Silent Film on DVD and BD

[Tommaso]

Absolutely true, for those films they have a dvd of, it's always noted in the description. So waiting goes on....

[vogler]

I'm very interested in this title too (and there was a very acceptable print with a modern score and CNC restoration shown on French TV a while ago).

Was the version on French TV an untinted version with an improvised jazz score because I have a copy like that. At Films sans Frontieres it says VERSION ORIGINALE MUET, COLORE & SONORISE en 1986. I have another version which was a different tinted restoration with an experimental soundtrack which I think was produced by IRCAM. It may be that version.

However, I'm not sure the link is an announcement of a DVD release, rather than part of a list of titles that FSF own the distribution rights to (which also includes an interesting handful of Fritz Langs).

Looks like you are right - I can't really make it out. I found the link from the directors list. Is this an indication that they might release it in the future? If you do a google search for L'Inhumaine dvd L'Herbier then this link comes up but I suppose you can't rely on google searches. I assumed that it was a forthcoming release.

I think on this occasion one of these is called for #-o, and maybe one of these and definitely one of these .

[Kinsayder]

Was the version on French TV an untinted version with an improvised jazz score because I have a copy like that. At Films sans Frontieres it says VERSION ORIGINALE MUET, COLORE & SONORISE en 1986. I have another version which was a different tinted restoration with an experimental soundtrack which I think was produced by IRCAM. It may be that version.

Yes, it was untinted, with a jazz score by Sylvain Kassap.

[HerrSchreck]

Up and down in ten seconds reading over the LINHUMAINE buildup & letdown.
Just a heads up on the Berlin Lubitch's, from Kino/FWMS-- although there is no official box set per se, Kino is offering a 4 DVD "Bundle" of the four (actually five) films in a preorder at just over 20 a pop.. it's not really any more of a discount off of their usual 30% preorder discount, but still better than the 23 bucks usually paid for their 29.99 releases. I'm actually pretty psyched about THE WILDCAT.

Also-- anybody picked up the HVe Feyder set? I'm gonna grab it inna couple hours when the stores open. I'm so fucking hung over and running on 2 hrs sleep, I could use a great french masterpiece or three to jolt my fuckin blood back inta circulation.

Yes Vogler-- the French Impressionists have remained-- generally far over and above the surrealists-- the lost ark of the fucking covenant to me. Christ I wish all this beautiful poetry was available. These 20's silent masterpieces represent the closest that film has ever come to simulating (maybe duplicating is the better word here) the lyrical beauty of listening to music.

[Tommaso]

I'm actually pretty psyched about THE WILDCAT.

Yep, that's a very curious and funny movie. One could rave endlessly about Lubitsch's really weird use of all sorts of mattes and the surrealist interiors. Don't expect too much, however: story and acting can be rather dull in this one, and clearly as a whole it is not up to his later standards. Same goes for "Sumurun", in which the supposed 'desert' landscapes look like they were filmed on some Berlin refuse pit (and probably they were). I'm looking forward to these releases, too, however. I never had the chance to see "Anne Boleyn", for example, which apparently is totally unlike his other work. So I'll grab the Transit box when it comes out later this month.

Also-- anybody picked up the HVe Feyder set? I'm gonna grab it inna couple hours when the stores open. I'm so fucking hung over and running on 2 hrs sleep, I could use a great french masterpiece or three to jolt my fuckin blood back inta circulation.

Have you read the review on the Beaver? Apparently these Image releases have a lot of problems, especially "Visages d'enfants". So, if you don't absolutely need English subs/titles, better get the MK2 resp. arte edition releases, even if you miss out on "Crainquebille" for a while (I have the feeling it will come out too soon by arte, as arte TV showed it a few months ago which normally indicates that a dvd release is not too far away). It's by far the weakest of the three films, anyway. But I guess you will be blown away by "Visages", one of the most lyrical and beautiful French silents I ever came across. Almost Cocteauish in places, and totally entrancing.

[HerrSchreck]

I'm familiar with the films from the VHS days-- question is the French edition (which HVe apparently preconverted to NTSC) progressive or not? I'm not gonna pay a duty to be shorted one flick (I like BILL incidentally) just to get original French intertitles I can't even read anyhow. Progressive silents are always pretty scarce so that's just Tooze blowing his horn about the usual albatrosses... it's his schtick-- it's what his focus is.

I don't freeze frame and get myself all outa joint- I watch the films and look for a clear image. Interlacing never broke my heart when done properly.

[Tommaso]

I'm familiar with the films from the VHS days-- question is the French edition (which HVe apparently preconverted to NTSC) progressive or not?

No idea, honestly. I only have "Visages" taped from a recent TV broadcast on arte Germany. It's also available on a German arte dvd with German subs (in case that helps). I guess I must get me that one soon. The MK2 of "L'atlantide" is probably interlaced, judging from the image alone (I have no way to tell via a computer analysis or something). But it looks quite good, and you also get the Pabst version with it. But it's all in French, of course. So, get the HVE then, and tell us how it is.

[HerrSchreck]

I'm with Dave on the acute strangeness of Pabst's take on it. Helm languishes like a talking painting that exudes a green mist it drives her supplicants into fits of self flaggellation over her. And of course there's that falsettoed, moustachioed butler whatchammacallit... dude is hilarious. That film is like a hit of pscilocybe...

[vogler]

I have been going on about Marcel L'Herbier's L'Inhumaine for ages and it looks like it's finally going to get a dvd release courtesy of Films sans Frontieres.
EDIT: It's not really a dvd release, don't get excited.

Unlike the L'Inhumaine incident I think I may have actually got something right this time. I just found a dvd-r version of L'Herbier's 1928 film L'Argent here. Quality appears to be very good although the image does have a logo in the top left corner probably for the whole film. It's very rare though and a film I have been longing to see for ages. It's quite expensive for dvd-r at $24.99 but it is spread over 3 discs.

Does anyone have this already or know anything about the people who are selling it? I would like to buy it immediately but unfortunately I am waiting to start a new job and consequently have absolutely no money so no new dvds for me at the moment .

I'll probably buy a copy as soon as I can (unless anyone has a copy of L'Argent they would be willing to trade?).

[unclehulot]

Quality appears to be very good although the image does have a logo in the top left corner probably for the whole film. It's very rare though and a film I have been longing to see for ages. It's quite expensive for dvd-r at $24.99 but it is spread over 3 discs.

It's hard to tell much from the low quality sample, but goodness, what an incredible mis-match of the scene excerpted and Ravel's "Pavane", which certainly is at odds with the scene of some hustle and bustle! Sounds like a really basic drop-the-needle affair. Hopefully the image quality makes up for some of this...

[vogler]

It's hard to tell much from the low quality sample, but goodness, what an incredible mis-match of the scene excerpted and Ravel's "Pavane", which certainly is at odds with the scene of some hustle and bustle! Sounds like a really basic drop-the-needle affair. Hopefully the image quality makes up for some of this...

Yes, the music is indeed a strange choice but they say that the image is a 9+. That logo is annoying though and probably indicates that it was a TV broadcast. I really want to see this film but for me there's just something I don't like about paying $24.99 for a copy of something someone has recorded off TV. I prefer copies of rare and unavailable films to be given freely or traded.

[Tommaso]

Have just looked through the absolutmedien website to see whether they had some updates for forthcoming arte stummfilmedition dvds, and indeed they have.

Click the link to find details about the individual films, among which we find:

Verdun (Poirier, 1928)
South (Hurley, 1919)
Mitchell/Kenyon Collection (another release of "Electric Edwardians)

and best of all:

La souriante Mme Beudet/L'invitation au voyage/ la coquille et le clergymen (Germaine Dulac).

I have seen these Dulac films this year on arte TV, and they are so damn brilliant that I can't wait to grab this dvd....
All these releases are coming in the next few months.

[vogler]

and best of all:

La souriante Mme Beudet/L'invitation au voyage/ la coquille et le clergymen (Germaine Dulac).

I have seen these Dulac films this year on arte TV, and they are so damn brilliant that I can't wait to grab this dvd....
All these releases are coming in the next few months.

Absolutely bloody brilliant news.
I have a TVrip of L'invitation au voyage and it is fantastic. It'll be great to have [i6f]La souriante Mme Beudet [/i]and la coquille et le clergymen in what should be much better versions as well. Hopefully they'll also find some better music to accompany la coquille et le clergymen than that inept drivel that was used on the Kino set. Somebody Marotta wasn't it? What a useless arse!

[Tommaso]

Hopefully they'll also find some better music to accompany la coquille et le clergymen than that inept drivel that was used on the Kino set. Somebody Marotta wasn't it? What a useless arse!

Yes, normally I try not to use swear words, but that bloody Marotta guy clearly deserves it!! "Coquille" on the Kino set is plainly unwatchable with that 'music', and the print is badly battered, too.
But I guess arte will get it right, again. Both "L'invitation'" and "Mme. Seuret" had good, new soundtracks at their TV premiere, and I bet that will go for "Coquille", too.

[vogler]

"Coquille" on the Kino set is plainly unwatchable with that 'music', and the print is badly battered, too.

The print for Coquille was my biggest disappointment on the Kino set. I would have been happy to see the film in any condition if it weren't for the fact that I already had a VHS where the print was much better. That tramline that runs through much of the film is very annoying, much more so than random damage marks. I'm sure Arte will have a much better print though.

As for the Marotta fool, I just recalled a pathetic twangy, plinky-plonky guitar score for Wiene's Genuine on the Kino Caligari disc. That must surely have been his feckless handiwork as well. I shudder at the thought of it.

[Kinsayder]

Verdun (Poirier, 1928)

Poirier's Verdun is currently available in a beautifully restored and English-friendly French edition from Carlotta Films, reviewed here and here.

From the description, it looks like the German release will be the same disc in different packaging (and 10 Euros cheaper). There's something appropriate in that spirit of Franco-German unity, I feel.

[Tommaso]

Kinsayder, may very well be it's the same as the French disc of "Verdun". Similarly, the dvd of "South" looks conspicuously like the Milestone edition. Have you or anyone else seen these films and can comment on them (content-and printwise)? I missed out on both them as yet.

[tryavna]

Similarly, the dvd of "South" looks conspicuously like the Milestone edition. Have you or anyone else seen these films and can comment on them (content-and printwise)? I missed out on both them as yet.

The Milestone edition of South is itself a port of the R2 BFI (including most, but not all, of the extras). It's been a while since I pulled out my copy, but I think the Milestone is also PAL->NTSC. It's not a bad port, but of course an R2 PAL should be better.

[Kinsayder]

"Verdun" is a dramatised account of the battle using newsreel footage, Poirier's own highly realistic reconstructions of the conflict (by far the largest element of the film) and some little dramatic scenes which are fairly perfunctory compared to "The Big Parade", say, but which neverthless add a thread of personal interest to the events. The film is told from both sides and is surprisingly sympathetic to the German point of view, considering when it was made. Poirier's pacifist stance is revealed in several moments, notably in one scene when two angels descend onto the battlefield and extract the souls of two soldiers, one German and one French, and place them together on a stretcher which they carry up to heaven.



Picture quality is very good. There are plenty of scratches, of course, particularly on the newsreel extracts, but overall the picture is sharp and detailed with good contrast. It's unlikely that a better edition will come along any time soon, as this restoration was done from the print that is not only the least damaged but the most complete (stolen from France by the Nazis, then grabbed by the Russians at the end of the war, then recovered by the Cinémathèque de Toulouse, who did the restoration work.)

[Tommaso]

Thanks Tryavna and Kinsayder, for your comments. I never even noticed the BFI had released "South", and "Verdun" also sounds interesting. Now I have to think whether I will wait for the arte releases or go for the existing releases in the first place...

[MichaelB]

Thanks Tryavna and Kinsayder, for your comments. I never even noticed the BFI had released "South", and "Verdun" also sounds interesting. Now I have to think whether I will wait for the arte releases or go for the existing releases in the first place...

Believe it or not, South is also available as a paid-for download, though you get much more in the DVD package (there's more information in the DVD Times review here).

And although this won't be much use to you, if anyone reading this has access to a terminal linked to Britain's National Education Network, you can watch the whole thing free via its Screenonline page.

(I can personally vouch for the fact that all these versions were sourced from the same Digibeta master, though clearly the DVD is the one to go for if you want optimal picture quality).

[Tommaso]

Thanks for the links, Michael. Looking through the dvdtimes review, it appears that the BFI is double-layered, whereas the arte will be single layered. Strange, really, but in this case it's clear that I will go for the BFI, although both releases otherwise seem to be exactly the same.

[vogler]

I never even noticed the BFI had released "South"

The BFI South dvd is a beautiful package. I bought if for my Mother's birthday due to her interest in Shackleton's expedition and whilst I have not had a chance to watch it all the way through yet (she lives many hundreds of miles from me) I did watch some of it and it looks absolutely beautiful. It is also such incredibly valuable archive material and I was amazed that it exists at all. I've been meaning to buy a copy for myself and I'll get there in the end.