Silent Film on DVD and BD

[FilmFanSea]

Image is re-releasing a newly restored box set of The Chaplin Mutuals on June 6th. Details here.

[HerrSchreck]

After a spat of excitement over some of the news of coming releases (mostly the Warners & Kino's plus the Lubitsch silents), the doldrums have kicked back in. What a long, dead, stretch. Nothing this bleak over the past few years.

[peerpee]

Quite stunning 2 x disc set of Murnau's FAUST from MoC in June!

[denti alligator]

Quite stunning 2 x disc set of Murnau's FAUST from MoC in June!

2 discs! =P~

[gubbelsj]

Is Pabst's Die freudlose Gasse / the Joyless Street (1925) available anywhere? The closest I can find is a "Drama Triple Feature 7" grab-bag at Barnes & Noble.com. At $9, it seems worth it, no matter what the other films featured in the box are - details are vague. "Kid" - as in "The Kid," Chaplin? And "The Extra Girl" - is that Mabel Normand? If so, what a weird combo.

But are there any respectable DVD editions available? Any rumblings of future or upcoming releases? Or do I buy this weird box?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Is Pabst's Die freudlose Gasse / the Joyless Street (1925) available anywhere? The closest I can find is a "Drama Triple Feature 7" grab-bag at Barnes & Noble.com. At $9, it seems worth it, no matter what the other films featured in the box are - details are vague. "Kid" - as in "The Kid," Chaplin? And "The Extra Girl" - is that Mabel Normand? If so, what a weird combo.

Yes, those are the Chaplin and Normand films. I have this DVD. The Chaplin is a pretty weak transfer that looks like it comes from VHS. The Normand is okay. The Pabst film is sharp but very contrasty and a bit dark in places, and there are lots of nicks and scratches. It runs just 60:25 so it is by no means the complete film. Looks like an American release print.

Kino is releasing 3 Mauritz Stiller silents on June 6th or July 11th.
Erotikon
Sir Arne's Treasure
The Saga of Gosta Berling

This was posted on alt.movies.silent in the last day:

Kino finally has a real release date for the Swedish silents and
some new
additions that were not in the catalogue.
The Swedish silents : SAGA OF GOSTA BERLING, EROTIKON & SIR ARNE'S
TREASURE
Will be released on 6/6. You can pre-order them now on the web site
http://www.kino.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
At they are 30% off with free shipping when order all 3

Next we are releasing 3 more German silents
ASPHALT Directed by Joe May
WARNING SHADOWS Directed by Arthur Robinson
DR.MABUSE : THE GAMBLER ( 1922) new restoration from Germany

These will be released on 7/18

[justeleblanc]

YES!!!!

FINALLY MABUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -- now I'll just rip the Kalat commentary to my computer and buy the new version!!!!!

[Gregory]

"New restoration from Germany"? Even newer than what was used for the 2004 Eureka DVD or just meaning newer than the Shepard restoration?

[What A Disgrace]

"New restoration from Germany"? Even newer than what was used for the 2004 Eureka DVD or just meaning newer than the Shepard restoration?

By "new restoration from Germany", I'm sure they mean "we're using Eureka's PAL master".

[HerrSchreck]

Is Pabst's Die freudlose Gasse / the Joyless Street (1925) available anywhere? The closest I can find is a "Drama Triple Feature 7" grab-bag at Barnes & Noble.com. At $9, it seems worth it, no matter what the other films featured in the box are - details are vague. "Kid" - as in "The Kid," Chaplin? And "The Extra Girl" - is that Mabel Normand? If so, what a weird combo.

But are there any respectable DVD editions available? Any rumblings of future or upcoming releases? Or do I buy this weird box?

Let me tell you something about that-- Kino, when they came out with their WAXWORKS/CAILGARI/GOLEM + Murnau/Pabst string of DVDs a couple years ago, were advertizing THE JOYLESS STREET as "Coming soon on DVD". Time passed. Then one day a Kino JOYLESS STREET appeared on the shelf in Kim's on St Mark's place. I was shocked because no release was signaled on their site or verbally as I used to go up there on 39th st to pick stuff up alot.. plus I had a huge armload of some other stuff from Kims & didn't budget for that, so I held off on buying it, figuring "it's out now."

Next week or so I went back-- nothing. Went to other stores: nothing. Waited some more: nothing. I called Kino, who said "We've changed our plans and we're not releasing that on DVD any longer." I laid my hands that day in Kims on copies of some DVDs they punched out, then pulled offa the market later for some unstated reason. I could've had it if I acted.

About 2 or 3 years later I saw some superatomic restoration of JOYLESS STREET at MoMa with Donald "Xanax" Sosin on piano, with extra footage added in which brought the running time over 3 hrs-- and no english subs on the print. It was torture-- you could hear the snoring, & mushing of sleep-dry mouths with sticky tongues irrigating spit, all over the auditorium... that is, of those who stayed in their seats & didn't leave (at least half left, unable to take it anymore.)

Truth be told I'd rather see it's predecessor, Grune's THE STREET, make it to DVD. I have an old Video Yesteryear vhs of this, which I still watch almost once a month-- I love that film.

And peerpee, believe me, waiting for your FAUST and Flicker Alley's PHANTOM (also Luciano B's restoration, I spoke w Jeff Massino there & he now sez June) are the only things keeping me going (that & the anticip for warner Sjostroms & the Kino Stillers)

Holy SHIT!!!!!!!! W A R N I N G S H A D O W S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy SHIT!!!!!!!! W A R N I N G S H A D O W S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Holy SHIT!!!!!!!! W A R N I N G S H A D O W S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Holy SHIT!!!!!!!! W A R N I N G S H A D O W S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Holy SHIT!!!!!!!! W A R N I N G S H A D O W S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Holy SHIT!!!!!!!! W A R N I N G S H A D O W S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy SHIT!!!!!!!! W A R N I N G S H A D O W S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Typing with my toes now as I am on the floor. Excellent. This is why Kino is so special to me. WARNING SHADOWS is not even out in Germany on DVD.

[lubitsch]

Typing with my toes now as I am on the floor. Excellent. This is why Kino is so special to me. WARNING SHADOWS is not even out in Germany on DVD.

Well, Germany is the last country on earth where you can expect to get a German silent film . There's no NOSFERATU, no FAUST, no NIBELUNGEN, no Pabst films and so on (though the first three are finally announced for this year).
BTW, the titles for the Lubitsch Box are supposed to be
"Die Austernprinzessin" [D 1919]
"Ich möchte kein Mann sein" [D 1920]
"Sumurun" [D 1920]
"Anna Boleyn" [D 1920]
"Die Bergkatze" [D 1921]
and a Bonus-DVD.
Take it with a grain of salt as usual, with Transit everything bad and good is possible. DUBARRY and DIE PUPPE would be rather strange omissions, but let's wait.

[gubbelsj]

Truth be told I'd rather see it's predecessor, Grune's THE STREET, make it to DVD. I have an old Video Yesteryear vhs of this, which I still watch almost once a month-- I love that film.

You're not alone. A good friend once proudly waved this in my face, demanded I sit down, and proceeded to give me a private video screening. It's wonderful.

What we need is a Strassenfilme box set. Open with Grune, move on to the Pabst, Joe May's Asphalt, Bruno Rahm's Tragedy of the Street, Piel Jutzi's Berlin Alexanderplatz, any others you can think of. It would be a thing of beauty.

[HerrSchreck]

Check out http://www.transitfilm.de/en/transit-classics/ for the DVDs containing the original masters. You certainly can get many of the films you mentioned in Germany, and in premium editions.

EDIT: gubbels just slipped in there, but I was replying to Lubitsch.

Truth be told I'd rather see it's predecessor, Grune's THE STREET, make it to DVD. I have an old Video Yesteryear vhs of this, which I still watch almost once a month-- I love that film.

You're not alone. A good friend once proudly waved this in my face, demanded I sit down, and proceeded to give me a private video screening. It's wonderful.

What we need is a Strassenfilme box set. Open with Grune, move on to the Pabst, Joe May's Asphalt, Bruno Rahm's Tragedy of the Street, Piel Jutzi's Berlin Alexanderplatz, any others you can think of. It would be a thing of beauty.

Not insignificant about DIE STRASSE is the fact it is one of the few flicks left (I think Wegener's PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN is one of the others of the handfull) where you can see, ahem, the real Herr Schreck in a performance outside of NOSFERATU-- he plays the blind man who gets seperated from the little girl who winds up in the police station & blowing her father's cover in the end. STRASSE is listed in some places as a lost film, which is strange- I think on Carl Davis' silentera.com, no less.

[Donald Trampoline]

Re: HerrShreck's Joyless Street

I also saw the fully restored version of Joyless Street (at UCLA). The print is stunning, the restoration impeccable. Unlike you, I did still enjoy the film. However, there is a tremendous difference over the versions I saw in film school classes and on the old KINO VHS. This version now just makes too much sense! Because of the chopped up nature of the versions I saw before, it almost had some avant-garde elements to it, but now everything is straightened out and much more conventional. Still, a heroic effort in restoring that film was undertaken and should be applauded.

Hadn't heard of Die Strasse, but will look into it. Thanks for the tip.

Typing with my toes now as I am on the floor. Excellent. This is why Kino is so special to me. WARNING SHADOWS is not even out in Germany on DVD.

Well, Germany is the last country on earth where you can expect to get a German silent film . There's no NOSFERATU, no FAUST, no NIBELUNGEN, no Pabst films and so on (though the first three are finally announced for this year).
BTW, the titles for the Lubitsch Box are supposed to be
"Die Austernprinzessin" [D 1919]
"Ich möchte kein Mann sein" [D 1920]
"Sumurun" [D 1920]
"Anna Boleyn" [D 1920]
"Die Bergkatze" [D 1921]
and a Bonus-DVD.
Take it with a grain of salt as usual, with Transit everything bad and good is possible. DUBARRY and DIE PUPPE would be rather strange omissions, but let's wait.

Don't know why I hadn't heard of WARNING SHADOWS before. Sounds interesting. I saw some truly quintessential Expressionistic film at UCLA, but I can't find the name anymore on-line (the preservation festival was too long ago to be on their Web site anymore), but I don't believe it was this film, although the film was very good and made me annoyed that all you generally see and get told about vis-à-vis German Expressionism is CALIGARI. A lot of the other available German films had Expressionistic "touches," but it was eye-opening to see a truly wall-to-wall Expressionistic film other than CALIGARI. (I guess I mean of the "theatrical" type.)

What's with these Lubitsch films? I assume if they're from TransitFilm, that means a KINO release will be imminent? That is the most exciting news! I am a huge Lubitsch silent fan and have watched Grapevine and other VHS versions over the years and love the films. Especially like to see Sumurun properly and Die Puppe and Die Austernprinzessin and all those ones you mention that I haven't seen! DuBarry would be essential too. (I'm very happy with my VHS copies I found of The Love Parade and Monte Carlo, but really, where the heck are the DVDs on those? Those are incredible early sound films. Some of his best work. And seeing a clip from "So This is Paris" on the Unseen Cinema DVD really pissed me off. Where's the complete film someone, please?!!)

So, is this a German TransitFilm release only, or what?

[tryavna]

Not insignificant about DIE STRASSE is the fact it is one of the few flicks left (I think Wegener's PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN is one of the others of the handfull) where you can see, ahem, the real Herr Schreck in a performance outside of NOSFERATU-- he plays the blind man who gets seperated from the little girl who winds up in the police station & blowing her father's cover in the end.

Aw, I was hoping that the long-standing rumors that your namesake really was a vampire were true. You've destroyed one of my cherished childhood illusions.

[htdm]

And seeing a clip from "So This is Paris" on the Unseen Cinema DVD really pissed me off. Where's the complete film someone, please?!!)

This reminded me of HerrSchreck's lament about not buying Joyless Street when he had the chance, Grapevine initially was offering a DVD-R of So This is Paris that was very nice quality. I phoned in an order for this and a couple other titles, but found this missing when the package arrived. When I called to find out what happened I was told my order came the day they were served with an injunction by Paramount. If I was just another day sooner...
By the way, HerrSchreck, I'm pretty sure that those DVDs were only planned to be released and aren't actually available. You'll notice that page says that Metropolis will be out in 2003, I tried contacting them about Asphalt before MoC released their version and was given the run around about whether or not the set would be released for over a year.

[HerrSchreck]

Have you contacted them since? That would be sort of incredible website laziness, three year old inaccuracies (not that it's impossible!).

Londoners had a chance to see what I suspect is the restored print of WARNING SHADOWS, plus some other key German silents (wonder if Der Mude Tod is the uncropped Transit print seen in THE METROPOLIS CASE?), see http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/event-d ... 306&pg=213

[htdm]

Have you contacted them since?

No, in fact I couldn't find the page until I ran across your link -- but one thing is certain, they haven't updated the page since I saw it last!

[Donald Trampoline]

The good news.
Rare Lubitsch silent available now:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E8N992" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The bad news.
Crap company (Alpha Video). Probably crap DVD. (Or has anyone here tried it? It's available for rent on Netflix as well. Amazon customer reviews are not too negative, but I'd hardly expect a full-length presentation of the film.)

It's also available here on DVD-R:
http://www.grapevinevideo.com/Pola_Negri.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(I'd expect this is the same as the Grapevine VHS version I saw, and it wasn't horrible, but I felt since it was from the American release print it had to have been hacked up.)

[htdm]

How on earth did they come up with such a cover?

[Matt]

Eyes of the Mummy gets shown in a decent, tinted print somewhat regularly on TCM, usually during October. It's not very good.

[unclehulot]

Eyes of the Mummy gets shown in a decent, tinted print somewhat regularly on TCM, usually during October. It's not very good.

I would bet good money that this TCM version beats the crap out of whatever Alpha puts out.......they are the worst DVD company in existence by a large margin.

[HerrSchreck]

EYES is not very interesting, has a marginal reputation as such. Every once & awhile ALPHA does something decent like coming out with decent interlaced transfers from digital beta sources like THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, PHANTOM PLANET, DETOUR, etc. One thing you hafta hand them... their collection of 30's & 40's exploitation films is fast becoming the best around. Problem is many of them are analog.

Also, they brought out TERROR OF TINYTOWN.. the all-midget musical-western! Run, don't walk! And the image aint bad. At 5 bucks, I won't complain.

[tryavna]

EYES is not very interesting, has a marginal reputation as such.

I agree completely with Schreck's evaluation. It's worth viewing once for Lubitsch completists, but it certainly lacks his usual "touch." BTW, you can actually catch a glimpse of Ernst himself -- accidentally. In the scene where Jannings breaks through the window, you can see a reflection of Lubitsch sitting in a director's chair. Probably the most interesting thing in the whole movie!

[Gigi M.]

From DVDBeaver:

On June 6, 2006, Kino is releasing three of the great "classics" of Swedish silent cinema:

Masterworks of Silent Cinema: Erotikon (Mauritz Stiller, 1920) Kino International

Masterworks of Silent Cinema: Sir Arne's Treasure (Mauritz Stiller ,1921) Kino International

Masterworks of Silent Cinema: The Saga of Gosta Berling (Mauritz Stiller, 1928) Kino International

(latter featuring the "debut" feature performance of Stiller's protege, Greta Gustafsson, whom he renamed "Greta Garbo").