Flicker Alley

[HerrSchreck]

EDIT: deleted.

I'd rather see the whole thing drop.

[Kinsayder]

Too bad, but according to FA no French DVD is in the works, so even if Lobster had butchered the source they were given we won't be seeing an unbutchered version in our lifetime.

Well, I for one hope to outlive Nelly Kaplan, if it's she who is pulling the strings about what versions of La Roue and J'accuse get released, and where.

[Saturnome]

La Roue was in my mail box this morning!

For some reasons the first disc won't load on my computer (it's okay on my dvd player, but it's the first time such a thing happen to me, anybody know what's wrong?) but I took some quick random pics of the second disc, so we can see something else than the titles around here: 1 2 3 4 5 Disc 2 menu.

I can't add much to what have been already said, it's beautiful.

[zone_resident]

DVD Savant review of La Roue

[HerrSchreck]

At 4.5 hours, La roue is best watched in two sittings. Séverin-Mars is a powerful presence, perhaps the first 'railroad hero' in a tradition of French classics made by artists like Jean Renoir and René Clément. Dramatic close-ups show the actor's face looking like a piece of oiled granite, with artistic lighting we don't expect in a movie from 1923.

.
Ouch. That's quite a whopper from a dude who's reviewed so many silent classics from 1923 and earlier. There is equally beautiful lighting in Intolerance, in Stroeheims Foolish Wives, in Murnau's Nosferatu & Phantom, Weine, Lang, L'Herbier, Epstein, Sjostrom, Stiller, Grune, Wallace Worseley (Ace & Penalty), and others too numerous to mention.

[MichaelB]

Ouch. That's quite a whopper from a dude who's reviewed so many silent classics from 1923 and earlier. There is equally beautiful lighting in Intolerance, in Stroeheims Foolish Wives, in Murnau's Nosferatu & Phantom, Weine, Lang, L'Herbier, Epstein, Sjostrom, Stiller, Grune, Wallace Worseley (Ace & Penalty), and others too numerous to mention.

Yevgeny Bauer had already been dead six years...

[HerrSchreck]

Indeed... the daddy of every genuinely exalted art film: the true ancestor of von Sternberg and Murnau.

[Cash Flagg]

Garden of Eden seems to have vanished from most e-tailers, though according to Michael's Movie Mayhem, the title is not OOP.

[htdm]

Movies Unlimited supposedly has it in stock.

[Cash Flagg]

Garden of Eden seems to have vanished from most e-tailers, though according to Michael's Movie Mayhem, the title is not OOP.

Lo and behold, Garden of Eden is on this week's list of OOP titles from Michael's Movie Mayhem. I ordered a copy from Movies Unlimited (thanks htdm), though I have no idea if it's in stock or not. Their prices are the worst I have ever seen for an e-tailer - they charged my $24.95 plus shipping, which is higher than the list price! - but I can't seem to find it anywhere else.

[Gregory]

I was searching around just now out of curiosity and found copies available (at least at the time of this posting) at 800-buy-movies.com and www.tlavideo.com. I've ordered once before from TLA and had no troubles with them, but I'm unfamiliar with the former.

This is the only Flicker Alley release I've never seen discussed or even mentioned before on this forum or its earlier versions. It's a real delight -- the kind of silent fluff I love to watch once in awhile (although by "fluff" I don't mean to suggest that it has no "redeeming value" or anything of the kind -- but it's clearly not as groundbreaking or visually impressive as many films of its period that are far better remembered. Flicker Alley's presentation of the films is first-rate, and I thought the extra film "Hollywood the Unusual" was worth the price of the disc all by itself. It shows a lot of the Brown-Derby style of novelty architecture of the period, much of it long since demolished.

[Kinsayder]

Does anyone in the UK know of a customs friendly site that stocks Flicker Alley titles? I'm looking for a way to buy the Méliès set without making a large donation to HM Customs. The usual suspects - CD-WOW, Axelmusic, YesAsia - don't seem to deal with Flicker Alley.

[rollotomassi]

Your best bet is to wait about a month or so. After a month or so, you should see it appear on amazon.co.uk via the marketplace (they can't advertise Region 1s until a month after release date in the US).

Then look for sellers like caiman who ship with invoices set to 0, so customs can't legally charge you. They may take a few weeks to come through via Frankfurt, but I've never had a customs charge using caiman.

[Scharphedin2]

The customs people in these parts (Sweden and Denmark) are usually regular bloodhounds, when it comes to sniffing out my parcels, and take great pleasure in skinning me alive on a regular basis.

However, I ordered all the Flicker Alley releases (aside from the first couple) directly from the label, and somehow I guess they managed to camouflage the scent. In any event, none of these DVDs have incurred me any customs charges.

Then, of course, there is the added pleasure of knowing that I am supporting the people who bring us these great DVDs as directly as is possible. And, they even knock a few bucks off for pre-ordering.

In other words, I recommend purchasing straight from Jeff & co.

EDIT: I may add that the same strategy has worked as magically for me, when ordering from Milestone in the recent past.

[Kinsayder]

Thanks, Scharphedin, I'll try that.

(I use Caiman a lot for R1s, but they always put the correct value on the customs slip for me.)

[Scharphedin2]

In fact, Kinsayder, both in ordering from Flicker Alley and Milestone, I have been in very friendly direct contact with Jeff and Dennis (these are not huge corporations after all), and although I did not, you may try to guide them in how to fill out the shipping slips to avoid any customs damage.

[Cinetwist]

When I ordered some titles at Christmas I'm sure Jeff ticked the gift box so that customs couldn't charge anything.

[foggy eyes]

(I use Caiman a lot for R1s, but they always put the correct value on the customs slip for me.)

They've always done this for me too, but this morning I received the Fox Western Classics set without any customs notification on the package whatsoever - and it appears to have been shipped from within the UK. If this becomes standard practice, I'm all for it!

[MichaelB]

I've already plugged this in another thread, but I started a blog a couple of weeks ago that's essentially reviewing each individual film on Flicker Alley's Méliès set in detail (typically 500 words per title). I created it in frustration after being asked to cover 173 films in a maximum 175-word Sight & Sound capsule review.

I've only covered 11 films at the time of writing, but I'm enjoying it so much that I'm definitely in for the long haul. Fresh updates at midnight my time every night, and the whole thing should be finished by the end of October.

[denti alligator]

This is incredible, Michael. Thank you sharing this!

[What A Disgrace]

Very wonderful essays, Michael. I'll be reading over them several times.

But.

Care to give us any information on what this "project in a very similar vein" is?

[MichaelB]

Care to give us any information on what this "project in a very similar vein" is?

Nope. Sorry, but contracts need signing first!

[unclehulot]

I've already plugged this in another thread, but I started a blog a couple of weeks ago that's essentially reviewing each individual film on Flicker Alley's Méliès set in detail (typically 500 words per title). I created it in frustration after being asked to cover 173 films in a maximum 175-word Sight & Sound capsule review.

I've only covered 11 films at the time of writing, but I'm enjoying it so much that I'm definitely in for the long haul. Fresh updates at midnight my time every night, and the whole thing should be finished by the end of October.

Bravo! This will help me get on a better viewing schedule for watching the set myself! Perhaps Flicker Alley would (with your permission) be interesting in linking to this on their web page for the set?

[railroaded]

Garden of Eden seems to have vanished from most e-tailers, though according to Michael's Movie Mayhem, the title is not OOP.

According to the Emphasis Entertainment Group website, Garden of Eden will be re-issued this year.

FA is busy: Re-issue of The Garden of Eden, announcing Traffic in Souls (1913) and The Italian (1915), a Douglas Fairbanks Collection and now three Howard Hughes Productions.

[MichaelB]

Perhaps Flicker Alley would (with your permission) be interesting in linking to this on their web page for the set?

Well, I should be meeting with Jeff tomorrow if all goes according to plan, so I'll let him know.