Film Masters

[Lowry_Sam]

Anyone familiar with this label? It released a 70th Anniversary edition of The Salt Of The Earth (1954). Curious if it's better than the Film Detctive blu released in 2016.

[wlh138]

I have quite a few Film Masters releases. They are a great company. Excellent picture quality and decent extras for their mostly public domain titles. I don't own any Film Detective releases. I have heard mixed things about them.

Sent from my SM-S237VL using Tapatalk

[jheez]

I believe Film Masters is the same people as Film Deceive used to be, although they’ve really tried to amp up the quality and extras with the new brand. I can’t comment on The Salt of the Earth, although I recently picked it up. So it’s in my queue.

[FrauBlucher]

I was hoping that this would end up on the Pepe Le Moko upgrade from CC. But I guess the source is not worth it. Although this does say limited edition

Trailer for Algiers (1938)

Special Features and Technical Specs:
NEW 5K RESTORATION FROM A 16MM PRINT
NEW audio commentary
Full color inserted booklet
O-card
Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

[domino harvey]

It’s public domain, so it still could appear like their His Girl Friday twofer

[Lowry_Sam]

They're doing their own Kansas City Confidential and The Red House. I wasn't able to find out how their blu-ray compares to the existing blu-rays. I would like to think that if someone was releasing yet another blu ray, they are doing so because they are able to improve upon what is already out there. On the other hand it seems like Kansas City Confidential is able to sustain an unlimited number of releases. Has anyone heard any more about whether any of these are worthwhile? They've also released:

The Strange Woman
Invasion USA
House On Haunted Hill
Lady Of Burlesque
Monster From The Ocean Floor
The Amazing Mr. X
Patterns
The Emporer Jones
The New Adventures Of Tarzan
Night Of The Blood Beast/Attack Of The Giant Leeches
Creature With The Blue Hand/Web Of The Spider
Beast From Haunted Cave
The Terror
The Giant Gila Monster
The Capture
The Crippled Masters
Common Law Wife
The Devil's Partner
Tormented
Lighthouse
Convict's Code

[BoltzmannBrain]

Don't have any of their discs, I only know that Film Masters released The Crippled Masters thinking that it was in the public domain, but their reasoning was faulty: it was never registered at the US copyright office, but that doesn't make a foreign film public domain in the US. Severin licensed the film from the Hong Kong rightsholders and when the Film Masters Blu-ray came out last year they had a talk and Film Masters begrudgingly agreed to stop selling their Blu. The source for the Film Masters Blu was a European release print that was not in great shape, while Severin got Warner Bros to scan the pristine interpositive in 4K. (New Line Cinema had held the US rights decades ago, which is why the interpositive was in Warner's archive.) So Severin has a superior picture and audio quality and their release is the one to go for if anyone is interested in this film.

[James Stock]

Their first 4K is Machine Gun Kelly (1958)

Before Charles Bronson became one of cinema's definitive tough guys, he delivered his first leading role in Roger Corman's lean, hard-hitting gangster classic Machine Gun Kelly (1958). Loosely inspired by the notorious Depression-era outlaw George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Bronson plays Kelly as a ruthless bank robber whose fear of death and dependence on his domineering partner, Flo Becker (Susan Cabot), reveal the fragile man behind the myth. Directed by the great Roger Corman, Machine Gun Kelly is a stripped-away, tense psychological portrait that marked a turning point for both Corman and Bronson's careers.

This title is restored in 4K and newly remastered in Dolby Vision HDR, presented in Superama 2.00:1 and 1.37:1 aspect ratios. A companion BD50 includes bonus features as well as both aspect ratios of the film for the standard Blu-ray player.

About the Restoration:

An AMC Networks presentation, in association with Radial Entertainment. Restoration from original 35mm fine grain print by Film Masters. 4K digitization by Jared Gibson at George Blood Audio/Video/Film and technical support by Rick Lombardi of Telefilm. Audio restoration of the original theatrical mono track by John Keegan of Madhouse Productions. Color correction by DI Remastering Colorist: Marc Wielage, CSI. DCP creation by Duplitech. Superama consulting by Jack Theakston and Bob Furmanek. Restoration supervised by Philip Elliott Hopkins and Krystal Vander Ark of Film Masters.

Special thanks to Julie Corman, Jordan Fields, and Scott Randolph.

Extras

Disc One - 4K UHD Disc
Machine Gun Kelly film in Superama Aspect Ratio, UHD - Dolby Vision HDR
Machine Gun Kelly film in 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio, UHD - Dolby Vision HDR
NEW Commentary audio track with C. Courtney Joyner and Mark Jordan Legan
Original theatrical trailer for Machine Gun Kelly, presented in 2.00:1 Superama, scanned from 35mm fine grain in 4K.
Films and Commentary track include English SDH.

Disc Two - Blu-ray Disc
Machine Gun Kelly film in Superama Aspect Ratio, 1080p
Machine Gun Kelly film in 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio, 1080p
Machine Gun Kelly 1080p Trailer
NEW Commentary audio track with C. Courtney Joyner and Mark Jordan Legan
NEW documentary, Micro Budget Maverick: Roger Corman At AIP in the 1950s, by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures.
NEW documentary, This is Superama, by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures.
Films, Commentary track, and original documentaries include English SDH.