Milestone

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Just to let you know, Milestone is having a Silent Summer where we have dropped the price on many of our silent film DVDs to $10.

How long will this sale be running?

[drdoros]

It looks like Amy set it to end on September 1st!

[TMDaines]

What is the quality of the Milestone Mary Pickford DVDs like? I'm struggling to find reviews of many of the ones that are now $10.

[Michael Kerpan]

The Pickford DVDs? All the ones I've seen have been decent so far.

[TMDaines]

Strange, I can't find many reviews with caps. I have seen a few rips online that don't look great, but I'm not sure whether they are representative of the DVDs.

[Michael Kerpan]

Well, the DVDs don't look as impressive as Milestone's Pickford BluRay, but they were decent enough to allow me (at least) enjoy the film.

[Michael Kerpan]

I can recommend the Sessue Hayakawa DVD (Dragon Painter and Wrath of the Gods) and the Bauer One (Mad Love -- with three films). Dragon Painter is lovely (and Hayakawa is marvelous -- a bit reminiscent of young Mifune, in his wildness). Wrath of the Gods is interesting, but remarkably bigoted religiously -- it lets one see why Hayakawa started producing films himself as soon as he could scrape up the cash.

[What A Disgrace]

Project Shirley, Volume 2: Portrait of Jason on Blu-ray

So, obvious question here: where is Volume 1?

[drdoros]

Project Shirley: Volume 1 is THE CONNECTION. We fell in love with Freddie Redd (the composer of the score and the pianist in the film) when we met him a few years ago but when we went to videotape him, he was unwell and we had to wait some months for him to recover. The interview was just done and edited, so that will be coming out in early 2015.

And for those counting, Volume 3 is ORNETTE and Volume 4 will be entitled THE MAGIC BOX and that will be amazing. It'll have everything we've been collecting these past five years on the project, but I don't want to announce the specifics now.

There will also be a volume 5 coming up, but it will not be THE COOL WORLD. For that, you have to contact Fred Wiseman.

[What A Disgrace]

Well, I'm stoked. You guys are on a roll.

[Gregory]

Redd is really getting on in years. I'm glad he's still around to be interviewed and see his best-known project gain new attention and fans. Did he seem to be in good health, Dennis? It's impressive that he's still active musically.

I would guess that Vol. 5 will be a collection of Clarke's short films.

[drdoros]

Freddie is 86 years old with some of the problems that goes with age. However, he is doing better and seeking to get back to work.

[What A Disgrace]

Ornette (Volume 3) is up for pre-order at various sites for a November 11 release. Specs as followed:

- Shirley Loves Felix (2014, Color, 5 minutes)
- The Link Revisited: An interview with Denardo Coleman (2013, 32 mins)
- A Video Interview with Shirley Clarke (Color, 58 mins)
- A Radio Interview with Shirley Clarke (Audio, 28 mins)
- Ornette Trailers
- Booklet: Kathelin Hoffman Gray Reminisces about Ornette and Shirley
- SDH subtitles on feature

And The Connection (Volume 1) will come out in February.
- The Connection Home Movies (B&W, 6:27.)
- A Conversation with Albert Brenner. (4:35 minutes.)
- Connecting with Freddie Redd (27 minutes.)
- The Connection-Behind The Scenes. (5:50 minutes.)
- The Connection trailer (1:36 minutes)
- Carl and Max at the Chelsea (04:11 minutes.)
- 1959 Radio Interview (29:22 minutes.)
- Two 45rpm songs: Who Killed Cock Robin and I’m in Love

Any chance that all these volumes will be collected into some sort of gift set? I would buy such a thing.

[drdoros]

And for those who asked about Freddie Redd, he's making his comeback appearance tonight!

http://online.wsj.com/articles/cabaret- ... 1413568236" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Freddie Redd Connection
Zeb’s

223 W. 228th St; (212) 695-8081

Friday

The 1959 hit off-Broadway play (and subsequent film) “The Connection” brought jazz briefly back onto the center stage of the mainstream cultural consciousness. Admittedly, it didn’t do a lot of good for the public perception of the music—this was telling a story about drug addicts—but what we remember about most about “The Connection” isn’t its subject matter, but the remarkable way in which the two sets of performers, the actors and the musicians in the band, freely interacted throughout the narrative. And the music, which was the work of composer-pianist-bandleader Freddie Redd and his key collaborator, the late sax giant Jackie McLean. The 86-year-old Mr. Redd is still going strong, and has assembled a highly ambitious all-star octet to play his music in what ranks as his biggest concert in New York in at least a decade. Featuring Chris Byers and Asaf Yuria on saxophone; Josh Evans, trumpet; John Mosca, trombone; Saul Rubin, guitar; Ben Miegners, bass; and another 50-plus year veteran of the bebop scene, drummer Jimmy Cobb.

[EddieLarkin]

Portrait of Jason at DVDBeaver

Money well spent I'd say.

[matrixschmatrix]

For those of you who donated to the Kickstarter to get a blu-ray- has yours arrived yet? I'm a little worried, as my address changed between now and then, and I can't remember if I updated with them.

[salad]

For those of you who donated to the Kickstarter to get a blu-ray- has yours arrived yet? I'm a little worried, as my address changed between now and then, and I can't remember if I updated with them.

My Kickstarter copy arrived in the Deep South yesterday with a Thank You card

[Oedipax]

Got mine yesterday as well in Georgia.

[Adam]

I got mine yesterday in Los Angeles. Thank you Dennis and Amy!

Dennis, does Ornette include the 4 minute "video game" that Shirley made, which is really an excerpt from the film?

Also, the Barnes & Noble listing for the ORNETTE Blu-Ray describes it as B&W, but it's color. Maybe you can get them to change it.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-orn ... 4148014258" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Product Details
Release Date: 11/11/2014
UPC: 784148014258
Original Release: 1985
Source: Milestone Video
Presentation: Restored / B&W
Time: 1:18:00
Format: Blu-ray

[drdoros]

Sorry to say, but we checked out the ORNETTE video game and the two music videos and they were indeed just clips from the film. Since the originals were U-matic and they looked really bad, I thought it better to leave those for a video website we're planning one day and spend more time and money on other bonus features.

[jheez]

Got Portrait of Jason/Ornette/Robert Frost Saturday. Made it through Jason and all the extras. Fantastic release. Picture is great but audio is even more improved. I really enjoyed the in depth audio only interview included on the disk. Thanks Milestone!

[EddieLarkin]

In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914) coming to Blu-ray Feb 24th. I believe this will be the oldest feature film to so far make it to Blu-ray.

[Finch]

Dennis, are you still planning on releasing I Am Cuba on Blu-Ray?

[JamesF]

Just found out that Milestone recently restored the late Kathleen Collins' Losing Ground, which I've wanted to see for ages given it stars Ganja & Hess' Bill Gunn and Duane Jones. At the moment it's only available from their website for "institutional purchase" at the hefty sum of $249 - hopefully a more affordable way of seeing it is forthcoming!

[drdoros]

Just found out that Milestone recently restored the late Kathleen Collins' Losing Ground, which I've wanted to see for ages given it stars Ganja & Hess' Bill Gunn and Duane Jones. At the moment it's only available from their website for "institutional purchase" at the hefty sum of $249 - hopefully a more affordable way of seeing it is forthcoming!

The film opens in NYC on February 6-12. Obviously, we'll be taking some time for a theatrical run and then to produce the bonus features, but it will be out.