1345 Victor Sjöström’s Hollywood Masterworks

[onedimension]

Well, I blind bought Flicker Alley’s release of He Who Gets Slapped and absolutely loved the film so I’m interested in seeing the other two here. It does seem funny to see Slapped get reissued so soon even if it is public domain. Makes me wonder why Criterion didn’t get around to upgrading Nanook of the North after FA did their disc. I had assumed it was courtesy between boutiques but who knows.

After 3 minutes on Google, my provisional understanding is that Flicker Alley used a 4K restoration of ...Slapped from Blackhawk Films - Criterion is using a 2K restoration?

[Tuppence]

Flicker Alley's Blu-ray of He Who Gets Slapped runs at 95 minutes, and the Criterion running time is listed as 86 minutes. So this should be an interesting comparison. (I imagine the Criterion is running at a faster framerate, rather than any substantial difference in footage.)

George Feltenstein being in the extras implies that Warner has been directly involved with this set.

[onedimension]

Flicker Alley's Blu-ray of He Who Gets Slapped runs at 95 minutes, and the Criterion running time is listed as 86 minutes. So this should be an interesting comparison. (I imagine the Criterion is running at a faster framerate, rather than any substantial difference in footage.)

George Feltenstein being in the extras implies that Warner has been directly involved with this set.

I don't know what discernible impact framerate will have, but it's potentially significant when a sad clown's being slapped over and over. Lugubrious, drawn-out sadness and slaps that feel heavier, or something more kinetic and carnivalesque..

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The Flicker Alley release is 18fps, assuming the footage is identical then the Criterion is 20. I have no idea how they each settled on those numbers, but based on the FA release I don't think speeding it up to 20 will be problematic. OTOH the 24fps of the old Warner transfer was blatantly too fast.

[pistolwink]

Flicker Alley's Blu-ray of He Who Gets Slapped runs at 95 minutes, and the Criterion running time is listed as 86 minutes. So this should be an interesting comparison. (I imagine the Criterion is running at a faster framerate, rather than any substantial difference in footage.)

George Feltenstein being in the extras implies that Warner has been directly involved with this set.

I don't know what discernible impact framerate will have, but it's potentially significant when a sad clown's being slapped over and over. Lugubrious, drawn-out sadness and slaps that feel heavier, or something more kinetic and carnivalesque..

Actually the Flicker Alley version is longer in part because Blackhawk Films discovered several dozen additional slaps—removed from the film for post-1934 re-releases due to the Production Code's strict limit on the number of slaps per film—that they edited back into the film.

[Peacock]

My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw this announced! Unbelievable. Criterion if you’re reading this thank you, thank you, thank you.

Glad I held off on Slapped for the FA sale, but may still get it anyway, let’s see. I wonder how the 4K and 2K sources compare? Great film no matter the res. I’ve been waiting to see the other two for decades!

Now let’s close up the gaps and get Greed, The Merry Widow, The Wedding March out now!

Herr Schreck where are you right now?!

[Tuppence]

Actually the Flicker Alley version is longer in part because Blackhawk Films discovered several dozen additional slaps—removed from the film for post-1934 re-releases due to the Production Code's strict limit on the number of slaps per film—that they edited back into the film.

That's extremely interesting information. So is the Warner Archive DVD made from the censored reissue cut?