The General / Three Ages (1923-1927) (Remastered)

[RazorwireRyan]

Kino Lober have confirmed that they will release on Blu-ray the recent 2K restorations of Buster Keaton's films Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), College (1927), Three Ages (1923), and The General (1927). The releases will be available for purchase on February 7.

The General

Consistently ranked among the greatest films ever made, Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL is so brilliantly conceived and executed that it continues to inspire awe and laughter with every viewing. This Kino Ultimate Disc Edition was mastered in HD from a 35mm archive print struck from the original camera negative.

Rejected by the Confederate army and taken for a coward by his beloved Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), young Johnny Gray (Keaton) is given a chance to redeem himself when Yankee spies steal his cherished locomotive. Johnny wages a one-man war against hijackers, an errant cannon and the unpredictable hand of fate while roaring along the iron rails. "Every shot has the authenticity and the unassuming correct composition of a Mathew Brady Civil War photograph," wrote film historian David Robinson, "No one - not even Griffith or Huston and certainly not Fleming (Gone With the Wind) - caught the visual aspect of the Civil War as Keaton did."

Special Features:

• NEW 2K restoration by Lobster Films
• NEW Audio commentary by film historians Michael Schlesinger and Stan Taffel
• Orchestral score by Robert Israel
• Orchestral score by Joe Hisaishi
• Introduction by Orson Welles
• Introduction by Gloria Swanson
• "Return of The General," a vintage short film on the restoration of the legendary locomotive

Three Ages

A brilliant historical satire teeming with inventive flourishes, Buster Keaton's THREE AGES is a silent comedy of truly epic proportions. This clever parody of D. W. Griffith's INTOLERANCE follows Buster's hard-luck romantic adventures throughout world history: form the dawn of man in the Stone Age, through the gladiatorial arenas of Ancient Rome, to the city streets of the American Jazz Era.

By flavoring the ancient stories with bits of modern comedy (e.g. the "spare tire" with which Buster repairs his chariot, the "home run" that he scores against an angry caveman), Keaton not only won raucous laughter from the audience but forged an original approach to history, humor, and cinema that clearly foreshadowed the Mel Brooks and Monty Python films that followed half a century later.

Special Features:

• NEW 2K restoration by Lobster Films
• Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
• Music by Robert Israel
• Vintage Alka-Seltzer commercial, starring Buster Keaton
• Candid Camera television segment, starring Buster Keaton
• Man's Genesis (1912) a prehistoric drama by D.W. Griffith, parodied in Three Ages

This came out yesterday, has anyone picked it up? I've seen no reviews for it anywhere whatsoever, no thread, no one talking about it, what gives!