Official Film Masters Thread

[MifuneFan]

Film Masters is a new boutique label dedicated to restoring, and releasing classic films from all genres. They are made up of some of the same people that worked at The Film Detective. I think the label is off to a very promising start, and figured there should be a centralized place we could discuss their new, and upcoming releases.

Links

Official Website
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube Channel

A-Z list

[Show spoiler]
A Life At Stake (1955) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Algiers (1938) (Limited Edition)
Amazing Mr. X, The (1948) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Attack of the Giant Leeches(1959)*
Beast From Haunted Cave (1959) (Special Edition)
Blood of Jesus, The (1941) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Capture, The (1950) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Class of '74, The (1972) (Limited Edition)
Common Law Wife (1963) (Special Edition)
Convict's Code (1939) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Creature From the Haunted Sea (1961)*
Creature with the Blue Hand (1967) (Special Edition)
Crippled Masters, The (1979) (Special Edition)
Devil's Partner, The (1961) (Special Edition)
Emperor Jones, The (1933) (Limited Edition)
Fabulous Dorseys, The (1947) (Archive Collection)(BD-R)
Five Minutes to Live (aka Door-to-Door Maniac) (1961) (Special Edition)
Four Rode Out (1971) (Archive Collection (BD-R)
Here's Flash Casey (1937) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Giant Gila Monster, The (1959) (Special Edition)
Ginger in the Morning (1974) (Limited Edition)
Invasion U.S.A. (1952) (Special Edition)
It's Love Again (1936) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Jennie, Wife/Child (1968) (Special Edition)
Judget, The (1949) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Kansas City Confidential (1952) (Limited Edition)
Kentucky Rifle (1955) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Killer Shrews, The (1959)*
Lady of Burlesque (1943) (Limited Edition)
Lighthouse (1947) (Archive Collection (BD-R)
Little Shop of Horrors (1960)*
Monster on the Ocean Floor (1954) (Special Edition)
New Adventure of Tarzan Serial (1935) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Night of the Blood Beast (1958) (Special Edition)
Patterns (1956) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Red House, The (1947) (Limited Edition)
Redneck Miller (1976) (Limited Edition / Archive Collection BD-R re-release)
Right Hand of the Devil (1963)*
Rocket Attack U.S.A.*
Salt of the Earth (1954) (Limited Edition)
Scarlet Letter, The (1934) (Special Edition)
Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour (1931) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Silver Blaze (1937) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Ski Troop Attack (1960)*
Strange Woman, The (1946) (Limited Edition)
Tarzan of the Apes (1918) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Terror, The (1963) (Special Edition)
Triumph of Sherlock Holmes, The (1935) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Tormented (1960) (Special Edition)
Under Western Stars (1938) (Archive Collection) (BD-R)
Web of the Spider (1971)*

*denotes Bonus film

Film Masters on Blu-ray

Special Editions

Special Edition Releases are our deluxe Blu-ray and DVD releases. Each film has a well-researched commentary, as well as a host of bonus features to contextualize the release in cinema history. All Special Edition Releases include a full color booklet with a new essay by one of our consortium experts.



Limited Editions

Limited Edition Releases are clear cases with a double-sided wrap, packaged with a slipcover and include a full color, inserted booklet with an essay as well as a commentary



Archive Collection

Our Archive Collection contains films that have come from new film scans (2K or 4K). We have many scanned films that have been restored and are the best looking releases to-date. While they don't contain special features, we think there is still value in making these lesser known titles available and helping preserve them for history. Each film is closed captioned.

Note: These are BD-R releases

Who are the Film Masters?

Archivists. Stewards. Film Enthusiasts.

We are a consortium of historians and enthusiasts who seek to celebrate the preservation and restoration of films that have been sitting dormant in storage lockers, basements, personal collections, estates, and institutions for decades. Leveraging modern means of distribution to release forgotten films back into the world, we also produce our own materials that aid audiences in contextualizing and celebrating these works of art as they were meant to be.

Continue reading..

[Show spoiler]We are a diverse group of individuals; Directors, Producers, Archivists, Creators, Authors, and Enthusiasts, but we have one thing in common: a love for cinema history. Our community seeks to preserve orphan and lesser known films with integrity for new audiences. From Silents to Exploitation, we scan films in 2K and 4K, giving little known films the red carpet treatment. Some of these films are released into our exclusive, special edition, physical releases. Others will be run in limited quantity batches, known as our "Archive Collection."

We additionally seek to make classic films, quirky historical shorts, TV episodes of yesteryear, and even our own original productions, available via our YouTube channel. Our goal is to make classic films widely accessible in their current, best looking and sounding formats.

​Our consortium of Film Masters has access to a wealth of archival libraries. If you are interested in learning about licensing materials from us, please reach out via the contact form below. We will respond to your request in a timely manner.

Lastly, we work closely with preservation institutions to donate and deposit one of a kind film masters into locations that will properly preserve and store original masters for posterity. Film elements are highly sensitive and will degradate without proper storage; especially original nitrate prints which are highly combustible! One of our goals is to find and prevent more original prints from the ravages of time and halt their aging process as best we can.

[MifuneFan]

A teaser video of what's coming from Film Masters. Feel free to post the titles of films you spot in the video.

What's Coming Up for Film Masters? - YouTube

Film Masters has many exciting projects in the works and we're thrilled to share a sneak peak of what we've been working on! Get ready, film enthusiasts, it's going to be a great year for film.

[MifuneFan]

Film Masters are restoring the film Tormented (1960) for a future release. They've just uploaded the entire Raw Scan of the film to YT:

Tormented (1960) | New Raw Film Scan | HD Full Film | Richard Carlson | Susan Gordon - YouTube

A stunning new raw film scan of the classic, "Tormented." We think the level of detail from this 35mm is amazing! Enjoy this pre-restoration copy here (and be on the lookout for a coming soon...)

[OceanBlue]

Regarding the Film Masters teaser video and the various clips (post #2 in this thread), they certainly whizzed by. More like observations than guesses:

- a clip from a western (in colour), followed by what looked like a clip from a film noir
- a clip showing an actor who looked to me like Robert Young
- a clip of a door/double doors being opened, with a butler (the actor resembled to me Boris Karloff) with a woman beside him.

[JasonMichael]

Boris Karloff is definitely in the clip. Not sure what film it's from.

[Boris_Karloff]

Originally Posted by JasonMichael

Boris Karloff is definitely in the clip. Not sure what film it's from.

I’m curious as well.

[Areyakiddin]

I definitely see Jack and the Beanstalk (1952). Clips with Lizabeth Scott and Bryon Barr seem to be from Pitfall. I'd be really surprised if either of these movies could really be significantly improved in PQ over the pre-existing Blurays (especially the ClassicFlix release of J&B).

[Rzzzz]

That clip of Johnny Cash firing the gun is from...

with Ron Howard. I have the Dvd and would love to upgrade. Any extras and/or commentary would be greatly appreciated...

I thought I saw Jonathan Haze falling backwards off a chair from Little Shop Of Horrors, which has long been OOP. I may be wrong but that image of Karloff looks like it might be from Die, Monster, Die!

[billfitzgerald]

The Boris Karloff clip looks like it's from The Terror.

[hainesdogg]

I saw a clip from "At War with the Army" Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin comedy. Kino's version is OOP

Also saw a clip from "House on Haunted Hill" (1959)

[dallywhitty]

House on Haunted Hill! I've been waiting for an individual BD release. Also happy to see The Terror there. Hopefully it's better than the existing Blu-rays which I've avoided.

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by hainesdogg

Also saw a clip from "House on Haunted Hill" (1959)

Good catch! I knew I recognized this image but I couldn't place it...


I guess that means it's been too long since I watched this film. Time for a revisit.

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

House on Haunted Hill! I've been waiting for an individual BD release. Also happy to see The Terror there. Hopefully it's better than the existing Blu-rays which I've avoided.

Even though I have the Shout! set with this on it, I will be all over a Film Masters release if it has new extras and commentary. One of my favorite Vincent Price/William Castle films...

[Zygmunt22]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

Good catch! I knew I recognized this image but I couldn't place it...


I guess that means it's been too long since I watched this film. Time for a revisit.



Even though I have the Shout! set with this on it, I will be all over a Film Masters release if it has new extras and commentary. One of my favorite Vincent Price/William Castle films...

The thing is that Scream! Factory had access to the original elements at Warners for their Blu. I'm assuming anything from Film Masters would be using lesser materials.

Same with any Blu-Ray of Tormented. Warner released it on DVD using their original elements, and a Film Master blu would probably from a print.

[koberulz]

So they're just a public domain label?

[CountYorgaRules]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Film Masters are restoring the film Tormented (1960) for a future release. They've just uploaded the entire Raw Scan of the film to YT:

Tormented (1960) | New Raw Film Scan | HD Full Film | Richard Carlson | Susan Gordon - YouTube

Warner Archive released a beautiful DVD of Tormented, so they obviously have good elements. But since they have no interest in doing it on Blu-ray, I guess Film Masters can go through the trouble of restoring it for Blu because of its PD status.

[Zygmunt22]

Originally Posted by koberulz

So they're just a public domain label?

Not necessarily. The label is run by Phil Hopkins of Film Detective, and they released some licensed stuff through that line (like the Wade Williams titles). So, I could see them working with the Williams estate or other entities. Even The Scarlet Letter blu, though the film is PD, was created using elements held by Sam Sherman.

[Zygmunt22]

Originally Posted by CountYorgaRules

Warner Archive released a beautiful DVD of Tormented, so they obviously have good elements. But since they have no interest in doing it on Blu-ray, I guess Film Masters can go through the trouble of restoring it for Blu because of its PD status.

I was kind of hoping that Scream! Factory might put it out, especially since they just did The Strangler, another Warner title of similar pedigree (though that one ISN'T PD).

[CountYorgaRules]

Originally Posted by Zygmunt22

I was kind of hoping that Scream! Factory might put it out, especially since they just did The Strangler, another Warner title of similar pedigree (though that one ISN'T PD).

That would be great! I'm always hoping that Scream Factory could sneak in some Black and White Archive titles into their Warner deals (along with the big 80s 4K titles), stuff like The Hypnotic Eye, Disembodied, Hands of a Stranger, etc.

[whiteberry]

Velvet Smooth is shown in the preview video and it was also just announced by Dark Force Entertainment so I guess there will be two different blu-ray releases.

[noirjunkie]

New interview with Phil Hopkins from DoBlu.com:

Restoring the Public Domain: An Interview with Film Masters’ Phil Hopkins

It includes some before-and-after stills of the upcoming restorations of The Giant Gila Monster and The Killer Shrews.