A Spring 1996 announcement from Image Entertainment
included Noah's Ark and
While a number of MGM silents starring Lon Chaney and John Gilbert are "lost films," Garbo's work at MGM is complete with the exception of the disappearance of The Divine Woman. According to MGM, the original negative was destroyed by a 1965 explosion in storage vault 7 on Lot 3 at MGM's Culver City studio. A lone reel was discovered in the early 1990s. It turned out to be a complete sequence with Garbo, which is lovely in its presentation of understated passion. Contemporary reviews indicate that this was not one of Garbo's best films, but based on the quality of this scene, the entire film would be due for reconsideration if found today.
Other Garbo silent era titles on laserdisc are all available through Image. A 1981 restoration of her second German feature The Joyless Street (1925) features a piano score by Steve Sterner. Flesh and the Devil (1927) with a very romantic Carl Davis score is included in the Greta Garbo Collection laserdisc set. A Woman of Affairs (1929) with an orchestral score by Davis (replacing the original Movietone score) was released in 1992. In 1993, Garbo's final two silents from 1929 (each with their original Movietone orchestral score) were released in a double feature set with The Single Standard (a routine film, copied from a well-worn print) and The Kiss, a triumph of production design and the moving camera, directed by Jacques Feyder.
This will leave only two of Garbo's features at MGM unreleased on laserdisc: her first feature, The Temptress (1926), and The Mysterious Lady (1928).
While Walt Disney reinvented the animated cartoon with the coming of sound, there were many animated shorts in the silent era. John Canemaker is the champion of silent animation and has written the definitive books on cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay ("Winsor McCay His Life and Art,") and Felix the Cat ("Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat"), the subject of these DVD releases.
Despite the interest of some enthusiasts (Donald Crafton's "Before Mickey," 1982, MIT Press), animation in the silent era seldom, if ever, reached the later accomplishments of Walt Disney and Chuck Jones. The source material for silent cartoons was often newspaper comics, licensed by syndicates to cartoon studios, animated on an assembly line basis, and showing about as much invention and individuality as a car or toaster.
The exception is the work of Winsor McCay. Best remembered for Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), his ten films broke all the rules of cartooning and film with fluid drawing and clear characterizations. John Canemaker called him the first master of the comic strip and the animated cartoon. There is a nice website devoted to McCay at http://www.slip.net/~thomasg/mccay.html.
Born in 1867, after a varied career, McCay began his first comic strip in 1903, and with a move to New York rapidly began a succession of memorable newspaper comics- "Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend" and "Little Nemo." In 1906 McCay entered vaudeville as a quick sketch artist, and in 1911, after a year of work he added an animated Little Nemo to his vaudeville act. (The surviving version has a live action prologue and epilogue for distribution without McCay in person). The later Gertie the Dinosaur was designed to react and respond to McCay on stage.
Each frame of McCay's first three films was drawn on rice paper, and one story said that he chose to animate his characters of Nemo and Gertie to indicate that they could not have been traced from live action (using the popular rotoscoping process). With his fourth film, the astounding The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), McCay shifted to the standard cell process, but it did not limit his technique or imagination.
The Lumivision DVD release of Animation Legend Winsor McCay contains all of McCay's surviving films. The 100 minute program was originally produced for laserdisc release by Lumivision, and was released on VHS by Milestone Film & Video. This is an excellent justification for DVD. The laserdisc edition was a two-disc, four sided set, so that the animation fanatics could examine the images frame by frame. As a result, it had a premium price of $70. The VHS is $40. Since DVD can easily hold the entire program on one side, it is a more affordable $30.
The program was produced by Albert Miller from the 35mm materials held by the Cinemateque Quebecoise. The laserdisc and DVD include an illustrated insert describing McCay and this release. There is an excellent lengthy essay by McCay biographer John Canemaker on his life and career in film, by Louise Beaudet on the animation collections of the Cinemateque Quebecoise, and disc producer Albert Miller on the rescue of McCay's films from oblivion and detailed notes on the transfer to video tape.
Winsor McCay's son Robert had turned over a large collection of his father's films to a family friend who stored them in his garage on Long Island. They were discovered in varying stages of decay in 1947 by a young animation producer, Robert Brotherton. He placed the films into storage and conserved them until they were acquired and preserved by the Cinemateque Quebecoise in 1967.
While indifferent quality 16mm prints of some of the titles have been in distribution (and videos made from them), the Lumivision/Milestone release is a revelation. In the Cinemateque Quebecoise materials it is finally possible to see the detail of McCay's drawings, and several of the subjects retain their original hand coloring. A few of McCay's films survive only as fragments, but have been included for completeness. The overall image quality is very good, and the image is significantly windowboxed so that the entire image can be seen. In the DVD edition, you can freeze images, but two of every five individual frames is unsteady (this is an artifact that remains from the original transfer from film to video).
The music score by R.J. Miller uses an electronic synthesizer, similar in technique to his score for Lumivision's The Lost World (discussed in our September issue). Themes are repeated, so the soundtrack is best listened to in small doses, which is not inappropriate to savor the ten films in this program. Each film is introduced by a title which indicates whether the surviving print was l6mm or 35mm (most of them are 35mm), which is a practice we wish all distributors would follow. The liner notes indicate that most of the films were transferred at the speed of 20 frames per second.
Eighty years after its creation, McCay's work continues to amaze and delight both in technical prowess and fluid imagery, and wild, unbounded imagination. Animation Legend Winsor McCay is a proper tribute to the first genius of American animated film.
It is ironic that many more people are familiar with Felix the Cat than Winsor McCay- at least the "Felix the Cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat!" from the television show of the 1960s. That Felix was a far cry from the original cat of the 1920s. While Krazy Kat started as a comic strip, Felix first appeared in films, and Donald Crafton calls Felix "the quintessential cartoon of the 1920s."
Felix was the creation of animator Otto Messmer. He created the first few cartoons entirely by himself. When the enormous popularity of Felix required a new release twice a month, the staff increased, but the creative inspiration was clearly Messmer. The cartoons were first released by Famous Players-Lasky, then M.J. Winkler, Educational and finally Jacques Kopfstein for release through Copley Pictures. There is a fine Felix the Cat website at http://wso.williams.edu/~ktaylor/gerstein/felix/ which appears to feature every scrap known about Otto Messmer and Felix.
Animation completists should be excited to have this program of eight Felix cartoons from 1919-1930. They show a definite evolution from an early stick-like character in Feline Follies (1919) to the more rounded Felix of 1930's Felix Whoops Whoopee (the only sound cartoon of the group), which could pass as a Fleischer cartoon of the same period.
Image quality is fine, and the silent era cartoons feature another electronic score by R.J. Miler. The bonus on the 60 minute disc is a short silent clip of Otto Messmer at work in the 1960s. Like Winsor McCay, the program was produced by Albert Miller from prints held by the Cinemateque Quebecoise. This 60 minute program is $40 on laserdisc and $25 on DVD from Lumivision. The VHS edition from Milestone Film & Video is $40.
Both the McCay and Felix DVDs are packaged in the DVD plastic snap case, which is probably the sturdiest holder. The Lost World was released in a jewel case (the same as music CDs), while the Image DVDs discussed below are in the Warner Bros. plastic reinforced cardboard package.
Pirates and two other early films made in Colorado are part of a new video and book, each titled Hollywood, Colorado. Together the book and tape present the story of early film production, in Colorado. A unit of the Selig Polyscope Company made one reel westerns in Canon City, Colorado, from 1911 to 1913. After Selig pulled out, the Colorado Motion Picture Company made films in the state for release by Warner Features, which later became Warner Bros.
The 70 minute video includes Buck's Romance (1912), A Matrimonial Deluge (1913), both produced by Selig, and Pirates of the Plains. The films represent a real window into the past. Unlike studio-bound films produced in New York and California, these films were filmed largely outdoors, with real cowboys and Indians. The stories can't help but give us insight into contemporary views of ethics, loyalty and manhood and bias against minorities. In the real west, not every woman is beautiful, nor every leading man a hero. The Selig films could have been set in the recent past or the present of 1912/13, as they show the last gasp of the old west, with transportation by horse and train. Westerns of the twenties were likely to send the ingenue out for a leisurely ride on horseback to give the villain a chance to confront her. In Pirates of the Plains, the heroine is feeding the chickens when he comes by, so she throws the chicken feed in his face!
In Buck's Romance, the cowboy's horse race against Chief War Eagle results in Buck winning an Indian maiden, to his annoyance, his stern-faced fiancé's distress, and his friends' delight. The interiors were filmed outside to take advantage of the sun, and it is enjoyable to see the curtains flapping in the breeze. In A Matrimonial Deluge, a cowboy advertises for a mail order bride, and sends a letter to his choice. His buddies send the letter to each applicant, and when they all arrive on the same train, they chase him on horseback through some rustic landscape. The story assumes that all women know how to ride- perhaps true in Colorado in 1913, but certainly not now.
Pirates of the Plains is a great leap forward, partly because it is three reels long, but also due to more sophisticated characterizations. It demonstrates how rapidly filmmaking techniques could advance in a short period of time as innovations were assimilated from other companies and filmmakers. The story also has a wider scope, with a story that covers a longer period of time. The plot includes larger scale scenes of horse -rustling, which were far beyond the scope of the one reelers, though the sign indicating the United States-Mexico border is not sufficient to convince the audience that a Colorado creek is the Rio Grande.
Each film has been transferred from 35mm negatives at an appropriate speed. The musical score recreates the sound of a photoplayer, which was a more elaborate version of a player piano, incorporating additional sounds including, in this case, pipe organ, marimba and a few sound effects.
The tape includes a short prologue with Professor Hall giving the context of the production of the two Selig titles. The introduction for Pirates of the Plains discusses the Colorado Motion Picture Company. The prints are generally good condition, and the main titles are intact and each is sharp with good contrast, with A Matrimonial Deluge the weakest visually. For this film the cameraman seemed satisfied that the image is in focus, and it is that casualness that gives these films much of their charm.
The book "Hollywood, Colorado" is by David Emrich, a Denver-based film historian. He has researched the fragmentary historical record and newspapers of the time to present an entertaining account of how moviemaking came to Colorado. First, a representative of Thomas Edison filmed short movies in 1897 while passing through Colorado on his way to California. Denver still photographer H.H. "Buck" Buckwalter made local films to enhance his shows, and sold some of them to the Selig Polyscope Company starting in 1902. In the summer of 1911, a Selig unit came to Colorado, and the story here emphasizes the participation of Tom Mix, still a few years from stardom. The director of the Selig company was Otis Thayer, and he left Selig, staying in Colorado, helping to form the Colorado Motion Picture Company.
Fortunately, Emrich's telling of this story goes far beyond reprinting movie plots and career summaries of the players as he places these productions in a broader context. He points out that many of the films included stunts and daring action, but they came at a price, and he discusses the accidents that were usually not publicized. Horses ran off, taking the ingenue with them; real bullets were used in scenes, making casualties inevitable; and in 1914 actress Grace McHugh drowned when her horse stumbled while crossing a river. Cameraman Owen Carter was swept away trying to save her.
In his conclusion Emrich states that "it is in this pre-Hollywood era that we see a film genre being created, rather than repeated." And it is the importance of the west in popular culture and the roughness and lack of self-awareness in these films that make this book and video so worthwhile.
The beautifully designed book is 80 pages, 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches with a color cover, incorporating previously unpublished photos and behind-the-scenes stills, including many from the collection of the Western History Department of the Denver Public Library. "Hollywood, Colorado" is a fine tribute to the early days of filmmaking, and as the publisher notes, makes a surefire holiday gift.
"Hollywood, Colorado" (the book) is $9.95 and Hollywood, Colorado (the video) is $19.95, plus $2.50 shipping and handling per order. Orders (payable by check or credit card) should be sent to Post Modern Company, 940 Wadsworth Blvd., Lakewood, CO 80215. Additional information and an order form can be found on Frank Wylie's Kinoville website at http://www.infinet.com/~fwylie/PROFHAL/PROFHALL.HTM.
It is fortunate for collectors that each of these has become available in definitive (or close to definitive) laserdisc and video editions, and these are now available on DVD from Image Entertainment. Each is mastered from 35mm archival quality elements with authentic tinting, effective and appropriate music (two of the three contain newly commissioned orchestral scores), and represents the best on these titles we are likely to see for quite a while. Each DVD is $30.
The Phantom of the Opera was Universal's major release for 1925. It starred Lon Chaney in the title role. Despite being hidden behind a mask, Chaney managed to elicit an sensitive and sympathetic performance from the character. The film exists in two differing versions. The best surviving version is the 1930 reissue, which was preserved in 35mm by the George Eastman House film archive. The original 1925 version survives only in copies made from 16mm Show-at-Home prints, and some prints of unknown condition and quality in foreign archives.
Phantom has been available in two previous laserdisc editions released almost simultaneously in 1990. The Lumivision edition had a fine transfer, but the music score by organist Korla Pandit was not very good. Some reviewers, unaware that the music was recorded in a live performance, accused the producers of adding a laugh track to the film! The original Image release (with the familiar silver cover) contained a slightly better transfer (steadier, and including a bit more of the picture) with an organ score by Gaylord Carter. The two disc set also included a poor quality (best available) version of the original 1925 release version with no music score. Both the Lumivision and Image versions had the Bal Masque sequence in color, but it looked better on the Image disc.
This edition eclipses both versions. The image is sharper and clearer, with the original tints restored. In addition, it features an orchestral score by Gabriel Thibaudoux and vocals by soprano Claudine Cote, which sounds wonderful in DVD's Dolby Digital format. The biggest change is that the film has been slowed to 20 frames per second for a running time of 92 minutes. This was a surprise, since the film never seemed too fast at 24 frames per second. However, the film works beautifully at this speed, and never seems to drag. The Image DVD packaging includes a foldout jacket with an essay by Michael Blake and a few wonderful behind-the-scenes production photographs. The laser included a very nice facsimile reproduction of the original program, which is the only element not included in the DVD package.
Nosferatu was the first (and unauthorized) adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula." Upon initial viewing, the film seems to be an odd choice for director F.W. Murnau. Nosferatu was filmed on real locations, in contrast to Murnau's usual studio settings. However, Murnau still carefully controlled the visual elements of the entire film with photography by Fritz Arno Wagner, and production design by Albin Grau. Murnau uses every visual trick available (filming scenes in reverse to give an eerie feeling when shown forward; showing some effects in a negative image) to produce the intended sense of pending doom.
For many years Nosferatu was known more through remarkable scene photographs of vampire Max Schreck in Lottie Eisner's "The Haunted Screen," than from actual viewings. For me, at least, the stills promised more than the murky film delivered. However, when seen in a restored print, much like its title character, the film comes to life. It certainly helps if you are in the proper mood, but Nosferatu is one of the silent era's classics of the genre. With such a familiar story, the impact is in the telling, and by that criteria, Nosferatu continues to surprise and thrill.
The previous editions of the film have been incomplete and of mediocre quality. The Kino on Video VHS release, the previous Image laserdisc and the new DVD edition represent a dramatic improvement. "Mastered from 35mm archival material," it includes previously unavailable footage, and an excellent organ score by Timothy Howard. While the text on the back cover is excerpted from David Skal's "Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of 'Dracula' From Novel to Stage to Screen," the second audio track features an audio essay by "German silent film connoisseur Lokke Heiss." Unlike Phantom and Caligari, this DVD does not include a foldout jacket with additional text or photos, so it does not qualify for the "Special Collector's Edition" label on the DVD cover.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is important for combining film with designs from what was then avant garde art. Previous video and laserdisc editions have been made from the 1952 Film Renters reissue (released on a double bill with The Last Laugh). While this was released in 35mm, it was a pale (and contrasty) reflection of the original film. occasional showings of archive prints were not much better. The Landmark Laservision laserdisc release was of indifferent quality, with a score of stock orchestral music.
After World War II, when German split into east and west, it was the inaccessible East German film archive that had the better material on the classic German silent films. It was both a blessing and a curse when one of the East German prints became available for this DVD, laserdisc and video release. The print featured significantly better image quality than any previously available, but that the particular print had been defectively manufactured. Silent films used the entire 35mm image area with a very thin frame line. Later films used a thicker frame line, and the lab equipment used to make this copy was not properly set up, creating an artifact- a translucent line near the top of each frame. I was able to examine this print before it was used for the video transfer, and the effect was similar to running a string horizontally a few feet from a theatre screen. It didn't block the light completely, but it did distort the image slightly.
With this release, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari receives care and attention. The transfer to video was painstaking, extracting every bit of image quality that the print had to offer. For the first time, it was clear that the walls of the sets are canvas, as they are rolled up where they reach the floor. The score for string orchestra by Timothy Brock fits the uneasy, testy mood of the film exactly. The titles are restored to match the original expressionist design used for the 1919 release with spashes of color and angular text. The audio essay by Mike Budd is fine and discusses the production of the film, and its original release. Only the "selection of original graphic materials" is underwhelming. The images seem to be printouts from microfilm, and while they are welcome, they are a bit of a letdown considering the extensive graphic supplements available on some laserdiscs and DVDs. There is a nice website devoted to Caligari at http://www.kiss.com/richter/caligari/cindex.htm.
The laserdisc and DVD contain a three minute excerpt from Genuine, a later film by director Robert Weine. The excerpt was limited on the laserdisc due to that format's technical limitations of 30 minutes on a side that contains freeze frames (to support those "original graphic materials"). The VHS contained a 19 minute excerpt. The DVD could have held the longer clip, but it has the same three minute excerpt as the laserdisc. The clip is not that exciting either at 19 minutes or three, so three minutes was enough for me.
Celebrating Film Preservation in a New Book
The responsibility for saving our film heritage is the collective mission of our film archives. Starting in the 1930s, these public or non-profit institutions collected old films before it was fashionable, and are credited with (or take credit for) preserving those films for generations to come. In 1969 when the best surviving materials on the entire RKO library were donated to the American Film Institute, the AFI could rightly proclaim themselves as protecting Citizen Kane and other classics from oblivion, since the films' owners were unwilling even to pay to store their negatives properly.
Now that old films have commercial value for release on cable, video and now DVD, their absentee owners recognize that preserving the films is in their economic interest. Wishing to commercialize those same films they once seemingly didn't mind giving away, the studios are following in the footsteps of the archives, often using techniques they pioneered. (This activity was also driven by the realization that while safety film is not flammable like nitrate, it too is subject to chemical decomposition and decay.)
While this is gratifying to see this change of heart, corporate preservation has left the archives in a quandary. The high-profile films that could drive fundraising activities are now protected. And it is difficult to argue for more preservation when most old films look just fine on television (although video masters are sometimes made from nitrate elements that have not yet been copied to safety film). At the same time, the National Endowment for the Arts significantly reduced its support for preservation. The result has been to emphasize cooperative projects between studios and archives, and for the archives to pay more attention to "orphan films" (including newsreels and films produced for ethnic audiences), whose owners cannot or will not preserve them.
This split in direction was evident in November at the annual conference of the Association of Moving Image Archivists held in Bethesda, Maryland. Commercial laboratories and studio preservation departments demonstrated the cutting edge work (including remarkable before and after demonstrations of scenes from In the Heat of the Night). Cartouche (1955), undergoing restoration from the original Ferraniacolor, was presented by Warner Bros., motivated undoubtedly for commercial, not sentimental reasons. The archives presented orphan films- the Dayton, Ohio flood of 1913, a Biograph short from 1908, and a stunning print of Rhapsody in Wood, a George Pal short from 1947, restored from the original three-color negatives. (The Pal shorts are owned by Republic Pictures). The AMIA website is at http://www.amianet.org
"Our Movie Heritage" is a new book that celebrates and documents the past and future of film preservation. As one reader pointed out, the book would actually be more accurately titled "Preserving Our Movie Heritage." While the 208 page book is so filled with well-selected photographs (139 in black and white, and another 17 in color) that it would qualify as a "coffee table book," the value of the book is in the text.
Presenting both an emotional justification for the historical, cultural and sentimental value of old films, the book offers a fine introduction to how fragile that record actually is. The text emphasizes the activities of the largest film archive (at the Library of Congress), with due credit to the Museum of Modern Art, George Eastman House and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Perhaps the most valuable sections are essays on specific restoration projects (Lost Horizon, Spartacus, A Star is Born (1954), Becky Sharp, To Each His Own, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) that address each film's cultural or historical significance and restoration challenges. Less detailed attention is given to equally complex studio projects such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, A Streetcar Named Desire and Gone With the Wind.
The book focuses on the films that were saved, not those that got away, so there is no mention of the fires and lapses in judgment by archives that were discussed in Anthony Slide's earlier survey of film preservation "Nitrate Won't Wait" (1992, McFarland Press). Some studio "horror stories" do make it into the text. We learn that "when MCA/Universal bought the Paramount library (1928-1948) and licensed it to television, MCA copied the films to acetate and destroyed the nitrate negatives. Today the best preservation elements available to restore a Paramount Picture from this period, like To Each His Own (1946), are often the nitrate studio prints housed at the UCLA Film and Television Archive" (page 143). Similarly, "Columbia Pictures, for example, hastily transferred its best titles, such as It Happened One Night (1934), to safety material and then destroyed the nitrate" (page 79). But the studios are not presented as villains. Instead they are now enlightened with their own, sometimes comprehensive efforts.
Even if the book emphasizes the good news about preservation, the authors do not completely ignore the less comfortable issues- the tension that sometimes occurs between archives and studios (for funding and access) and the archives' desperate need for financial support that results in a symbiotic relationship between the archives and copyright holders. The archives need to preserve and restore high profile films to ensure funding, but it is the forgotten and orphan films that are at the greatest risk of loss. The need for access and for archival funds were the subject of a panel at the AMIA conference on "The Commercialization of Moving Image Archives," which in practice means licensing clips in competition with commercial stock footage providers, not releasing forgotten films on home video.
The questions of funding and access are threaded throughout the book, though here the authors rely on the Library of Congress film preservation hearings of 1993. They quote the concern of the Committee for Film Preservation and Access: "Just as a falling tree makes no sound if no one is around to hear it, preserving a film makes no sense if no one is allowed to see it." (the Committee's entire statement is posted at http://www.cinemaweb.com/access/pre_stmt.htm). Brian O'Doherty of the National Endowment for the Arts asked "what has the public got in return" for "some 10 million in tax dollars" to support nitrate preservation? In the book we learn that the restoration of Mr. Smith cost close to $100,000 and was "funded in part by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation," and the restored version was released on videocassette by Sony Picture Entertainment. Federal employees restored the film, and the new negative is government property, but the restored film can only be shown with the permission of the owner, which retains all commercial income.
The authors do make it clear that there are no easy answers. Digital technology is reviewed, but rightly discarded as too expensive for most projects. And after all, the purpose of the much heralded computer restoration of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was to produce a better film master. The immaculate video release was made from the restored 35mm material, not directly from the computer.
The book contains a few minor, inconsequential errors. The National Archives preserved its nitrate holdings in 35mm, not 16mm (page 66), and the UCLA Film Archive copied a nitrate print of the 1914 version of Tess of the Storm Country starring Mary Pickford, not the 1922 remake (page 85). The 1922 version, in fact, only survives in 16mm preservation materials made in the 1950s by George Eastman House, funded by Mary Pickford herself.
"Our Movie Heritage" by Tom McGreevey and Joanne L. Yeck is available for $45 from Rutgers University Press. This book will amply reward the reader with a better understanding of the importance of film preservation and the odds facing those who champion that cause.
More Upcoming Releases
Image Entertainment has announced the DVD release of The Thief of Bagdad starring Douglas Fairbanks. This is the same edition that appeared on VHS from Kino on Video and in the Fairbanks laserdisc box set from Image. The transfer is from a 35mm negative,, with restored tints to match the original. The running time in Image's announcement is erroneously listed as 129 minutes, but we confirmed that the disc will be the complete 138 minutes. (This was a typo, not an attempt to fit the film on the DVD). The organ score is performed by Gaylord Carter, and is based on the cue sheets distributed with the film on its initial release. The list price of this DVD is $30.
Image has also announced the laserdisc release of The Lumiere Brothers First Films, containing 85 of the short films produced from 1895-1897 by the Lumieres. This is the same 62 minute program available on VHS from Kino on Video, and features a piano score by Stuart Oderman. The insightful, informal narration is by French director Bertrand Tavernier. The laserdisc is $50, the same price as the video.
We will run a complete story next month, but Image Entertainment has announced the laserdisc release of Classics of Early Soviet Cinema II at $125. This overlaps with the recent Kino on Video VHS series The Soviet Avant Garde, which featured outstanding quality copies of surprisingly enjoyable films produced by various Soviet filmmakers. The titles include an extended version of Storm Over Asia, By the Law, Turksib, Salt for Svanetia, Arsenal, The Deserter and the reconstruction of Eisenstein's Bezhin Meadow.
This issue's reviews include the past video releases Ben-Hur and Douglas Fairbanks' The Black Pirate.
Silent films are alive and well in Great Britain's capital. I had the opportunity to spend a week visiting and it is a great film town (with better than expected weather).
The principal venue for silents is the National Film Theatre, affiliated with the British Film Institute. Their three theatres are on London's South Bank- part of an arts complex deliberately intended to draw people away from the more stylish North Bank of the Thames. The two theatres NFT 1 and NFT 2 share a building with the Museum of the Moving Image (which is more for school children than hard-core film buffs). The Museum Theatre is used for specialized shows, such as a September showing of Across Africa in an Automobile, a 1929 Austrian documentary featuring Count Laszlo Almasy (the Ralph Fiennes character in The English Patient.)
Each month's programming includes a silent film with accompaniment by Neil Brand. Recent titles include Buster Keaton's Our Hospitality (1923) and Nell Shipman's The Grub Stake (1923). Other silents are part of various series (Howard Hawks, for example) and specialized shows such as silent short comedies in the Museum Cinema. The published guide seldom mentions the accompanists, not because they are not important, but because they are not confirmed at press time.
The theatres are actually located under Waterloo Bridge and the next round of urban fix-up is going to create a riverfront sculpture that will take out NFT2. Fortunately, this has been seized as an opportunity to relocate the theatres to a five-plex in the West End, and allow the Museum to expand into the vacated space.
The London Film Festival, held from 6-23 November, features a "Treasures from the Archives" sidebar with newly restored or uncovered silent films. This year includes a recent restoration of Cabiria (1914) from the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, Italy; The Joyless Street (1925) from the Munchen Filmmuseum; The Life and Death of King Richard III (1912) from the American Film Institute; Frank Capra's The Matinee Idol (1928) from Sony Pictures and AMPAS; A Throw of Dice (a 1929 silent epic from India); D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm (1921) from the Museum of Modern Art; Michel Strogoff (1926) from the Cinemateque Francais. The highlight will likely be a new five-archive restoration of Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) which adds back scenes cut by the German censors.
The festival ties in with a performance on November 17 of the restored Nosferatu (1922), produced by Photoplay Productions, and sponsored by Channel 4 at Royal Festival Hall. The score by James Bernard (remembered fondly for his scores for Hammer horror films) is his first in twenty years. Apparently Bernard was commissioned to write the score by an American party that never paid him. So Photoplay was able to pick up the work in progress. For details on this show, see Tom Murray's Live Cinema Calendar at http://www.cinemaweb.com/lcc on the Silents Majority site at http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/England/97lonfes.htm
Despite all this seeming activity, all is not upbeat. The audience that greeted Napoleon in 1980 has aged, and younger audiences have not taken their place. Channel 4 is very selective about the titles they sponsor, so this year's film is not a Photoplay restoration. The annual Channel 4 silent is the product, not of audience demand, but of Channel 4 philanthropy. As the broadcast market in the UK has shifted from culture to commerce and become more focused on ratings, broadcast of silent films has become a rare event. The BBC no longer licenses silent films for broadcast (verified by two sources there) and Channel 4 sponsors their annual Photoplay title.
What I found most surprising is the lack of interest in older British films. There were no British silents among the nine in the London Film Festival, and the British sound films were David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948) and His Lordship (1932), a newly discovered Michael Powell feature to be introduced by his widow, Thelma Schoonmaker Powell. In reviewing the past titles screened at the National Film Theatre, I was amazed at how many British titles familiar to me from articles by William K. Everson were seldom or never shown. One BFI consultant pointed out to me that for many years there was a long-standing prejudice against the bulk of domestic production- especially the films directed to a working class audience. And that is sound films. As for British silent films....
The Maurice Elvey films at this year's Pordenone Festival were well received- admittedly by audiences weary of Chinese silent features. I am told that next year's festival will include an overview of British silents. The overwhelming image of British silent features is static adaptations of theatrical successes, perhaps starring Ivor Novello. The myth is none too promising, but the truth is yet to be explored.
To investigate silent films on home video, I visited BFI home video. Formerly a joint venture with distributor Argos Films, this is now a commercial distributor. Their catalog compares with HomeVision or New Yorker Video in the U.S. with many titles by Renoir, Kurosawa and Jacques Tati. All of these are PAL format. The silent offerings are from Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's Photoplay Productions. Priced for collectors at £13 ($20), films include seven Harold Lloyd features, including four silents. The Photoplay restoration of The Birth of a Nation (broadcast on Turner Classic Movies, but otherwise unavailable in the U.S.) is £16. Documentaries include the Brownlow/Gill series on comedians (Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd) and D.W. Griffith (each at £13). From other sources are Winsor McCay (the same as released in the U.S. by Milestone Film & Video) and the documentary The Silent Feminists. The series of pre-Revolutionary Russian silents offered in the U.S. by Milestone Film & Video is available through BFI Films, not the home video division.
Fortunately, there will be more silents in the near future. The spring will echo the Cecil B. DeMille releases in the U.S. with Joan the Woman (1916) and The Whispering Chorus (1918) (same as the Kino releases) and the Classic Movie Project edition of Carmen (1915), which features a better score, but dramatically inferior transfer to the Kino edition. Also there are mumblings of additional Photoplay feature releases.
The UK video business is a fraction of the American market. Video rental is not as ever-present as in the U.S., though it is partially compensated by a large sell-through business. The hottest titles are on sale everywhere. Having examined sales figures from U.S. distributors and the BFI, it is doubly surprising that the BFI's sales figures match or exceed U.S. sales of comparable silent titles. This may be based on the fewer titles in release, and with only 4 or 5 over-the-air television channels there is less free competition. One upcoming release is a two tape set of The Threepenny Opera (1931) in both the French and German language versions which featured different casts. Stores tend not to stock specialized product, so there is more of a mail-order business.
Hanging over the trip was a sense of loss from the passing of David Gill. I didn't know him well, but the testimonials poured out from everyone I talked to. Kevin Brownlow reminded me that the restorations of The Gold Rush and The Birth of a Nation were entirely Gill's work. Brownlow's contribution to The Gold Rush was to splice it together according to Gill's instructions. It was generally assumed that Brownlow was responsible for all good things to emerge from their partnership, but he attested that Gill's strengths dramatically improved each project. Their current venture was to participate in the refurbishing of the Sadler's Wells opera house to show silent films.
Mary Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood
In 1919, the four most powerful creative figures in the film industry joined to form their own releasing company, United Artists. Their names and their accomplishments are remembered today. D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm was shown at the 1997 New York Film Festival; Charlie Chaplin's films are reentering theatrical release, and the image of his tramp is universally recognized; Douglas Fairbanks' entire output of the 1920s was recently released on video and laserdisc. These three have been portrayed on U.S. postage stamps. But what of the fourth partner?
Mary Pickford was for many years the highest paid woman in the world. From her initial work in films for D.W. Griffith she became a star in early feature films beginning in the mid-teens. Pickford's biggest hits were child roles, which she eventually felt was constraining. By the 1920s, she and her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, were Hollywood royalty. Her outsized success pushed up the financial expectations of every other star.
Two joint biographies of Pickford and Fairbanks appeared in 1977 from Booton Herndon and Gary Carey. Pickford-only biographies appeared in 1973 by Robert Windeler, and 1990 by Scott Eyman. (I was the principal researcher on the Eyman book). None of these biographers focus on the films. While enjoyable, Pickford never made a truly great film, while her equally hardworking friend, Lillian Gish, appeared in half a dozen. (Then why was the last biography of Lillian Gish published in 1932?)
If there was no crying need for another biography of Mary Pickford, Eileen Whitfield's "Mary Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood" (University Press of Kentucky, $25) proves to be a very welcome (and impressive) addition to silent film scholarship.
Eileen Whitfield has created an insightful, loving examination into the life and career of the world's most popular, and arguably, most influential, actress. She presents Pickford as a complex personality, creative artist and business woman. Mary Pickford captured the hearts of a generation of filmgoers and her impact on the film business is still felt today. She personified the star system, and accepted entire responsibility for her career by financing and producing her own films. She ensured that the financial rewards went to the creators. She also understood the need to periodically recreate her public persona, so that she changed before the public grew tired of her. Unfortunately, her attempts to extend her range were either in bad films (Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, 1924) or beyond her level of comfort (Rosita, 1923) so that she became associated with child roles that actually represented a small proportion of her films.
Pickford was an effective actress, and Whitfield excels with her analysis of Pickford's performances, separating her mannerisms from technique. This biographer is well qualified by her own experience as an actress (with a specialty in child roles, no less). She notes that as Pickford was "short, with a head a shade too large for her body," she could handle the physical transformation. But what made her a star was the ability to "call up a child's inner world, untouched by the filter of adulthood. 'That phase of my life,' [Pickford] recalled, 'was unlived.'"
The research is impeccable, the writing is tight and evocative, and Whitfield has a good sense for the nascent film business of the 1910s and 20s and how Pickford eventually fell out of step with the times. The greatest challenge of the biographer is to add historical context to a life story and Whitfield succeeds on all counts. The recent Frances Marion biography missed the mark, as the book was so focused on its subject that it missed what went on around her. Oddly, the Marion biography ("Without Lying Down," by Cari Beauchamp) makes much of her subject's friendship with Pickford, while Frances Marion gets little more than passing mention here.
Whitfield's research finds new information on Pickford's early days, combing the records in Canada, and reconstructing Pickford's theatrical career. The author shows real understanding for the plight of the actor, documenting how Pickford grew up on the road. Her family was on the bottom rung of the theatrical ladder and their life was one of touring shows, one night stands and cheap rooms. The actress was scarred by touring almost continually from age 8 on during her formative years. Pickford assumed the role of the missing father and provider, selflessly sacrificing for the family. Whitfield examines the plays in which Pickford appeared (especially "The Silver King") and states "the plays sank into Mary's heart. Their moral lessons marked her for a lifetime."
One of the familiar stories is how Pickford presented herself to theatrical impresario David Belasco in 1907. Whitfield draws a compelling picture that Pickford's theatrical career was near bottom; this was not the natural step up for a successful actress, but a last-ditch attempt to salvage a marginal career. It appears that Belasco was attracted as much by Pickford's courage as her acting skill, giving her a role on Broadway. Had she not succeeded with Belasco, Pickford's plan was to become a dress designer.
The book provides a fresh look at Pickford's first husband, Owen Moore. She married him in 1911 in defiance of her mother's wishes, and Whitfield draws a word portrait of Moore unable to cope with his own limited talent and his wife's rising fame. His rebellion took a toll on the marriage, and vindicated Pickford's focus on her family.
In all, it is clear that for Mary, the love of her life was her mother. While Pickford was perhaps a better business woman than actress, she was at her best working toward a goal. And while they were satisfying, it is likely that she did not gain happiness from her accomplishments, but from pleasing others- her mother and, for a time, Fairbanks. Whitfield makes less of the love story between Pickford and Fairbanks than some of the biographers, as the breakup of their marriage was spread over the late 1920s and early 1930s. The separation seems to be a result of Fairbanks' pain over growing old, and their shared inability to compromise.
The years after Pickford's retirement are uniformly sad. Whitfield adds a new perspective on Mary's dissolution into alcoholism from Douglas Fairbanks' niece, Letitia. Also, there is a nice discussion on several actresses promoted as "the new Mary Pickford." Whitfield argues that while Shirley Temple remade several Pickford vehicles in the 1930s (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Little Princess), those films and Temple's screen character were fundamentally different from Pickford. (Actually the closest successor was Janet Gaynor, who appeared in remakes of Daddy-Long-Legs and Tess of the Storm Country).
This book can be recommended without reservation for fans of Mary Pickford. It will also be valuable to readers who want insight into the early days of the motion picture industry.
Bela Lugosi
Best known for their science-fiction and horror releases, Sinister Cinema, has announced two films from early, and we mean early, in the career of Bela Lugosi. The actor appeared in films in his native Hungary, and then Germany, before coming to America in 1921. These titles are from his German period. Dance on the Volcano (1921), was thought lost until found in an archive in the American release version titled Daughter of the Night. We're told that Lugosi has a large role, and Sinister's Greg Luce says that he spent many hours compiling the music score. The second title is The Deerslayer (1920), with Lugosi as the Indian Chingachgook. Sinister Cinema notes the source material for their video releases (a practice we wish all video distributors would follow), and notes that these two releases are from 16mm prints.
For an announcement of the posting of each month's Silent Film Sources news and updates, send an email to sunrise@dc.infi.net asking to join our mailing list. You can cancel at any time.
Remember to visit this month's edition of The Silent Bookshelf, the companion site of Silent Film Sources. This month "Wall Street Discovers the Movies," with four articles from a series that appeared in The Wall Street Journal in 1924.
Image Entertainment has announced another silent film in their "Lasers for Less" series. The only "authorized" edition of Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925), featuring an orchestral score based on music by Dimitri Shostakovich.
This issue's reviews include the initial two discount
laserdiscs: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and
Tillie's Punctured Romance.
Within months of his film debut in 1914, Chaplin fought to gain control of the production of his films. Chaplin wrote his scenarios and began directing after only a few months. By his second year, Chaplin was casting from his own stock company of supporting players. He relied on Eric Campbell, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman, and his female costar Edna Purviance among others. Chaplin was thrifty and paid his employees less than the prevailing salaries at other studios. However, while other studios would have paid actors and technicians only while working, Chaplin kept his people on salary year round. This enabled Chaplin to work when he felt creative, and to call his cast back for retakes whenever necessary.
Chaplin was never a fast filmmaker, and his drive for perfectionism contributed to a continued reduction in his productivity. His films became more ambitious, and he set higher standards for himself. He never hesitated to rework his films before release, by dropping entire sequences, or filming new ones. From 1921 to 1930, he completed four features and three shorts in the time that Harold Lloyd made 13 features and 4 shorts and Buster Keaton made 14 features and 16 shorts. In the decade of the 1930s, Chaplin released only two features.
Charlie Chaplin was always the most popular silent comedian. His starring films always outgrossed those of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, while his career preceded and continued beyond their popularity. During the 1920s, Chaplin's The Kid (1921) and The Gold Rush (1925) were milestones, acclaimed for their brilliant comedy sequences and sensitivity. On the other hand, Chaplin's high profile and controversial views contributed to a series of scandals which distracted him from his work and created critics who could not see past Chaplin the man to enjoy his films. Gradually, his personal activities, leftist politics and a changed political climate in the U.S. polarized his critics and adherants, and Chaplin left the United States for a self-imposed exile.
Chaplin's penchant for control included preparing his films for posterity. By the time of his death on Christmas Day, 1977, Chaplin had prepared definitive editions of his independent productions. Each film was available in beautiful quality prints in 35mm and 16mm with scores he composed, with the images adjusted when necessary for proper projection at sound speed and occasional re-editing. All of Chaplin's best work can be shown to modern audiences, exactly as he intended it to be seen.
Chaplin Films Available Again for Theatres
The new distributor is Interama, a small New York-based company. Interama is highly respected for distribution of many French classics (including the films of Jean Renoir) to theatres and on video. The revival will begin at the Film Forum in New York City on December 26- the twentieth anniversary (plus a day) of Chaplin's death. All of the films will be in 35mm and accompanied by Chaplin shorts distributed by Kino International.
The Chaplin features and shorts under discussion are from his First National and United Artists period from 1918-1957. For Chaplin, artistic control went hand-in-hand with reaping the financial benefits from his work. Chaplin's rapidly escalating salaries were highly controversial and he nearly priced himself out of the market. Chaplin created his own company in 1918, financing and owning all of his films distributed by First National and United Artists.
The silent films were reissued in versions prepared by Chaplin. The Gold Rush was reissued in 1942 in a revised edition with narration and a new score by Chaplin. City Lights was reissued (unchanged) in 1950, and while rapturously received, many communities in the United States boycotted the film due to Chaplin's politics and personal scandals. In 1959, Chaplin offered The Chaplin Revue, a two-hour compilation of three First National shorts- A Dog's Life and Shoulder Arms (both 1918) and The Pilgrim (1923)- with a new score by Chaplin. The Circus was reissued in 1969 in a slightly revised version, again with a Chaplin score. I have never been able to track down the circumstances behind the reissue of The Kid (1921). Other than these reissues and occasional festivals, Chaplin's films were unavailable after their initial release.
The big breakthrough came in 1971, when Chaplin signed a 30 year license
agreement with Mo Rothman, a former Columbia Pictures executive. Rothman
arranged for the reissue of all the films in the U.S. by Columbia, though
they quickly passed to a small company called rbc films. The shorts and
features were put together in programs to build up the running time of
the shorter features. These programs were:
| Chaplin Reissue Programs | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Chaplin Revue (A Dog's Life/Shoulder Arms/The Pilgrim) | ||
| The Kid/The Idle Class | Modern Times | |
| A Woman of Paris/Sunnyside | The Great Dictator | |
| The Gold Rush (1942 version)/
PayDay |
Monsieur Verdoux | |
| The Circus/A Day's Pleasure | Limelight | |
| City Lights | A King in New York | |
After rbc, the films received a second revival in 1984 when distributor Kino International offered Chaplin's titles along with 35mm prints of the best Keystone, Essanay and Mutual shorts for the "Chaplin: Lost and Found" series. These are the same programs released on VHS by Fox Video.
The laserdisc editions from Fox Video are significantly different, with footage restored in several silent films (including The Kid), and differently structured programs (a double feature of A Woman of Paris and A King in New York). The laserdiscs include many special features including outtakes (The Circus), scripts material (The Great Dictator) and a new stereo performance of the original score (City Lights).
Chaplin's The Gold Rush no longer in the Public Domain
Due to a little noticed clause of a 1994 trade law, Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, in wide distribution in the public domain market in the United States, is again protected by copyright. The original U.S. copyright in The Gold Rush was not renewed, and expired on August 16, 1953 at the end of the 28th year after the original release. Prints of the 1925 version have been available from dozens of sources on VHS and on laserdisc from Voyager.
For many years, the only authorized version of Chaplin's 1925 classic was the heavily revised 1942 reissue version. This edition which replaced the original title cards with narration, features alternate takes of some scenes, and has a slightly different ending. The estate did allow Photoplay Productions to restore the 1925 edition, but I have heard of no plans to make that available beyond live orchestral performances.
In the last decade, the purpose of copyright has shifted from encouraging creativity and protecting authors to a tool of international trade. "Intellectual property" (books, motion pictures, television, music, etc.) is the second largest U.S. export, and Congress is concerned about countries that allow piracy of American films through weak copyright laws. The recent General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) requires all member countries to provide reciprocal copyright protection.
Many foreign motion pictures either never qualified for American copyright protection, or their copyrights were allowed to expire. As part of the GATT agreement, the U.S. passed legislation that restored all expired foreign copyrights to their full term of protection, which for most films is 75 years. For motion pictures of the silent era, that means that all foreign films originally released from 1922 to the present are again protected by copyright. Ironically, this relief was not offered to works by American authors.
To accommodate current users of those works, the U.S. Copyright Office set up a process for owners of newly restored copyrights to file a "Notice of Intent to Enforce a Restored Copyright," and that is what the Chaplin estate has done for The Gold Rush.
Now the astute reader will be asking why The Gold Rush, produced in Southern California, qualifies as a foreign film. First, the law is oriented toward works by individuals, such as books, and it refers to the citizenship of the author. Second, The Gold Rush was originally registered for copyright listing the copyright claimant as Charles Chaplin, not his production company (this was relatively unusual; most filmmakers used a corporate name). Third, Chaplin was a British citizen. Just as this law restored the copyright in books by H.G. Wells and other British authors regardless of their address when their books were written, it also restored the copyright in a film made by a British citizen, regardless of where the film was produced.
Now, Chaplin did not declare his citizenship on the original copyright registration for The Gold Rush (though it wasn't required). However, he did declare that he was a British citizen on the registration for the unpublished story (which protected the film before its release). Since the Supreme Court has determined that a copyright on a film can be controlled by the "underlying work" (the story), then there is nothing left to discuss.
Of course, restoring a copyright, and enforcing that restored copyright are two separate issues. It remains to be seen if the 1925 version of The Gold Rush will go from being Chaplin's most familiar and widely available film to a rarity.
There are many websites devoted to Charlie Chaplin.
The American Film Institute has been playing Chaplin's The Rink
for Internet viewing at http://www.afionline.org/cinema/rink.html.
There is an excellent essay by Sam Gill, with illustrations relating
to Chaplin's Mutual period. Also, they provide a seemingly comprehensive
set of links on that page.
Last month, we discussed D.W. Griffith, without any sign of links to other sites of interest. We'll try to make up the omission now.
One of the silent film highlights of 1997 has been the availability for the first time of five of the best silent films directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Despite DeMille's fame as a filmmaker, these films have been rarely seen outside of archival and festival showings. Producer David Shepard gained the cooperation of the DeMille estate and the George Eastman House film archive for this series. Each film is from 35mm archival materials, and has the original tinting and an appropriate music score.
The traditional view of DeMille's work is that he may have began as a serious filmmaker, but somewhere along the line, and certainly by the mid-1930s, he was making overblown historical dramas on hopelessly artificial sets with unconvincing special effects. In other words, pure hokum.
The critical split over DeMille's accomplishments is even demonstrated by the titles given to this series. The VHS tapes, released by Kino on Video, are titled Cecil B. DeMille: The Visionary Years 1915-1927. The message is that regardless of what he became, the director reached his artistic zenith in the silent era. The laserdisc set from Image Entertainment is titled Cecil B. DeMille: The Greatest Showman on Earth, seeking to acknowledge that DeMille was always playing to the audience.
Of the five titles included in the laserdisc set, the first three are largely successful attempts at serious filmmaking on serious subjects. Carmen (1915) is adapted from the well-known story with Metropolitan Opera star Geraldine Farrar in the lead. With a tight 60 minute running time, it was a critical and commercial success. Joan the Woman (1916) with Farrar in the title role, filmed the life of the saint, with court intrigue, a terrific battle sequence, and the final burning at the stake. The running time is two and a half times that of Carmen, the budget was 13 times greater. Joan was not a commercial success, and audiences seemed to reject it. The Whispering Chorus (1918) was an inexpensive production with no big stars that was as close to an avant garde film as DeMille ever made. While it was a modest commercial success (grossing three times its cost), it was a serious film on a serious subject.
Male and Female (1919) represents the other extreme. Based on a popular stage comedy by James M. Barrie, it offers beautiful people and beautiful surroundings. Gloria Swanson is the heiress who falls in love with her servant (Thomas Meighan) when they are stranded on a desert island. When they are rescued, the relationship reverts to form. With The Volga Boatman (1926) Photoplay Magazine said that "the strength of the theme and the beautiful composition and photography lift it above the ranks." The theme is more romance between the powerful and the powerless, and it takes little advantage of the story's setting against the Russian Revolution.
So this series presents both sides of DeMille. The showman is clearly present in the first three films, with incidental scenes more elaborate than required. In The Whispering Chorus, what could have been a simple establishing shot of Chinatown, is an extra-filled New Year's Parade with dragons and fireworks. Still, the films attempt with some success to stretch both the cultural standing of the "movies" and DeMille's abilities as a director. The possibility that DeMille is a serious filmmaker is only briefly apparent in the latter two films; still all five titles are fully successful as entertainment.
Reviews of The Whispering Chorus and The Volga Boatman follow this month's News. An essay on the VHS release of this series (which included The King of Kings) appears in the July News.
Image Lowers List Price on Two Titles
As the DVD market begins to make inroads on the laserdisc market, laserdisc producers are recognizing that laserdiscs (averaging $40) appear expensive in comparison to DVDs with an average cost of $25-30. One result is that the producers are examining their cost structure, and reducing the list price of older releases that might sell better at a lower price. The video business can successively reduce the selling price of tapes from an initial $80 to $10 a few years later because their duplication costs are so low. Laserdisc production costs are higher, and the producers don't have the same pricing flexibility.
Most of the titles in the discount plan are recent releases, but there are two silent features offered by Image Entertainment at a reduced list price of $25. Mack Sennett's Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) is famous as the first comedy feature, starring Marie Dressler in the title role, with Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand in support. Chaplin portrays a roué, instead of his usual tramp persona, but he is very funny. The laserdisc edition is made from a slightly shortened print of outstanding quality from the 1920 reissue. The missing shots are filled in from another print of lesser quality. The editing is seamless though the difference in quality is remarkable. The feature has an organ score by John Muri. The disc includes a Chaplin short, Mabel's Married Life (1914),with Mabel Normand. The same program is available on VHS from Kino on Video.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) is the famous John Barrymore horror classic, based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson. The feature runs 79 minutes, and has an organ score by Gaylord Carter. The second side of the disc is CAV and includes the original scenario by Clara Beranger, and a clip of the transformation scene from the 1911 version of the story with James Cruze.
While outsiders often accuse America's film archives of hoarding their films, each archive seems to have a different approach to make a few of their films available in some form. The Museum of Modern Art Circulating Film Program began in 1936 as an educational service to provide films of historical interest to schools and film societies in 16mm and 35mm. The Museum gathered films from long defunct producers Edison and Biograph, and independent producers, including director D.W. Griffith,, and stars Douglas Fairbanks and William S. Hart.
Another source of films were the companies that made them. The Museum had the entree provided by trustee and film producer John Hay Whitney to gain the cautious cooperation of the studios. After difficult negotiations, most of the studios signed a contract the museum negotiated with Paramount. This agreement allowed MoMA to order prints at its own expense for educational and non-commercial purposes. The owners retained the right to withdraw the films upon demand. This resulted in an opportunity for MoMA's curator Iris Barry to order copies of many silent classics.
The first group of films were shown at the Museum in the first half of 1936, then made available to colleges and museums. The silent feature releases offered in safety 35mm and 16mm prints in the first two series included Queen Elizabeth (1912), A Fool There Was (1914), Intolerance (1916), The Covered Wagon (1923), Safety Last (1923), Beau Brummel (1924), Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), The Freshman (1925), The Cat and the Canary (1927), F.W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927), and two films directed by Josef von Sternberg: Underworld (1927), and The Last Command (1928). In the first 12 months of operation, the films were exhibited by 118 institutions. A third series in 1937 added German and French silents. They included a chapter of the serial Fantomas (1913), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919), The Golem (1920), The Crazy Ray (1923), Siegfried (1923), Fall of the House of Usher (1928), The Last Laugh (1925), and The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927).
Most of these films are still available from the Museum for rental in 16mm. Without a doubt, the efforts of the Museum helped create a resurgence of interest in early film. Many books on film history from the 1940s and 1950s discuss these films and few others, and read like an appraisal of the circulating collection. After all, the Museum's films were historically important, were among the few classics available, and there was no way for the authors to evaluate films that might have been of equal importance.
The selection policies were what you might expect from a "museum," as they represented the artistic heights of the silent and sound cinema. The Museum's circulating collection largely ignored the attempts of minorities and women to work within or in parallel to the Hollywood system. However, as many classrooms have abandoned 16mm for video projection, the Museum has not converted their collection to those formats. Apparently, this is partly due to contractual restrictions with some donors, and the belief that motion pictures should be shown in their original format.
Library of Congress Video Collection announced for laserdisc
More recently, the efforts of the Museum were complemented by a series of six video programs titled The Library of Congress Video Collection. The titles were released on VHS at prices to make them attractive to schools and individuals. Initially the titles were distributed commercially by Smithsonian Video in 1994 at $35, and with better designed boxes in 1995 by Unipix at $25. Rather than focus solely on titles of historic or artistic significance, the series took a broader view at the filmmakers and genres that are often ignored, emphasizing some of the strengths of the Library's collection.
The collection has been announced for release on laserdisc by Image Entertainment under the title Origins of Film. The price is $150, and this box set is a must for all university film study programs and libraries with collections of materials on women, minorities or animation. The title Origins of Film is a bit misleading, as the series is designed not to show the highlights of early cinema, but to fill in the gaps in the general public's understanding of the silent era. This runs the risk of overstating the contributions of minority voices to the accomplishments of the silent film industry and art, but does make the point that there were minority and women filmmakers.
The most exciting titles in the collection are those by black performers and filmmakers. Within Our Gates (1919) is directed by pioneer director Oscar Micheaux. This was his second film, and the notes indicate it is "the earliest surviving feature directed by an African American." The Scar of Shame (1926) was produced by the Colored Players Film Corp. and features an all black cast. Other features include Maurice Tourneur's Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915), The Patchwork Girl of Oz and A Florida Enchantment (both 1914), and Lois Weber's Too Wise Wives (1921). The shorts include 21 examples of animation from 1900-1921, a rare D.W. Griffith film for Biograph (1912's The Narrow Road), a three minute DeForest PhonoFilm with Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, one Lois Weber short, and two shorts directed by Alice Guy-Blache. A complete list of titles is at the Library of Congress website at gopher://marvel.loc.gov/00/research/reading.rooms/motion.picture/sales/vidsale. The accompanying piano scores are by Phil Carli.
Most of the films in this series (including all the features) were given to the Library through the efforts of the American Film Institute, and the various donors are credited. The Library copied the nitrate originals, and the subsequent safety reference copies were used for the video transfers.
The series was programmed and produced by Scott Simmon, and one of the best elements of the video series is his extensive notes. Each program receives an introduction, cast, credits and analysis, with suggested reading and recommended titles of related interest available on video. Technical information is provided. For example, The Scar of Shame was "transferred at 22 frames-per-second from a 35mm LC print in the AFI/Dennis Atkinson Collection. 7 reels; 75 minutes." There are also annotations on film condition, so that especially dense viewers can understand that technical flaws are a result of the surviving copy, not the original film.
Next month's edition of the monthly news and other site updates will be late; I'll be on a trip and won't be able to post the news and reviews until around November 8. For an announcment of the posting of each month's Silent Film Sources news and updates, send an email to sunrise@dc.infi.net asking to join our mailing list. You can cancel at any time.
Remember to visit this month's edition of The Silent Bookshelf, the companion site of Silent Film Sources. This month's edition is devoted to exhibitor Samuel L. Rothafel, affectionately known as "Roxy."
This issue's reviews include two Cecil B. DeMille films: The Whispering Chorus and The Volga Boatman; The Cat and the Canary, Tol'able David (one of my favorites for obvious reasons), and Orphans of the Storm.
The current owners of the Killiam Collection have extended the Fox license
to include home video and these titles are released through Critics'
Choice. The initial Fox titles include:
Four more Fox titles have been announced for release by Critics' Choice.
Available September 15:
Many of the best D.W. Griffith features have long been in the public domain, so there are several different versions on the market of The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, Broken Blossoms and Way Down East. Griffith had donated his nitrate film materials to the Museum of Modern Art, and commercial rights were acquired from his estate by Paul Killiam. These rights were later sublicensed to Raymond Rohauer, Blackhawk Films and David Shepard, so there are multiple "authorized" versions in distribution.
As one example, there have been laserdisc releases of three different editions of The Birth of a Nation (and a fourth version has been shown on Turner Classic Movies). The Killiam Shows/Landmark Laservision disc was transferred from a 16mm restoration, step-printed for proper projection at sound speed, with a score assembled from stock orchestral music. The Lumivision release was prepared from a 1920s reissue print of The Birth from the George Eastman House film archive. The original music score by Joseph Carl Breil was reorchestrated for synthesizer by R.J. Miller. The Image Entertainment version was compiled from a variety of materials by David Shepard, and featured the original score performed by a small orchestra. The version shown on Turner Classic Movies is the Photoplay Productions restoration, based on a nitrate print found by the American Film Institute in the 1970s, and held by the Museum of Modern Art. It has an adaptation of the Breil score, performed by an orchestra.
The definitive video versions of Griffith's major works are offered by Kino on Video and on laserdisc by Image Entertainment. Their initial video series offered special editions of The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, and Way Down East. The Birth of a Nation featured the original score by Joseph Carl Breil performed by an orchestra, a 30 minute documentary on the making of the film, and the laserdisc included a reproduction of the original souvenir program. Intolerance was restored from several different prints. Once only available in a shortened reissue version, Way Down East was restored with extra footage. Released on video, but not laserdisc (in this version) was Broken Blossoms, and a double feature of Judith of Bethulia and Home Sweet Home.
More recently, Kino on Video and Image
Entertainment have offered a second wave of Griffith's better films.
With "The Forgotten Griffiths," Critics' Choice offers a selection of Griffith's lesser known works with six films from his independent period. They include rural dramas (A Romance of Happy Valley and The Greatest Question), melodramas (The Love Flower and The Idol Dancer), a thriller (One Exciting Night) and an ambitious "art film" (Dream Street). These are not so much forgotten, as minor films produced at the height of Griffith's talent (1918-22). The reason for their obscurity was not their scope- Griffith had successes in both epic and intimate films- but focus. Carol Dempster has the lead role in four of these titles, and a small role in a fifth.
The common wisdom about the Griffith films is that all of the good pictures feature Lillian Gish and the bad ones star Carol Dempster. Gish began working for Griffith in 1912, and had featured roles in his major productions until 1921. Not all of Griffith's films starred Lillian Gish- Judith of Bethulia, featured Blanche Sweet- but he acknowledged Gish's extraordinary ability and dedication to her craft.
Cameraman Henrik Sartov had introduced Griffith to dancer Carol Dempster, and the director added her to his company of players and gave her a variety of roles. Griffith had supreme faith in his ability to recognize talent and coax a performance from any actor. Her first significant appearance was in A Romance of Happy Valley as a girl Bobby Harron spurns in favor of Lillian Gish and she played supporting roles in True Heart Susie and The White Rose. Dempster played the lead in minor films like The Love Flower, and after Gish's final role in Orphans of the Storm, became the leading lady in most of Griffith's major releases to follow. It would be unfair to blame the decline in quality of Griffith's films to Dempster, but she was an actress of limited ability and range, and suffered from comparison to Lillian Gish's elegance and ethereal beauty.
We were able to preview the first three releases from Critics' Choice, and they were a pleasant surprise, as they offer a variety of pleasures. They are $20 each or all three together in a slipcase for $45.
We have moved our reviews to their own page:
A Romance of Happy Valley (1918)
The Love Flower (1920)
Image Entertainment has announced the long-awaited laserdisc release of F.W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927). One of the finest examples of the silent "art film," Sunrise received a special Academy Award for Artistic Quality of Production. With so many lesser silent films in distribution, it has seemed remarkable that this classic has been unavailable in a credible edition. The video release was a major disappointment, but this laserdisc is from the finest surviving 35mm material. The digital soundtrack will feature a new orchestral score by Timothy Brock performed by the Olympia Chamber Orchestra. The familiar orchestral score compiled by Hugo Riesenfeld for the initial New York theatrical engagements will be presented on an analog track. A bonus includes 10 minutes of fascinating out-takes, which film collector David Bradley recovered from a trash can in 1950. Priced at $50, the disc will be available this fall.
On the DVD front, Image has announced additional silent films for release on DVD. Landmarks of Early Film has 39 films dating from 1894 to 1913, plus some examples of the work of Eadweard Muybridge. These include many genres and technical styles: handcolored films, animation, reality films. The highlight is George Melies' A Trip to the Moon (1902), presented with narration. Most of the music scores are compiled by Robert Israel. The total running time is 117 minutes. The laserdisc is $40. Available on November 5, the DVD will be $30.
Announced for DVD release on September 15 are three separate DVD releases of The Chaplin Mutuals, Volumes I, II and III. Available in a laserdisc box set for $100, the three DVDs are $30 each. These were restored from 35mm materials, and feature new music scores by Michael Mortilla.
Everyone likes monster movies, and one of the favorites has been the 1925 production of The Lost World. The film is quickly paced and delivers on its promise of excitement and thrills. It features an assortment of dinosaurs, all painstakingly animated by Willis O'Brien, responsible eight years later for King Kong. Based on the 1912 novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the story follows the expedition of Professor Challenger (Wallace Beery) to a land where dinosaurs still roam. He brings one back to London, where it rampages through the city before escaping to the sea. The cast also includes Bessie Love, Lloyd Hughes and Lewis Stone.
The Lost World was released to theatres in 1925 in ten reels. The film survives in a five reel version released in 16mm in 1930 by the Eastman Kodak Kodascope Libraries for home use. The George Eastman House film archive received the surviving Kodascope negatives in 1950, and they were able to preserve reels 1, 2 and 5 of the shortened version in 35mm. They also had an excellent 16mm copy of the entire film, including the missing two reels.
16mm was designed for home and educational use and The Lost World is available in their modern equivalents: laserdisc ($50) and DVD ($25) from Lumivision, and VHS from Milestone Film & Video ($25).
The video release was produced in 1991 by Scott MacQueen. This contains an immaculately prepared transfer of the surviving materials prepared at the proper speed with the appropriate tints. The music score on synthesizer is by R.J. Miller. The score was a bit flat on the laser and video releases, but on DVD it has been remixed for Dolby Digital, and has a lot more punch and the sound effects have much greater directionality. One track contains the music score and sound effects (typewriter noises, crashing doors, car motors), while the alternate track has the music score alone.
This Lumivision collector's edition offers a thorough treatment of one of the most fondly remembered silent classics. The laserdisc and DVD include extensive supplements- possibly the most elaborate yet provided for a silent film. Since the Kodascope credits were truncated, the original credits are recreated (this section ran backwards on my DVD player). There is an original trailer, a promotional film for The Lost World featuring Bessie Love, excerpts from three short films Willis O'Brien animated for Edison, and the Monsters of the Past episode from the Pathe Review, which turns out to be an unrelated, but fascinating, claymation film from the 1920s.
The DVD format offers more extensive indexing than laserdisc, and supplemental materials are accessed by screens that look much like a web browser. You don't have a mouse, but you use the arrows on the remote to select from a menu and then access the chapter or supplement desired. The extra materials on most DVDs of recent movies are skimpy: information on the stars consists of a single screen with a picture and three paragraph biography and a filmography of their most recent releases.
The Lost World offers a wealth of resources. The still frame library covers the gaps in the narrative using stills and descriptive titles. The laserdisc contained Scott MacQueen's detailed historical essay on the film as a printed insert. For the DVD, this appears as several different chapter supplements. There is an essay on the production of the film (51 screens long), a second on the Willis O'Brien-Edison shorts, and a third with detailed production notes on the video restoration. While lengthy, these are well worth the effort and greatly enhance the value of the disk. Finally, a chapter displays a letter by Ray Harryhausen that was printed on the back cover of the laserdisc.
Remember to visit this month's edition of The Silent Bookshelf, the companion site of Silent Film Sources. This month's edition is devoted to D.W. Griffith, with numerous articles and interviews from the teens and twenties.
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© 1996, 1997 David Pierce