Kino

[MichaelB]

But if I'm not mistaken, isn't there a French release of the full Parajanov cut that is remarkably better than the Kino? Or was it another country, or am I just mistaken completely?

It's certainly better, but not "remarkably". The picture is still very contrasty, and there's an inexplicable sound dropout towards the end that isn't a problem on the Kino.

On the other hand, it has optional subtitles, while the Kino's are huge, garish yellow, in a serif font (which makes them even more prominent) and fixed. Also, the Kino picture is very heavily windowboxed.

From what I've heard, the best transfers are all of the Russian edit (as the transfer can be done with much better materials)...

Both the Japanese (Columbia) DVD and the British Channel 4 broadcast back this up. They're still not perfect, but they're light years ahead of any print of the longer version that I've seen. In fact, when I surveyed Paradjanov DVDs for Sight & Sound a few months ago, I originally decided to stick to discs with English subtitles, but the Japanese disc was so dramatically better that I thought it was at least worth mentioning (and let's face it, subtitles are less essential with this film than is normally the case).

UPDATE: I just remembered I uploaded frame comparisons at the time I was writing the article - they're here.

[HerrSchreck]

The big news that's going under everybody's radar is that Kino is resurrecting ALIBI by Roland West, possibly his strangest and greatest work. Speaking of VAMPYR so much lately, check THIS piece of mayhem out if you love that hazy netherworld of the late 20's/early 30's where a couple of early talkies maintained that freakish nightmare zone of the silents... on the AUDIO plane. This film is a total acid trip, and-- and innaresting offshoot of early sound processes which cut into the left side of the frame, this film used a process using a record that was played in synch in the theater, holding all music, dialog & sound effects. I'm tghrilled that Kino has ressurrected this from their VHS catalog, because I doubt many people bought (or knew about it) in the first place. There's no extras, but they seem to be selling it for less. Rohauer/Douris (whom Kino licensed from) seem to have the only print left on the face of the earth, and though it;s not perfect, is indispensable for the avant collector of rarities and silents.

RE AVANT2... not anywhere near as crucial as one, with it's sublime Epstein and Kirsanoff (including MENILMONTANT, possibly the finest film ever made... that was Kael's opinion, and I at times am inclined to agree). I'm pissed at them for reissuing the same film twice: Paul Leni's REBUSFILM, which they already released on WAXWORKS.

Hopefully as hi-def transfers become the norm, preconversion will no longer be an issue for these guys on their foriegn licenses of someone else's digibeta. I am a little perplexed by their continued interlacing. I know their sales are small on these hyper-rarities... but if SOMETHING WEIRD video can go seemingly all-progressive, I really wish, when handed a progressive transfer, or financing one, Kino would uniformly go progressive. They have plenty of progressive releases, but it's not uniform. Anyhow, upscaling players undo the combing, don't they?

[HerrSchreck]

Wow, sixty clams to convert a GIFT. Sorta takes the nicety outa receiving it. I'm glad you'll finally get to see it, which was my intention all along beyond getting you a "collectors item". With the dvd obviously that aspect is gone. I was totally shocked when they announced this.... I thought this had as much chance of a DVD as SALT FOR SVANETIA or CIVILIZATION... definitely the best West. Blows the well-cunctional CORSAIR outa the water!. We do need a better THE BAT vs the Alpha.

[djali999]

In the defense of the double release of Rebus Film No. 1, they did get a significantly better, less cropped print. Schreck, do you know if any of the other Rebus Films still exist? Or, rather, No. 3... was there ever a number 2?

[Ledos]

There were eight rebus films in total entitled Rebus-Film Nr. 1 up to nr. 8, of course. Each of them was followed by a solution film called Rebus-Film Nr. 1 (Auslösung), etc. I'm not sure how many of them survived.

[Tommaso]

Not yet on their website, but amazon.com and axelmusic both list a forthcoming Kino release of Anthony Asquith's 1929 silent "A cottage on Dartmoor". Release date is 2nd October. Seems to be a highlight according to what was written in the Silent Films thread, and best of all, it seems that the BFI documentary "Silent Britain" is also included! Would be a great chance to get this docu as a 'freebie'. Fingers crossed that the BFI provided them with a HD master for both films or at least with a preconverted NTSC master...

[Richard--W]

Kino's new box-set The Films of Michael Haneke has been out for a couple of weeks now, but is receiving little or no attention. Probably because it's overpriced. Has anyone seen it? Are the original releases upgraded in some way? How is the quality of the transfers? Should I buy it?

Kino's website lists titles and synopses, but doesn't even indicate if there are supplements or if the transfers are anamorphic.

[thethirdman]

Here is Ian Jane's review for the Haneke box set.

His comments on the transfers:

"As you can see, two of the films in the set have not been enhanced for anamorphic displays, which is unfortunate. Equally disappointing is the fact that there is a fair bit of noticeable ghosting on these transfers, obviously created by a bad PAL to NTSC conversion. While this doesn't render the films unwatchable, it definitely is a problem and it does obscure some of the fine detail in more than a few scenes. Mpeg compression is present but not overpowering though color reproduction looks a bit flat in some scenes. Mild print damage is present in a couple of the older films as well, Code Unknown being the most obvious example. Overall, the films are all watchable but Kino could have and definitely should have put more effort into these transfers."

[miless]

"As you can see, two of the films in the set have not been enhanced for anamorphic displays, which is unfortunate. Equally disappointing is the fact that there is a fair bit of noticeable ghosting on these transfers, obviously created by a bad PAL to NTSC conversion. While this doesn't render the films unwatchable, it definitely is a problem and it does obscure some of the fine detail in more than a few scenes. Mpeg compression is present but not overpowering though color reproduction looks a bit flat in some scenes. Mild print damage is present in a couple of the older films as well, Code Unknown being the most obvious example. Overall, the films are all watchable but Kino could have and definitely should have put more effort into these transfers."

amen!

[jbeall]

For shame, Kino!!!

[Tribe]

Kino is advertising a new version of The Cat and the Canary. Doe anyone know how different, if at all, this will be from Image's version?

Tribe

[tryavna]

Different score and more PAL->NTSC ghosting, perhaps?

TCM showed this movie on Sunday night/Saturday morning. I recorded it but haven't had a chance to view it yet. Probably will do so this weekend. If I see any new Kino logos at the beginning, I'll let you know what the print, A/V quality, etc. is like.

[HerrSchreck]

I'm perplexed by the CANARY release myself. Shepard re-released his own package a couple years ago from the older print that he'd origtinally released (which Kino used for their VHS). That in-print disc from Image is beautiful, from a very good quality nitrate. It seems theyre using it as the flagship new release to whet appetites for their American Silent Horror box, which is a recycling of older releases, a la GLAMOR GIRLS & NOIR (there's a box 2 coming out)-- but if folks dont have this stuff, i e J&HYDE, PENALTY, MAN WHO LAUGHS, etc, then this is absolutely an essential box, especially since these are all domestic proper ntsc Kino transfers *except the bologna MAN WHO LAUGHS) and not foreign unconverted digibetas.

It's obvious what NOSFERATU is.

It's nice to see the world of silent picking up again, with POTEMPK, DARTMOOR, etc (we need more previously unseen releases). I'd love to know when WB is finally going to get around releasing the Sjostroms & GREED & Vidors. I cant believe these little distributors & independent state restorers are pushing this stuff out at such a clip, and WB, which owns their own elements and transfer equipment, is taking for fucking ever.

[tryavna]

Kino is advertising a new version of The Cat and the Canary. Doe anyone know how different, if at all, this will be from Image's version?

TCM showed this movie on Sunday night/Saturday morning. I recorded it but haven't had a chance to view it yet. Probably will do so this weekend. If I see any new Kino logos at the beginning, I'll let you know what the print, A/V quality, etc. is like.

OK, so I finally got around to watching the version TCM showed -- no Kino logos, but it was the 2004 Photoplay restoration that Kino claims to be including in their new edition. (Did Image also release the Photoplay resto?) At any rate, it looked very nice, with no ghosting issues immediately apparent from the TV broadcast and score by Neil Brand. So if you don't already have the Image, I suppose the Kino would be a good buy. I don't have the Image, so I don't know if it will be an improvement.

Having seen it again after many years, however, I've realized just how little I really like "old dark house" movies. I think it's a sub-genre that you either like or don't. And while I found it entertaining for about 30 minutes, I just got tired -- as I always do -- of characters roaming aimlessly around a series of secret passages.

[Tribe]

Thanks for the review. The Image, as Shrek noted above, is not bad at all...I can't believe that any improvement in the new Kino release is worth double-dipping.

In my view the Old Dark House sub-genre was only successful when there was at least a hint of perversion as in, James Whale's The Old Dark House. The Cat and the Canary has its moments but unfortunately it also has its moments of tedium.

Thanks

Tribe

[HerrSchreck]

The first Image (DVD)/Kino (VHS) release of CANARY was from a very worn out print which, if memory serves, was a 16. Kino never had it on disc. Shepard then announced that he had located a better print, an original nitrate fine grain w little damage, and he got Image to take it on. It's a lovely print with decent enough telecine that needed virtually no restoration.

Shepard is a hunter, a scrounger, first and foremost. He took possession of a huge library of films he was once an employee of (Blackhawk) but many of his greatest/most profound releases were those of prints he himself unearthed in basements of old metropolitan buildings tagged for demolition.. this is how we now have films like TRAFFIC IN SOULS & REGENERATION-- his keeping his ears open and showing up at the critical moment when film cans are reputed to be in evidence at some waste site. Occasionally he will license/produce, as he has done with some of the German silents for Kino i e SEX IN CHAINS & DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERs etc. In other words doing the Bret Wood/Joanna Schiller thing for a label and securing goods and paying for seed production costs.

I don't believe he licensed his recent Image CANARY from anyone-- I believe he tracked those discs down or bought them from a collector. I'm almost dead positive it is not the result of any restoration (I really don't think one was needed the materials were so superlative). Clearly the Channel 4/Thames crew did some proprietary work on their own materials from somewhere... maybe a BFI orBrit Film Lib print? The only difference I can envision is the Kino having genuine tints via resto vs the electronically tinted fine grain in the Image. Though the dif can be quite beautiful, I wont spring for a third copy of this film (though I love it quite a lot, along with everything I've seen by Leni), especially since over the coming month or so I'll be buying a second POTEMKIN and a fifth NOSFERATU. I swear to god, barring the discovery of the original camera neg of NOS, I will never ever buy another release of this film from anyone, despite my hugest love for Murnau.

[souvenir]

Aesthetically, this is the best-looking thing I've ever seen from Kino:

[denti alligator]

Wow, I'm surprised it has the entire film with Russian intertitles and then again with English intertitles. Are translated intertitles that important for Kino. Let's hope this one is progressive!

[HerrSchreck]

Wow, I'm surprised it has the entire film with Russian intertitles and then again with English intertitles. Are translated intertitles that important for Kino. Let's hope this one is progressive!

That always seemed to be the case as they were as much preparing their prints for theatrical exhibition as they were for home vid. In the cinema I think the average filmgoer prefers the old fashioned way-- that is to say, title cards in the language of the market at hand. Subtitling title cards, especially verbose ones, can be atrophied-- or, in cases where there's a synch-soundtrack-- rushed if multiple overlays are needed to squeeze all the translated text on screen before the image needs to reappear (Shepard always got around this by digitizing then shrinking chatty intertitles so they only occupied 1/3 to 1/2 the screen leaving more room for the subs to play out.. something has to be done in those cases, to avoid the excessive "distilling" that takes place in sound-film subs so that the dialog fits onscreen while the words are being spoken and are held there long enough to be read, but get outa there quick enough for the next line). Verby subs overlapping intertitles can get hard to read also-- yesterday I was watching my DESERTER (sound but w some intertitles), and even though the subs were yellow over b/w cards, the verbosity of the titles/subs caused a big mess requiring some rewind).

It looks like Kino is heeding the home vid call and producing their latest discs w original title cards, subbed. NOSFERATU & POTEMKIN coming out this way, which is great news. (Hi def transfers should also solve the PAL/NTSC issue, which was always-- at least w silents-- handled best w them versus the other labels). But I wouldn't be surprised if their theatrical prints feature old fashioned fully redone intertitles. For the amount of time you have viz the audience, w no rewind/freeze options, it's the ideal way to fully translate the material at hand.

[jesus the mexican boi]

Kino is advertising a new version of The Cat and the Canary. Doe anyone know how different, if at all, this will be from Image's version?

It's also a part of this new boxset. I've been wanting to get THE PENALTY for some time, and this seems as good a time as any.

The Bret Wood doc is also pretty cool, and it's only in the set. (And it's 25% off from Kino.)

[Tribe]

The first Image (DVD)/Kino (VHS) release of CANARY was from a very worn out print which, if memory serves, was a 16. Kino never had it on disc. Shepard then announced that he had located a better print, an original nitrate fine grain w little damage, and he got Image to take it on. It's a lovely print with decent enough telecine that needed virtually no restoration.

I have the second printing, and it does look very nice.

Tribe

[HerrSchreck]

Kino is advertising a new version of The Cat and the Canary. Doe anyone know how different, if at all, this will be from Image's version?

It's also a part of this new boxset. I've been wanting to get THE PENALTY for some time, and this seems as good a time as any.

The Bret Wood doc is also pretty cool, and it's only in the set. (And it's 25% off from Kino.)

I could go on for pages about THE PENALTY. It's an unjustly overlooked jawdropping complete and total masterpiece that should be viewed by anyone with even a passing interest in cinema. First and foremost, it contains the most blazing performance of Chaney's career, vicious and deeply felt and full of genuine fire and charisma and totally devoid of the melodramatic swooning he could lapse into with a lax director. You'll see him raging through a faceful of tears he had genuinely wept just a moment before... breaking down before his men then catching himself and flying into a fury on the rebound-- one extreme to another in zero seconds flat. The story is as brutal and vicious (and uncompromising) as they come, and had it come out just a few months later it would have been chopped to ribbons via the newly flexing censors. I also classify it as the first genuine film noir.

It moves deftly from location to studio shooting, it's tight as a 13 year old girl and swift in it's mise en scene, bleak as a junky with a public defender getting railroaded in night court.. and it's pretty much the reason that Chaney became known for playing cripples and mountebanks... his legless character was so amazingly (and agonizingly) portrayed, that his whole career was spent trying to duplicate the furious effect... but to no avail. See this film as though your life depended on it.

I also strongly sense that-- Feulliade aside-- Fritz Lang had his ass kicked by the power of this film, and riffed on it endlessly (including almost verbatim copping a character-- the coke-sniffing hairdresser in MABUSE-- the drug addicted sidekick of Chaney) in his 1992 DR MABUSE silent.

This film doesn't fuck around.

[jesus the mexican boi]

HerrShreck,

Oh, I agree completely. I've seen THE PENALTY many times, and it totally floored me. I even used to have the Gouverneur Morris novel. It's a fantastic movie that's sadly, as you say, underrated and underappreciated. It surely does not hold the same esteem as the films Chaney made with Tod Browning, but I think it rocks out with its cock out. That does it. I'm ordering the set right now.

Thanks.

[HerrSchreck]

And I really mean that about the "noir" appellation. This film is "black" in the truest sense of the word, and as originally intended by the French.

As in, "Jesus these americans seem to be in foul, black moods lately... and their films reflect it... nasty, depressing, sinister films with totally disagreeable characters refelecting a sense of No Hope, it's like a collective snarl." As opposed to "Wow those Americans seem to be making a ton of films about big city detectives with snappy patter and leggy chicks and long shadows."

THE PENALTY is a genuinely darkminded film, sick and furious and almost demented in the snarling intelligence of it's execution. It goes beyond Chaney's performance and straight into the heart of it's plot, which would be extremely sick even for today. You'd never see an A list studio assigning this monstrous scenario to an A director and actors and crew, and given a red-meat position in the release/distribution list. Even the lily white girl is inexplicably obsessed with satan.

I love the quote from the Variety:

"Here's a film about as cheerful as a hanging.."

[tryavna]

David, Schreck can probably address the film's similarities to Browning's work more fully, but I have to say that, when I first watched The Penalty, I actually thought it had been directed by Browning. It was only a few months later, while I was browsing IMDb, that I learned otherwise. The story is perhaps not quite as perverse in execution as most of Browning's silents, but the content is very much in line with what Browning and Chaney would be doing regularly starting about five years later.

I'm with Schreck on this one. It's an amazing film, with one of the bleakest back-stories of all Hollywood silents. I find the resolution a bit of a cop-out, but just as you think it's going to become sappy -- bam! You get an appropriately bleak ending. (Apart from this and Hunchback, I'm totally unfamiliar with director Wallace Worsley's work. But if he managed to repeat what he does in Penalty in some other movie, I'd like to track that movie down.)