Flicker Alley

[hearthesilence]

I did the same, but also grabbed the Kit Parker set with it. Is that set so poorly received where I should return it?

Unless you got a great deal on it (like half off), I wouldn't keep it. Sons of the Desert is supposed to look good though, but that's only one film, albeit the best feature they made.

I was going to link to some threads at the hometheaterforum, but unfortunately one has been "cleaned up" and another had a revealing screencap that expired (displaying an "x" instead). You can read through this, but the short version is, Robert A. Harris didn't like the Blu-ray release and in his opinion tried to be kind about it. It didn't matter, some people didn't like the opinion and threw insults which led to their posts being taken down. All of this is alluded to in that link, where you can see people coming out and again arguing about the merits of the new release, but from what I remember, it was heavily scrubbed and the people involved didn't deny it and defended their choice.

[therewillbeblus]

I did get it for close to that, but I'll return it. Flicker Alley releasing more volumes is promising - though presumably the rights would be with Kit Parker for those films?

[hearthesilence]

I did get it for close to that, but I'll return it. Flicker Alley releasing more volumes is promising - though presumably the rights would be with Kit Parker for those films?

Ugh, I think I spoke too soon. Found this: "I listened to Patrick Vasey's interview with Mr. Bromberg on the L&H podcast, and if I understand correctly, Mr. Bromberg is only going to restore the silent films. A real shame, because he would probably do a much better job on the talkies than those responsible for the digital restoration on the Definitive Collection."

Unless things change, you might as well hold on to it. I went with the DVD set but it's pick your poison - take a big hit in resolution or choose sandblasted hi-def visuals.

[unclehulot]

Even if one detested the look of the Kit Parker set, wouldn’t the copious extras be worth keeping it for? In any case, it might well be the only show in town for these films for some time.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah, I appreciate you guys steering me back towards keeping it

[captveg]

Laurel & Hardy: Year Two

Shorts on the Laurel & Hardy: Year Two set include:

Leave 'em Laughing
The Finishing Touch
From Soup to Nuts
You're Darn Tootin'
Their Purple Moment
Should Married Men Go Home?
Early to Bed
Two Tars
Habeas Corpus
We Faw Down

BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:

Audio Commentary Tracks – For each film by historians and authors Randy Skretvedt and Richard Bann
Exclusive, Rare Audio – Featuring Anita Garvin, Thomas Benton Roberts, and Hal Roach, from personal interviews conducted by historian Randy Skretvedt
Additional Musical Scores – Alternate audio options, including fully restored original 1928 Vitaphone tracks on Habeas Corpus and We Faw Down
Laurel & Hardy On-Location in Year Two – A video essay by historian John Bengtson on selected location exteriors
Eve’s Love Letters (1927) – One of Stan Laurel’s final solo films, directed by Leo McCarey and written by Laurel himself, from rare 35mm elements
Galloping Ghosts (1928) – Two surviving fragments of a rare solo Oliver Hardy comedy
A Pair of Tights (1928) – A short starring Anita Garvin and Marion Byron, who were teamed to try and replicate the success of Laurel and Hardy
George Mann’s Home Movies – From behind the scenes of Hal Roach Studios, including the filming of Should Married Men go Home?
A Complete, 20-minute Interview – By Tony Thomas with Stan Laurel, recorded in January 1959, the year after Oliver Hardy’s death
Film Specific Image Galleries – Containing original publicity materials, press reviews, and rare production stills
Souvenir Booklet – Containing a new collection introduction by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange; A look at the supporting players and other creative personnel in the world of Hal Roach Studios by historian Sara Imogen Smith; A new essay exploring the development of the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system in 1928 by Randy Skredvedt; and comprehensive notes on each film
English SDH Subtitles
Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion
All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

Release Date: October 29, 2024

[Stefan Andersson]

Update on L & H Year Two:

"The upcoming two-disc Blu-ray edition of Laurel & Hardy: Year Two, previously announced for release on October 29, will be delayed by one week to accommodate the inclusion of several new pieces of bonus content, including the extant second reel of the 1927 Charley Chase short ‘Now I’ll Tell One’ (courtesy of the British Film Institute.) Once considered a fully lost film, the short features both Stan and Ollie, albeit not yet as a comedy duo.
In addition to ‘Now I’ll Tell One,’ the upcoming set will also include some newly announced alternate audio options, including two vintage Blackhawk Films music tracks on ‘You’re Darn Tootin’ and ‘Two Tars.’ "
https://cinemaretro.com/index.php - Nov. 17 post

[hearthesilence]

Black Friday sale is on. Use promo code BLACKFRIDAY2024 to receive a 25% discount on Library & Flicker Fusion titles until December 1.

[Finch]

Flicker Alley have Merry Go Round (1923) scheduled for an April 1 (!) Blu-Ray release.

Flicker Alley and Blackhawk Films are honored to present for the first time ever on Blu-ray the new restoration of Erich von Stroheim’s Merry-Go-Round. Merry-Go-Round (1923) was initially intended to be Erich von Stroheim’s fourth directorial feature for Universal, following the success of Foolish Wives (1922). Behind the scenes, however, Stroheim wrote the script, supervised the production but was initially forbidden by the studio from headlining and, six weeks into shooting, was fired by the new head of production Irving Thalberg, and replaced by Rupert Julian (The Phantom of the Opera). Flicker Alley is honored to present this newly restored edition of the film, thanks to the dedicated restoration efforts of Blackhawk Films with the support of the Sunrise Foundation and many archives throughout the world (from Austria, Denmark, France, etc.), in a deluxe Blu-ray edition.

[What A Disgrace]

April Fool's Day is the ideal release for a long awaited von Stroheim Blu-ray when that Blu-ray is this film. I'll probably still get it, of course.

[Stefan Andersson]

Flicker Alley have Merry Go Round (1923) scheduled for an April 1 (!) Blu-Ray release.

Flicker Alley and Blackhawk Films are honored to present for the first time ever on Blu-ray the new restoration of Erich von Stroheim’s Merry-Go-Round. Merry-Go-Round (1923) was initially intended to be Erich von Stroheim’s fourth directorial feature for Universal, following the success of Foolish Wives (1922). Behind the scenes, however, Stroheim wrote the script, supervised the production but was initially forbidden by the studio from headlining and, six weeks into shooting, was fired by the new head of production Irving Thalberg, and replaced by Rupert Julian (The Phantom of the Opera). Flicker Alley is honored to present this newly restored edition of the film, thanks to the dedicated restoration efforts of Blackhawk Films with the support of the Sunrise Foundation and many archives throughout the world (from Austria, Denmark, France, etc.), in a deluxe Blu-ray edition.

Details about the restoration:
https://anttialanenfilmdiary.blogspot.c ... -2023.html

[ryannichols7]

very exciting, can't wait for this. please The Wedding March at some point, Criterion...

[Peacock]

Between reading this news and that Queen Kelly is being worked on by Milestone I’m needing a sit down.

Second The Wedding March of course. And The Merry Widow and……

[DeprongMori]

I have a question on the Cinema of Discovery: Julien Duvivier in the 1920s set from Flicker Alley, which I hope someone might be able to answer for me.

I'm going through the set to catalog it in MyMovies, and I've noticed something odd on the audio tracks. One Disc 1 and 2 (so far), the audio tracks are supposed to be available as "5.1" and "Stereo" for each of the scores, but MediaInfo is reading the tracks as being a lossy "Dolby Digital - 2 channels" and "PCM - 2 channels". I don't have a 5.1 speaker setup to see what's actually going on here. Also, if I display info when I've selected the "5.1" track for Carrot Top for example, and display the info from my LG 4K UDH player UBK90 it also shows as "Dolby Digital - 2 channels". Could someone double-check on their set, especially if you picked up a later printing? I picked up the original printing as soon as it was announced, and I understand there may have been a re-issue. I can swap some Disc-ID info if necessary to corroborate.

Thanks.

[domino harvey]

I bought the set last year. If it’s something I can check on the discs I’m happy to look, but I don’t have an external sound system so couldn’t tell you more than what my blu-ray player displays for a given option. At any rate, there’s no language on my physical set about second printing etc

[DeprongMori]

I bought the set last year. If it’s something I can check on the discs I’m happy to look, but I don’t have an external sound system so couldn’t tell you more than what my blu-ray player displays for a given option. At any rate, there’s no language on my physical set about second printing etc

Thanks. If you could check what your player is displaying for audio during playback for the 5.1 selection that would be a great start. I'm not sure whether the displays operate strictly off the metadata in the wrapper, and whether the actual audio processing operates off the internal data if different than the metadata. The tool MediaInfo is very helpful for examining metadata about the files, as well as performing any number of other operations. To examine metadata, you just need to point it at the MPLS file you want to look at in the BDMV/PLAYLIST folder of the disc.

I've also got the question in to Flicker Alley. I'll see what they have to say about it and report back.

[DeprongMori]

Just got the update from Flicker Alley. The Flicker Alley release of Cinema of Discovery: Julien Duvivier in the 1920s uses the same discs as the original French Lobster Films release of the set but with Flicker Alley's labeling on the discs. So, the same problem is present on both the US and French releases, and there is no fix for it. Discs 1, 2, 4, 5 offer 5.1 audio tracks in addition to the Stereo on their menus, but they erroneously only provide only lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 for those. The Mystery of the Eiffel Tower (the only film on Disc 3) and Ladies' Paradise do not offer 5.1 audio tracks. Fortunately all the films in the set have a lossless LPCM 2.0 music track available.

[What A Disgrace]

Michael F. Blake is recording an audio commentary for He Who Gets Slapped, being released by Flicker Alley, per his Facebook.

[Peacock]

Wow incredible news!! Isn’t that a WB title?

One of the greatest silents, and perhaps Chaney’s finest performance, can’t wait to revisit it.

[What A Disgrace]

I think it might be in the public domain, but I would very much be supportive of Flicker Alley managing a direct partnership with WB for more silent film releases.

[captveg]

All films through 1929 are now in the public domain, so practically all silents are PD now.

[Peacock]

But have any other MGM silent features been released by anyone other than WB?

If not this is sort of a watershed moment. It means we don’t have to wait for Criterion or WB to release The Crowd, The Wind etc.., any label who can find a decent print could.

[ryannichols7]

we realized this a few months ago when it was announced that MoMA was doing screenings of The Wind with restored prints from their own archive. since Eureka licensed The Cat and the Canary from MoMA, I've been under the assumption that they could announce The Wind via license from MoMA too. Flicker Alley may be working with them too for He Who Gets Slapped or maybe Library of Congress too, who Kino has worked with before on releases. either way yes, we don't necessarily have to wait on Criterion/Warners anymore, though I know WB will argue "we still have the best elements" or whatever their argument always is. I believe they said that whenever that Japanese company released all those RKO movies on bluray that WB hadn't done themselves yet

the main issue is scores. I know Feltenstein has mentioned scores take a lot of the budget for silent films, and Milestone has mentioned that while films are PD, scores are always copyrighted

[captveg]

Everyone assumed Feltenstein meant Criterion when he recently said the following on the Extras podcast: "And with results like this [with The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse], in terms of what I've seen and what this disc will look like and this presentation will look like, if the sales are strong enough, it will open up the door for more, as well as the films that are planned to be released by our partners." However, "partners" could mean that they are willing to work with labels in addition to Criterion on their silent films to varying degrees now that they're all PD; for all we know FA is one of them.

WAC doesn't have the budget to commission new scores, so this could be their way of making a little money licensing some elements without spending the money on doing their own release and/or paying for new music scores for some titles. Even if FA uses none of the WB held elements for He Who Gets Slapped specifically it may be worthwhile to them to do some kind of limited partnership for a handful of titles. WB gets some assistance in internal preservation, while labels that specialize in appealing to collectors (especially a label like FA that have an in with silent movie fans) get more materials available to them.

Complete speculation on my part, but it seems at least somewhat plausible, especially with how large WBs catalog is and how their partnerships with 3rd party labels (Criterion, Arrow, Shout already established) has expanded in more recent years even as their WAC releases have increased.

Re: Commissioning new scores. I took this from the blu-ray.com forum member sherlockjr, who explains why it may be cost prohibitive for WB when it isn't for a label like FA:

"I assume that WBD is a musician's union signatory, so any newly recorded score would require Hollywood scoring rates for the musicians, conductor, and, perhaps, composer/arranger. Someone like Ben Model doesn't have to charge those rates--and he also has revenue from the sales of the Undercrank Production silent disks themselves."

[What A Disgrace]

Flicker Alley is releasing Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings.

• Audio Commentary by Marc Wanamaker (Roadshow Version) - Explore the history and enduring legacy of The King of Kings with historian Marc Wanamaker
• PCM 2.0 & Dolby 5.1 Audio Options - On Robert Israel's new orchestral score (Roadshow version)
• Two Scores for the 1928 General Release - The original orchestral score by Hugo Riesenfeld, and an organ score by Christian Elliott
• Two Versions for One Film - A short featurette that explains the differences between both included versions of The King of Kings
• The Making of ‘The King of Kings’ - Twenty minutes of behind the scenes footage from throughout the production with commentary by Marc Wanamaker
• ‘The King of Kings’ Premieres in Germany - Silent footage from the film’s premiere in Germany
• Negative A / Negative B - A short featurette exploring the filming process that led to multiple negatives
• Technicolor - A look into the innovative process behind the film’s color sequences
• Hand Coloring Onto the Film - A look at the painstaking process used to colorize individual elements of various scenes
• Pathé Week on Broadway - A promotional cartoon short from 1927 that officially announces the release of The King of Kings
• Extensive Galleries - Behind the scenes stills, concept art, posters, and documentation collected from archives all over the world
• Souvenir Booklet - Featuring an essay on the production by Robert S. Birchard and notes on the restoration and alternate versions by Serge Bromberg
• English SDH Subtitles
• Reversible Cover Artwork
• Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion
• All Region Encoding (A,B,C)