Artificial Eye / Curzon Film World

[pauling]

On the second untinted capture, does anyone else see a shadowy image of Count Orlok on Irma Vep's left buttock?

[Gregory]

I see it, clear as a bell. This must be the fanatical cinephile analogue to Catholics sighting apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

[HerrSchreck]

Totally, now that you mention it. (Kind of apropos to the weird stuff I was noticing in the new HD of NOS.) So you see ass and lower back tattoos on chicks isn't as recent as we think-- only thing is how prophetic she was, owing to the fact that the film was still 6-7 yrs off.

Prior to your pointing it out I was too fixated on Musidora's awesome tits which you can totally see right thru in that suit... you can see the actor who plays the spaniard totally staring at her nipples thru the material (this versus the girl who plays the bat on stage who gets killed by the ring... totally frumpy and wearing somthing under there anyhoo). If you can see this much in an old washed out generational-- probably 16mm (the surviving elements on this are a mix of 16 & 35)-- just think of how she must have looked like on the set. I see no hint of panty-anything under there either...

"Just remember the Red River Valley
And the cowboy who.."

[The Digital McGuffin]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but AE are teaming up with the Curzon Mayfair cinema for a Tarkovsky season including a brand new print of The Sacrifice. Presumably this will replace their existing DVD in the near future.

[Cold Bishop]

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but AE are teaming up with the Curzon Mayfair cinema for a Tarkovsky season including a brand new print of The Sacrifice. Presumably this will replace their existing DVD in the near future.

This is probably from the same source as the current (great) SFI dvd, no?

[Gropius]

Presumably this will replace their existing DVD in the near future.

What makes you presume that?

[The Digital McGuffin]

Presumably this will replace their existing DVD in the near future.

What makes you presume that?

I wouldn't have thought they'd acquire the new print just for a limited theatrical run. It is just a guess, and it would be a first for them to upgrade a release, but i figured it would make sense seeing as they've gone to trouble of the new print.

Official word is AE are looking at the possibility of a boxset including the new Sacrifice for the end of next year, but nothing immediately. Looks like my presumption was sadly misplaced.

[Cold Bishop]

Official word is AE are looking at the possibility of a boxset including the new Sacrifice for the end of next year, but nothing immediately. Looks like my presumption was sadly misplaced.

Honestly, just go for the SFI release. It looks great, has subbed extras, and I don't see AE bettering it.

[Tommaso]

They'd better update their "Nostalghia" first.....

[zone_resident]

DVD Times Review of The Aki Kaurismäki Collection Volume 3

[What A Disgrace]

Play.com has the deal on Les Vampires.

Special Features

* Louis Feuillade at Work
* Short films by Louis Feuillade: Une Dame Vraiment Bien, La Legende de la Fileuse, C'est pour les Orphelines, L'Orgie Romaine

A legendary early masterpiece of French cinema, 'Les Vampires' follows the exploits of a nefarious band of master criminals led by the seductive femme fatale Irma Vep, alluringly played by Musidora. Holding Paris in the grip of terror, the underworld gang are pursued across the city by heroic journalist Philippe Guerande and his sidekick Mazamette. Reflecting the mood of fear and anxiety in World War I era France, this meticulously restored ten-part silent serial from film pioneer Louis Feuillade - creator of the acclaimed Fantômas serials - is a hugely influential and engrossing crime drama from cinema's golden age. Musical accompaniment composed by Eric Le Guen and Chateau Flight.

[denti alligator]

Feuillade shorts! Sweeeeet!

[codam]

crazy-cheap pre-order of Les Vampires at DVD.co.uk, only £13.95
(RRP elsewere is £29.99, but they've got it down as £19.99)

[What A Disgrace]

I pre-ordered mine at Amazon when it was at the crazy cheap price.

Has anyone seen these short films? I understand that some of them are on the R1 disc.

[stephan73]

Can anyone tell me how Play.com handle their preorders? I preordered Les Vampires when it was announced for 23 euro, and now the price is up to 37 euro. My preorder price is still 23 euro! Is Play known to change preordered prices?

[eez28]

Les Vampires cover art

[domino harvey]

OH MAN YES that is simply beautiful =D>

[Kinsayder]

Why the blood-red background? Are AE hoping for some mis-purchases from horror fans?

[MichaelB]

Why the blood-red background? Are AE hoping for some mis-purchases from horror fans?

They'd be barking mad if they weren't - that market's several orders of magnitude bigger than the one for WWI-era silent serials!

(I was involved with a marketing campaign for a revival of Belle de Jour in the early 1990s that all but rebadged it as a soft porn film - if I remember rightly, the tagline itself was "the Rolls-Royce of sex films". Our reasoning, which I'd defend to this day, was that people who were already familiar with the film wouldn't care - or rather, they might hem and haw at the vulgarity of the advertising, but they'd still pay to go and see it - and people who didn't might be intrigued. Since it broke the house records at both the cinemas it opened in, we must have been doing something right!)

[colinr0380]

Wouldn't it cause some unintended comparisons to be made though? "Deneuve was excellent but she was no Sylvia Kristel" and so on?

A little like playing up Å vankmajer's Alice as an update of the Disney version. Sure it means it will get a bigger audience but...!

Though I can sympathise with the difficulties in promoting unusual films to unsuspecting audiences without making them run away in terror from subtitles! (or subtleties?)

[HerrSchreck]

Sometimes great films do well because they're great-- it happens.

Film Forum in NYC broke all previous records with the original revival of Rififi because... people just couldn't believe how fucking good this film was, and word of mouth spread.

[godardslave]

Les Vampires cover art

Certainly different from the typical AE cover art designs.

They should be applauded for the originality and boldness of the design (especially for a silent film), but i'm not actually sure i like it that much, it looks kind of cartoony and amateurish.

[MichaelB]

Wouldn't it cause some unintended comparisons to be made though? "Deneuve was excellent but she was no Sylvia Kristel" and so on?

Provided they bought a ticket, I'm not the slightest bit bothered about what they thought of it!

A little like playing up Å vankmajer's Alice as an update of the Disney version. Sure it means it will get a bigger audience but...!

Actually, that's exactly how the US distributors of Alice DID pitch it - or at least they used the Miloš Forman quote "Buñuel + Disney = Švankmajer" on the poster.

Though I can sympathise with the difficulties in promoting unusual films to unsuspecting audiences without making them run away in terror from subtitles! (or subtleties?)

The time-honoured technique is to hide any evidence that the film might not be in English in either the trailer or any other advertising. I worked for the UK distributor of Delicatessen, and that particular trick worked brilliantly - it grossed over a million quid, which is mega-blockbuster status for an early-1990s independently-distributed film.

[domino harvey]

Artificial Eye to release three Bresson films on April 21: the already-mentioned the Devil, Probably along with A Man Escaped and Lancelot du lac!

[Nuno]

Artificial Eye to release three Bresson films on April 21: the already-mentioned the Devil, Probably along with A Man Escaped and Lancelot du lac!

This is GREAT!!! Thanks!