criterionforum.org

True, but that doesn't explain major studios releasing obscure titles overseas but not in the US which happens time-to-time.

$45 artwork revealed:

Quasimodo looks terrified that the medieval set is about to come crashing down on his head and he won't be able to swivel himself out of the way off of that compositionally unbalanced cover.

Like the colors, kind of like the design, but still looks very low rent.

HerrSchreck wrote:Quasimodo looks terrified that the medieval set is about to come crashing down on his head.

I thought it was because he was stuck in The Bell Jar.

Independent U.S. distributors Flicker Alley have revealed that they are planning to add a number of exciting titles to their Blu-ray catalog. Amongst them are Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer, from Chaplin's Mutual Comedies, Iain Kennedy's Palace of Silents (2010), and Mack Sennett's Bathing Girls at the Ocean Park Peer (circa 1919).

UPCOMING RELEASES:

1. Wallace Worsley's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Part of the Blackhawk Films collection. Blu-ray edition.

2. Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer, from Chaplin's Mutual Comedies. A Flicker Alley/Blackhawk Films presentation. Newly restored by Lobster Films, Cineteca di Bologna, and the British Film Institute. Coming soon in a Blu-ray Special SteelBook edition.

3. Iain Kennedy's Palace of Silents, part of the Flicker Alley/Blackhawk Films We're in the Movies collection. Coming soon in a Blu-ray+DVD edition.

4. Mack Sennett's Bathing Girls at the Ocean Park Peer (circa 1919). Part of Mack Sennett Keystone (Vol. 1), a Flicker Alley/Keystone, Inc. presentation. Coming soon in a Blu-ray+DVD edition.

5. The Albatros serial The House of Mystery (1923), directed by Alexandre Volkoff, and starring Julien Vilandrit (Ivan Mosjoukine). A Flicker Allery/Blackhawks Films presentation. DVD edition.

6. M.L. Gunzburg Presents Natural Vision 3-Dimension, from 3D rarities. A Flicker Alley/3D Film Archive presentation. Blu-ray.

7. Seven Wonders of the World (1956), a Flicker Alley/Cinerama, Inc. presentation. Blu-ray/DVD edition.

8. Masterworks of American Avant-garde Film, 1920-1970, a Flicker Alley/Blackhawk Films presentation. Coming soon in a Blu-ray edition.

9. Search for Paradise (1957), a Flicker Alley/Cinerama, Inc. presentation. Blu-ray/DVD edition.

I'm in for House of Mystery and the American Avant Garde, but...the Chaplin Mutuals getting individual releases? What? Why? Why would they think this is a good idea?

I'm also curious to see what's on the Masterworks of American Avant-garde Film set. Agree about the Chaplins - a complete set of the Mutuals is coming from Divisa in Spain this February.

8. Masterworks of American Avant-garde Film, 1920-1970, a Flicker Alley/Blackhawk Films presentation. Coming soon in a Blu-ray edition.

Potential release of the year there, especially with the first two Kino Avant-Garde sets out of print. Is this likely to include much of the same Rohauer stuff?

Expect to pay $30-40 for that one Mutual short as well. If this is how they're all going to be released in the States, then I pray that the BFI will put out a complete set over here in Q3.

I do hope it's not just the one Chaplin short. Hopefully it's simply highlighting that one as the premiere film with all the others also in the set.

Definitely in on the 3D Rarities and the Cinerama films. Others sound interesting as well but would like to know more about them.

I thought you guys were too nasty about the Hunchback Blu-ray, but one Chaplin Mutual short getting its own Blu-ray is hilariously stupid

I never picked up the Trip to the Moon release. What was on that one aside from the one film extra films/bonus-wise?

The film in black and white, an hour-long documentary, a couple of other Melies films, and a short interview with Air.

There was no nastiness about Hunchback, just questioning and some mild indignation about why the MSRP of a blu-ray would need to be more than twice that of a good DVD special edition.

Thought to be fair Flicker Alley have always had large MSRPs.

They've almost always seemed reasonable to me. As a rule, I think when MSRP gets above $40 MSRP for a single feature film (or above $30 for a barebones release), it's pushing it. When Cohen Group set the MSRP of Intolerance at $50, though, it was presumably to help recoup expensive restoration work. Especially outside of something like that, people will question the high price tag.

Just to let you know that the Mutual shorts already have a DVD-only boxset in France (but you probably know this already).

Gregory wrote:

8. Masterworks of American Avant-garde Film, 1920-1970, a Flicker Alley/Blackhawk Films presentation. Coming soon in a Blu-ray edition.

Potential release of the year there, especially with the first two Kino Avant-Garde sets out of print. Is this likely to include much of the same Rohauer stuff?

I expect the biggest overlap will be with the 7 DVD set Unseen Cinema (Early American Avant-Garde Film 1894-1941) which included Blackhawk-sourced material. The Rohauer material would have to be licensed from Cohen, who probably have their own plans, and they may claim exclusive rights to at least some of the films.

2. Charlie Chaplin's The Adventurer, from Chaplin's Mutual Comedies. A Flicker Alley/Blackhawk Films presentation. Newly restored by Lobster Films, Cineteca di Bologna, and the British Film Institute. Coming soon in a Blu-ray Special SteelBook edition.

Maybe they're trying to replicate the one-at-a-time 1960s-70s buying experience for those of us who collected on real film! Complete with metal can...

There's a phenomenal version of Ballet mécanique on the Unseen Cinema set, with color tinting and George Antheil's original 1924 score. Not really American, but it did make its way onto the supposedly American Unseen Cinema.

David Shepard said last year that he was working on a set of the Mutual films for BD release in 2014. Film Preservation Associates are missing from the credits mentioned by Flicker Alley, so perhaps we're still getting a full set from them anyway.

edit: Actually, scratch that. Blackhawk Films are mentioned and I think they're just part of FPA.

More details on the Mutuals from Nitrateville:

David Shepard wrote:It will be a 5-disc box set in a steelcase. 2 Blu-Ray discs and 2 DVDs of the twelve comedies and a new documentary on Chaplin's beginnings and the restorations.

Ten of the films are as good as they are going to get. However, we are still awaiting (hoping for) new scans from better material of EASY STREET and THE RINK from Italy, where the clocks apparently run on geologic time.

Well what sort of announcement is that from Flicker Alley? They've done the same with the 3D Rarities set as well, singling out the short Natural Vision 3-Dimension, when in fact they're releasing a whole set of stuff.

I've just reviewed Arte's four-DVD set of the Chaplin Mutual restorations, and a side-by-side comparison with the old (2003) BFI discs reveals improvements ranging from clear to dramatic. They should look sensational on Blu-ray.

EddieLarkin wrote:Well what sort of announcement is that from Flicker Alley? They've done the same with the 3D Rarities set as well, singling out the short Natural Vision 3-Dimension, when in fact they're releasing a whole set of stuff.

It's an odd way to advertise them, but ultimately it's what is on the discs that count, and now I know I'll be grabbing the Chaplin release as well. I wonder if they'll ever get to upgrading the Keystone Chaplin release to Blu-ray? Also, does Flicker Alley also control the Essanay shorts in the US, or is that another company?

More info on the 3D Rarities set, per Bob Furmanek and 3dfilmarchive.com:

"We also own archival 35mm materials on several hours of shorts, tests, trailers and cartoons dating back to the dawn of stereoscopic cinematography. They include Kelly's Plasticon Pictures: THRU’ THE TREES, WASHINGTON D.C., the earliest extant 3-D demonstration film from 1922 with incredible footage of Washington and New York City; Lumiere’s “L’Arrivée d’un Train” first shown at the Academie des Sciences in Paris in March 1935; NEW DIMENSIONS (aka MOTOR RHYTHM) the first domestic full color 3-D film originally shown at the New York World’s Fair in May 1940; THRILLS FOR YOU, a fascinating promotional film for the Pennsylvania Railroad, first shown in May 1940 at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco; BOO MOON, an excellent example of color stereoscopic animation from December 1953; DOOM TOWN, a controversial anti-atomic testing film which was mysteriously pulled from theatrical release after a few play-dates in July 1953; THE MAZE coming attraction trailer with fantastic 3-D production design by the legendary William Cameron Menzies, and many more.

These rare and historic shorts will be released by Flicker Alley on 3-D Blu-ray in 2014!

Please note that none of our films are in the red/blue anaglyph format. They will all be seen in their original and vastly superior Polaroid 3-D versions.

Presented in high quality digital 3-D, all films in the Archive have been restored and mastered in HD from original 35mm elements for optimum quality. Meticulously re-aligned shot by shot for precise registration of the original left/right elements, our historic 3-D films have never looked this good before!"

Have no worries, everybody! The Mutuals and the 3-D Rarities will be full collections, not individual films. The post from Blu-ray.com that put out the word on our coming releases for this year garnered their information off of our 2014 promotional calendar, in which we pair each month with an image from one of our planned titles. Without discussing with us, they went ahead and assumed that films like THE ADVENTURER were individual releases, causing a lot of confusion. The post has now been amended (http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=13155&u ... um=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).

If you have any questions, we'll be sure answer them at [email protected]. And if you, too, would like a calendar, simply order any one of our Blu-rays or DVD's, and we'll include one free of charge.

Thanks,

Josh