Kino

[What A Disgrace]

Full specs for Go West / Battling Butler.

- Go West (1923, 12 Min.), a western-themed comedy short produced by Hal Roach
- A rare 60-minute audio recording of Buster Keaton hashing out a script proposal for the western TV series "Wagon Train" (courtesy of Bob Borgen)
- Excerpts of the screenplay for an unproduced remake of Battling Butler, written by Keaton in 1947
- Gallery of photographs from the 1922 stage production of Battling Butler
- Two galleries of production stills

[Roger Ryan]

Full specs for Go West / Battling Butler.

- Go West (1923, 12 Min.), a western-themed comedy short produced by Hal Roach
- A rare 60-minute audio recording of Buster Keaton hashing out a script proposal for the western TV series "Wagon Train" (courtesy of Bob Borgen)
- Excerpts of the screenplay for an unproduced remake of Battling Butler, written by Keaton in 1947
- Gallery of photographs from the 1922 stage production of Battling Butler
- Two galleries of production stills

Not exactly "hours of extras" as originally alluded to (more like 90 minutes or however long it takes you to read screenplay excerpts and view photos), but the audio recording sounds priceless!

[matrixschmatrix]

Those look interesting, but I'm a little disappointed at what's not in there- no commentary (which I keep hoping for after the one Kalat did on Sherlock Jr., which was great), no visual essays (not even one about the locations, which as far as I know we've gotten on every other Keaton blu release), etc. Hopefully these specs aren't totally final, though I'll still happily buy this if they are.

[Roger Ryan]

...no visual essays (not even one about the locations, which as far as I know we've gotten on every other Keaton blu release)...

You can find the GO WEST and BATTLING BUTLER location photos here, from John Bengtson's superb book Silent Echoes which is the source for most of the photos and info found in the location videos. Perhaps Kino didn't think these locations were unique enough for their own bonus feature?

[Feego]

From The Digital Bits, full specs and release date for the upcoming Moroder Metropolis:

Big news so far today: Kino-Lorber has OFFICIALLY announced the Blu-ray and DVD release of the 1984 Giorgio Moroder version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis on 11/15. This will be preceded by limited theatrical engagements in 20 markets around the States. The film will be released under the title Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis. It was scanned in high-definition from one of the few remaining prints available and will be accompanied by it's full pop music score in the original 2.0 as well as a new 5.1 mix. The score includes songs from the likes of Pat Benatar, Billy Squier, Freddie Mercury, Bonnie Tyler, Adam Ant, Jon Anderson and others. This is the exact version of the film as seen in theatres in 1984 (running time: 90 minutes). Both versions on disc will include Moroder's The Fading Image documentary on the restoration, the original theatrical trailer, an exclusive photo gallery and a special introduction by Moroder himself. According to the press release "The first pressing of the DVD will come with limited edition foil embossed packaging and the first pressing of the Blu-ray will come with a limited edition foil embossed slip case."

[What A Disgrace]

The Birth of a Nation and Way Down East are coming to Blu-ray on November 22. According to Classicflix, they will have the same special features as the current editions.

[Jeff]

From the "Didn't See That Coming" file... Kino will release Blier's Les valseuses (Going Places) on Blu-ray on November 1.

[MichaelB]

From the "Didn't See That Coming" file... Kino will release Blier's Les valseuses (Going Places) on Blu-ray on November 1.

The print I helped revive in the early 1990s was subtitled 'Getting It Up'. For some reason, we decided to opt for the French title in our marketing.

[tojoed]

From the "Didn't See That Coming" file... Kino will release Blier's Les valseuses (Going Places) on Blu-ray on November 1.

That is a surprise and the first of his films on Blu, I think.
I made a promise to myself not to buy any Kinos after the Metropolis affair, so I'll wait hopefully for a UK/France release.

[peerpee]

"the METROPOLIS affair" was resolved amicably. It's no reason for anyone to hold anything against them!

[knives]

That's especially true now that they've stepped up and shown that the region code thing wasn't an act of cowardice.

[tojoed]

Okay, I suppose I can break a promise to myself.

[Cronenfly]

From the "Didn't See That Coming" file... Kino will release Blier's Les valseuses (Going Places) on Blu-ray on November 1.

The print I helped revive in the early 1990s was subtitled 'Getting It Up'. For some reason, we decided to opt for the French title in our marketing.

Depardieu's carpet-pissing incident should provide all the publicity Kino needs...

It'll be interesting to know who provided them with the license: Castle Hill was credited for Anchor Bay's DVD release, but perhaps the rights have since shifted.

[SpiderBaby]

So anybody pick up The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom?

[eerik]

I don't know why nobody has posted this yet, but here's Blu-ray.com review of Eisenstein's Strike on Blu-ray. Seems to be at least as good as Potemkin, and it's only $19.99 @ amazon.com at the moment.

Now I have high hopes for those two D.W. Griffith Blu-rays.

[RodneySauer]

There are two reviews of Strike at DVDTalk as well, different reviewers for the Blu-Ray and DVD versions:

DVD: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/50175/st ... d-edition/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Blu-Ray: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/50157/st ... d-edition/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Will Barks]

The title cards are in English? Wanted to order this, but that's a no go for a purist.

[MichaelB]

The title cards are in English? Wanted to order this, but that's a no go for a purist.

Indeed - the graphic layout of Eisenstein's original Russian titles is an indelible part of the film's overall visual design. I've seen the film with English titles (courtesy of the Tartan DVD, which was otherwise excellent), and they just don't have the same impact.

[Will Barks]

Is there any word from the Bfi regarding the release of the Eisensteins on Blu-ray?

[MichaelB]

I'm not aware of any BFI plans to release Strike.

[eerik]

I'm not aware of any BFI plans to release Strike.

Battleship Potemkin?

[MichaelB]

Sorry, I thought we were talking about Strike? Anyway, just to make it absolutely clear, I'm not aware of any BFI plans to release any Eisenstein films at all.

That said, the BFI's Soviet-British strand that began with From Turksib to Night Mail still has to announce future titles - but it's probably worth noting that Turksib is also being presented with English intertitles.

(There's a scholarly reason for this, as the purpose of that edition is to trace the influence of Turksib on British documentary-makers of the 1930s, so it's important to show it in the form that they would have seen it - and in any case, John Grierson's English titles were created in collaboration with director Viktor Turin, so it's not the same situation as the one with Strike.)

[Anthony Thorne]

VIDEO WATCHDOG editor Tim Lucas broke the news on his Facebook page a couple of days back (and is involved with liner notes for the upcoming releases) but I haven't seen it discussed widely elsewhere. Early next year, Kino Lorber are releasing French horror director Jean Rollin's films on Blu-Ray, with newly done HD transfers from the negatives and substantial extras. The titles have been licensed from Redemption Films in the UK. The first screen grabs from the transfers are at the following Facebook link.

[knives]

Score. Haven't actually managed to see his films yet and this sounds like a perfect opportunity.

[SpiderBaby]

This is surprising and great.

Knives, good news for the both of us, Synapse Films has also got the rights to release the first 2 Coffin Joe films on blu-ray.