negative to make a really beautiful 2K master....

That sounds tantalising. Keep us updated! Is it looking like late 2013 or 2014?

I'd also buy a Blu-Ray of I Am Cuba in a heartbeat.

As would I, along with Killer of Sheep and The Adventures of Prince Achmed.

[Minkin]

Bluray.com on Rags & Riches: The Mary Pickford Collection

[drdoros]

November 16, 2012
Defending the Young and the Innocent
By DAVE KEHR
Rags to Riches With Pickford

When Mary Pickford donated her personal collection of films to the Library of Congress in 1946, she did so with the provision that they not be screened publicly. “America’s Sweetheart,” as an exhibitor proclaimed her early in her extraordinary career, had been out of the spotlight for over a decade, and she was afraid that postwar America, whose taste in sweethearts ran more toward sex bombs like Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth, would laugh at the work that once made her the best-known woman on the planet.

She had reason to feel self-protective. A few years later Billy Wilder approached her about playing a grotesquely aged, sexually predatory former silent film star in “Sunset Blvd.” (all of 50 years old, in Wilder’s cruel screenplay). When she turned him down, the role of Norma Desmond went to one of Pickford’s few rivals for popularity in the 1920s, Gloria Swanson (while Norma herself was a gothic caricature of a third box office queen of the ’20s, Norma Talmadge). It had taken only 20 years for the acting styles of the silent screen to turn into camp, while the sweetness and optimism of the quintessential Pickford character had come to seem as quaint as corsets and shirtwaists.

Fortunately the executors of the Pickford estate have not enforced those restrictions, and thanks to the efforts of the Mary Pickford Foundation, the Library of Congress, the Academy Film Archive and other archives and private donors, a substantial proportion of Pickford’s work has been preserved. Milestone Film and Video has released several Pickford features on DVD, and with “Rags and Riches: The Mary Pickford Collection,” the company has brought Little Mary to Blu-ray.

The new three-disc set features new high-resolution transfers of three of Pickford’s most popular features, “The Poor Little Rich Girl” (1917), “The Hoodlum” (1919) and “Sparrows” (1926), all with orchestral accompaniment. There’s also extensive supplementary material that includes the 1910 “Ramona,” an excellent example of the 129 short films that she made with D. W. Griffith, who had hired her as a 16-year-old out-of-work Broadway actress.

As Griffith led screen acting away from the broad theatrical standards of the era and toward a more intimate, naturalistic and nuanced style suited to the close perspective of the camera, Pickford developed a warmth and limpidity of her own. In the process she became, by some definitions, the first genuine movie star, with a following so large and enthusiastic (before film actors were even identified by name) that, when she left Griffith in 1913, she was able to dictate her own terms to the studios that employed her. By 1916 she had started her own production company, the first star to do so, and by 1919 she joined Griffith, Charles Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks (her future husband) to form her own studio, United Artists.

Pickford’s uncanny business acumen stood in stark opposition to her screen image. With her cascading rolls of golden curls, expressive blue eyes and tiny frame (five feet and 105 pounds, or so the fan magazines said), she projected a childlike innocence and frailty (though with a strong mischievous streak), and as soon as she achieved her artistic independence she came to specialize in playing little girls and young teenagers. In “The Poor Little Rich Girl,” directed with his usual rich atmospherics by the pioneer filmmaker Maurice Tourneur, a 24-year-old Pickford plays the 11-year-old daughter of a neglectful Wall Street financier; in Sidney A. Franklin’s social drama “The Hoodlum” she’s a spoiled teenager who moves with her social reformer father from Fifth Avenue to a multiethnic Lower East Side; in William Beaudine’s “Sparrows,” the latest film in this collection and the last in which she played an adolescent, Pickford is ineffably moving as Molly, the oldest girl (and self-appointed protector) of a group of orphans being held as slaves in a “child farm” deep in a Southern swamp.

Arguably Pickford’s masterpiece, “Sparrows” is a radiant example of the timelessness and clarity of feeling that silent film could achieve. Made with an awareness of the formal developments of the contemporary German cinema (it was Pickford who brought Ernst Lubitsch to Hollywood, to direct her in the 1923 “Rosita”), the film seems like a lost tale from the Brothers Grimm, immersed in primal fears.

As Molly leads the children away from the ogrelike overseer (Gustav von Seyffertitz), across the quicksand and through the Expressionist swamp (a sequence beautifully detailed by Beaudine, and lighted by cinematographers — Charles Rosher and Karl Struss — who would shoot Murnau’s “Sunrise” one year later), the film seems to burrow into the viewer’s subconscious.

I feel sure that it did for Charles Laughton, whose singular masterwork “The Night of the Hunter” (1955) echoes much of the atmosphere and emotion of “Sparrows.” Laughton’s film features its own protector of lost children in the person of Miss Cooper, a feisty spinster who memorably describes herself as a “strong tree with branches for many birds.” In effect Miss Cooper is Molly, grown older and shrewder but no less pure of heart and purpose. To play her, Laughton turned to Lillian Gish, Pickford’s close friend and colleague from the Griffith days. Gish, of course, is sublime, but what a climax to Pickford’s career the part would have been, if only she’d been less afraid of those laughing audiences. (Milestone Film and Video, $34.95, not rated).

[drdoros]

http://playbackstl.com/dvd-reviews/1188 ... estone-nr-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rags and Riches: The Mary Pickford Collection (Milestone, NR)
Written by Sarah Boslaugh
Tuesday, 13 November 2012 21:58
In fact, she proves to be a regular Katniss Everdeen when it comes to fighting against oppression and protecting her loved ones.

Mary Pickford was the first movie star, and perhaps the first celebrity in the modern sense of the world. She began her career as a stage actress, but quickly prospered in film because she realized that a more natural style of acting was required for the screen. As a child, she was confident enough to correct David Belasco, who asked if she wanted to be an actress, answering that she already was an actress. She convinced D.W. Griffith to pay her twice the going rate, and in 1918, Adolf Zukor paid her a record-breaking $500 per week (comparable to over $7,500 today). Perhaps most importantly, in 1919, Pickford formed the independent film company United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith.

So, if you know anything about film history, you probably have heard the name Mary Pickford. Whether you’ve seen any of her acting is another issue, because she worked primarily in silent films, retiring in 1933, and her work has somewhat fallen by the wayside. Fortunately, you can catch up with three of her films in a new release by Milestone, Rags and Riches: The Mary Pickford Collection. All three use restored prints, have period-appropriate soundtracks, and include lots of extras, so they’re a great way to enjoy some of Pickford’s best work. What I was most impressed by while watching these DVDs was the variety of visual devices the directors used to tell their stories, and how much the musical accompaniment adds to each film. Silent films weren’t really silent after all—they were intended to be seen with musical accompaniment, and that makes all the difference.

Poor Little Rich Girl (1917) has Pickford playing a child who has the proverbial everything but parental love. It was directed by Maurice Tourneur (father of Jacques) and was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Pickford excels in every kind of scene, from slapstick to tragedy. Poor Little Rich Girl was selected for preservation by the National Film Board, so that should tell you something about the general critical opinion on this film.

In The Hoodlum (1919), directed by Sidney Franklin, Pickford plays a rich adolescent, Amy Burke, who is determined to live with her professor father rather than her wealthy grandfather. Then, as now, professors didn’t get paid all that much, and she encounters a whole new way of life once she’s left the mansion. The sociological critique is all on the surface (if you think the gap between the 1% and the rest of us is sharp today, imagine what it was like in 1919), even though the main story concerns the changes in Amy’s character as she adapts to her new circumstances. This is the least well known of the three films, but it’s well worth your while, in particular for the way it showcases Pickford’s talents as a comedian.

Sparrows (1926) has Pickford playing the leader of a band of orphans living on a dreadful “baby farm” where they are starved and abused—in fact, it’s so bad there that Jesus himself pays a visit (and you know what it means when Jesus comes for someone). Pickford’s character is basically acting as a combination of foremen and den mother for the other kids (think Wendy and the Lost Boys), which should be very convenient for the owner (Gustav von Seyffertitz), he sees her as a threat. In fact, she proves to be a regular Katniss Everdeen when it comes to fighting against oppression and protecting her loved ones. Ernst Lubitsch was a big fan of this film, calling it “one of the eight wonders of the world,” and with a recommendation like that, how can you pass it up?

Rags and Riches: The Mary Pickford Collection comes with an excellent array of extras, offering a strong argument for purchasing this particular set of DVDs. The most interesting are the intros and outros to each film, in the form of skits in which a modern-day group of kids are introduced to, and come to appreciate, the particular qualities of silent films. Each film also has an additional soundtrack in which the intertitles are spoken. Film historians Scott Eyman (Poor Little Rich Girl) and Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta (Sparrows) provide commentary tracks for two of the films. Other extras include Ramona, a 1917 Pickford short, a home movie starring Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, an outtake from Sparrows, and the original trailer for Sparrows. | Sarah Boslaugh

[drdoros]

http://charleychase.50webs.com/cuttothechasedvd.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cut to the Chase: The Charley Chase Comedy Collection

Review by Yair Solan

Years in the making, Milestone Films' Cut to the Chase: The Charley Chase Comedy Collection has been well worth the wait. Boasting sixteen short silent comedies across two discs - mostly two-reel gems with a couple of early one-reelers thrown in the mix - the collection highlights Chase's golden period of the mid-1920s. All of these shorts were originally released in 1924-26 when Chase was the undisputed star of the Hal Roach Studio, with six of these comedies new to DVD: The Caretaker's Daughter, Be Your Age, What Price Goofy?, Mama Behave, The Uneasy Three, and (the most elusive of all) Charley My Boy.

Not only are the comedies featured in Cut to the Chase uniformly strong, the films look great; while the prints used sometimes do show some wear, this is only expected for films that are nearly ninety years old. These comedies are lovingly presented courtesy of the film collections of the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, the Stanford Theatre Foundation, and the late Rusty Casselton. Musical scores for Milestone's set are provided by some of the biggest names in the business: The Mont Alto Orchestra, David Drazin, Donald Sosin, Dave Knutsen, and Ben Model, all of whom contribute appropriate, jaunty compositions - perfect support for these breezy comedies.

The films themselves show Charley Chase at his best and represent the cream of the crop among his surviving twenties work. The classic Mighty Like a Moose - justly celebrated on the DVD box for its induction into the National Film Registry in 2007 - is perhaps the most well-known comedy here, a top-shelf Chase classic. If it is one of his most easily available shorts, such a comprehensive collection - as Milestone's Cut to the Chase certainly aspires to be - would remain incomplete without it. Other two-reelers like Dog Shy, What Price Goofy? (both, like Moose, featuring virtuosic performances by the Hal Roach Studio's master canine thespian, Buddy the dog), The Caretaker's Daughter (co-starring the comedian's brother, James Parrott, and Roach stalwart Jimmie Finlayson), and the prototypical farce Innocent Husbands serve to exemplify Chase's dominance of the field of domestic comedy. Moreover, a quartet of shorts - Isn't Life Terrible?, Be Your Age, Long Fliv the King, and Bromo and Juliet - feature scene-stealing performances by Oliver Hardy, on the cusp of his teaming with Stan Laurel. Meanwhile, the set's pair of one-reelers, April Fool and The Fraidy Cat, are early efforts which effectively foreshadow better things to come. The collection is rounded out by a number of Chase entries - including Mum's the Word, Bad Boy, and particularly the underrated Mama Behave - that are deserving of classic status, as well as the rarities The Uneasy Three and Charley My Boy which are, in themselves, worth the price of admission.

With nary a clunker in the bunch, Milestone's two-disc set is not only an excellent introduction to Charley Chase's work, but a definitive collection which strikingly demonstrates the comedian's great run of comic invention during his silent heyday. The set is highly recommended - and required viewing for aficionados of early film comedy.

[drdoros]

I thought people on the list might be interested in what it takes to do an archival search for "lost" films. I've been doing a tour with WHERE'S SHIRLEY?, a PowerPoint lecture on the search for the missing master elements to PORTRAIT OF JASON. Amy and I did a quick video and put up an abreviated version of it up on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... wD5ySM5reE

I do have to say, that Daniel Day Lewis has no worries but, please, no wise cracks about mise en scene or worse, the quality of the mastering.

[drdoros]

Today, the New York Film Critics Circle voted to give a Special Award to Milestone Film & Video, for its current project to preserve the work of pioneering indie filmmaker Shirley Clarke.

[HerrSchreck]

Dennis, PLEASE check your gmail. You reached out to me on my Twitter account, and I cannot use the link you sent me, and have been reaching out to you via a variety of venues ever since. I still can't figure out what it is that someone used me in.

[Adam]

Today, the New York Film Critics Circle voted to give a Special Award to Milestone Film & Video, for its current project to preserve the work of pioneering indie filmmaker Shirley Clarke.

Congratulations!

[joshua]

It looks Like the $25,000 has been met for Portrait of Jason!

[knives]

Yes! That's so wonderful.

[matrixschmatrix]

Hooray! Someone must have donated a big one today, it was still $1500 short when last I looked. This one was a nailbiter.

[knives]

It seems to have gotten pretty incestuous towards the end with a lot of critics sending in cash, but good news is good no matter how it arrives.

[Gregory]

I don't see any downside to it at all.
This one was a nailbiter for a while. I had it up in the background and enjoyed watching the steady crawl toward the goal over the past week.