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railroaded wrote: and now three Howard Hughes Productions....

What about them? I thougt a DVD release is more than unlikely...

Regards,

Dennis

Keaton wrote:

railroaded wrote: and now three Howard Hughes Productions....

What about them? I thougt a DVD release is more than unlikely

You're right about that: no mention of a DVD release in the text. Again some FA news, this time from NitrateVille

MichaelB wrote:Well, I should be meeting with Jeff tomorrow if all goes according to plan

All did go according to plan, and I've just come back from a nice long chat - about which I should probably reveal very little...

...except to urge people not to jump to conclusions about J'Accuse until there's some hard evidence in the form of finished discs. Regardless of the TCM screening, the final DVD has not yet been set in stone, either in terms of source print or extras.

Really nice guy, by the way, though this pretty much comes with the territory: ruthless cut-throat businessmen tend not to get involved in ultra-niche markets like this!

Wow, great news about the Vidor silent.

Interesting on the TRaffic In Souls from '13. I always knew this was a Shepard recovery (reels recovered from basement in a bldg about to be demolished)... but the VHS was a Kino title and I coulda swore they'd announced as forthcoming. The film, incidentally is excellent, and shifted George Loane Tucker as an asterisk from the silent era (who directed the famous lost film The Miracle Man) to a man with with a completely radical non-proscenium sense of mise-en-scene, and absolutely ahead of it's time sense of editing. Nearly all of his films from this period have been lost, much to the dismay of our picture of the evolution of modern mise en scene... and probably errata in our perception of who pushed the medium forward. It's also probably the earliest surviving Exploitation Film. Swedish Chicks With D-cups in bodage.

Shepard is firmly in w FA, clearly. Good news is there's so many vhs upgrades required for new hd telecine, will give FA the velocity it needs to stay running and cooking w good grease. The Fairbanks is further evidence of this.

HerrSchreck wrote:It's also probably the earliest surviving Exploitation Film.

L'Inferno from 1911 is pretty much exploitation. Have you seen it? An amazing film and one that I would definitely recommend, even if the Tangerine Dream music on the DVD is awful.

I may have a dupe of LInferno laying around, but I havent gotten to it yet. But I think that it's a bit of a stretch to call it an exploitation film. It's actually a pretty faithful rendition of Dante's epic poem. If it gets lurid in the exposition, it's because the source material is so. The bits I have seen of it remind me of Maciste In Hell. Have you seen it?

You can find risque bits of exposition in many silents, owing to the fact of the lack of Hays enforcement (tho' there was a bit of a clampdown in the early 20's... Arbuckle, od's, suicides, general excesses on and offscreen). Particularly in Europe. Look at the magnificent original version of Ben Hur by MGM, alleged to this day to have been the most expensive film of the silent era. Visciousnes abounding, girls getting their shirts torn off and thrown to the ground by laughing Roman dudes, topless chicks leading Ben Hur Triumphant through the streets of Roma tossing rose petals every which way. Look at the Temple of Love sequence in Griffith's glorious Intolerance... exquisitely photographed t&a pretty much for the sake of itself. But high quotients of t&a doth not an exploitation film make. I mean, look at silentera's description of Inferno:

silenteradotcom wrote:The ambitiousness of early Italian film production is marked in a series of grand-themed epic feature films that were produced long before the feature film took hold in Europe and America. Only the Australians had embraced the feature film before the whole-hearted dedication to the form by the Italians.

In L’Inferno (1911) we have an fine example of early epic filmmaking, for the scope of the subject matter is broad and the production is visually impressive. Themes of Italian history were often chosen in early Italian feature films to signal the solemn artistic intent of their filmmakers and to provide a more dramatic perceived context within which to mount lengthier stories. L’Inferno is no exception from this trend.

Based on the first part of Dante Alighieri’s mammoth epic poem The Divine Comedy, L’Inferno faithfully follows the source poem in its representation of the journey of the author Dante through the realm of Hell as guided by the master poet Virgil. The production design is highly-influenced by and faithful to the illustrations of Gustave Dore, and is a visual treat for the viewer.

Virgil, at the behest of the late Beatrice, leads Dante downward through the circles of Hell in a quest for spiritual enlightenment. As the eternal consequence of each dominant sin is revealed to Dante, he is in turn moved to experience a full range of human emotions from compassion to indignant anger.

In the surviving English-language release prints of L’Inferno, long expository intertitles detail for the audience the upcoming action of scenes to follow (which we can assume follow the lead of the original Italian intertitles). This was a common early filmmaking practice intended to guide the viewer through plot details that were hard to convey through gesticulation of the actors, and it was a practice that the world’s filmmakers soon abandoned for shorter titles that were instead intercut with the film’s action. Also, the original English-language L’Inferno intertitles might have been laced with more exerpts from the source text to impart some richer flavor of Dante’s poem to the viewer.

Many of the film’s ambitious visual effects are crude but well executed for 1911, including the appearance of Beatrice, the swarm of carnal sinners, the circles of grafters and the sowers of discord, and the ultimate appearance of Lucifer. — Carl Bennett

This is stuff pretty much along the grand lines of what the Italians were doing in the teens, which was so crucial to the development of film around the world in general, but critical to america in particular. Last Days of Pompeii, Quo Vadis, Cabiria, etc-- these all have their liberal doses of violence, sex and nudity. Stuff like the emotionally overheated & sexually swooning Assunta Spina. Rapsodia Satanica. I'm reminded of someone like DeMille who tackled "sacred" subjects and texts, and threw in hefty doses of sex and visual tittilation. Even King of Kings is not immune, nor the story of Moses.

But an exploitation film is a pretty specific animal-- and by definition big budget epics, or faithful adaptations of the classics do not qualify.. they can be racy, or even sleazy and cheap in their rabid attempts to exploit bloodpumping elements in the texts-- but this doesn't make them exploitation films.

Exploitation films of the vintage roadshow type generally dealt with contemporary subjects, and did so under the guise of educating the public about something underdiscussed-- owing to puritanical values and market censorship-- in present day society.. something creeping and slithering just beyond or just within Your Town with the potential to ensnare your daughter. Your wonderful blue-eyed boy of a son. Abortion. VD. Drugs. Prostitution. Contraception. White Slavery. Child Marriage. Etc etc. Of all inolved in making/exhibiting/watching the film in question, it's makers contended that their hands were the cleanest, owing to their lily white intentions of obliterating the evil that constituted the content... whereas the evil protagonists were usually stylish and pretty cool dudes spouting hip vernacular, were people nobody could fuck with, and the lily white "victims" were so hot looking-- and square-- that the audience waited with baited breath to see them fuckin waylaid and broken.

These films slipped their way past the censors by either doing switcheroos with the prints submitted to the Board vs prints actually projected... and/or via exhibition in C-grade cinemas, including tents in circuses and traveling carnivals. But they key was always presenting lurid material about a lurid topic as though "breaking the silence" about some scourge or another. It was always presented as though the effort was to educate, not to exploit. Thus the hilarity of the intrusion of "serious warnings" in something like the notorious kiddie porn of Child Bride, or the speech preceding Reefer Madness, or the accidentally avant garde effect of the weirdly timed "educational" intertitles on various madnesses intruding into the cough 'mise en scene' at the least possible expected moment in something like Espers oddball masterwork "Maniac" (which incidentally steals liberally from Maciste In Hell images of floating demons and subterranean creatures of hell which are superimposed over the contemporary maniac in the film as he loses his marbles).

Traffic In Souls is generally considered to be the first bona fide specimen of this phenom. The film was even shown (phony educational yupyup) to new arrivals in Ellis Island, to teach them what to watch out for, lest your pretty Swedish neice or sister be waylaid by some ganster offering directions and a ride/shortcut away from the leaning crowds. Whereas of course the film did fantastic business-- as all (successful) exploitation films do-- simply because of it's giving the public a long, loving view of cool, well-dressed, laughing, amoral gansters getting a bang outa abducting pretty and naive blond chicks with big tits and tiny waists, and beating them and putting them to work vaccuuming cock. Stuff happened in these films which were not morally possible in aboveboard films.

Souls was a pivotal moment in the development of Universal Pictures... some say the most important film in their history.. It was backed by one of the most effective and early saturation ad campaigns (Daring Expose' of American Vice and Treachery!) and the film rang huge bells in receipts. Just afterwards Carl Laemmle's fledgling IMP (Independent Motion Pictures) morphed into the Universal Pictures we know and love from the teens thru the fifties.

I also love the film because of-- like Walsh's Regeneration two years later, and Borzage's Humoresque a few years after that-- the film was shot on location around NYC. Interesting quote on this film (it was the first feature film put out by Laemmle's fledgling IMP studios) from Filmsite.org

IMP's first feature-length film release - the first American feature-length sex film - was the six-reel melodrama Traffic in Souls (1913) (aka While New York Sleeps). It was a "photo-drama" expose of white slavery at the turn of the century in NYC, although the film exploitatively promised steamy sex in its advertisements. This was one of the first films to understand that 'sex sells,' although its producers worried that a 'feature-length' film on any subject wouldn't be successful. It was the most expensive feature film of its time at $57,000, although its record earnings were $450,000.

In 1912, after being forced out of distribution by the Edison Trust, Laemmle founded the Universal Film Manufacturing Co., or Universal Film Company - the precursor to Universal Pictures in 1915. It was formed from the merger of many independent companies, including:

IMP Studios (Carl Laemmle)
Powers Motion Picture Company (Pat Powers)
Rex Motion Picture Company (William Swanson)
Champion Film (or Motion Picture) Company (Mark Dintinfass)
Christie-Nestor Studio, or Nestor Film (or Motion Picture) Company (founded by David Horsley in 1910) - established the first real studio to open in Hollywood, California in 1911, and soon was producing three short one-two reel movies a week (one comedy, one drama, and one western); it merged with Universal in 1915
the New York Motion Picture Company (Charles Baumann and Adam Kessel), which controlled Bison 101.

One of Universal's land acquisitions in Los Angeles in 1914 was a large 230-acre Nestor Ranch site bought for $165,000 - that soon became known as Universal City. In early 1915, Laemmle officially set up and opened up Universal City as its own unincorporated town, located in the San Fernando Valley north of Hollywood. He built Universal Pictures studio there -- the world's first self-contained location dedicated to film-making. At first, the studio allowed visitors (who were charged admission) the chance to watch films being made there - the forerunner of Universal Studios tours today. The first feature film made at Universal City and completed just before the official opening was the six-reel epic feature film Damon and Pythias (1914), starring William Worthington.

Universal Pictures was the first major, long-lasting studio, created as a break-free challenge to defy the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC). The company was successful with films that were adaptations of classic literature, such as one of the earliest versions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1915) with King Baggot, or Lois Weber's moralistic message picture Where Are My Children? (1916) about birth control, and director Erich von Stroheim's first film Blind Husbands (1919). Their most successful silent film to date was The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) with Lon Chaney as Quasimodo. This led to their next major Chaney film, Rupert Julian's Phantom of the Opera (1925). Their first talkie was Melody of Love (1928) with Walter Pidgeon. Silent westerns, comedies, and action-adventure films would soon become the studio's trademark productions, as well as horror films in the 1930s.

Anyhow, a worthy entry in the Flicker Alley canon, all around, and for many reasons. I'll be upgrading my Kino VHS without doubt.

What A Disgrace wrote:Wow, great news about the Vidor silent.

Indeed! More Vidor is always a good thing!

I'm also surprised that only one reel is still missing. As most people probably know, this was once considered a totally lost film (with the only fragments existing in Vidor's slightly later Show People). But based on the post Railroaded linked to, it sounds like we now have a nearly complete film.

According to the FA website Judex is out of print, which shouldn't be cause for panic, since Gaumont will probably be releasing this one next, with the Artificial Eye port to follow.

Weird timing, coNsidering the forthcoming Franju. Or makes absolute sense, since the Franju caused a run on the remnants. I don't think it sold very much. Certainly the least popular of the few serials that are available. You see Vampires & Fantomas on Top 10 lists, but never Judex.

Traffic In Souls art/announcement on classicflix. It's been paired with The Italian, for a "Perils of the New Land" set:

Perils of the New Land, a new double feature collection of Traffic In Souls (1913) and The Italian (1915), both riveting and important social dramas of the American silent screen. From the earliest years of feature-length film, when movies were dedicated more to advocacy and reform than to escapist entertainment, both films depict new immigrants to America and hazards that await them. Both films are honored with inclusion in The National Film Registry, which selects up to twenty-five “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films” each year. In addition to the features, this two-DVD set, produced by David Shepard from the Blackhawk Films library, presents three short theme-related bonus films from the pioneer Edison company: Police Force, New York City (1910), The Call of the City (1912), and McQuade of the Traffic Squad (1915).

According to legend, Traffic In Souls was filmed surreptitiously at Universal Pictures with the offending producer (Jack Cohn) and director (George Loane Tucker) prepared to buy the picture in case the company wouldn’t release it. Exploiting a recent exposé of prostitution rings, this “white slavery” story proved a huge financial success. Traffic In Souls is a very accomplished work for its time, and makes excellent use of New York City locations.

The Italian, produced for Paramount Pictures by Thomas H. Ince and directed by Reginald Barker, stars George Beban, who was renowned for his ethnic characterizations. It is the story of Beppo, a gondolier who comes to America and settles in lower Manhattan. There he operates a shoeshine business, eventually saving enough money to import his fiancée. Crime and poverty soon impact their lives – and there is no artificial, happy ending.

Instead of the single Police Dept of NYC Edison short included on the Traffic In SOuls vhs from Kino (back when dinosaurs roamed the land), Shepard has unearthed another two shorts to add: Call of the City, and McQuade of Traffic Island.

I hope they did new telecine for Traffic.. and kept those great ancient intertitles. The old wasn't bad, but the print is in really good shape so I'd love a nice hd pass on this.

The cover art is worth a giggle. It looks like Traffic In Souls is knocking on the door to come arrest The Italian.

MichaelB wrote:

What A Disgrace wrote:Care to give us any information on what this "project in a very similar vein" is?

Nope. Sorry, but contracts need signing first!

If it's anywhere near the quality of your Quays or Svankmajer sets, then it sounds very exciting indeed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the ink doesn't run out before the signing.

My money is on The Collected Home Movies of MichaelB, a 50 volume set remastered from the original Super 8.

I wonder why they haven't released Napoleon yet.

Coppola. He claims to control worldwide exhibition rights for the film and has made screening or releasing any version of Napoleon a nightmare. More details can be found in several other threads on this site. That said, according to Kevin Brownlow, things are clearing up and the BFI should be releasing a DVD of the five-hour version within the year.

I have the Coppola VHS version,but i didn't know about all that fuss!

Kinsayder wrote:My money is on The Collected Home Movies of MichaelB, a 50 volume set remastered from the original Super 8.

Sadly, you'll be disappointed.

Hopefully, you'll be the only one!

Looks like they revised cover artwork for J'accuse

Very nice! Looks like a must-buy.

The font is a bit like this poster (is it the original?)

I've seen that poster used for the 1938 version, but the man on the picture looks like Séverin-Mars, I think. (It's been a while since I saw the films)

Dave Kehr reviews Perils of the New Land.

Dave Kehr wrote:“Perils of the New Land” includes three short films from the Edison Company: a 1910 “actuality” film, “Police Force, New York City,” in which policemen practice capturing runaway carriages on the wide, unpaved lanes of Central Park; and two concise dramas, “The Call of the City” (Harry Beaumont, 1912) and “McQuade of the Traffic Squad” (Eugene Nowland, 1915). With excellent musical accompaniment by Rodney Sauer’s Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra (for “The Italian”) and the pianist Philip Carli (for “Traffic in Souls”), this is one of the summer’s most outstanding releases.

My review will be in the next Sight & Sound - it's much shorter, but broadly similar in enthusiasm.

Curiously, Kehr forgot to mention the commentaries, which are well worth a listen - they're particularly good at supplying valuable contextual/sociological material that's essential for full appreciation of these films.

More info about Douglas Fairbanks set, coming November 18.

DVD Savant on Perils of the New Land: The Italian & Traffic in Souls

Perils of the New Land, and J'Accuse, are both finally up for order at DVDPlanet. They're the cheapest place to get them; and if you wait for the big sale, they'll both be down to under $23.

My J'Accuse is pre-ordered.