Buster Keaton: Three Ages/Our Hospitality Cohen Double Feature Vol. 5 - 11/07/2023

[SanCarolina59]

From Kino's website, a pre-order for a double feature of Buster Keaton's Three Ages (1923) and Our Hospitality (1923) have appeared, with a release date of 11/07/2023.

THREE AGES was Buster’s first foray into feature film production after a successful string of shorts. This hilariously inventive satire of D.W. Griffith’s INTOLERANCE follows the age-old story of misadventures on the road to finding love, retold in three separate eras, a structure that cleverly allowed Keaton to recut the film into three separate shorts if it failed as a feature. For this restoration, 5 elements were compared, with a second-generation duplicate negative being used for the majority.

OUR HOSPITALITY is perhaps Keaton’s most nuanced comedy and again finds Buster recreating a bygone era. In it, he plays a 19th-century New Yorker who returns to the antebellum South to claim his inheritance, but finds himself also inheriting a longstanding multi-generational feud between his family and that of the woman he loves (played by Buster’s real-life spouse, Natalie Talmadge). For this restoration, a total of 17 film elements were compared, with a first-generation nitrate positive held at the Library of Congress being the main element used.

Pre-Order Link

[Admonisher]

At last! I was starting to think this would never arrive, despite assurances. Excellent news!

[Egbert Souse]

Great to see the Cohen restorations turning up here finally. Now there's just The Saphead needing a US release.

[sb5]

Took awhile, but (other than The Saphead) it’s nice to see Cohen’s Keaton collection is now “complete”.

[Brown Jenkin]

A pleasant surprise.

[Daveismyhero]

This is down to $17.99 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHX3YW1Y...hk_typ_imgToDp

[speedracer5]

I already have "Three Ages" and "Our Hospitality" on different Kino releases, but I will have to get this Cohen Media release, because I already have the other 4 volumes from this collection. I'm happy to see that Buster has had a bit of renewed interest in the last few years.

The Peter Bogdanovich documentary, "The Great Buster: A Celebration" which is a companion piece to the collection, is superb.

[Areyakiddin]

For anyone wondering on why they haven't received a shipping notice for this yet, I just got a response back from Kino Lorber stating that their stock hasn't arrived yet.

[sb5]

That’s odd - Amazon shipped my preorder and it’s supposed to be here by tonight.

[Areyakiddin]

Originally Posted by sb5

That’s odd - Amazon shipped my preorder and it’s supposed to be here by tonight.

Weird, I preordered directly from Kino. Did your copy end up coming?

[sb5]

Originally Posted by Areyakiddin

Weird, I preordered directly from Kino. Did your copy end up coming?

Yep. Arrived last night.

[Admonisher]

Mine arrived today from Amazon. No complaints of significance, but for those with OCD, the spine on this one is completely different from Vols. 1-4, bearing the names of the films rather than "The Buster Keaton Collection..." (I actually kind of wish the previous volumes had done this, as I often forget what is on which disc!)

Anyway ... really happy to have this at last!

[moviebuff75]

Are these black and white or tinted?

[jesseb]

Originally Posted by moviebuff75

Are these black and white or tinted?

The review is up on this site: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-B...344828/#Review
and says that Our Hospitality is black and white only

[All Darc]

There was a tinted version of Our Hospitality (1923) from Lobster that looked good. It was transfered mostly from an internegative.

But this Cohen one looke duped, soft in focus and quite poor in contrast/gray range, despite they said it's from a first generation nitrate.

InCOHENrence...

For other side, Three Ages appears the best version ever on video.

[jesseb]

I don't know if this is targeted or for everyone, but Amazon has this for $19.99 right now, with a 20% off coupon that brings it down to $15.99