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Posted: **Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:44 pm**

DVD Beaver review of the the third volume of the Treasures From American Film Archives series.

And according to mastersofcinema.org a fourth volume is coming in 2008:

Treasures IV: The American Avant-Garde Film, 1945-1985. With funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, this 2-disc box set will include animation, nature and still life films, portraiture, underground narratives, dance films, works of social engagement, and city symphonies culled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Anthology Film Archives, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Public Library, and the Pacific Film Archive.

Posted: **Mon Oct 15, 2007 5:10 pm**

From NFPF's site concerning Volume IV:

NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION
ANNOUNCES AVANT-GARDE DVD SET

NEA and Andy Warhol Foundation Grants
Fund Production of Treasures IV

Contact: Jeff Lambert (415-392-7291, [email protected])

San Francisco, CA (December 26, 2006)â€”The National Film Preservation Foundation announced today a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to produce a DVD set of American postwar avant-garde films. The grant complements a $100,000 grant awarded earlier this year by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The fourth in the NFPF's award-winning Treasures from American Film Archives series, the new two-disc anthology will be released in fall 2008.

Treasures IV: The American Avant-Garde Film, 1945-1985 will showcase films preserved by the nation's preeminent avant-garde film repositoriesâ€”the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Anthology Film Archives, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Public Library, and the Pacific Film Archiveâ€”and will illustrate the diverse currents in avant-garde filmmaking during the four decades following World War II. Represented will be animation, nature and still life films, portraiture, underground narratives, dance films, works of social engagement, city symphonies, and explorations of film as a medium.

"Films cannot be appreciated unless they are seen," said Steve Anker, Dean of the Film Department at CalArts and a member of the DVD set's curatorial committee. "Since the digital revolution, film artists have been increasingly interested in making their work available for classroom and home use, especially since 16mm has become difficult to experience. Treasures IV is sure to introduce many new viewers to, and remind many others of, this culturally vital American film art."

The NFPF's Treasures from American Film Archives (2000; Encore Edition, 2005) and More Treasures from American Film Archives, 1894-1931 (2004) rediscovered dozens of little-known American motion pictures and won Film Heritage Awards from the National Society of Film Critics. Both are basic tools in libraries and universities. The NFPF four-DVD set, Treasures III: The Social Issue Film, 1900-1934, will be released in fall 2007. Treasures IV is the NFPF's first avant-garde anthology.

The National Film Preservation Foundation is the nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Since starting operations in 1997, the NFPF has assisted institutions in 38 states and helped preserve more than 1035 films. The NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. For more information on the NFPF's programs, please visit www.filmpreservation.org.

Posted: **Mon Oct 15, 2007 5:38 pm**

Brilliant news! And the Warhol Foundation as strong backers? Hmmm... let the speculation begin!

-Toilet Dcuk

Posted: **Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:15 pm**

toiletduck! wrote:Brilliant news! And the Warhol Foundation as strong backers? Hmmm... let the speculation begin!

A whole disc dedicated to Warhol?

Posted: **Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:01 pm**

Treasures IV: The American Avant-Garde Film, 1945-1985

Excellent! This surely means there will be little to no overlap with the massive Unseen Cinema boxset.

Posted: **Sun Nov 11, 2007 10:45 pm**

petoluk wrote:I guess this should go into the Polish Cinema thread, but as you seem to be quite interested in The Saragossa Manuscript, according to this site here, a newly restored version should be released in Poland this autumn as a part of the Polscy twórcy filmowi (Polish Filmmakers) collection.

Is there any more news of this, or Image/Criterion bringing a new edition out? Saw this last night and thought it was fantastic.

Posted: **Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:51 am**

FilmFanSea wrote:I compared the contents of Kino's 2-disc Avant-Garde: Experimental Cinema of the 1920s and '30s with Image's upcoming 7-disc Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1894-1941 to document the overlap.

Film Fan S:
Two years later, let me say thanks for that.
I got the 7 disc Unseen Cinema a month ago, and due to its size only some of it has been seen by me. Just picked up the Kino 2-disc Avant Garde set last week. And this was quite helpful to compare the content.

Note: refer to FFS's original post for film title listings and comparison.

Posted: **Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:57 am**

Two sublime and indispensable sets, despite the overlaps.

Posted: **Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:28 am**

Looks like Image will release Fanny (1961) in May.

Posted: **Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:28 pm**

Ashirg wrote:Looks like Image will release Fanny (1961) in May.

Interesting. The rights for this one have been obscure for some time. Good to see it available, finally. Not high on my list, but Cardiff's work is always worth a look.

Posted: **Sat Dec 01, 2007 2:01 pm**

miless wrote:
toiletduck! wrote:Brilliant news! And the Warhol Foundation as strong backers? Hmmm... let the speculation begin!
A whole disc dedicated to Warhol?

I think we should be careful about that assumption. The Warhol Foundation funds all sorts of art-related projects completely unrelated to Warhol himself, including scholarly research. Probably all this is saying is that the producers of the box set applied for and received a Warhol Foundation grant. But we can always hope...

Posted: **Sat Dec 01, 2007 2:07 pm**

John Bored wrote:
petoluk wrote:I guess this should go into the Polish Cinema thread, but as you seem to be quite interested in The Saragossa Manuscript, according to this site here, a newly restored version should be released in Poland this autumn as a part of the Polscy twórcy filmowi (Polish Filmmakers) collection.
Is there any more news of this, or Image/Criterion bringing a new edition out? Saw this last night and thought it was fantastic.

I don't know about Image's plans, but the first two Has films in the series have been released on DVD in Poland, and they apparently have English subtitles: PÄ™tla and Wspólny pokój. That bodes well for the forthcoming Polish releases of The Saragossa Manuscript and The Sanatorium Under the Hourglass.

Posted: **Sat Dec 01, 2007 2:09 pm**

jsteffe wrote:I don't know about Image's plans, but the first two Has films in the series have been released on DVD in Poland, and they apparently have English subtitles

As I said in another thread, I've got them on order and will report back as soon as they arrive. Although I ordered them over a week ago, Merlin hasn't yet sent me a shipping announcement, so I suspect we're talking the end of next week at the absolute earliest.

Posted: **Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:19 pm**

Episode of The Treatment interviewing Scott Simmon about Treasures III.

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 9:48 pm**

How is Image's release of Griffith's Way Down East? Not just in comparison to the more recent Alpha disc (which I assume looks worse) but how is the picture quality in general?

Posted: **Thu May 01, 2008 10:04 pm**

I have the Kino vhs of the digital transfer that was used for the image disc (they did this for a lot of the shepard silents that Kino chose not to run with on dvd.)

The image is excellent, retains original tints, and is accompanied by the original score-- even cooler, the recording of the orchestra playing that score is taken from the late 20's/early 30's, the vintage mono audio making the disc sound almost like a sonorized silent (like Sunrise, Man Who Laughs, or Tabu).

The only problem is in telecine they cropped a bit on the top/bottom, messing with the aspect ratio just a touch, almost veering towards widescreen shape. But, still in all, a good release of a key (and often overlooked) film in the development of montage technique, especially the famous chase of Gish by Barthelmass across the ice floes. Precedes the French inclouding La Roue, and Couer Fidele, and of course Eisenstein, who cited that chase sequence in one of his books (dont remember which it was offhand).

Posted: **Sun Jul 13, 2008 8:34 pm**

Has anyone seen the film (or double-billed disc from Image Ent) The Sin of Nora Moran? There's a double bill of this film paired with Prison Train, another independent pre-code film. I keep bumping into this thing and the apparent influence on Welles/Kane, the presence of Zita Johann in the former, and Dorothy Comingore in the latter, plus the fact of both films being 1) obscure 2) pre-code 3) and produced completely outside of the studio system make them very appetizing to me. I've pretty much resolved to grab them, but curious whether or not anyone has anything to contribute regarding thProduct

Description
Two of the best small independent feature films of the 1930s and both influences on Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane." In "The Sin of Nora Moran" (1933, 64 min.), Nora, convicted of murder, is facing death by electrocution. Her life is replayed in a series of flashbacks involving those who knew her in this complex, yet emotionally powerful story starring Zita Johann, wife of John Houseman, soon to be Welles' partner in the Mercury Theater. "Prison Train" (1938, 63 min.) also embodies the best qualities of the low-budget film with its tight story of a train transporting prisoners to the infamous Alcatraz. With great characters and the taut action driving the film, "Prison Train" stars Linda Winters, who three years later under her own name, Dorothy Comingore, played the role of Susan Alexander Kane.
em.

Posted: **Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:34 pm**

Schreck, I picked up that double-feature a couple of years ago, and I think that both films will be right up your alley. Personally, I remember liking Prison Train much more than the other. Prison Train is a tough little b-movie that slightly predates noir, but it will certainly resonate with people who enjoyed, say, The Tall Target and The Narrow Margin. (I just happen to like thrillers set on board trains. The confined setting increases the tension exponentially.) Nora Moran didn't leave much of an impression on me, though. Apart from the non-linear story, there isn't much "there" there -- which makes it a bit like the other major Kane precursor: The Power and the Glory. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if other folks around here liked Nora Moran better than I do. From a feminist perspective, for instance, it might reward re-watching.

Posted: **Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:32 am**

I posted about Nora (and Prison Train) in more detail in a thread I created for Nora Marin in Old Films... Marin was one of the most impressive low budget achievements I've seen in quite a time. It's hugely sophisticated and has avant garde passages worthy of Sternberg for sure (the passages over Nora's body with the priest intoning rites, and the two men talking about how she's going to be electrocuted again because the warden didnt like how it went the first time-- note: NOT A SPOILER**)

But to each his own I guess.

Posted: **Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:27 pm**

Totally missed the other thread, Schreck. I guess that's what happens when you have a three-week backlog of threads to wade through. (Not to mention so many different threads containing the same info -- like the Metropolis restoration.)

Your thoughts in the other thread, however, has given me a good reason to return to Nora Moran. For some reason, I can remember Prison Train quite well but have virtually no recollection of the bulk of Nora Moran -- that's the kind of impression it left on me the first time round. Will try to revisit it again in the near future to see if it does anything for me now. (I also have to say that, having re-watched The Power and the Glory recently, that film sticks out in my mind more than Nora Moran. So perhaps P&G's mediocrity is becoming intertwined with my vague memories of Nora Moran, and that may need correcting.)

Posted: **Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:03 pm**

Also from a feminists perspective, Nora my be problemmatic, but its so damned weird as a narrative, it's a tough call. In a certain sense it's the old low-woman wants to happily die so that the high-class man of distinction and position can live.. another variation on the holy whore theme. But in this case its complicated by her being "above" Cavanaugh's Governor-- who himself wakes up to his failings. (I'm not spoiling anything as the film starts out with Nora on death row about to be electrocuted.. though I wont give away the repercussions of his epiphany regarding their relationship).

Posted: **Thu Aug 27, 2009 8:04 pm**

Image has a (relatively speaking) brand spanking new website...and it's still as clunky and difficult to navigate as the old one.

Posted: **Thu Aug 27, 2009 8:21 pm**

Just got the new Billy Jack box set...I don't think they look half bad notwithstanding it appears they haven't been "restored" (some noticeable minor scratches and the like). However, I don't want to give the impression they look bad, because they don't. They look nice and grainy...pretty much as they looked back in the day in the drive-in. All four discs have two commentaries by Tom Laughlin (at least on one of the discs one commentary was recorded in 2000, likely from some original DVD release and the other commentary recorded in 2006i...I haven't listened to any of them yet so I don't know how they differ in terms of content). Aside from Billy Jack, which is also being released individually by Image, it seems that Born Losers, The Trial of Billy Jack and Billy Jack Goes to Washington are exclusive to this box set.

All in all, nice release.

Posted: **Thu Aug 27, 2009 11:53 pm**

I remember as a little kid, my whole family went to see Billy Jack. This is back in the early seventies when they first came out. I was probably 7 or 8 yrs old... then on the heels of the success of the Billy Jack film, Laughlin went back and rereleased The Born Losers from 1967, which was the first feature with the Billy Jack character.

I can remember the rape sequences driving my mother bonkers, and she kept covering my eyes and taking me out of the theater when those scenes came up.

Posted: **Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:02 am**

HerrSchreck wrote: I can remember the rape sequences driving my mother bonkers, and she kept covering my eyes and taking me out of the theater when those scenes came up.

I can imagine this kid from the Bronx debating and/or bartering and/or breaking into some song made up on the spot why his mother shouldn't be removing him from the theater...

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