Kino Lorber Studio Classics

[JasonMichael]

Originally Posted by Jobla

Will the 3-D NUDIE CUTIES also have 2-D versions as well? Either on the Blu disc or a separate DVD disc?

I asked this question back in March and the KLI answered in the affirmative. You even liked the answer!
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...ostcount=29589

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

All the best in your recovery! Now you have every opportunity to cut into your "I haven't gotten to these dang movies yet" pile

When I came home from the hospital, I thought that I would have a couple of weeks of endless spare time on my hands just to recover from the surgery and watch Blu-rays. So far, though, I've spent most of my time trying to make sure that the people in the doctor's office are doing their jobs by getting medical leave forms to my workplace by the deadline established by my employer. I should be resting and recovering instead of staying on people's tails to get voicemails returned and such, but it is what it is.

[GilaFilms]

Originally Posted by timothy ramzyk

Supposedly the problem with DEMENTIA 13 is that someone needs to prove they have the lawful rights to access the studio elements, same holds true of THE TERROR.

The 4K restoration for Dementia 13 had already been completed by Coppola himself, using MGM's elements.

[Jobla]

Originally Posted by GilaFilms

The 4K restoration for Dementia 13 had already been completed by Coppola himself, using MGM's elements.

Perhaps a label could strike a deal with American Zoetrope for DEMENTIA 13?

[timothy ramzyk]

Originally Posted by GilaFilms

The 4K restoration for Dementia 13 had already been completed by Coppola himself, using MGM's elements.

Well, then you enter the wonderful and wacky world of Francis Ford Coppola, which doesn't give me much confidence that a public domain title will get a Blu-ray release. MGM may have made the print/neg available to Coppola, but that doesn't really mean he's re-captured the rights. Supposedly Corman has a solid source on DEMENTIA 13 and THE TERROR, but also didn't want to release a Blu-ray, effectively remastering the film for anyone else who cares to release it.

I'm pretty sure I've heard rumors of crackpot ideas that both men have had to make alterations/additions (which no one wants) to regain the rights. Coppola is now 80 and Corman 93, I think they may have waited too long to try and ring another nickel out these orphans.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I have a grisly-looking 12-inch vertical incision across my naval that has 25 metal staples in it. It's (hopefully) the closest that I'll get to looking like Frankenstein's monster. The wound has been sealed for days, though, the staples will be coming out on August 22, and I will return to work, albeit with a few restrictions (unable to lift over 10 pounds until October, etc.), shortly after.

Might be an idea to avoid flying until then: airport security could get messy...

[Show spoiler]

Get well soon, but don't try to rush it.

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by movieben1138

I dig these type of announcements as much as anyone -- Peter Cushing is one of my all-time favorite performers -- but I'm kind of sad that the market is forcing KL to lean more heavily into these genre flicks. We already had numerous labels devoted to horror and exploitation. I was really happy with Kino digging out the classics (as per their namesake) in drama and comedy, which now they say they have to somewhat shy away from from a money-making standpoint. I'm most looking forward to the Alec Guinness and Billy Wilder flicks they have coming, and sincerely hope there are still Bob Hope and maybe some Peter Sellers vehicles in the pipeline. I don't mean this as a slight against Kino (they are tops in my book!), but perhaps as one against the current average media consumer. Buy more comedies, folks!

Nope, we unapologetic horror/sci-fi fans are just fine with Kino’s genre output, thank you very much. And THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS is one of the finest British horror films ever made. Kudos to Kino for putting both versions out on Blu.

[TheHorrorNerd]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

Nope, we unapologetic horror/sci-fi fans are just fine with Kino’s genre output, thank you very much. And THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS is one of the finest British horror films ever made. Kudos to Kino for putting both versions out on Blu.

I vote more horror

[Aclea]

“You wrote the dialogue, I was the scenery.”

Foreign Intrigue is the kind of glossy color location hopping (from the South of France to Vienna to Stockholm) star vehicle that movies were going in for in a big way in the late 50s to combat television, though it was a sort of spinoff from writer-producer-director Sheldon Reynolds’ 1951-55 TV series. It’s a fantastic looking picture with vivid Eastmancolour photography courtesy of Bertil Palmgren and a good sense of place while avoiding the usual tourist trap travelog locations (though most prints, including the DVD and Bluray versions, are now missing the original black and white prologue setting up the wartime backstory), which is just as well because after a decent setup it doesn’t amount to anything nearly as interesting or important as it wants to think it does.

Mitchum’s press agent struts through it with his usual magnificent brand of laidback confidence as he takes a voyage in the dark to discover who his late employer really was after everyone he meets asks if he said anything before he died only to find himself being followed by real-life man of many talents Frédéric O'Brady’s memorable mercenary informant and set up for murder by persons not exactly unknown, not because of what he knows but because of what he might come to know. Along the way he gets to cool off his relationship with the dead man’s trophy wife Genevieve Page, looking strikingly like Ingrid Bergman in her profile shots, and start a new one with the staggeringly unflatteringly photographed Ingrid Thulin’s daughter of one of the links in the chain despite her incredibly irritating habit of adding “umm” and “er” to every other sentence as part of her seduction technique. It’s the kind of film that’s all surface, particularly when the Maguffin is finally revealed by not one but four Irving the Explainers, but it’s a very good looking surface that’s no trial to look at for an hour and a half if you’re in an undemanding mood.

Sadly the surface isn’t as good-looking on Kino’s Region A-locked Bluray as it probably was in 1956. Using the same old master that did service on MGM/UA’s DVD double-bill with the 1958 version of The Quiet American, there’s a fair bit of minor scratching on the print and the definition isn’t as sharp as it could be in some long shots (the original trailer included has much sharper definition but less convincing color), but does a decent but not outstanding job of recreating the original Eastman Color hues. The only other extras are trailers for Mitchum’s Man with the Gun and The Wonderful Country.

All in all a decent but not outstanding release of a decent but not outstanding film - as long as you set your expectations accordingly on both counts.

[whiteberry]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Might be an idea to avoid flying until then: airport security could get messy...

[Show spoiler]

I'm reminded of the airport scenes from Penn & Teller Get Killed and Police Academy 5:

Airport Scene from Penn and Teller Get Killed - YouTube

Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach. Metal Detector - YouTube

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Foreign Intrigue is the kind of glossy color location hopping (from the South of France to Vienna to Stockholm) star vehicle that movies were going in for in a big way in the late 50s to combat television, though it was a sort of spinoff from writer-producer-director Sheldon Reynolds’ 1951-55 TV series. It’s a fantastic looking picture with vivid Eastmancolour photography courtesy of Bertil Palmgren and a good sense of place while avoiding the usual tourist trap travelog locations (though most prints, including the DVD and Bluray versions, are now missing the original black and white prologue setting up the wartime backstory), which is just as well because after a decent setup it doesn’t amount to anything nearly as interesting or important as it wants to think it does.

Great write-up!

We seem to be on the same page. Here was my take on Foreign Intrigue from a while back...

Robert Mitchum (Out of the Past) is his good old tired and laconic self as a journalist who is tasked with investigations into his deceased employer's nefarious European dealings. His discoveries lead him into a secret World War II conspiracy and into the paths of memorable characters played by the likes of Geneviève Page and Ingrid Thulin (Wild Strawberries).

From the first few moments on, the 1956 film, Foreign Intrigue, gives me the impression that I have stepped into the middle part of a much longer story, only to be left to piece everything together later. It's not that this movie is difficult to understand. It's just that the storyline and Mitchum's character are strangely lacking in any real tension or believability.

Fortunately, Foreign Intrigue proves to be a rewarding experience during the final 15 minutes, when it suddenly explodes into action, as though all of the intensity were somewhat released like champagne from bottle after the popping of the cork.

Above all, it is a fantastic-looking feature, with its picturesque views of various Europe settings.

This movie, which was based on a television series of the same name that ran in the early 1950s, a television show that I myself have never seen, comes across as somewhat unwieldy in this day and age, but it's still a fun eye candy film with a couple of redeeming suspense moments in the final sequences.

[Starchild]

KL Insider can we expect announcements this weekend?

[exzachary]

Originally Posted by Kino Lorber Insider

Day of the Triffids was "restored" by the rights holder and his asking price is too high.

This is unfortunate. I remember reading the rights holder claim he personally spent $100k restoring this. If he thinks he's going to recoup all of that he's delusional.

[James Luckard]

I have a question about the BD of BLACKMAIL.

The silent version on Disc 1, which was restored by the BFI, looks absolutely fantastic. This is its first ever commercial release, and I'm thrilled.

However the "talkie" version is presented in two different versions.

Disc 1 has a 1.33 version. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears to simply be the 1.20 master stretched out wider. I'm not entirely clear why, since the film's OAR is supposedly 1.20.

Disc 2 is labeled as containing the 1.20 version, but it in fact appears to be pinched on the sides, resulting in an aspect ratio that's more like 1.10.

I haven't seen this discussed here yet, but on other forums people have brought it up. There are caps and such here:

https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=28489

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/...16328&start=25

The Vudu streaming "talkie" version appears to be the normal 1.20, there are comparison caps between all three versions in the Nitrateville thread.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I have a question about the BD of BLACKMAIL.

The silent version on Disc 1, which was restored by the BFI, looks absolutely fantastic. This is its first ever commercial release, and I'm thrilled.

However the "talkie" version is presented in two different versions.

Disc 1 has a 1.33 version. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears to simply be the 1.20 master stretched out wider. I'm not entirely clear why, since the film's OAR is supposedly 1.20.

Disc 2 is labeled as containing the 1.20 version, but it in fact appears to be pinched on the sides, resulting in an aspect ratio that's more like 1.10.

I haven't seen this discussed here yet, but on other forums people have brought it up. There are caps and such here:

https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=28489

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/...16328&start=25

The Vudu streaming "talkie" version appears to be the normal 1.20, there are comparison caps between all three versions in the Nitrateville thread.

I saw the stretched/pinched caps on DVDBeaver but didn't want to trust that they'd gotten it right, since they've gotten it wrong before. However, other sites are confirming the same error, so it appears that they did actually capture the screencaps correctly and the AR on the 1.20 version is compromised. Also, you're correct that the 1.33 edition appears to be a horizontally stretched version of the 1.20 AR. Therefore, if you want to watch the talkie edition, you cannot watch it without watching either a horizontally or vertically stretched transfer.

Someone else brought this problem up earlier in the thread, but it didn't get much traction at the time. I imagine that will change as more people get their hands on the discs.

For those who have seen the film already, which edition do you prefer: silent or talkie? (I'm asking about the film itself, not the transfer.)

[GeoffOliver]

Definitely the silent version. The talkie version isn’t as much of an artifact as I thought it would be, but it’s still a talkie film from 1929, and the silent version just has more energy and is a far more confident work. Also, Anny Ondra’s performance suffered in the talkie version from having to awkwardly sync with Joan Barry’s line readings. She was wonderful in the silent version, and I wish she had a bigger career. The shot with her holding the knife after killing the man was absolutely chilling.

[kvnbhovis]

Originally Posted by GeoffOliver

Definitely the silent version. The talkie version isn’t as much of an artifact as I thought it would be, but it’s still a talkie film from 1929, and the silent version just has more energy and is a far more confident work. Also, Anny Ondra’s performance suffered in the talkie version from having to awkwardly sync with Joan Barry’s line readings. She was wonderful in the silent version, and I wish she had a bigger career. The shot with her holding the knife after killing the man was absolutely chilling.

I just received my copy of Blackmail and wasn't sure which one to watch first. Thanks to the good folks here for recommending the silent version.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by kvnbhovis

I just received my copy of Blackmail and wasn't sure which one to watch first. Thanks to the good folks here for recommending the silent version.

In addition, the silent version had a full restoration by the BFI a couple of years back, so it looks stunning.

The talkie version, even in its proper 1.20 aspect ratio, wouldn't look as good.

Still, both have their merits.

[Aclea]

This isn't the first commercial release of the silent version - it's been on DVD in Germany for years containing both sound and silent versions (the latter with original English intertitles), and they make for an interesting comparison piece. Of the two, the silent has more energy and more dramatic composition, although in many areas the differences are fairly minor. The performances seem better, with some interesting handplay in the glove scene that should have been held over for the talkie.

To the sound version's credit it has the "KNIFE!" scene and a much better, longer take of Ondra walking through the streets as ghostly transparent figures of indifferent passers by drift among the crowd, and there's much fun to be had in watching the cues she gives her offscreen voice double (usually every sentence is heralded by opening her mouth for a second's hesitation before starting to mime). Donald Calthrop steals the acting honors as the would-be blackmailer, even managing to convince when using an unlikely upper class accent in the talkie.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Aclea

This isn't the first commercial release of the silent version - it's been on DVD in Germany for years containing both sound and silent versions (the latter with original English intertitles), and they make for an interesting comparison piece.

I meant the first commercial release of the BFI's restoration of the silent version.

Sadly their huge and expensive restoration program of the "Hitchcock 9" silent films was for theatrical release only. The titles are owned by different rights holders, so they have only slowly trickled out to home video over the years, individually.

The long-hoped-for BD boxset was, as many of us feared at the time, an impossibility.

Easy Virtue was the first to be released on BD, I believe, in France. It was followed by The Lodger in the UK. That film was later paired by Criterion in the US with Downhill. And now we have Blackmail.