Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

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adeeze
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 4:56 pm

Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#1 Post by adeeze » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:18 pm

When deciding what film I wanted to see next, I looked to the TSPDT list under the 1910 silent era films. When going through the list, I found the film Tih Minh and decided to check it out. It was directed in 1918 by Louis Feuillade who also made the serial film Les Vampires. To my surprise, not only was it missing from any copy of DVD or VHS, but it hardly has any information from popular film sites ex: IMDB, ALLMOVIE, WIKI. And this is a film that has had to make a number of critics list to be on TSPDT 1000 best films list.

Googling it, I found this article which I found important in bringing some light to people about this film.

So my question to anybody who reads this is if any of you have seen it? If you have, where could I find it? Is it time for it to gain a little recognition so that companies like Criterion, MoC, and Kino can restore it for people to see?

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: Tih Minh-Has anyone seen it?

#2 Post by Matt » Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:46 pm

adeeze wrote:Is it time for it to gain a little recognition so that companies like Criterion, MoC, and Kino can restore it for people to see?
I haven't seen it, but the film has been recently restored. It's only a matter of time before Gaumont gets it out on DVD (probably as part of their "Cinema premier" series) in France and then licenses it to Anglophone territories. Of course, the same thing was said in this thread over two years ago.

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myrnaloyisdope
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#3 Post by myrnaloyisdope » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:32 pm

I'm working on the TSPDT list, and that is pretty much my holy grail. I've now watched about 770 films from the list, and I can't find five from the list in any form: 2 Rivettes(Out 1: Spectre, L'Amour fou), 2 Brakhages (Art of Vision, Scenes From Under Childhood), and Tih Minh.

Given how much I loved Les Vampires, Tih Minh is the one I am most anxious to find.

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denti alligator
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:36 pm
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#4 Post by denti alligator » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:58 pm

Yep, crazy about Feuillade, so this is my holy grail, too. Countdown to 2012!

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Knappen
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:14 am
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#5 Post by Knappen » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:13 pm

I saw it at the Feuillade retrospective at the Cinémathèque in Paris in march 2006. With Italian subs if I'm not mistaken. But this doesn't mean that I am able to locate a copy. With the right connections you can find most French talking pictures since they have been released by René Chateau on vhs over the years, but the silents mostly await an Arte screening or a dvd release.

The film was great - like all Feuillade I've seen.

Out 1 isn't that hard to track down if you look the right places. If you can see it without English subs, that is.

wpqx
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:01 am

#6 Post by wpqx » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:15 am

I'll throw my name on the list of people dying to see this film. I've gotten 978 of the TSPDT list so basically any film remaining is going to bring a little bit of difficulty, Tih Minh is just beneath the two Brakhage's as my ultimate holy grail of films I'm looking for.

Cineman
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 12:12 pm
Location: Ireland

Tih Minh

#7 Post by Cineman » Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:30 pm

I have recently acquired "Tih Minh" via a friend who used to work for a film archive and this appears to be taken direct from a Belgian print as the intertitles are both in French and Flemish. The film has been transferred to DVD and clearly the running time is a little speeded up as the whole feature lasts 4hrs 7mins and needs to be slowed down to its correct frame rate.

I am fully intending to work on the film at some point in the near future as a number of the intertitles are either slightly damaged or difficult to read, and of course I intend to translate and produce english titlecards (I recently have done this with "Der Kaufmann von Venedig" and "Die Stadt Ohne Juden" as well as Murnau's "Der Brennende Acker" a couple of years ago) and correct the frame rate.

However, in light of reading this thread and discovering that there has been a recent restoration I am somewhat slightly put off undertaking what would be a lengthy project if this is to appear in a DVD version from either Gaumont or another distributor as I have already started work on "La Merveilleuse Vie de Jeanne D'Arc" and would ideally prefer to finish this first before undertaking another project, by which time "Tih Minh" could have already been released!

Any news or rumours/updates etc about a forthcoming release?

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

#8 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:19 pm

Was this "officially" run telecine? You speak of it being "transferred to dvd"... is this from a known restorer? You don't have to give names.

The reason I ask, is if you have a print from the restoration (doesn't sound like it given the multiple language titles, but it could be a preservation positive w easily replaced titles) then you more than anyone would be in a better position to know-- given your contact-- whether or not this thing is coming (Im sure it will eventually) out via an official release.

What was it transferred for? Just an employee using a datacine after 5pm and the bosses gone? Or an 'officially sanctioned' transfer?

Cineman
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Tih Minh

#9 Post by Cineman » Tue Oct 28, 2008 2:35 pm

I have sent you a private message Schreck about how I obtained the film.

ptmd
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:12 pm

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#10 Post by ptmd » Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:11 pm

Some of you may have seen my mention of this in another thread, but for anyone interested, there will be a very rare screening of Gaumont's 35mm restoration of Tih Minh at Yale University (New Haven, CT) on Thursday, December 3rd. To the best of my knowledge, the only other time this restoration has been screened in North America was at MoMA's Feuillade program several years ago and, given the difficulties of arranging this, it is unlikely to happen again anytime soon. There will be live musical accompaniment and we will be screening at the correct speed (20fps), something that I wish happened a lot more than it does these days. The screening is free and open to the public so feel free to pass this along to anyone who might be interested. More information is available here and feel free to PM me with any questions: http://www.yale.edu/filmstudiesprogram/ ... 19Film.pdf

Adam
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#11 Post by Adam » Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:50 pm

wpqx wrote:I'll throw my name on the list of people dying to see this film. I've gotten 978 of the TSPDT list so basically any film remaining is going to bring a little bit of difficulty, Tih Minh is just beneath the two Brakhage's as my ultimate holy grail of films I'm looking for.
If either of you are in LA, I think one (or both) of the Brakhages will play in a theater here next year at some point.
Art of Vision is the harder one, due to its length (over 4 hours). I've never seen it, and may program it for that reason alone.

Sorry for the tangent.

Mazamette
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:48 pm

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#12 Post by Mazamette » Tue Dec 08, 2009 12:08 am

ptmd, I'm in Providence and it broke my heart that I just wasn't able to get to New Haven last Friday for the screening. (Luckily "Miss Mend" arrived in the mail that day, so I had it as a consolation prize.)

Came here this evening hoping to see a post from someone who'd gone to the event. Since I don't expect to have the opportunity to miss it again soon (and it's sort of a holy grail for me too), I'd love to know how things went...

M.

ptmd
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:12 pm

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#13 Post by ptmd » Thu Dec 10, 2009 3:02 am

Mazamette,

Thanks very much for asking, the screening went extremely well. We had a large number of people in attendance, almost all of whom stayed through to the end and the music - done by Philip Carli, Donald Sosin, and Ken Lauber - was a real treat. It's a tremendous, strangely delirious and unconsciously surreal film held together by a continuous, perpetually shifting narrative, and, in this sense, it is rather different from more clearly episodic works like Fantomas or even Les Vampires. The Gaumont restoration is absolutely stunning and I hope there will be more theatrical screenings in the future; it really deserves to be seen projected properly.

Mazamette
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:48 pm

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#14 Post by Mazamette » Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:24 pm

Thanks so much for the report -- although it makes me sadder still to have missed it knowing that you had Messrs. Carli, Sosin, and Lauber there all at once! What an event -- congratulations!

I've been doing a little offhand research on the relationship between Feuillade's films and dadaism/surrealism, and if as you say Tih Minh is even more delirious than Les Vampires or Fantomas, it could really be a case in point.

I'm dreaming that it will pop up at the Harvard Film Archive at some point, and certainly hoping for a DVD release.

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#15 Post by HerrSchreck » Thu Dec 10, 2009 6:26 pm

It sure would have been lovely to see what the new resto looks like-- any stills lurking around?

I have a copy of this, and helped a teency bit to get the english subs rolling and complete, but haven't yet sit down to take it all in, but it looks like a standard Feulliade serial... in other words, sublime.

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kidc85
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:15 pm

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#16 Post by kidc85 » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:18 am

Just acquired a (sadly poor quality) copy of this and it turns out I have a couple of Dot Orgers to thank for the subtitles. So, merci / dank u to you both.

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#17 Post by HerrSchreck » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:25 am

Wish I could get my hands on that new resto, but this copy is far better than nothing!!

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Peacock
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:47 pm
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Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#18 Post by Peacock » Wed Mar 07, 2012 1:11 pm

Anyway care to speculate about why the forever "new" restoration has still not had a DVD (or possibly even television?) release anywhere? It's driving me crazy... How about Barrabas and Judex as well... does a better master exist than the old oop (?) Flicker Alley dvd and how come it hasn't had a UK release.... Frustrating that AE released lovely editions of Fantomas and Les Vampires and then.. nothing.

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#19 Post by HerrSchreck » Wed Mar 07, 2012 4:06 pm

One doesn't really have to rack ones brain on this one... These are very long, very expensive projects-- long scores, lots of sub timing, lots of image to be.restored-- which I have no doubt dont sell an awful lot of copies.

Irejoice that JUDEX came out at all.... The world beyond not only these forums but these threads is for the most part completely indifferent to these kinda titles. Nowadays any silent beyond the most obvious titles are tricky territory, it seems. How many times have we heard our friend Nick Wrigley lament that certain less known silent titles from his catalog sold poorly and thus wont be likely be getting the treatment / update... Titles with far greater "brand" recognition (vs something like LF's TI MINH) like Dreyers MIKAEL.

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bnowalk
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:27 pm

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#20 Post by bnowalk » Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:17 pm

Rumor has it Tih Minh and Barrabas were both restored a couple years ago. I have no idea how you go from that to DVDs on the digital shelf for me to buy, but I'd love to see as much Feuillade as they can pump out. Hell, I'll take streaming (but again, I know nothing about how any of this stuff gets physically produced).

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markhax
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Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#21 Post by markhax » Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:34 pm

I just noticed, after googling Tih Minh in hopes that there was a dvd of it, that the film can be viewed on archive.org. Here's the link: https://archive.org/details/Tih-Minh" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Stefan Andersson
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:02 am

Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#23 Post by Stefan Andersson » Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:17 pm

Tih Minh is showing at the 2020 Il Cinema Ritrovato, billed as a 2020 restoration. Relevant links here:
https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/s ... rati-2020/

Stefan Andersson
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Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#24 Post by Stefan Andersson » Wed Feb 17, 2021 12:53 pm

Tih Minh announced for a Blu release (Gaumont) in France; see post by Phibes, Feb. 17, 2021:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... 2#p2880081

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denti alligator
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Re: Tih Minh (Louis Feuillade, 1918)

#25 Post by denti alligator » Wed Feb 17, 2021 2:23 pm

Stefan Andersson wrote:
Wed Feb 17, 2021 12:53 pm
Tih Minh announced for a Blu release (Gaumont) in France; see post by Phibes, Feb. 17, 2021:
https://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewto ... 2#p2880081
Holy shit! Finally.

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