Flicker Alley

[L.A.]

Announcing another upcoming addition to the Flicker Alley catalog – now available for pre-order

"Cinema of Discovery: Julien Duviver in the 1920s" is a unique collaboration between archives and collections from around the world, appropriate for such an illustrious and innovative filmmaker – one of the most prolific and technically proficient filmmakers in cinema history.

This new collection features nine of Julien Duvivier’s deeply moving and imaginative early feature films from the 1920s that showcase his innovative and prominent contribution to film history:

Red Head (Poil de Carotte, 1925), Revelation aka The Agony of Jerusalem (L’Agonie de Jérusalem, 1927), The Wedding of Mademoiselle Beulemans (Le mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans, 1927), Mother Hummingbird (Mama Colibri, 1930), The Whirlwind of Paris (Le Tourbillon de Paris, 1928), The Miraculous Life of Thérèse Martin (La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin, 1929), The Mystery of the Eiffel Tower (Le Mystère de la tour Eiffel, 1928), The Divine Voyage (La Divine Croisière, 1928), and Ladies’ Paradise (Au bonheur des dames, 1929). This collection covers a wide array of thematic journeys, expertly treated by a momentous filmmaker.

Pre-order link: https://bit.ly/307Hui0

[swo17]

Nice, and good to have Au bonheur des dames back in print again! For the record, that's an earlier version of Poil de Carotte than the one included in the Eclipse set

[What A Disgrace]

That retail price is so suspiciously low for a nine film boxed set that I hurried to place an order just in case it was a mistake.

[Matt]

This is an English-friendly, Blu-ray-only edition of the forthcoming French combo set that I was already planning to buy. Thrilled to buy this instead!

Please tell me they’re not BD-Rs.

[What A Disgrace]

Its part of their regular line, so will definitely be pressed discs, and a response on their Facebook reveals it will be a five disc set.

[swo17]

Yeah, Flicker Alley's MOD discs are clearly designated as such

[knives]

This is exciting and almost makes me want to be irresponsible, saving up for a wedding right now, it’s that good sounding a deal.

[Stefan Andersson]

For an interesting Flicker Alley-related discussion (starting with the post by Mike Gebert, Oct. 08) about Lobster Films and Flicker Alley collaborations and collectors´ importing habits, go here:
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic. ... 7&start=60

[cdnchris]

This is exciting and almost makes me want to be irresponsible, saving up for a wedding right now, it’s that good sounding a deal.

Marriages come and go, but Duviver is forever

[L.A.]

The Silent Enemy (H.P. Carver, 1930) coming soon in the Flicker Fusion line.

[JPJ]

Eddie Muller´s introduction to Repeat Performance(1947,Alfred L.Werker),a film noir with a supernatural element,is now on YouTube.He confirms that Flicker Alley is going to release it later this year on blu.

Muller mentioned during the recent "ask Eddie" session that the release date is January 25th 2022.

[L.A.]

Announcing another upcoming addition to the Flicker Alley catalog – now available for pre-order

"Cinema of Discovery: Julien Duviver in the 1920s" is a unique collaboration between archives and collections from around the world, appropriate for such an illustrious and innovative filmmaker – one of the most prolific and technically proficient filmmakers in cinema history.

This new collection features nine of Julien Duvivier’s deeply moving and imaginative early feature films from the 1920s that showcase his innovative and prominent contribution to film history:

Red Head (Poil de Carotte, 1925), Revelation aka The Agony of Jerusalem (L’Agonie de Jérusalem, 1927), The Wedding of Mademoiselle Beulemans (Le mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans, 1927), Mother Hummingbird (Mama Colibri, 1930), The Whirlwind of Paris (Le Tourbillon de Paris, 1928), The Miraculous Life of Thérèse Martin (La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin, 1929), The Mystery of the Eiffel Tower (Le Mystère de la tour Eiffel, 1928), The Divine Voyage (La Divine Croisière, 1928), and Ladies’ Paradise (Au bonheur des dames, 1929). This collection covers a wide array of thematic journeys, expertly treated by a momentous filmmaker.

Pre-order link: https://bit.ly/307Hui0

Extras features announced:

• Interviews with producer and film critic, Hubert Niogret
• Interviews with film historian and author, Patrick Brion
• Video Appreciation of Ladies’ Paradise (Au bonheur des dames) by celebrated director Patrice Leconte
• A 48-Page Booklet - Featuring introductory remarks by Christian Duvivier, son of Julien Duvivier, essay notes by film historian Serge Bromberg, along with full credits on each film, and many rare photographs
• Image Galleries - Featuring rare production stills and promotional images for Poil de Carotte, L'Agonie de Jérusalem, Le Mariage de Mademoiselle Beulemans, Le Tourbillon de Paris and La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin
• New and improved English subtitle translations

[soundchaser]

Pushed back to December 21st, per an email from Flicker Alley. However, any order made before next Friday (Nov 19th) will ship to US addresses in time for Christmas.

[Finch]

Repeat Performance BD/DVD dual format January 24 2022

Anyone seen it?

Repeat Performance, the most requested film in the early years of the Film Noir Foundation’s restoration campaign, is finally available in digital form! An amazingly original hybrid of film noir, supernatural fantasy, and backstage melodrama, the film stars Joan Leslie as a Broadway actress who magically relives the previous year of her life, but can she alter the fateful mistakes and misjudgments that led to a New Year’s Eve tragedy? Think of it as film noir’s answer to It’s a Wonderful Life or a full-length precursor to The Twilight Zone.

Produced as a rare prestige picture by fledgling Eagle-Lion Pictures, the movie features an array of vivid performances: 21-year-old Joan Leslie as Sheila Page, her first mature role following a parade of teenage ingenues at Warner Bros.; Louis Hayward as her husband Barney, a bitter and vengeful playwright; Virginia Field as Sheila’s personal and professional rival, Paula Costello; Tom Conway as suave stage producer John Friday; and Richard Basehart in his movie debut as poet William Williams, one of the era’s most sensitive depictions of a gay artist.

In the years after its 1947 release, Repeat Performance seemingly vanished. For many who’d seen it, the film’s startling premise and stunning set-pieces became merely a tantalizing memory. It fell so far off the cultural radar people began to think they’d only imagined the movie. But thanks to the dedication and diligence of the Film Noir Foundation, Repeat Performance was restored in collaboration with UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Packard Humanities Institute. And now, it lives again in a beautiful Blu-ray/DVD dual-format edition loaded with special features.

BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:

VIDEO INTRODUCTION by author, film historian, and “noirchaeologist” Eddie Muller who describes the film’s restoration process and puts Repeat Performance in context as part of a sub-genre of supernatural noir
VIDEO PROFILE OF JOAN LESLIE by author and film historian Farran Smith Nehme who describes the actress’ transition from teenage ingenue roles to mature adult performances
MINI-DOCUMENTARY on the history of Eagle-Lion Pictures, written and narrated by author and film historian Alan K. Rode and produced by film director and author Steven C. Smith
AUDIO COMMENTARY by film historian Nora Fiore (“The Nitrate Diva”) featuring an in-depth history of the film’s production
DIGITAL PRESS BOOK: A complete, on-disc “page turning” digital edition of the film’s original 1947 pressbook
SOUVENIR BOOKLET featuring author Brian Light’s book-to-film comparison of the original 1942 William O’Farrell novel with screenwriter Walter Bullock’s script, along with an array of original photos, lobby cards, and posters.

[domino harvey]

Isn’t this what Joan Leslie made after she butted heads with WB and they salted the earth of her star profile for literally decades after? She was one of the top movie stars of the 40s and almost no one remembers her because the studio blackout and erasure worked. The description of her is off too— like Linda Darnell, she generally played older adult roles while a teen, not teenage roles

[JakeStewart]

Eddie Muller showed it on Noir Alley a couple years ago. It’s not a lost masterpiece or anything, but it’s alright. The beginning hooks you pretty quickly, but my interest dried up well before the conclusion. Louis Hayward gives a positively insane performance that fans of his will probably like but was a bit much for me.

[Stefan Andersson]

An article on Repeat Performance, with info about the use of a painting by Diego Rivera as set decoration in this film, Walk a Crooked Mile and The Prowler:
https://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/20 ... mance.html

Also:
https://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/se ... ego+rivera

[Finch]

Flicker Alley to offer 20% off on all titles except Pre-orders and MOD titles from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

[Finch]

Slant review The Bitter Stems & The Beast Must Die

Would be great if Flicker Alley release the other Argentinian noir mentioned in the review, Rosaura at 10 O'Clock.

Also, importCDs have both titles for 43% off (though both are on back order.

[J Wilson]

Thanks for the heads up on importCDs, though when I went to order both were showing as back in stock for anyone else interested. There's a 10% off coupon right now as well.

[Finch]

They were on backorder when I placed my order, and the TENOFF code will only work for titles in stock, alas.

[fdm]

TENOFF expired. Is there another that works?

[Finch]

Not to my knowledge.

[Finch]

Received The Beast Must Die and The Bitter Stems yesterday from importcds. I fell asleep halfway through The Beast Must Die but that was entirely down to my tiredness and not a fault of the film. What I did see so far was very good though and the film looks great. Both films were encoded by David MacKenzie/Fidelity in Motion, and both films have the theatrical poster on the reverse sleeve.

[Finch]

I haven't finished The Beast Must Die yet, but The Bitter Stems is, along with Arrow's Gamera The Heisei Era set from last year, my favorite discovery of this year. An Argentine journalist who is searching for meaning in his life seems to have found it when a foreigner talks him into a swindling scheme of putting together a newspaper from existing articles and attributing the writing to themselves and getting people to donate and subscribe. Gaspar is moved by his friend's request to collaborate so he can pay for his family's immigration to Argentina but Gaspar begins to mistrust Paar Liudas, and his mind begins to unravel. Visually this ticks all the noir boxes and the film wrings a lot of suspense out of the premise, and it has a pretty impressively put together dream sequence to boot. This was an excellent choice for the Noir Foundation and Flicker Alley to release. Unlike The Beast Must Die, Bitter Stems's print must have been pretty beat up because even after the restoration, there are still speckles and lines visible, and the contrast is not as impressive as on Beast but it was still a fine viewing experience.

The 43% discount on importcds is still live, and they also have the Duvivier set at a 30% discount.