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

[Ned Brainard]

https://www.bfi.org.uk/london-film-f...er-restoration

More news about the recent MOMA restoration of The Black Pirate which includes the stunning revelation that three reels of the domestic A negative somehow survived undetected in the BFI holdings! Let's hope someone (Flicker Alley, Criterion, etc.) can bring this restoration to blu-ray!

[filmlover22]

Let me get this straight. Kino is about to release this film on bluray and now there is a new better transfer coming?

[Ned Brainard]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

Let me get this straight. Kino is about to release this film on bluray and now there is a new better transfer coming?

Sort of. Kino has released on Cohen's behalf an HD master of The Black Pirate taken from the old Rohauer materials. This master is derived from an Eastman color negative produced on Raymond Rohauer's behest in the early 1970s from the material stored at the BFI. From what I have heard, it was a "quick and dirty" affair, but to give the devil some credit, dealing with two-color Technicolor negatives in the early 1970s on a purely photochemical analog basis wasn't a simple matter. At the moment, this master is the best one available on physical media, and who knows if/when the new MOMA restoration will ever be available to us mere mortals. I certainly hope that this won't be one of those restorations that sits on a shelf outside of a few token archival screenings.

With all that said, I seem to remember Serge Bromberg mentioning in an interview recently that Flicker Alley was going to handle the physical release of a MOMA restoration of a major silent title. I wonder if The Black Pirate is that title? There are other candidates like The Cat and the Canary though. I hope he wasn't referring to the recent, excellent release of Foolish Wives.

[Doomhunter]

Originally Posted by Ned Brainard

https://www.bfi.org.uk/london-film-f...er-restoration

More news about the recent MOMA restoration of The Black Pirate which includes the stunning revelation that three reels of the domestic A negative somehow survived undetected in the BFI holdings! Let's hope someone (Flicker Alley, Criterion, etc.) can bring this restoration to blu-ray!

Cool! By the way The Strawberry Blonde in your sig is out on blu

[Ned Brainard]

Originally Posted by Doomhunter

Cool! By the way The Strawberry Blonde in your sig is out on blu

And I own it!
I need to update my signature one of these days to gripe about other films that need releases.

[David Alp]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

Let me get this straight. Kino is about to release this film on bluray and now there is a new better transfer coming?

Hi guys

So is there any update to this "Black Pirate" quandry? I've read the whole thread. Long-story-short - BFI recently projected a 4K scan of "The Black Pirate" that was restored by MOMA from (some of) the "A" negatives. (So this version is what we've all been waiting for -- for years!)

Yet (meanwhile) COHEN have just released another version of "The Black Pirate" to bluray, but NOT from the Original Camera Negatives.


Can someone tell me what to do?

Do I buy the COHEN version? Or do I wait till BFI release the Original Camera Negative version, (which shall obviously be vastly superior)

What shall I do?


Thanks guys

[Doomhunter]

Originally Posted by David Alp

Hi guys

So is there any update to this "Black Pirate" quandry? I've read the whole thread. Long-story-short - BFI recently projected a 4K scan of "The Black Pirate" that was restored by MOMA from (some of) the "A" negatives. (So this version is what we've all been waiting for -- for years!)

Yet (meanwhile) COHEN have just released another version of "The Black Pirate" to bluray, but NOT from the Original Camera Negatives.


Can someone tell me what to do?

Do I buy the COHEN version? Or do I wait till BFI release the Original Camera Negative version, (which shall obviously be vastly superior)

What shall I do?


Thanks guys

Might as well buy the Cohen now and hopefully someday the ocn version may get released