Total new releases: zero.
Image Entertainment has announced additional D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks titles for laserdisc release. The highlight is a restored version of Griffith's epic of the French Revolution, Orphans of the Storm (1921), starring Dorothy and Lillian Gish. This is the same version recently released on video by Kino on Video in a very nice transfer, featuring the original 1922 score.
Following the success of the first box set of Douglas Fairbanks features from the 1920s, a second set is promised. This will include The Matrimaniac (1916), The Nut (1921), The Mark of Zorro (1920) and its sequel, Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925), and the sonorized edition of The Iron Mask (1929/52). These are the same editions as the videos offered by Kino on Video.
To get directly to Frank Thompson's review of D.W. Griffith's The Struggle and The Female of the Species & Biograph Shorts (vol. III) (1909-1913) link to: http://www.moviematch.com/remote/archives/co/co09_30.htm
For Frank's review of America and Orphans of the Storm, link to: http://www.moviematch.com/remote/archives/co/co10_28.htm
The Phantom of the Opera will be appearing again on laserdisc. There have been several previous laserdisc releases of this 1925 Lon Chaney classic. The Lumivision release was flawed by a poor music score, while the previous Image release offered a nice copy of the 1929 reissue version of the film, and a poor quality version of the original 1925 edition. According to Image, this new laserdisc restores the original color tints and the original two color Technicolor sequence. Other on-disc additions include the original trailer, production stills, poster art, and script. Following in the spirit of Image's The Black Pirate (1926) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), the package will include a copy of the original souvenir program.
A boomlet of interest in actress Nell Shipman rose briefly in 1987 with the posthumous publication of her autobiography "The Silent Screen and My Talking Heart." Producer Ernest Shipman and his wife Nell had filmed some of their independent productions in Idaho, and as Nell Shipman's films have been rediscovered at various archives, the titles have been offered on video by the Boise State University Press Bookstore.
The Idaho Film Collection's most recent video offering is Shipman's best film, Back to God's Country (1919), based on the story by James Oliver Curwood. The production was filmed on location in Canada, directed by David M. Hartford, and photographed by Joseph Walker. This release is the National Archives of Canada restoration (presumably transferred from 35mm), with a new score by Lindsay Cooper.
Unknown Video of South San Francisco has advertised another group of unlicensed copyrighted titles on video. Fig Leaves (1926) ia a Howard Hawks comedy for Fox featuring George O'Brien. Fine Manners (1926) was Gloria Swanson's last film for Paramount before entering independent production (The Love of Sunya, available from Critic's Choice, was her debut as producer/star). Kid Boots (1926), with Eddie Cantor, was a production of Paramount's East Coast studios with rising ingenue Clara Bow as the girl in a fun, but not classic, comedy. Another title from 1926 is a modest Paramount programmer, Love 'Em and Leave 'Em with Esther Ralston, although supporting player Louise Brooks steals the show when viewed by a modern audience. This tape advertises a Gershwin score, apparently with the goal of violating as many copyrights as possible at one time! Our site policy is to not list unauthorized releases of copyrighted titles in our Sources for Silent Movies on Home Video section, so these titles will not appear there.
Public domain releases from Unknown Video include Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917) with Mary Pickford; Just Pals (1920), an early John Ford film starring Buck Jones; a programmer with a railroad background, Westbound Limited (1923); and the exploitation picture The Road to Ruin (1928).
Horror/science-fiction distributor LSVideo, Inc. is offering a rare 1927 Universal title, A Hero for a Night, on video from an original tinted Show-at-Home print. This will not be included in our distributor listings in our Sources for Silent Movies on Home Video section.
The very active public domain distributor Videobrary, Inc. has announced the video release of The False Faces (1919), a Lon Chaney vehicle directed by Irvin Willat for Thomas H. Ince. Their advertisement promises an "original organ score and tints." This has been one of the most desired of the unavailable surviving Chaney vehicles, as it is a "Lone Wolf" mystery, starring a bland Henry B. Walthall as the gentleman thief.
Image Entertainment has released a newly mastered laserdisc of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Lon Chaney. It promises the best video quality yet ("from an original 1924 print" of the general release version), the same orchestral score of stock music as previous Image/Kino releases (an early announcement promised a Gaylord Carter score), an essay by Lon Chaney biographer Michael Blake on the back cover and gatefold, and behind the scenes footage. The jacket has well-chosen illustrations, and the package includes a reproduction of the original souvenir program.
The American Memory project of the Library of Congress has posted an extensive site devoted to American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment 1870-1920. The site includes 334 English- and Yiddish-language playscripts, 146 theater playbills and programs, 61 motion pictures, and 143 photographs and 29 memorabilia items documenting the life and career of Harry Houdini. The films, mostly from the Library's Paper Print collection, are in Quicktime format. The site concludes with 1920, not because that year marked the end of stage entertainment in the U.S., but because the U.S. has a maximum copyright term of 75 years for material from that era, and pre-1921 material is in the public domain. The site can be reached at: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vshome.html
In the on-line world, Jeff Shannon praises Images
Entertainment's recent Classics of Early Soviet Cinema laserdisc
set at Microsoft's Cinemania website. Shannon's profile discusses the four-disc,
five-film collection that includes "a glorious print" of The Man With
a Movie Camera (with score by The Alloy Orchestra), along with Strike,
Earth, The End of Saint Petersburg and The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty.
Shannon also discusses the Golden Age of German Cinema box
set, also from Image. The article is available at:
http://cinemania.msn.com/cinemania/reviews/videos/primecut/PrimeCuts4.htm
The Photoplay Productions series Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood had its American premiere in June on the cable channel Turner Classic Movies. The six hour documentary was written and produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, who were responsible for the excellent "Hollywood" series and award-winning documentaries on Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and D.W. Griffith.
The Other Hollywood will receive an encore run on TCM in December. On Wednesday, December 11, 1996, the first two hours will be shown at 8:00 pm (ET) with a repeat at 11:30 pm. The second two hours follow on the same schedule the following night, and the series concludes with the final two hours on Friday, December 13.
The series was the subject of an outstanding website, which has all
of the photos and text that you might expect from a coffee table picture
book, with the addition of many, many movie clips in Quicktime format.
You can reach the site at:
http://www.turner.com/tcm/TCMWeb96/June96/Cinema_Europe.html
Kino on Video releases as many silent classics as all other distributors combined. Many of the titles have never been available before, and all releases feature new transfers (usually from 35mm) and new music scores. Kino has announced their video releases for 1997:
AFI's over-designed web site uses so many frames that the remaining
screen size is almost too small to see what it is offering. However, it
includes several press releases, rave reviews of Richard III by
celebrities (before they saw the film), and four downloadable clips, in
Realmovie format. You can reach the Richard III portion of AFI's
site directly at:
http://www.afionline.org/archive/films/richard3/richard3.html
Remember to visit The Silent Bookshelf, a monthly feature of Silent Film Sources (also available from this site's main menu). This month's selection is devoted to three articles from the silent era discussing the outrageous salaries paid to silent film actors and actresses. The articles are from Photoplay Magazine, which was a respected observer of the film industry in 1915, 1916 and 1923, when these articles were originally published.
Critic's Choice announces four new silent film releases, three of them on video for the first time. The best is the 1929 U.S. release version of Maurice Tourneur's German Das Schiff Der Verlorene Menschen, released in the U.S. as Ship of Lost Men. The film features Marlene Dietrich, and is beautifully photographed and very enjoyable. Rarer, though not as good, is the 1927 Gloria Swanson vehicle The Love of Sunya, her first independent production after leaving Paramount, and the film that opened the Roxy Theatre in New York. Apparently, Critic's Choice offers Brown of Harvard, a 1926 MGM picture, because of a bit part played by John Wayne. It features some on-location filming at the Harvard campus, and Photoplay magazine called it "fine entertainment." If Critic's Choice could license films from Turner Entertainment, you would think they could aim a little higher than this William Haines/Mary Brian programmer. Last, and least, is the first Theda Bara picture, A Fool There Was (1914). There is no indication in the catalog of what music scores, if any, accompany these films. These titles, save Brown of Harvard, are from the Killiam Collection, and were never previously available.
The long-awaited laserdisc release of The Black Pirate (1926) has finally appeared on store shelves. It is a gem, with a top-notch performance of the original music score composed by Mortimer Wilson, and here conducted by Robert Israel. Following the feature are about 20 minutes of fascinating outtakes narrated by Rudy Behlmer, pointing out details that are not immediately obvious when watching the footage (some of the athletic stunts were filmed in reverse). Behlmer is the ideal host, as he contributed an impeccibly researched two part overview of the production to American Cinematographer magazine a few years back. He also provides a discussion of the film and the circumstances of its production on the second audio track. The two-color Technicolor feature has never looked better, and the restoration includes the original intertitles.
Kino on Video releases a second group of D.W Griffith silent films, many tinted, with the original 1920s scores. The films are licensed from the successor to Griffith estate. More details next month.
The 16mm non-theatrical market continues to consolidate. Columbia Pictures has shifted all of their films to Swank, so the 16mm Frank Capra silents restored by Kit Parker Films are now only available from Swank.
In the on-line world, Leonard Maltin posted a tribute to several
silent film fanzines as part of his weekly Cinemania column. Read his discussion
of The Lloyd Herald, Limelight, and The Keaton Chronicle
at:
http://Cinemania.msn.com/Cinemania/Features/10_14_96Maltin.htm
Remember to visit The Silent Bookshelf, a new feature of Silent Film Sources (also available from this site's main menu). This month's selection is devoted to three articles from the 1920s by prominent composer/conductors who compiled scores for silent films.
Your input is invited. Send your comments on silent films, or notes on upcoming releases to David Pierce, sunrise@dc.infi.net
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Send additions, suggestions, comments or questions to David Pierce,
prizma@onetel.com
© 1996, 1997 David Pierce