Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature: Robin Hood / The Black Pirate (1922-1926)

[MifuneFan]

Cohen Media Group (via Kino distribution) will finally be releasing some more Douglas Fairbanks films on Blu-ray. They will be doing a double-feature that includes Robin Hood (1922), and The Black Pirate (1926) on July 25th.

https://www.kinolorber.com/product/a...e-black-pirate

Product Description

A big-screen spectacle that ranks as one of the monumental accomplishments of the silent era, ROBIN HOOD is a timeless story of romance and intrigue, staged on a herculean scale. Its sets were erected by an army of 500 carpenters and towered 90 feet in the air, covering acres of land – historically accurate to the smallest detail. For this restoration, a full frame 35MM fine grain positive was scanned at 4K, with 175 hours of digital clean-up at 2K completed.

Shot in two-strip Technicolor, Fairbanks had conceived of THE BLACK PIRATE years before it was finally made. According to Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance, it was “the most carefully prepared and controlled of Fairbanks’s entire career,” certainly in no small part due to the expense and limitations of the early color process. The resulting film earned high praise from The New York Times, which praised its “unrivalled beauty...mindful of the paintings of the old masters.” A 35MM color negative was mastered in HD for this presentation.

Special Features:
• Audio Commentary for THE BLACK PIRATE by film historian Rudy Behlmer
• 18 minutes of THE BLACK PIRATE outtakes with commentary by Rudy Behlmer
• 29 minutes of additional BLACK PIRATE outtakes

[MifuneFan]

I actually emailed Cohen all the way back in 2016 to ask if they were planning a release of The Black Pirate, and other films. Their "eventually" gives Criterion a run for their money

[Show spoiler]

[Poya]

John Barrymore
Errol Flynn
Kevin Costner
Russell Crowe
Taron Egerton

Who hasn't played Robin Hood?

[filmlover22]

Wow. Truly exciting news!

[Doomhunter]

Great news about Robin Hood! I already have the Kino Black Pirate blu from 2010.

[Ned Brainard]

Sounds very good, and I'll definitely be a buyer just to get Robin Hood. I'm curious though if the master on The Black Pirate will be the same as the 2010 blu-ray. The Black Pirate is one of the very fewer two-color features to survive in its camera negative (sort of - the situation here is analogous to the Chaplin First Nationals - a little too much to get into here). Alas, I don't think Cohen has access to that material. I believe that the earlier Douris/Cohen restorations seen on DVD and blu-ray were derived from a 1970s Eastman dupe negative. The 2010 blu-ray looks pretty good, and if that's what we're getting here, then at the very least it's good to see a quality release of the film back in print, but don't go into it expecting it to look like what we've seen with the restorations of King of Jazz, Dr. X, The Mystery of the Wax Museum, or Mamba. In any case, it's great to see more of Doug on blu.

[Doomhunter]

Hopefully next, Three Musketeers & the sequel Iron Mask!

[Egbert Souse]

I have Kino's Blu of The Black Pirate that's been OOP for a while, but I'll probably sell that now and get this so I'm also getting Robin Hood for the first time.

And nthing the call for more Fairbanks after this.

[MifuneFan]

I have the Kino release as well, but I'll probably keep it. It i includes a B&W "talkie" version in 1080P, which doesn't seem to be included here. I also quite like the cover art on that release.

Fro site review:

The Black Pirate "Talkie" (1080p, 1:15:12): Douglas Fairbanks Jr. commissioned a "talkie" version of The Black Pirate in order to introduce his father to a new generation of fans. Here, the intertitles are removed, replaced by a soundtrack with narration and occasional effects. Note that this version of the film is presented in black and white, not color.

[WaverBoy]

The Kino Blu of color version of The Black Pirate leaves much to be desired, as it’s been transferred at a projection speed slower than 24fps but progressive, so there’s janky-motion artifacts that are annoying AF. I dearly hope Cohen is redoing the transfer and either putting it at 24fps 1080p or going 1080i if slower than that.

[Akibiyori]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

or going 1080i if slower than that.

They won’t but they should. Only Criterion seems to do it whenever they get around to silents. Kino used to but then got bullied out of it (their original Our Hospitality, Three Ages, and shorts collection - for One Week, which miraculously escaped getting 24pd - are still the go to editions for me.)

It’s funny, people complained about interlacing, the effect of which is invisible on proper equipment, but love 24p, where the repeat frames are always there and nothing can be done about it. Worst misinformation ever perpetrated by people who should have known better.

[fred25_Ca]

Wow about time! I've been dying for these Fairbanks movies to finally make it to blu ray. The Kino dvd box set is one of the rare dvd I still have. I have the blu ray of the Black pirate but i'll buy this day one. Didn't a smaller company release last year Robin Hood? Or was it the 3 Musketeers? Hopefully if it was the Musketeers, Cohen can still release it alogng with his sequel.

[fricchio]

Originally Posted by Doomhunter

Hopefully next, Three Musketeers & the sequel Iron Mask!

Three Musketeers was recently released by the Film Preservation Society

https://filmpreservationsociety.org/...s-blu-ray-2021

They have another Fairbanks double feature as well

[Riwriwriw]

It was the musketeers from Film Preservation Society. It was a great disk too, you should really pick it up and their other couple releases. They rock.

https://filmpreservationsociety.org/shop

[fred25_Ca]

Yeah, unfortunately as a Canadian it would cost me way too much to import. I'm really hoping Cohen release it too later on, since it would be a lot more affordable. If Film preservations would start to sell their stuff on Unobstructed view or amazon canada, i'd order both of their releases in a heartbeat.

Edit: just checked and it's 30$ US to ship to Canada... So in the end just one movie would cost 80$ CAD...

[Doomhunter]

Ordered the Three M’s from FP.

[Professor Echo]

I hope they jettison the score for ROBIN HOOD that was used on the old KINO DVD, one of the absolute worst scores for a silent film I've ever heard. That was one copy I always watched in literal silence.

[Ned Brainard]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

I hope they jettison the score for ROBIN HOOD that was used on the old KINO DVD, one of the absolute worst scores for a silent film I've ever heard. That was one copy I always watched in literal silence.

It is curious that, as of now, no mention has been made of the musical accompaniment for the films. Presumably, The Black Pirate will make use of Robert Israel's orchestral rendition of the original Mortimer Wilson score, but what about Robin Hood? The score used on the previous laserdisc and DVD is a 1990s synthesizer rendition of the film's original, compiled score. While I personally don't mind the score, it is a bit ironic that the 1990s synth does come off as more dated than a 1920s movie.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Ned Brainard

It is curious that, as of now, no mention has been made of the musical accompaniment for the films. Presumably, The Black Pirate will make use of Robert Israel's orchestral rendition of the original Mortimer Wilson score, but what about Robin Hood? The score used on the previous laserdisc and DVD is a 1990s synthesizer rendition of the film's original, compiled score. While I personally don't mind the score, it is a bit ironic that the 1990s synth does come off as more dated than a 1920s movie.

Some newer scores and modernized arrangements can work very well for silent films, but a synth interpretation of an original score is a horrendous mix as far as I'm concerned and I agree with you that it sounds very ironically dated. I don't have any issues watching a silent film without any music providing it's late at night and there aren't any other sounds around to distract me. I mostly do this with lousy scores and nearly always when it's just a solo piano as I cannot stand the sound of a solo piano (though not solo organ, which I love). I understand that silents normally played in theaters with music during their original engagements, but watching one in total silence often commands my attention intensely, much more than a crap score constantly taking me out of the film.

[StarDestroyer52]

Have the old Kino OOP Blu of The Black Pirate, but I've been wanting Robin Hood for ages.