Flicker Alley

[cinemartin]

Great news! Those films are wonderful.

[perkizitore]

Will any of those get individual BD releases like Mathias Pascal?

[Finch]

I doubt it since, when Pascal was originally announced, FA were asked about the DVD of it and if I remember right, they replied it was going to be part of a DVD collection. Would have been nice to see the other films in HD but either way, we're getting spoiled by Flicker Alley. At this rate, they'll be a contender for the label of the year.

edit: official page for the film on FA's website here

[htshell]

The 35mm restoration of Gribiche showed at Film Society of Lincoln Center and was wonderful.

[triodelover]

I haven't gotten round to my copy yet, but count me as another one perturbed by the yellow subtitles. And not to fan the flames, but I also thought we were past the lossy audio encodes as well. I realize full well that this is score for a silent film, but even with the long feature, they still had plenty of room for a lossless 2.0 track, and given the prices they charge, it's pretty lame that we're back to bog standard 192 kbps Dolby.

Finally got around to watching Feu Mathias Pascal last night. Wonderful film; outstanding performance from Mozzhukhin (and in two brief appearances, a young Michel Simon). Some damage as reported, but long stretches that look stunning on the BD.

The good news: not all the subs are yellow. A number are white. \:D/ The bad news: at least two sets are turquoise (reaches for smelling salts and applies cold compress to brow).

As far as the lossy audio encode goes, I suspect the appearance of the film in SD in the upcoming set had something to do with it. One soundtrack, two discs. Make budget where you can. Despite this and the sub brouhaha, a must own.

[bdurden]

Hey Criterion Forum, I work for Flicker Alley and I wanted to post here to help clarify some things from my own personal account and reach out to this forum because you're comments and critiques are very helpful and as I just recently started working for the company and found this forum, I've already started getting hooked by it. I'd also like to say that we truly appreciate all the great comments we've found here, as we put many many hours into our projects it really means quite a lot to us when we hear they are well received.

Also, this is not meant to be an intrusion on this discussion, and I hope it will continues as it has since this helps improve what we do, and many of these projects comes out of our own passion for film and we want to find those films that have been rarely seen and revive them so they can be enjoyed time and time again.

To address McCrutchy's post:

I haven't gotten round to my copy yet, but count me as another one perturbed by the yellow subtitles. And not to fan the flames, but I also thought we were past the lossy audio encodes as well. I realize full well that this is score for a silent film, but even with the long feature, they still had plenty of room for a lossless 2.0 track, and given the prices they charge, it's pretty lame that we're back to bog standard 192 kbps Dolby.

First, I'd like to address the yellow subtitles. This was an internal discussion that went on for a quite a while, and we eventually settled on yellow subtitles (not necessarily my personal preference), which was decided as it is more common among European releases and felt that was a bit more fitting, plus had more readability. However, we are taking into consideration moving to white subtitles for future projects, or possibly giving an option to change the subtitles to white.

Second, the audio track. This was another tough choice, as it was an option between doing a piano recording with a much better audio quality or using a beautiful live orchestral score by Timothy Brock which only recording we could find was at the Cinémathèque Française in 192kbps quality. As we all fell in love with how great the performance was, and how lively the 30 piece orchestra performed, we had to go with this recording.

And to address triodelover's post:

Finally got around to watching Feu Mathias Pascal last night. Wonderful film; outstanding performance from Mozzhukhin (and in two brief appearances, a young Michel Simon). Some damage as reported, but long stretches that look stunning on the BD.

The good news: not all the subs are yellow. A number are white. \:D/ The bad news: at least two sets are turquoise (reaches for smelling salts and applies cold compress to brow).

As far as the lossy audio encode goes, I suspect the appearance of the film in SD in the upcoming set had something to do with it. One soundtrack, two discs. Make budget where you can. Despite this and the sub brouhaha, a must own.

Thanks for all the kind words triodelover, as we thought this was a great film as well we wanted it to be available for everyone to see. I had never even heard of it before I started working for Flicker Alley and got sucked in when I was watching it. So much so that I had missed the turquoise subtitles, could you please let me know where you found these so I can check again. I can understand how jarring that may have been. And again, for the audio, please see above. As I hope you'll understand why we made the choice we made with the budget we had. If it was available in a higher recording we definitely would have used that for the BD.

Please keep posting your thought, comments and suggestions, as we will use this to continue to improve the quality of products as we find more great films to bring out of the archives. If there are any concerns please feel free to email us at [email protected].

[triodelover]

Finally got around to watching Feu Mathias Pascal last night. Wonderful film; outstanding performance from Mozzhukhin (and in two brief appearances, a young Michel Simon). Some damage as reported, but long stretches that look stunning on the BD.

The good news: not all the subs are yellow. A number are white. \:D/ The bad news: at least two sets are turquoise (reaches for smelling salts and applies cold compress to brow).

As far as the lossy audio encode goes, I suspect the appearance of the film in SD in the upcoming set had something to do with it. One soundtrack, two discs. Make budget where you can. Despite this and the sub brouhaha, a must own.

Thanks for all the kind words triodelover, as we thought this was a great film as well we wanted it to be available for everyone to see. I had never even heard of it before I started working for Flicker Alley and got sucked in when I was watching it. So much so that I had missed the turquoise subtitles, could you please let me know where you found these so I can check again. I can understand how jarring that may have been. And again, for the audio, please see above. As I hope you'll understand why we made the choice we made with the budget we had. If it was available in a higher recording we definitely would have used that for the BD.

I forgot the sarcasm tags around that post. Sorry. The subtitle color is not a problem for me, at least not on this release. Most of the subs, regardless of color, appear against the black background of the intertitles so I don't find the color an intrusion in that instance. I'll try to find the turquoise ones, but they were in the second half of the film, IIRC. They weren't jarring. The only thing I thought of when I saw them is that the Forum would go apes**t over these.

Your explanation for the audio makes perfect sense and I've no problem with the choice. Sure, lossless would be preferred, but it's not like the score had a wide dynamic range. We're not talking the Manzoni Requiem here. And as I said, a company the size of FA has to make budget where it's possible to do so. It's a lovely package and I just preordered the French Masterworks set to accompany it.

[jbeall]

Gary Tooze says that Flicker Alley's release of Nanook of the North is a significant upgrade on the old Criterion dvd.

[jheez]

Which version of the Cinerama booklet is the correct one? Is it the version with the "about this blu-ray..." on the back cover or the one with nothing on the back cover?

[McCrutchy]

Gary Tooze says that Flicker Alley's release of Nanook of the North is a significant upgrade on the old Criterion dvd.

But more lossy audio...and there was plenty of room on the disc, even for LPCM if the Dolby/DTS fees are causing an issue. [-X


I wouldn't complain much if the discs were cheaper, but FA really need to step up and commit to lossless full-time if they want to keep asking well over $30 a title. Lossless audio should be a basic part of the Blu-ray experience, and I really want to smack the idiots at the BDA who decided otherwise.

[Minkin]

Which version of the Cinerama booklet is the correct one? Is it the version with the "about this blu-ray..." on the back cover or the one with nothing on the back cover?

What was the issue with the booklet? This is the first I've heard of any problems (and can't find anything online about it). There's a PDF on Flicker Alley's website with the booklet - if that answers your question. (now if you can answer mine).

[manicsounds]

The pages were in an incorrect order

[Adamg11]

The Arts Shelf on 'The Late Mathias Pascal'

[rockysds]

The Curtis Harrington Short Film Collection

Curtis Harrington, widely regarded as one of the important avant-garde directors of the 1940 s, as well as an early influential figure in what would come to be known as New Queer Cinema, was born in Los Angeles in 1926. He began making films as a teenager, often deeply surreal, intuitive, and owing much to the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in film studies, his unique career trajectory led him from the academic circles of cinematic criticism (he wrote a publication on the films of Josef von Sternberg); to the Hollywood assistant desk of writer/producer Jerry Wald; to the elite group of independent filmmakers associated with Kenneth Anger (the two remained life-long friends); to the famed film factory of cult icon Roger Corman; then on to his own stint in the world of genre movie-making with Night Tide and Games; and most unpredictable of all, to finding commercial success in television. This publication, a joint effort between Flicker Alley and Drag City featuring restorations carried out by the Academy Film Archive on a single-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo, comprised of six short films by the late experimental filmmaker, as well as bonus interview footage and rarely-seen early works.

Fragment of Seeking (1946, 16 mins.) Harrington plays a young man desperately seeking out the fleeting image of a female companion, and though he never quite catches her, he discovers much more through the surreal explorations of his own sexuality. Made a year before Kenneth Anger's Fireworks, the films contain some similarities in their treatment of homoerotic themes, though Fragment is more restrained and subtle.

Picnic (1948, 22 mins.) Beginning in the reality of American middle-class life, Picnic portrays the idealistic dream-quest of the protagonist, from which he is finally cast off. Harrington himself described the film thus: 'A satirical comment on middle-class life frames a dream-like continuity in which the protagonist pursues an illusory object of desire.'

On the Edge (1949, 6 mins.) In this fragile, yet frightening poetic fantasy, set against a dark industrial landscape, Harrington casts his own mother and father in the lead roles.

The Assignation (1953, 8 mins.) Long considered lost, this was Harrington s first color film. It was shot in Venice, Italy, and not unlike Fragment of Seeking, follows a masked figure through the labyrinthine canals of the city, building to a spectacular climax.

The Wormwood Star (1955, 10 mins) A film study of the artwork of famed painter, occultist and Alistair Crowley-enthusiast Majorie Cameron. Cameron went on to star in Harrington s feature-length Night Tide. It is by far one of his most visually arresting works.

Usher (2002, 38 mins.) Harrington s final film before he died in 2007, Usher is a remake of a short he made in high school based on the classic Edgar Allan Poe story The Fall of the House of Usher. He once again expresses his interest in the occult by casting known members of the Church of Satan, Nikolas and Zeena Schreck.

Bonus Features Also included are four bonus features. The Four Elements (1966) is a poetic and avant-garde documentary Harrington made for the U.S. Information Agency. The Fall of the House of Usher (1942) is the original film made by Harrington when was in high school from which Usher is based. A short interview shot by filmmakers Tyler Hubby and Jeffrey Schwarz, who are responsible for the documentary House of Harrington (2009); and a 2003 interview with Harrington made courtesy of the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. An enclosed booklet contains notes on restorations by Academy Film Archive preservationist Mark Toscano and an essay by Lisa Janssen.

[zedz]

What a fantastic release! I can't wait.

[captveg]

Cinerama Holiday and South Seas Adventure BD/DVD combo releases are up for pre-order. Release date in 10/22/13.

[bdurden]

I just wanted to post in here to let everyone know that Flicker Alley's upcoming release for French Masterworks will have the choice of white and yellow subtitles, with white being the default.

In future releases we'll always make sure we use white subtitles when possible. As it is dependent on some of our partners we cannot always offer this. When that's the case, our website will inform when the subtitles are only offered in yellow or another color.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks of the Curtis Harrington project coming out soon, as I was involved with a lot of that project and his early films are very intriguing. I watched Fragment of Seeking a couple times over, because you can really see a lot of Harrington and who he was in that film. Great preservation work by Mark Tuscano, too.

[swo17]

Thanks for being receptive to our feedback, and keep up the great work!

[knives]

Yes I greatly appreciate the patient and good effort on your part and honestly this is going to get me to pick up this set far more quickly.

[Moe Dickstein]

I saw I think most of these Harringtons 5 years ago at the Chicago Underground festival. Interesting stuff and I picked up a book about his work there as well. Would be interesting to see them again.

[Cash Flagg]

I wasn't sure where else to put this, but Drag City will be publishing Curtis Harrington's autobiography, Nice Guys Don't Work in Hollywood, on June 18th. Here's the Amazon listing.

[What A Disgrace]

My Albatross set came with a Flicker Alley calendar. The month of July is dedicated to Le maison du mystere, which is touted as coming soon to Blu-ray.

[knives]

For those who haven't yet pulled the trigger on the Harrington set FA have released On the Edge to test the waters with.

[Kauno]

For those who haven't yet pulled the trigger on the Harrington set FA have released On the Edge to test the waters with.

He really was on the edge.

[manicsounds]

dvdbeaver on "French Masterworks: Russian Emigres in Paris 1923-1928 - 5 Iconic Films Albatros Productions" DVD set