Flicker Alley

[Blu-Velvet]

Really looking forward to THE LOST WORLD on Blu-ray, as well as SHERLOCK HOLMES and an alternate release of THE BIRTH OF A NATION (presumably with a different score as well as different extras), not to mention Chaplin's Essanay shorts in HD. Of course the 3-D rarities on Blu-ray will be a must-buy!

I know the people at Flicker Alley have been somewhat disappointed in Blu-ray sales over DVD sales in terms of net return vs. expenses, since there is already a limited niche market for their titles and libraries/schools generally all opt for DVD versions, so I try to support their Blu-ray releases as much as possible to encourage more to come. Their French Masterworks set looks so good on their DVDs that it's frustrating they released only one of the titles on Blu-ray (an interesting one but not necessarily the best) with no plans for the rest on Blu.

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

and an alternate release of THE BIRTH OF A NATION (presumably with a different score as well as different extras).

And a different transfer, likely superior to the Kino/MoC release.

[Yami]

I've held off all previous releases of Birth of a Nation in anticipation of the Photoplay/BFI restoration - glad that it will be coming this year.

[Bluyoda]

The Lost World for sure!!! So excited!

When?

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by Yami

I've held off all previous releases of Birth of a Nation in anticipation of the Photoplay/BFI restoration - glad that it will be coming this year.

I did the same until I lost faith we'd ever see the restoration on disc. At least the 2 hours of Griffith shorts on the MoC/Kino disc keeps it somewhat essential.

[Jobla]

I'm eagerly anticipating the 3-D RARITIES release, although I'll need to watch the materials in 2-D for the foreseeable future.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

I did the same until I lost faith we'd ever see the restoration on disc. At least the 2 hours of Griffith shorts on the MoC/Kino disc keeps it somewhat essential.

Agreed on its remaining essential for that reason, but as for the rest I don't watch the film enough to double dip on it. I'm for superior presentations, but at some point I get fed up with all the repeat releases (especially at the high prices Flicker Alley has to charge out of necessity) and contentedly live with what I already have.

[EddieLarkin]

I am unfortunately cursed with a disorder that prevents me from watching a film if I know there is a superior presentation easily available elsewhere. I will be holding out for a cheaper BFI release though since I'm in the UK (they're co-credited on FA's calendar).

[jetthead]

More Chaplin is always a good thing!

[bigshot]

The UK Chaplin Mutuals looks better than the Flicker Alley release. It has the same Cineteca Bologna restoration, but the live music accompaniment is in proper sync. (It's out of sync by as much as a second on several of the Flicker Alley shorts) The best part is that the UK version also included Carl Davis's spectacular orchestral scores, and was overseen by Davis himself.

The Spanish release of the Mutuals is better than Flicker Alley's too. It has the same scores, but they are in proper synchronization with the films. I bought the Spanish Mutual and Essanay sets because I got stung by the Flicker Alley Mutuals.

[jetthead]

Originally Posted by bigshot

The UK Chaplin Mutuals looks better than the Flicker Alley release. It has the same Cineteca Bologna restoration, but the live music accompaniment is in proper sync. (It's out of sync by as much as a second on several of the Flicker Alley shorts) The best part is that the UK version also included Carl Davis's spectacular orchestral scores, and was overseen by Davis himself.

The Spanish release of the Mutuals is better than Flicker Alley's too. It has the same scores, but they are in proper synchronization with the films. I bought the Spanish Mutual and Essanay sets because I got stung by the Flicker Alley Mutuals.

Yeah the synch problem is quite noticeable in The Floorwalker.

Ironically, I had planned to buy the Spanish release originally until I saw that Flicker Alley was releasing it here in the States.

I have a few other things in my Amazon.es cart so I may just go ahead and get that Chaplin Essanay release as well.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by bigshot

The UK Chaplin Mutuals looks better than the Flicker Alley release. It has the same Cineteca Bologna restoration, but the live music accompaniment is in proper sync. (It's out of sync by as much as a second on several of the Flicker Alley shorts) The best part is that the UK version also included Carl Davis's spectacular orchestral scores, and was overseen by Davis himself.

The Spanish release of the Mutuals is better than Flicker Alley's too. It has the same scores, but they are in proper synchronization with the films. I bought the Spanish Mutual and Essanay sets because I got stung by the Flicker Alley Mutuals.

May I ask how you know that, since it's not released until May this year, according to amazon.co.uk?
It would be great, if true?

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by bigshot

The UK Chaplin Mutuals looks better than the Flicker Alley release. It has the same Cineteca Bologna restoration, but the live music accompaniment is in proper sync. (It's out of sync by as much as a second on several of the Flicker Alley shorts) The best part is that the UK version also included Carl Davis's spectacular orchestral scores, and was overseen by Davis himself.

The Spanish release of the Mutuals is better than Flicker Alley's too. It has the same scores, but they are in proper synchronization with the films. I bought the Spanish Mutual and Essanay sets because I got stung by the Flicker Alley Mutuals.

I can't afford the FA release, so if there are better versions that may ultimately prove to be cheaper, this is great information to have.

[EddieLarkin]

Well, the Carl Davis scores are plainly advertised for the BFI set, and we know big efforts are being made to make sure there are no sync problems because insiders have provided such information.

I think it's very likely the BFI will be doing the Essanay set as well, maybe this time next year.

[jlk5844]

Wow, I didn't know about the new restoration of The Birth of a Nation, glad I didn't buy the Kino Blu-ray in that case. Hopefully it's an improvement and hopefully they use the cover art that MoC used for their Blu-ray edition.

Very much anticipating The Lost World as well, was beginning to think that would never get a Blu-ray release, especially since it was apart of Flicker Alley's MOD DVD program. That's cool about Sherlock Holmes since it was lost, and I'm awaiting more information on the Avante-Garde Experimental Film set, I've heard that it includes Meshes of the Afternoon, which I found just entrancing both times I've watched it, a landmark film in the genre.

[SpiderBaby]

YES!

Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Movie Camera and Other Newly-Restored Works
Deluxe Blu-ray Edition

"I am an eye. A mechanical eye. I am the machine that reveals the world to you as only the machine can see it.
- Dziga Vertov ("Kino-Eye")

These words, written in 1923 (only a year after Robert Flaherty s Nanook of the North was released) reflect the Soviet pioneer s developing approach to cinema as an art form that shuns traditional or Western narrative in favor of images from real life. They lay the foundation for what would become the crux of Vertov s revolutionary, anti-bourgeois aesthetic wherein the camera is an extension of the human eye, capturing the chaos of visual phenomena filling the universe. Over the next decade-and-a-half, Vertov would devote his life to the construction and organization of these raw images, his apotheosis being the landmark 1929 film The Man with the Movie Camera. In it, he comes closest to realizing his theory of Kino-Eye, creating a new, more ambitious and more significant picture than what the eye initially perceives.

Now thanks to the extraordinary restoration efforts of Lobster Films, Blackhawk Films® Collection, EYE Film Institute, Cinémathèque de Toulouse, and the Centre National de la Cinématographie Flicker Alley is able to present the four films featured on Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Movie Camera and Other Newly-Restored Works in a brand-new, Blu-ray edition.

The Man with the Movie Camera (1929) - Named the best documentary film of all time by Sight and Sound, it is presented here in its entirety for the first time since its original premiere. Discovered and restored at EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam - with extensive digital treatment by Lobster Films - the 35mm print from which this edition is, in part, sourced is the only known complete version of the film.
Kino Eye/The Life Unexpected (1924) A cinematographic poem in which Vertov lays the foundation of his Kino-Eye principles, the film shows the incredible force of his theories, but also the beauty and energy of a society fresh from revolution, ready to face the challenges of a difficult future.
Enthusiasm The Symphony of the Donbass (1931) One of the first Soviet sound films, it deals with the Five Year Plan of the late 1920s, and represents Vertov s radical attempt to link economic progress with the introduction of sound in cinema.
Three Songs About Lenin (1934) Arguably Vertov s most personal work, the triptych celebrates the Soviet leader 10 years after his death as seen through the eyes of the people.

The Man with the Movie Camera and Kino Eye feature musical accompaniments by Alloy Orchestra and Robert Israel respectively, while original soundtracks have been restored for Enthusiasm and Three Songs About Lenin.

Bonus features include Kino Pravda #21, a newsreel made in 1925 to mark the first anniversary of Lenin s death, as well as a booklet featuring information about Vertov s life and works.

Engish and French subtitles available with original Russian intertitles. Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Movie Camera and Other Newly-Restored Works
Deluxe Blu-ray Edition

"I am an eye. A mechanical eye. I am the machine that reveals the world to you as only the machine can see it.
- Dziga Vertov ("Kino-Eye")

These words, written in 1923 (only a year after Robert Flaherty s Nanook of the North was released) reflect the Soviet pioneer s developing approach to cinema as an art form that shuns traditional or Western narrative in favor of images from real life. They lay the foundation for what would become the crux of Vertov s revolutionary, anti-bourgeois aesthetic wherein the camera is an extension of the human eye, capturing the chaos of visual phenomena filling the universe. Over the next decade-and-a-half, Vertov would devote his life to the construction and organization of these raw images, his apotheosis being the landmark 1929 film The Man with the Movie Camera. In it, he comes closest to realizing his theory of Kino-Eye, creating a new, more ambitious and more significant picture than what the eye initially perceives.

Now thanks to the extraordinary restoration efforts of Lobster Films, Blackhawk Films® Collection, EYE Film Institute, Cinémathèque de Toulouse, and the Centre National de la Cinématographie Flicker Alley is able to present the four films featured on Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Movie Camera and Other Newly-Restored Works in a brand-new, Blu-ray edition.

The Man with the Movie Camera (1929) - Named the best documentary film of all time by Sight and Sound, it is presented here in its entirety for the first time since its original premiere. Discovered and restored at EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam - with extensive digital treatment by Lobster Films - the 35mm print from which this edition is, in part, sourced is the only known complete version of the film.
Kino Eye/The Life Unexpected (1924) A cinematographic poem in which Vertov lays the foundation of his Kino-Eye principles, the film shows the incredible force of his theories, but also the beauty and energy of a society fresh from revolution, ready to face the challenges of a difficult future.
Enthusiasm The Symphony of the Donbass (1931) One of the first Soviet sound films, it deals with the Five Year Plan of the late 1920s, and represents Vertov s radical attempt to link economic progress with the introduction of sound in cinema.
Three Songs About Lenin (1934) Arguably Vertov s most personal work, the triptych celebrates the Soviet leader 10 years after his death as seen through the eyes of the people.

The Man with the Movie Camera and Kino Eye feature musical accompaniments by Alloy Orchestra and Robert Israel respectively, while original soundtracks have been restored for Enthusiasm and Three Songs About Lenin.

Bonus features include Kino Pravda #21, a newsreel made in 1925 to mark the first anniversary of Lenin s death, as well as a booklet featuring information about Vertov s life and works.

Engish and French subtitles available with original Russian intertitles.

[Yami]

Great news, although I would love a release of The Man With a Movie Camera that had multiple scored to choose from. I don't think I've heard the Alloy Orchestra soundtrack, but I really like the Cinematic Orchestra score that I have on DVD. Michael Nyman's is worth a listen as well.

[JJJ225]

That should be a great release.

[Arkadin]

when did Flicker Alley confirm that The Lost World would indeed get a bd release because the calendar had it as stream/dvd only.

[SpiderBaby]

The Vertov set is only $30 right now on their site.