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For anyone that is planning on writing Kino about "HOH" subs, it might be helpful to refer to them via the home video industry term of "SDH" (Subtitles for Deaf & Hard of hearing).

Given that A Star is Born (and presumably Nothing Sacred) come with a banner saying The Selznick Collection does anyone else think that this bodes well for more public domain Selznick films?

Who can say-- their "collections" can sometimes be little more than a disc w two films on it, a la the Dwain Esper Collection, w Maniac & Narcotic on it.

Just caught an odd thing on their site-- they are bringing out a DVD edition of Lang's The Spiders (Die Spinnen), with the tagline "For The First Time on DVD!" in the emailer they send out. Surely they must know that Shepard/Image put out on DVD in the late 90's/early 00's what Kino themselves had put out on VHS, which was Film Preservation Associates' reconstruction of the 35 print that Shepard retrieved from the Czech repub, with the help of the then-still alive Lang sitting in front of a viewer and rolling the worn yet highly watchable print. "For the first time on Kino DVD!" would be more accurate, gentlemen.

What's interesting is the difference in runtimes-- this is apparently a new "Restored Authorized edition," coming from FWMS. The old Image- Kino ran 137 total, and the new over 170 minutes. So I wonder if new material was discovered, or they just slowed the framerate to a more realistic pacing.

I quite like Die Spinnen. In it you can see so many of the core obsessions that would pop up through the rest of the man's career, all tightly packed into this very early project which-- in it's far-flung exotic lands, and conquering male hero, and generally pulpy material en toto-- bears resemblance to INDIAN TOMB as well. False realities being peeled away in layers, secret powers pulling strings, train rides to intrigue, subterranean worlds of mystery, hidden offices revealed beneath floors and behind walls, white-haired old men consulted for answers to exotic mysteries, flat out ( what would later be of the phildickian stripe) paranoia, one could go on and on.

Too bad, but fortunately at least we got two Wellman's out of the deal (he's been having a great year huh?).

Re: Die Spinnen:

HerrSchreck wrote:What's interesting is the difference in runtimes-- this is apparently a new "Restored Authorized edition," coming from FWMS. The old Image- Kino ran 137 total, and the new over 170 minutes. So I wonder if new material was discovered, or they just slowed the framerate to a more realistic pacing.

According to Ben Model (who has done the new score) on Nitrateville:

Ben Model wrote:Newly transferred from a tinted 35mm print from a foreign archive. Difference in running time between this and the 2002 version is because of transfer speed, although there are a few minutes here and there of add'l footage. Also, the tinting scheme is almost completely different from the the Image DVD.

HerrSchreck wrote: I quite like Die Spinnen. In it you can see so many of the core obsessions that would pop up through the rest of the man's career, all tightly packed into this very early project which-- in it's far-flung exotic lands, and conquering male hero, and generally pulpy material en toto-- bears resemblance to INDIAN TOMB as well. False realities being peeled away in layers, secret powers pulling strings, train rides to intrigue, subterranean worlds of mystery, hidden offices revealed beneath floors and behind walls, white-haired old men consulted for answers to exotic mysteries, flat out ( what would later be of the phildickian stripe) paranoia, one could go on and on.

I've always been curious about Die Spinnen, Shrek. If you recommend it, I'll certainly pick it up. I love early Lang, and this is one of the few I've never seen. Is this as exciting as say, Spione or Woman In the Moon? Or instead is it more a taste of things that Lang would rehash to better advantage later?

I'm not a fan of Woman in the Moon so take this questionably to your tastes, but I think that it's broad aspects are different enough from what Lang would later do (aside from maybe the Indian films) that if you're interested in his legitimizing pulp at all you'll get a new enough kick out of it. I wouldn't put it with his best works, but it's still very good.

"Die Spinnen" is reminiscent of many adventure serials of the time, and it's quite entertaining as such, but it certainly hasn't the maturity and visual complexity of "Spione" and "Frau im Mond". But that's nothing to hold against Lang or the film.

I think I'd recommend 'Die Spinnen' more to someone who enjoys the work of a director such as Feuillade, rather than of Lang's films of a few years later, but it should still be very much on the radar for a fan of early Lang.

Incidentally, if this is from a new transfer from FWMS, I'm curious as to whether the transfer was done in HD and the possibility of a blu-ray release in the future?

A Blu-ray release from Kino? I imagine they would have released it alongside this new DVD if they were going to release one at all. As for other companies, I have no idea.

After seeing Beaver's grabs from Spiders, it's even more frustrating that this didn't get a blu release. It would have looked amazing.

Kino titles showing at the ND/NF Festival are Karl Markovics' Breathing, Emad Burnat’s and Guy Davidi’s 5 Broken Cameras and...Stanley Kubrick's Fear and Desire (?!)

May 2012 schedule announced:

From KINO CLASSICS:
5/1 - DAVID O. SELZNICK COLLECTION: BIRD OF PARADISE (1932, King Vidor, Blu-ray & DVD)
5/8 - GANJA & HESS: REMASTERED EDITION (1973, Bill Gunn, Blu-ray & DVD)

From REDEMPTION:
5/15 - THE RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE (1968, Jean Rollin, Blu-ray & DVD)
5/15 - REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE (1973, Jean Rollin, Blu-ray & DVD)
5/15 - DEMONIACS (1974, Jean Rollin, Blu-ray & DVD)

And from our friends at THE FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL:
5/29 - THE FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL: VOL. 5 (DVD only)

Oh, wow, Ganja & Hess. I hope Kalat's All Day Entertainment got some money out of that license, I would never have heard of that movie if not for him.

King Vidor! That is exciting.

All of those sound great and I'm glad that this means more Selznick titles.

Thank god Ganja & Hess will be back in print! Everyone buy a copy.

Don't know how much of a confirmation this is, but it seems as though Kino will release Curtis Harrington's Night Tide with Dennis Hopper on Blu-ray.

It appears that in June Kino is releasing three Lina Wertmuller films on Blu. Love and Anarchy, All Screwed Up, and The Seduction of Mimi.

knives wrote:... The Seduction of Mimi.

Finally! I had to see this on an old VHS....

The Early Films of Stanley Kubrick Blu-ray coming this fall. The release will include the following films: Day of the Fight, The Flying Padre, Fear and Desire, and The Seafarers.

Great to see that the shorts will be joining Fear and Desire. The films themselves aren't great but, in terms of importance, this is a candidate for release of the year.

dwk wrote:The Early Films of Stanley Kubrick Blu-ray coming this fall. The release will include the following films: Day of the Fight, The Flying Padre, Fear and Desire, and The Seafarers.

Yeah, that's the way to do it. Having DAY OF THE FIGHT and THE FLYING PADRE on there will make it easier for me to stomach sitting through THE SEAFARERS and FEAR AND DESIRE again

or you could just not watch those two altogether.

aox wrote:or you could just not watch those two altogether.

But if I've got the disc (and I own every other Kubrick film on Blu-ray), I'm going to have to watch it all at least once. On an optimistic note, maybe my third time through FEAR AND DESIRE will really open my eyes to what this film has to offer!