Kino

[HerrSchreck]

Likely going to be the Brock score on the longer Shepard version (unrestored) and the FWMS restored version will have the Alto/Perez. Same as their HD DVD encode from the last time around on this title.

[captveg]

Looks like two more Fritz Lang German films are coming 2/23/16, per MisterLime's HTF release schedule post: Spies (1928) and Woman in the Moon (1929)

[L.A.]

Blu-ray.com reviews Moana with Sound

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

Ricky Leacock and Monica Flaherty's soundscape is absolutely hypnotic, and although I don't know a word of Samoan, the chatter and laughter, the matching to mouths and gestures, at least sounds amazingly natural, as well as the fidelity to actual sounds from their work in Samoa and Hawaii: coconut milk spilled and steaming on hot rocks, scraping mulberry bark to make cloth, etc. It is especially poignant given that 1976 voices are representing a generation from 1926, descendants of those same actors (and perhaps a few of the originals, as well, obviously fifty years older). And, of course, the beautiful music. Something that could have been terribly cheesy turned out really well, in my opinion, enhancing the experience of the film. Decent primer on the production. Can't wait to get this, although I wonder if MoC intends to put this out with better supps. This is streaming now on Netflix for those who haven't seen it and hesitate to buy. Trigger warning for those intensely sensitive to the incidental mistreatment of animals, even if the inclusion of those scenes is obviously crucial to the film's success and integrity.

[Drucker]

Fantomas at Beaver, listed as 1080p, 24fps. Is that right for this film? It does retain domestic intertitles, though!

[hearthesilence]

Robert A. Harris gave an ecstatic review but made no mention of frame rate.

[EddieLarkin]

It being 1080p/24 is no indication of its frame rate. One would have to step through the disc to find out.

[Drucker]

Fantomas at Beaver, listed as 1080p, 24fps. Is that right for this film? It does retain domestic intertitles, though!

The bluray.com review indicates David Kalat gives a commentary on two episodes: "Fantomas" and "Juve vs. Fantomas".

[feihong]

That's a commentary that comes from the previous DVDs. It's an exceptionally good commentary, packed with information and delivered very rapidly. The commentary is very thorough and quite long, though Kalat doesn't really talk about the action on screen directly very much.

[DeprongMori]

David Bordwell (quite rightly IMHO) takes David Kalat to task for his claims in the audio commentary that Feuillade in Fantomas didn't use any conscious framing or positioning of actors. The blocking seems very conscious throughout in creating a depth of field and composition. (At least within the constraints of technology of the time.)
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2010/ ... s-and-why/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I watched the first film in the set the other night, and again with commentary, and I was amazed by the quality of the sources and restoration. Very little visible print damage and barely any missing frames. Incredible for a hundred-plus-year-old film. It was in much better shape than the recently released Chaplin Essanays from the same period (which are not bad by any stretch of the imagination.)

[domino harvey]

Arthur Ripley's the Chase is coming to Blu-Ray... With a commentary by Guy Maddin

[L.A.]

Any word when Pioneers of African-American Cinema is coming out?

[Ashirg]

Any word when Pioneers of African-American Cinema is coming out?

Latest update from December 7 -

We apologize for having been out of touch for so long, but want to bring you up to date on the progress of PIONEERS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN CINEMA. The digital restorations are mostly complete, but a few of the archives are still at work creating HD masters of the films they’ve committed to the collection.

First and foremost: release date. The DVD/Bluray collection will not be released in February 2016, as first projected. Instead, the box set will be released in May 2016. The postponement was necessary in order to include several key films that could not be restored in time to meet the initial deadline.

While it has yet to be confirmed — we do expect there to be a small theatrical retrospective of the films in New York in February or March. We plan to build on this event and have screenings in other cities as well, leading up to the May 2016 release of the boxed set.

[L.A.]

^ Thanks for that. Fortunately not long to wait. This is going to be a good film year.

[Feego]

Can anyone comment on the music on Kino's new Fantomas Blu-ray? Is it the same music that was featured on the DVD (please let it be [-o< )

[Ashirg]

^ Thanks for that. Fortunately not long to wait. This is going to be a good film year.

Dear friends,

We're in the process of finishing the restoration of the films and starting to plan the release of Pioneers of African-American Cinema. The first public glimpse will be February 14-15 and March 6-7, when the Film Forum Theater in New York will host four screenings of some of the key titles. We expect theaters in other cities to follow, in advance of the Blu-ray/DVD release (now slated for June 2016). 

We feel bad that we've missed our anticipated February 2016 release date, but restoration of so many films took longer than expected.  Trust us, the collection is going to be so much stronger as a result of the delay.  Just this week we received the 2K restorations of Oscar Micheaux's THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED, and next week we hope (fingers crossed) to receive the master of the extremely rare TEN NIGHTS IN A BAR ROOM. 

And restoring the films themselves is only part of the process. Today we just finished synching DJ Spooky's score for WITHIN OUR GATES, and today Dr. Samuel Waymon is in the studio recording vocals to accompany his keyboard score for James and Eloyce Gist's HELL-BOUND TRAIN.

And it's all great stuff!

Thank you again for your patience and your continued support. I look forward to sharing more information with you in the days ahead.

Bret Wood, producer

[ellipsis7]

Renoir's THE SOUTHERNER BR gets the thumbs up from DVDBeaver... Nice to see the substantial extras, the propaganda piece SALUTE TO FRANCE and Pare Lorentz's documentary THE RIVER, are also in full 1080P...

[L.A.]

Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) @ DVDBeaver

[DeprongMori]

Kino is currently having a good sale through Sunday, including Douglas Fairbanks' The Black Pirate on Blu for $4.99 and Three Soviet Classics for $9.95.

http://www.kinolorber.com/video-store.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[domino harvey]

Buster Keaton Shorts Collection coming to Blu

[swo17]

They'd already released the Keaton solo shorts on Blu, but I guess this will use the new Lobster restorations and add all the Arbuckle shorts that were on the MoC set.

[matrixschmatrix]

Strange, it looks as though they are losing the excellent commentaries from the prior shorts discs. It would be nice if it replicated everything, so I could feel comfortable selling the old one.

[Drucker]

Of course the MOC book still makes that set indespensible.

[EddieLarkin]

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see MoC themselves licence the new restorations and upgrade their set.

[Minkin]

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see MoC themselves licence the new restorations and upgrade their set.

These Keaton titles are probably going to end up as dueling BFI vs MoC editions (see Cohen vs Kino). Or is Keaton not PD in the UK?