nsps wrote:kaujot wrote:Not a big fan of the score Kino uses for The General. Mont-Alto's is MUCH better (as is their current transfer).
I always assumed that Mont Alto had the same transfer (though not encode, of course) as the Kino. It's worth noting that the MK2 release has Joe Hisaishi's orchestral score as well as the Robert Israel version that appeared on the original Kino—not that it's better than Mont Alto's. It should be noted, however, that as long as Mont Alto didn't use the MK2 restoration, this new disc will still look WAY better.
It might be too late if Kino has already authored the disc, but perhaps we could write them some letters suggesting they add more score options (Mont Alto, Carl Davis), since the breathtaking restoration and two-discs of features will make this the definitive release of the film.
Hello from Mont Alto. My ears were burning
Kino decided to use the Robert Israel score rather than ours -- they already had it available, and two "compiled from historic photoplay music" scores may have been a bit redundant, although we use different music (I compiled my score before hearing his, and we actually ended up with several identical pieces of music, although used for different scenes). Neither score is based on the original cue sheet, except for one single cue in the Robert Israel score. I hear that the Carl Davis score will also be on the new Kino disc, which is a nice addition to the available scores for GENERAL.
We did not use the same transfer as Kino. Our transfer was provided for us by David Shepard, and matches the one on the Image Entertainment disc released with the Alloy Orchestra score, and it looks beautiful and has been very well received by those who have compared them. I did my own tinting, however, and I replaced the original copyright and "The End" titles with creations of my own, so it's not really a "purist" release.
Our DVD is "self released" by a musician, and therefore has a bit more emphasis on the music than other DVDs. I made a set of optional subtitles that let you know what the title of each piece is, and who wrote it, that appears as it starts playing. I also did an optional commentary track with myself and movie critic Howie Movshovitz, with Howie talking about film-making and Buster Keaton, and me talking about musical selections and historic approaches to silent film scoring. I also created an "extra" where I go through the original historical cue sheet for the film, play some of the pieces, and discuss where I approached the film differently.
The Mont Alto DVD is self-released and not available through regular distribution channels, but you can pick it up at our shows and at
www.mont-alto.com. There are links to reviews of the DVD there, which have been almost universally very positive.
And on August 27 we will be releasing a second title in our "Mont Alto Private Reserve" series, a new version of THE MARK OF ZORRO. This will feature a new transfer from a 35mm fine-grain safety; our score; a commentary track by myself, author John Tibbetts, and Denise Morrisson; and a very short feature describing how to go about scoring silent films using a music library. The film (in a more highly digitally-restored format) will also appear with the same score in the Douglas Fairbanks boxed set due out in November.
=D>
