Milestone

[drdoros]

I meant The Cameraman's Revenge...

Yup, that's with David Shepard and Image now.

[videozor]

Understand,thank you!

[drdoros]

Just to let everybody know, SIDDHARTHA is now back in print and available at our webstore. Everybody else should have it available in the coming months.

[drdoros]

We've reduced prices on 20+ of our titles along with 20% off at our website. And if you buy three or more, you get free shipping and a bonus DVD of our choosing.

[drdoros]

YOU GOT TO MOVE
STORIES OF CHANGE IN THE SOUTH
a film by Lucy Massie Phenix

September 6, 2011

World DVD Premiere OCTOBER 18, 2011 Commemorating 80th Anniversary of the Highlander Research and Education Center
and 50th Anniversary of the historic Albany Movement

“From Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. to Paul Wellstone and so many more who followed them, the Highlander Center
has been an inspiration for the continuing struggle for social justice in America. Lucy Phenix has splendidly caught the spirit
and moral power of an historic place where democracy still lives.” – Bill Moyers, 2011

Lucy Massie Phenix's remarkable documentary You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South celebrates individuals and communities who dared to change the world for the better. Inspired by the filmmaker’s experiences at Tennessee’s world-renowned Highlander Research and Education Center, the film captures the enthusiastic spirit of a place that has helped people unite at the grassroots level. Highlander alumni have long been active in some of the most significant movements for justice — leading the fights for civil and labor rights and working to protect communities from the ravages of strip mining and toxic waste dumping. Rich in the language and music of the South, You Got to Move tells their stories — chronicling how “ordinary” people discovered the courage and ability to confront reality, and change it. It is a film that champions civil action and makes you want to move!

In time for the 2012 elections where grass roots protests on both sides of the fence will be the story of the year, this deluxe DVD release commemorates the upcoming 80th anniversary of Highlander, whose attendees included Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and where the song “We Shall Overcome” was re-written and became part of the movement. The premiere also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Albany Movement — a landmark in the history of American civil rights activism — which was led by students, including Bernice Johnson Reagon (founder of the a cappella group Sweet Honey In the Rock and a nationwide leader for human rights) who appears in the film. To create this deluxe DVD, Milliarium Zero (sister company to Milestone Films) created a stunning high-def scan from of the director’s original internegative and then added a plethora of bonus features.

“You Got to Move reveals the truth that one person, (maybe you), can begin the action that will change the world. It is a film that refreshes eyes and ears as well as the spirit for it is full of beautiful, diverse American faces and speech and music. It beautifully captures the contagious joy of struggle.” — Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple

• For more information, contact Dennis Doros at [email protected]
• Exclusively distributed to wholesalers and stores by Oscilloscope Laboratories.
• The DVD is also available direct here and here, or or by calling our toll-free number (800) 603-1104.

SPECIAL BONUS FEATURES
1) New High-def master off the original internegative
2) Bill Moyers’ Journal: Adventures of a Radical Hillbilly: Myles Horton, (1981, excerpt)
3) The Cutting Room Floor: Interview with E.D. Nixon, Architect of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
4) Highlander’s 75th Anniversary Celebration, 2007, short film
5) Lucy Massie Phenix comments on the making of the film
6) The people in the film revisited
7) Interview with Bill Saunders (2010)
8) Spanish and SHD subtitles (Optional)

A Film by Lucy Massie Phenix. Co-Editor and Co-Director Veronica Selver. Preservation By Milliarium Zero. USA. 86 Minutes. 1985. Color/B&W.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1. Street 10/18/11. UPC 784148011042. SRP $29.95. ISBN 978-1-933920-09-2. Item # Mile00110.
With Myles Horton, Bernice Robinson, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, William Saunders, Rebecca Simpson, Gail & Richard Story, May Justice, Marylee & Russell Rogers, Becky Simpson, Members Of The Bumpass Cove Community And The Cranks Creek Survival Center Of Kentucky.

See the two trailers here and here.

[drdoros]

The new trailer for our theatrical release of COME BACK, AFRICA

We're hoping to open it theatrically in December or January and for BluRay next year. The trailer gives you some idea of the beautiful restoration by the Cineteca di Bologna, though of course, vastly compressed for the web...

Trailer by D. Adrian Rothschild.

Dennis D.
Milestone Film & Video

[swo17]

Is this Image release of Phantom of the Opera the one that Milestone was rumored to have been working on?

[drdoros]

Is this Image release of Phantom of the Opera the one that Milestone was rumored to have been working on?

No, this is David Shepard's version which I assume is off the Killiam material and should be very good. We're going to take some time since we want to do something really special with our release. We're looking to work with several archives on this. After all, there's so many good versions that we want to make sure we do our best to measure up. Ours will be out next year and on our own Milestone Cinematheque line.

[swo17]

Good to know. I'll hold out for your version then.

[What A Disgrace]

I know there's a lot of crossover with the Kino sets, according to current specs, but is there any chance that the Charley Chase collection will see release some time soon?

[jbeall]

ARAYA
a film by Margot Benacerraf

Finally got around to this one from my (streaming) kevyip and thought the images were indeed stunning. The narration is a tad grating with the repetitive claims that these villagers are somehow eternal, since a) there's a rough date for when the area became valuable precisely because of its salt, and b) at the very end we see the arrival of the heavy machinery, but honestly it shouldn't matter too much because the images are so incredible. I was particularly struck by the gorgeous long tracking image of the salt boats coming back to shore, a shot that's every bit the equal of similar moments in Herzog's Aguirre. Another excellent release from Milestone.

[Ashirg]

On The Bowery on DVD and Blu-ray on February 7.

On the Bowery. Directed by Lionel Rogosin. United States. 1956. Mono sound. Aspect ratio 4:3. Restoration by the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna. Mastered from the 2K restoration. (65.00)
Introduction by Martin Scorsese. Produced for Milestone's release.
The Perfect Team: The Making of "On the Bowery." Directed by Michael Rogosin. (46:30).
A Walk Through the Bowery. Directed by Michael Rogosin. (12:12).
Street of Forgotten Men. United States. 1933. Courtesy of Oddball Film + Video, San Francisco (2:12).
Bowery Men's Shelter. Directed by Rhody Streeter and Tony Ganz. United States. 1972. Courtesy of New York Public Library Film and Video Collection. Restored by Colorlab. (10:19).
On the Bowery. Theatrical Trailer (2:12).
Good Times, Wonderful Times. Directed by Lionel Rogosin. England/United States. 1964. Aspect ratio 4:3. Restoration by the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna. Mastered from the 2K restoration. (69.00)
Man's Peril: The Making of "Good Times, Wonderful Times." Directed by Michael Rogosin. (24:15)
Out. Directed by Lionel Rogosin. 1957. United States. Courtesy of United Nations Multimedia Resources Unit. (25:33).

[drdoros]

New box cover image for ON THE BOWERY: THE LIONEL ROGOSIN COLLECTION VOLUME 1

[drdoros]

Dear friends, PLEASE help us by putting our wonderful films ON THE BOWERY and GOOD TIMES WONDERFUL TIMES up on your Netflix Queue if you have an account. It will mean a lot to us and I promise a wonderful viewing!

Once again, Netflix does not want to carry our title unless there's enough on the Queue. Frankly, I feel like Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, but we spent two years gathering new materials for the release and I would LOVE for people to see our release!

AND, please, pass the word!

[jbeall]

Dear friends, PLEASE help us by putting our wonderful films ON THE BOWERY and GOOD TIMES WONDERFUL TIMES up on your Netflix Queue if you have an account. It will mean a lot to us and I promise a wonderful viewing!

I was able to add On the Bowery to my "saved" queue, but (for the moment, at least) netflix doesn't have a listing for the latter title.

[drdoros]

I was able to add On the Bowery to my "saved" queue, but (for the moment, at least) netflix doesn't have a listing for the latter title.

Unfortunately, Netflix has GOOD TIMES, WONDERFUL TIMES as a bonus feature instead of a separate disc. We're attempting to fix that.

[Perkins Cobb]

But, in the meantime, you can add the bonus disc if you go to the main page for On the Bowery.

[videozor]

On the Bowery and the bonus disk are added, but couldn't find the other title

[What A Disgrace]

I wish I had two Netflix accounts to add these titles, but I only have one. If its any consolation, the disc is a day-one purchase for me.

[drdoros]

Just to let everybody know, the BluRay and DVDs of ON THE BOWERY: THE LIONEL ROGOSIN COLLECTION VOLUME 1 is in! We have them up on our website for purchase now.

And COME BACK, AFRICA is opening at Film Forum this weekend -- please pass the word on!

[drdoros]

On the Bowery - Lionel Rogosin's Landmark 1956 Documentary

Milestone Film has outdone themselves with their new Blu-ray of On the Bowery, a pioneering, wholly original independent docu-drama that earned an Oscar® nomination for Best Documentary of 1957. The picture has been claimed as a major inspiration by the greats of the American independent film, from documentarian Emile de Antonio to actor-turned director John Cassavetes. Milestone's 2-Blu-ray set is officially titled The Films of Lionel Rogosin, Volume 1, and contains other contents just as impressive.

In the 1950s many New York- based filmmakers talked about finding a more truthful path to cinematic virtuosity, but it was Rogosin who showed everyone the way. His On the Bowery takes us to a place where nobody wants to end up: skid row. Five minutes into the movie we're convinced that everything we see must be absolutely real, unrehearsed and unscripted. A few minutes later we realize that director Rogosin has somehow drawn performances from un-directable subjects, in a place where a camera crew would not possibly be tolerated -- the awful streets and miserable bars of The Bowery. This is one story about alcoholism not told in the Ken Burns documentary Prohibition.

Today we have "homeless people", who were perhaps always with us but rendered invisible by the media. On the Bowery deals with the pathetic denizens of a couple of really vile city blocks in lower Manhattan. Chronic, advanced alcoholics mill about on the sidewalks. They live in filthy clothes and survive from drink to drink, scrounging the money as they go along. Some of them apparently receive money from the outside, but we see others making "squeeze" from poisonous Sterno cooking fuel. If they have thirty cents they can sleep in a flophouse, and if they don't they collapse on the sidewalk. Many of these guys just get so wiped out that they fall down as soon as they exit the bars.

There is a story of sorts. A fairly young fellow (30? 35?) named Ray (Ray Salyer) arrives with a suitcase and some cash from a railroad job. He's soon chiseled and fleeced by Gorman (Gorman Hendricks), an elderly, sharp operator who befriends Ray, secretly steals his possessions and then arranges to play the hero by giving some of the cash back to him, as a gift. Ray finds a day's work unloading a truck, and almost joins a church mission that promises a clean room and food for a few weeks for those willing to cut out the booze. Ray instead goes on an even worse bender, and narrowly avoids being picked up in a police sweep.

What makes On the Bowery so special? First, the excellent cinematography is on a quality level with high-grade ethnographic still photography. There is no grainy footage and none of the catch-as-catch-can handheld work that became the standard five years later, with the advent of sync-sound 16mm cameras. Secondly, we can scarcely believe that Rogosin or anybody could get such candid, authentic, performances from these men. Some of the action on the streets may have been captured from hidden trucks but the scenes in the bars are phenomenal. Almost everyone we see is seriously inebriated. Many appear to have 'diminished capacities' and some may have been feeble-minded before they pickled themselves. Led by his two main characters, Rogosin has these rummies participating in absolutely convincing conversations, leaning on each other for handouts and drinking, always drinking. It's like a peek into a world you couldn't see unless you were a participant, which gives a clue as to director Rogosin's technique.

Many critics have commented on the film's parade of faces, which are both fascinating and frightening. We are confronted with scores of brutalized faces in every minute of film. Some have clearly been beaten bloody. Plenty sport untreated injuries, perhaps suffered when under the influence. They're all so close up and authentically human. Each must have a story yet we wonder how many can carry on a real conversation. The denizens of the Bowery seem like strange inhabitants of an existential asylum, living in plain sight but ignored (or mythologized) by society.

On the Bowery is one of the few non-narrative films that generates the same interest as a good drama. Gorman claims that he's broke but retreats every night to a semi-permanent "flop" he can call his own; he uses his congenial manner to steal but is human enough to still want to be liked. His good story about once being a doctor is so good, we almost believe it. In contrast Ray seems a sensible guy but is definitely addicted to the bottle. It's as if he just doesn't see any point to life beyond his next drink.

Milestone has previously given us an entry into masterpieces by great independent filmmakers: Kent McKenzie (The Exiles ) and Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep). These documentarians are drawn to reveal aspects of the urban underclass in America. Rogosin's reputation is very much alive and the evidence presented in the The Films of Lionel Rogosin, Volume 1 can only enhance it. The first Blu-ray disc contains On the Bowery, which can be watched with an introduction by Martin Scorsese. A making-of docu called The Perfect Team answers many of the questions left open by the film itself. After experiencing WW2 Lionel Rogosin determined to use a camera to change society. He wanted to film in the Bowery but found that the only way he could was to spend months with the locals until he gained their friendship and trust. He and his cameraman were hard drinkers as well, and his two main actors were recruited from the street. Gorman Hendricks was on his last legs. He stayed sober (and alive) just long enough to finish the film. Rogosin believed that Kentucky man Ray Salyer had a future as an actor and claims that Ray had offers from Hollywood. We see Salyer appear on TV, cleaned up and in a suit, asserting that he likes to drink the way some men like to fish or play golf. His eventual response to the attention was to hop a freight train out of town, and disappear forever.

The first disc also contains a newer piece by Michael Rogosin called A Walk Through the Bowery, a 1972 docu (Bowery Men's Shelter), a 1933 newsreel (Street of Forgotten Men) and an On the Bowery trailer.

Disc two turns contains films just as powerful. With the experience of On the Bowery under his belt Rogosin turned toward the bigger themes of war and inhumanity that were his original motivation. 1964's Good Times, Wonderful Times belies its title to make a direct assault on complacent attitudes toward war -- its causes, its effects, its importance. Rogosin invents a docu scripting strategy that was soon abused by others: ironic contrast. His framing device is an English cocktail party. We hear a non-stop litany of trivial talk and small-minded observations. The central speakers are a gaggle of male admirers that congregate around a couple of "outgoing" young women that tease them with mild provocative talk. Some of the men are ex-soldiers. These party scenes are very convincing. Various pointed statements come out -- that war builds character, that war is a natural thing, that it controls the world population like floods or disease. Quite regularly Rogosin cuts to film footage culled from film archives around the world: England, Japan, the Soviet Union.

The footage is in mostly excellent condition, and when it isn't we're very aware that we're seeing 'rescued film' that somebody didn't want shown. Much of it is wholly unfamiliar, unseen in any war docus I've yet encountered. Rogosin starts with some disturbing scenes of Hiroshima bomb victims, including graphic shots clearly edited from of other docus. A cocktail party discussion about "who permits wars to take place?" is followed by segments devoted to the utter worship granted Adolf Hitler by the German citizenry. Admiring throngs throw flowers in his path; men are inspired and women enraptured, as if in the presence of a god. The atrocity footage that follows includes Russian footage of children murdered by German troops and some very disturbing, unfamiliar concentration camp footage. Film rescued from deterioration records a Ghetto packed with starving, horrifyingly emaciated people. Little kids caught gathering food on the outside are forced to dump it on the ground before re-entering the barbed wire. Other sequences advance the horror into the 1960s, including some Civil Rights violence and Ban The Bomb rallies. The news film ends on the then brand-new voice of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech -- before it became a default item in every socially conscious documentary. Good Times, Wonderful Times was widely shown when new and reportedly influenced students who would soon be protesting the Vietnam War, or resisting the draft. In 1964, our access to news of ongoing strife in Africa, Asia and South America was very limited, and the raw truth of Rogosin's film would certainly have served as a wake-up call.

Backing up GTWT is Rogosin's making of docu, Man's Peril which goes into the technical and philosophical reasoning behind his approach. Humanitarian Bertrand Russell was involved in the filmmaking process as well. Also included is another war-related Rogosin film, Out, which is about refugees from Hungary that fled into Austria in the wake of the revolution of 1956.

Both main features are in excellent shape, with On the Bowery exceptionally sharp and detailed in HD Blu-ray. Seen in close-up, some of those battered faces look like maps of the scarred and cratered moon. The B&W image quality on this disc is unsurpassed.

Lionel Rogosin's films may not attempt the intellectual complexity of later docus by people like Emile de Antonio, Chris Marker, Patricio Guzmán or Alain Resnais, but he succeeds beautifully in connecting with his audience. On the Bowery will make you feel differently about terminal alcoholics. Good Times, Wonderful Times will greatly lower your tolerance for the excuses of pampered materialists, who claim to be apolitical but in reality couldn't care less about the world beyond their personal comfort zones.

For more information about On the Bowery, visit Milestone Film.

[HerrSchreck]

I dont have the Milestone edition, (I grabbed tjhe Cin Bologna when they.completed that restoration), but I can strenuously confirm how stunningly sublime ON THE BOWERY is. When I first viewed the film a few years ago it cpmpletely floored me, it's easily in the top 3 documentaries I've ever seen in my life.

the movie is an absolute must see or blind buy, the fact that you'll be helping support one of the most important home video companies on the planet will be a bonus.

What a nice surprise. I had no idea this was coming out.

[FlickeringWindow]

Are there any plans to re-issue Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's It Happened Here?

[drdoros]

Are there any plans to re-issue Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo's It Happened Here?

It's already available on our website.

Dennis
Milestone Film & Video

[drdoros]

And for those who want, IT HAPPENED HERE should be posted up on Amazon and the other sites in a few days. It was just a glitch with our subdistributor. Sorry about that!