jt wrote:Jeanne Ney, Waxworks, The Man Who Laughs, Sir Arne's Treasure, Warning Shadows and Intolerance.
No reasonable alternative for any of these, though "Sir Arne" is now out in a Scandinavian 6-disc set. This has the original intertitles, but apparently a weaker image. The arte "Intolerance" is not yet released and is only due in Autumn 2008. The Griffith box is highly recommended, then. I'm not much a fan of "Orphans", but "Broken Blossoms" is a wonderful, lyrical piece, and the Biograph shorts are at least interesting historically. Be aware, though, that at least my copy of the Kino "Intolerance" has an authoring glitch, with the music only being on the left channel, which can be annoying if you listen over your hi-fi and not over the TV speakers.
I don't know of any alternative for the other films, which indeed is a shame. We need a Transit Pabst box at least.
Last edited by Tommaso on Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Kino's editions are the best on all of those as far as I know (except perhaps for Sir Arne's Treasure which is also in the Swedish boxset). Be sure to get this set instead of the separate edition of The Man Who Laughs.
Thanks for the advice. I was excited about that Swedish set until reviews of the image quality began to surface, so I've decided to get the Kino Arne and Tartan Carriage (unless CC announce it in the next few weeks before I next go to the UK) to add the Gosta and Haxan which I already have. I can live without the extra two titles for now.
And it seems the consensus is that I should go for the Griffith box, the American Silent Horror box and single Kino Jeanne, Waxworks, Sir Arne and Warning shadows.
It's going to be an expensive month unless I can find somewhere that sells Kino's for cheap...
Regarding the sound glitch on the Kino version of Intolerance. Apparently Kino very quietly fixed this so you should get a proper copy if you buy the set new. If you find you have a defective copy, they will replace it with a corrected version but you'll need to send it to them.
htdm wrote: If you find you have a defective copy, they will replace it with a corrected version but you'll need to send it to them.
I'd assume that doesn't work for overseas buyers, because Kino like Criterion won't officially sell outside the US and Canada as far as I can see. But I'm planning on the forthcoming arte anyway, so I guess I can live with the glitch for a few months more. But good to hear they addressed that problem.
Last edited by Tommaso on Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
[quote67="Tommaso"][quote67="htdm"] If you find you have a defective copy, they will replace it with a corrected version but you'll need to send it to them.[/quote67]
I'd assume that doesn't work for overseas buyers, because Kino like Criterion won't officially sell outside the US and Canada as far as I can see. But I'm planning on the forthcoming arte anyway, so I guess I can live with the glitch for a few months more. But good to hear they addressed that problem.[/quote67]
Actually, Kino will send (or, at least did for me) replacements to overseas cumstomers. About a year and a half ago I had a copy of (funnily enough also) [i67]Intolerance[/i67] that would not play at all, and they asked me to return the disc, and they then very promptly sent a replacement.
A most glorious film indeed! Brilliant play on stereotypes, and unbelievably funny adaptation of Keaton-style slapstick into a completely different context. Even a nice tongue-in-cheek 'bondage' scene (well, almost). And for those who like to see such trivia, some small acting parts by both Boris Barnet and Pudovkin. It can't get any better, really.
I only doubt that this will see the light of dvd soon, at least in this form. This was not a new resto, but an old ZDF production from 1992, and that clearly showed even on TV. Definitely video-sourced with all the shortcomings that involves. I'm not even sure whether they not perhaps projected the live screen (this was a live performance with orchestra), as I felt it sometimes looked definitely more blurred than necessary. Not that it distracted me in any form, but if they found the means to re-do it, they probably would. Arte edition are pretty much perfectionists (thankfully).
Those screen captures look pretty stellar. I've been a big fan of this since I saw it on VHS. This is quite a tease that you have posted, getting me all excited about this crisp new image but then you're just "hoping" it'll come out on DVD. Seriously, I hope this comes out on DVD soon. I really want to see it again to see whether that first reaction I had when I totally flipped for it was the right one. (I only remember it vaguely now after so long. I suppose I could rent the VHS again.)
Some words of praise for the NFI's "Brudeferden i Hardanger", and thanks again to Knappen and Keaton for making me aware of this:
First of all, the NFI duly delivered this in quick time without any problems at all, though it took me two more weeks before I finally watched it. And I should have been quicker doing it: the film was quite a revelation.
Truly beautiful depictions of the Norwegian landscape and folk customs, and at the same time completely convincing in its handling of the acting and of a story that might have become melodramatic in lesser hands, but here feels like an effortless, flowing depiction of the lives of people you immediately care for. No wonder Breistein exclusively became a documentary filmmaker in his late years. Enchanting might be the only right word for this.
Technical aspects: First of all two different restos (differing visually only in the number and content of the intertitles), made in 1999 and 2007, but with different music and running speed. I only watched the newer, more complete version at 18 fps, which I thought might have been a little too slow, but the speed worked well to enhance the mood, while I would assume that the 25 fps on the older resto is definitely wrong. That older version has an orchestral soundtrack which seems to be great, though. On the other hand, I was completely happy with the piano and fiddle track on the newer version. In any case: a wonderful transfer, very sharp and detailed, completely naturally looking tints, no compression issues or visible image manipulation whatsoever. On the same level as MoC's "Nosferatu", I'd say. And the film itself is also in quite good condition apart from a few brief moments. Add to this the second disc with the Breistein docu and the docu about recording the music, a nice booklet in Norwegian and English (only partly, sadly), English subs on everything, and classy packaging, I'd say: this is a must have, even if importing it from Norway makes it a little more expensive than usual (they took off the VAT, thankfully, so in the end I paid less than 30 Euros delivered instead of 36).
Anyway, I think we really have a neglected director of the highest quality here. Though I had never heard the name of the Rasmus Breistein before, I must say he must be in the same league of Scandinavian directors as Stiller and Sjöström after seeing this film. This feeling for me is confirmed by the excerpts from some of his other films in the documentary on the second disc, some of which looked even more visually striking than this film. I think the NFI should do two things: first, licence this to another classy company like MoC or Flicker Alley (or if they must, to Kino), so that more people get aware of this film, and secondly, and more importantly: GET OUT THOSE OTHER BREISTEIN FILMS. I smell some more revelations waiting in store there...
30€ is the same price that you would pay for the dvd at NFI's store in Oslo.
I haven't seen the documentary yet (I would now if I wasn't abroad at the moment), but I find it hard to believe that the archives of the NFI are booming with Rasmus Breistein films crying to be seen.
In fact, Brudeferden (1926) is the only film listed at the Imdb as made by RB between 1921 and 1930 (Krisine Valdresdatter was also a silent, but with a recorded sound track). I remember seeing a clip from Fante-Anne a long while ago and it seemed pretty rough compared to other silents I had watched at the time. But I was perhaps 15 then and probably a bad judge. I'll hear with my "uncle" at the NFI if there are any plans to put out more Breistein.
Anyone noticed this saucy little number from Gaumont? 64 shorts from Alice Guy as well as a doc. Not to speak of 11 from Feuillade and more. All in a dandy little coffret
[quoteb7="Zazou dans le Metro"]Anyone noticed this saucy little number from Gaumont? 64 shorts from Alice Guy as well as a doc. Not to speak of 11 from Feuillade and more. All in a dandy little coffret[/quoteb7]
Nice! Two full discs of Feuillade! Marvelous.
Edit: at 70 Euro, however, it's gonna be hard to convince the wife of this purchase.
[quote58="Zazou dans le Metro"]Anyone noticed this saucy little number from Gaumont? 64 shorts from Alice Guy as well as a doc. Not to speak of 11 from Feuillade and more. All in a dandy little coffret[/quote58]
Any word on Subtitles?
It looks like one disc at least might be English-friendly:
[quotea8]DVD 3 : Le roman d’un mousse (1h30) avec cartons bilingues[/quotea8]
Very exciting release. I hope Gaumont stick to their schedule with this one.
Presently enraptured by the Rasmus Briestein... the piano score blending in with the nature of the melodrama, the quality of the transfer, the breathtaking rural Norweigian location shooting, reminds a lot of the film and presentation of Dreyers Parsons Widow. Which has always been a favorite of mine,m not least because of the unusual, for Dreyer, blatant comedic tone in that film. (Though of course Widow is a period piece set somewhere around the zone of the middle ages, whereas the Briestein is generally contemporary for its time).
WOnderful, intoxicating stuff. Also reminded of Faces of Children & Rapt in how the mountains play their own part in the narrative. Tempted to throw Fanck in for his mountain films, but the snowy gloom/Teutonic heroic-death-obsession runs counter to the tone in these-- however sad at times-- melodramas. They all do share, however, the sense of being a breath of fresh air vs the staid studio product of the era.
In the same vein, check out Duviver's 1925 silent [i6d]Poil de carotte[/i6d]. He deliberately shifted the location of the story to an Alpine village in order to throw the claustrophobic home life of his young hero into greater contrast. The French DVD is English-subbed.
[quote5c="Kinsayder"]In the same vein, check out Duviver's 1925 silent [i5c]Poil de carotte[/i5c]. He deliberately shifted the location of the story to an Alpine village in order to throw the claustrophobic home life of his young hero into greater contrast. The French DVD is English-subbed.[/quote5c]
...and his Au bonheur des dames, 1930.
By the way, if you buy his DVD of La Mystère de la tour Eiffel (1927) directly from the netherlands Filmmuseum, they will send you an pdf file with the English intertitles...if you ask
order here.
[quoted1="Keaton"]By the way, if you buy his DVD of La Mystère de la tour Eiffel (1927) directly from the netherlands Filmmuseum, they will send you an pdf file with the english intertitles...if you ask[/quoted1]
Darn! I already bought the disc from another site.
[id1]Au bonheur des dames[/id1] is spectacular, even if the central love story isn't particularly convincing. Seething crowd scenes, vertiginous tracking shots, slo-mo diving (8 years before Riefenstahl!), and some stunning montage sequences - notably the intercutting of the demolition work with the old shop owner going nuts, so that the pickaxe seems to be driving into his brain.
Like [id1]Poil de carotte[/id1], the Arte disc is English-friendly.
HerrSchreck wrote:Presently enraptured by the Rasmus Briestein... the piano score blending in with the nature of the melodrama, the quality of the transfer, the breathtaking rural Norweigian location shooting, reminds a lot of the film and presentation of Dreyers Parsons Widow.
Ah, good to hear you got around to seeing this. Actually, I also had "The Parson's Widow" in the back of my mind when watching this, but thought I'd rather keep quiet about it because it would be perhaps too much of an overrating (after all, what can really be compared to Dreyer...)
I find "Brudeferden" far less melodramatic than "Visages d'Enfants", though, much more toned down and thus hitting deeper and getting an even more sublime quality. Nothing against the Feyder film, but I'd simply rate "Bridal Party" higher. But I was reminded of Fanck, too, though not so much by this film, but by some of the excerpts of Breistein's other films on the second disc. Can't recall the title at the moment, but there were some skiing scenes which very forcibly reminded me of the lighter films of Fanck, who didn't always do the Germanic "Holy Mountain"/"Piz Palü" stuff, but was capable to do easy-going comedies as well, all set in the Alps, nevertheless. Check out "Der weiße Rausch", you wouldn't believe that Riefenstahl could actually be funny.
Last edited by Tommaso on Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
Well, she cracked me up quite a lot with her dance routine in The Holy Mountain , but I dont think that was intentional!
Thanks for the tips Tom & Kinsayder... I regret to say that the only Fanck I've seen are the 5 or 6 better known mountain films, and that I havent seen Der weiße Rausch. The badly abused dollar-- and some tight momentary finances due to this boy's engaging in some crazy endeavor here-- have slowed my dvd acquisitions to a crawl vs just 6 months ago. But all that silent & early sound Duvivier coming out in France (not to mention a heap more) is making me nuts... I used to spend easily 250 bucks a week on dvd's. Now I grab a couple a month. Ouch!
