Kino: Mauritz Stiller films

[vogler]

To be totally honest I really don't know if GOSTA was tinted originally or not.

All I have to go on is the fact that the excerpts featured in the Cinema Europe documentary series were tinted and looked rather nice. Sunrise silents have a tinted version of The Saga of Gosta Berling available here (Not that this means anything). I really enjoyed the Cinema Europe series but the downside was that for every film featured the narration is full of spoilers and basically gives away the whole plot including the ending. Not good if they are films you have not yet seen.

Yes youre sensing that those digital tints are laid over the digital image like a blanket, post telecine, therefore blocking out contrast in weaker sections of faded or generational prints. Whereas in a genuine tinted print it's part of the emulsion and almost appears "under" the b&w contrast

That's exactly it - it feels like the actual film is being obscured and I find that this can quite badly ruin the experience. I sometimes turn down the colour as well and this usually helps but there are a few instances where much of the film information appears to have been lost.

Incidentally, on the subject of Stiller, I wonder if there is any chance we will see any more of his films on DVD in the foreseeable future. It's fantastic that these three are finally available but it's such a small niche area that I'm afraid we might not see any more. I really would like to see Johan and Gunnar Hedes saga released because I think those, along with Sir Arne's Treasure, are his best films. I've already said this before but I'll keep saying it until it actually happens.

[Ornette]

Yeah that GOSTA BERLING disc is the only one of the three that didn't come from a brand new, recently funded restoration by the Swedish Film Inst. GOSTA is from the SFI restoration, if memory serves correctly, from back in the 1960's... so all we really have there is Kino getting out on dvd the basic print sitting in the SFI archives. My hunch is they heard of the restorations of EROTIKON & SIR ARNE (o man o man what a film that is), and, despite the lack of a recent restoration, asked to license GOSTA to make it a trilogy.

Actually there's a newly restored version of Gösta Berlings Saga. I don't have a specific year though, but I'd guess it was around the same time as the other two. I've also found out that this movie wasn't originally tinted.
Such a pity Kino couldn't get hold of the new restoration, for whatever reason that was.

[HerrSchreck]

Could you post a link to some info? The other two were just done within the past 2-3 yrs if memory serves, whereas the GOSTA I believe is from '75.

[Ornette]

Here's a list over silent movies that's been restored, unfortuatley this list is missing information about when these were done. The only movie I'd find out when the restoration took place was Herr Arnes Pengar, which was done in 2001. I've, however sent an e-mail to a person over at SFI regarding the other two.
I found the information about the new restoration of Gösta Berlings saga, at a Swedish film forum where they were talking about how unfortunate it was that SVT (a Swedish Public Service channel) didn't show the newly restored print -- which some of the people had recently seen in a cinema -- instead of the old TV version, last Monday.

I'll let you know when I receive an answer from the person at SFI.

[HerrSchreck]

Much obliged. It sounds like it may be only recently completed.. or at least recently enough to where a digital videotape hadn't been created, or been resto-rights-registered, etc, for TV, let alone distribution in the USA via Kino. Too bad too, as GOSTA sticks out like a sore thumb in the Kino trilogy via the sharpness, & black levels. I have to laugh each time I read Kino's wording (as if it were as fresh as the other two Stillers) on the GOSTA disc along the lines of from brand new restoration by the SFI!

[Ornette]

Today I received an answer from Jon Wengström at SFI about the restorations of Gösta Berlings saga and Erotikon. This is what he wrote (translated from Swedish):

Gösta Berlings saga (Stiller, 1924)

A restored black and white negative was created in 1975 from a positive black and white master copy, which had been sourced from an incomplete duplicate negative on nitrate film base.

The new negative was later completed with scenes that had been cut from the original negative when the movie become a part of Svensk Filmindustri's school distribution at the end of the 1920s.

The last time that a new copy was made from the restored negative was in 2005.

Erotikon (Stiller, 1920)

A restored black and white negative was created in 1969 from an incomplete release print in colour on nitrate film base.

Release prints in colour from the restored negative were first made in 1982.

The colouring was remade when a new copy in colour was created in 2001. A new copy with the same colouring was made in 2005.

So, with the exception of the newly remade colouring of Erotikon, the only one of the three Stiller's that's been treated with a new restoration is Herr Arnes pengar.

[HerrSchreck]

Didn't you say there was a new resto for GOSTA that you or somebody else saw either on Swedish TV or cinema? (I knew that despite Kino's claims about a new restoration, this disc used a print of this film which was the only one out of the three Stillers which hadn't had some work done on it over the past few yrs.)

Do you know if GOSTA was tinted when originally released?

[Ornette]

Yes, a person on a Swedish film forum who had recently seen Gösta Berlings saga in a cinema stated that this was a newly restored print. Apparently he was wrong then.

Gösta Berlings saga was not tinted when released originally.