The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 1 (1929-1930)

[ClassicFlix]

Originally Posted by Kincho

Amazing!

Thanks!

And if you haven't seen it, the side by side of the 3rd Rascal sound short LAZY DAYS is even more stunning. Check it out at around 90 seconds in.

The Little Rascals Preservation and Restoration Project - YouTube

- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

[garyd97]

I guess I need to sign up for an Indiegogo account.

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by ClassicFlix

2) We have licensed all the silents that are still under copyright. We have material access to most of those, as well as some of PD silents.

Extremely good news! Can you give us a guesstimate as to how many silents you might end up releasing altogether? According to Wikipedia there were 88 silents produced between 1922 and 1929. There are five silents that are entirely missing or presumed lost:

YALE VS HARVARD (1927)
HEEBIE JEEBIES (1927)
EDISON, MARCONI & CO. (1928)
GROWING PAINS (1928)
THE HOLY TERROR (1929)

There are ten other silents that are partially or mostly extant:

OUR GANG (1922) — only half the film exists, consisting of pieced-together home movie fragments released in the US and UK
BETTER MOVIES (1925) — only an edited television print and a few home movie fragments exist
YOUR OWN BACK YARD (1925) — long thought lost, a nearly complete print has been pieced together from various elements that finally turned up
THE SMILE WINS (1928) — long thought lost, a 35mm nitrate print was discovered in France (with French inter-titles) in 1991. A home movie fragment (with several of the original English inter-titles) also exists.
FAIR AND MUDDY (1928) — a nearly complete print was discovered in England in 2008 but intertitle wording is not the original and it is unknown if the original wording exists
CRAZY HOUSE (1928) — the film survives complete but the synchronized soundtrack is missing
THE OL’ GRAY HOSS (1928) — the film survives complete but the synchronized soundtrack is missing
SCHOOL BEGINS (1928) — complete print supposedly at MOMA but intertitles are non-English (possibly Czech) and it is unknown whether the synchronized soundtrack has survived
THE SPANKING AGE (1928) — the film survives complete but it is unknown whether the synchronized soundtrack has survived
NOISY NOISES (1929) — the film survives complete but the synchronized soundtrack is missing

So, we ostensibly have 73 complete unmolested silent shorts that could end up being restored and released by ClassicFlix, and another ten that have issues but could hopefully be included in some form at least, with newly-created music scores in place of the originals (I mean, new scores will need to be done for all of ‘em anyway) and/or retranslated title cards and/or explanatory cards in the stead of any footage still missing. That’s actually a far greater survival rate than I was expecting! I really really hope CF can restore and release these fully/mostly/partly complete 83 silents in a couple volumes...

https://lostmediaarchive.fandom.com/...oreign_Prints)

[whiteberry]

The following website from a member of the The Little Rascals Forum hasn't been updated in a long time but it's still a good resource as to what exists:
http://www.theluckycorner.com/

[Kincho]

Originally Posted by ClassicFlix

Thanks!

And if you haven't seen it, the side by side of the 3rd Rascal sound short LAZY DAYS is even more stunning. Check it out at around 90 seconds in.

The Little Rascals Preservation and Restoration Project - YouTube

- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

Truly a phenomenal improvement!
I'll be contributing.

[ClassicFlix]

Originally Posted by Kincho

Amazing!

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

Extremely good news! Can you give us a guesstimate as to how many silents you might end up releasing altogether? According to Wikipedia there were 88 silents produced between 1922 and 1929. There are five silents that are entirely missing or presumed lost:

YALE VS HARVARD (1927)
HEEBIE JEEBIES (1927)
EDISON, MARCONI & CO. (1928)
GROWING PAINS (1928)
THE HOLY TERROR (1929)

There are ten other silents that are partially or mostly extant:

OUR GANG (1922) — only half the film exists, consisting of pieced-together home movie fragments released in the US and UK
BETTER MOVIES (1925) — only an edited television print and a few home movie fragments exist
YOUR OWN BACK YARD (1925) — long thought lost, a nearly complete print has been pieced together from various elements that finally turned up
THE SMILE WINS (1928) — long thought lost, a 35mm nitrate print was discovered in France (with French inter-titles) in 1991. A home movie fragment (with several of the original English inter-titles) also exists.
FAIR AND MUDDY (1928) — a nearly complete print was discovered in England in 2008 but intertitle wording is not the original and it is unknown if the original wording exists
CRAZY HOUSE (1928) — the film survives complete but the synchronized soundtrack is missing
THE OL’ GRAY HOSS (1928) — the film survives complete but the synchronized soundtrack is missing
SCHOOL BEGINS (1928) — complete print supposedly at MOMA but intertitles are non-English (possibly Czech) and it is unknown whether the synchronized soundtrack has survived
THE SPANKING AGE (1928) — the film survives complete but it is unknown whether the synchronized soundtrack has survived
NOISY NOISES (1929) — the film survives complete but the synchronized soundtrack is missing

So, we ostensibly have 73 complete unmolested silent shorts that could end up being restored and released by ClassicFlix, and another ten that have issues but could hopefully be included in some form at least, with newly-created music scores in place of the originals (I mean, new scores will need to be done for all of ‘em anyway) and/or retranslated title cards and/or explanatory cards in the stead of any footage still missing. That’s actually a far greater survival rate than I was expecting! I really really hope CF can restore and release these fully/mostly/partly complete 83 silents in a couple volumes...

https://lostmediaarchive.fandom.com/...oreign_Prints)

Thanks for asking, but we haven't even begun the work/research on sound short #23, let alone the silents. We're focusing on this campaign at the moment (preserving and restoring the first 22 sound shorts) and the more successful it is, the sooner all Our Gang shorts we've licensed will get released.

- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

[ClassicFlix]

Originally Posted by Kincho

Truly a phenomenal improvement!
I'll be contributing.

Thanks Kincho.

FYI to all - If you are able to donate, the sooner the better as momentum early on in crowdfunding makes a big difference as to whether or not a campaign will succeed.

- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

[whiteberry]

Originally Posted by whiteberry

Anyone know how we can get a news item about this posted to the front page of this website?

I figured out how to submit a news item. Hopefully it will get approved.

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by ClassicFlix

Thanks for asking, but we haven't even begun the work/research on sound short #23, let alone the silents. We're focusing on this campaign at the moment (preserving and restoring the first 22 sound shorts) and the more successful it is, the sooner all Our Gang shorts we've licensed will get released.

- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

Oh I totally get that, I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help my over-enthusiasm about the future prospect of the silents getting released, just because they’ve never really been readily available at all, unlike the sound shorts. Rest assured that next payday I will be backing this most welcome project. Can’t wait to be able to give my old DVD set away!

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by ClassicFlix

A mock up of the cover art is in the video. We have ideas, but the premium type packaging has yet to be determined.

We're open to suggestions.

- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

Any chance of getting the original Our Gang title of the series on the front cover instead of just The Little Rascals?

[ClassicFlix]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

Any chance of getting the original Our Gang title of the series on the front cover instead of just The Little Rascals?

Thanks for asking, but we won't be able to use Our Gang for the name of the collection.

- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

[Kincho]

I contributed a few days ago. Almost at 20% now.

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by ClassicFlix

Thanks for asking, but we won't be able to use Our Gang for the name of the collection.

- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

Interesting — some sort of rights hangup on using Our Gang as a title for the collection, even though the original Our Gang titles have been restored to the films?

[njwiv]

Pledged!

[whiteberry]

It has hit 20%

[Starchild]

Let’s go everybody. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and 80% to go!

[garyd97]

Pledged! I hope it gets there.

[Starchild]

I tried to share the raw scan of “Little Daddy” (1937). I couldn’t add the link. If anyone else can please do. And continue to support this great effort.

Thank you

[ClassicFlix]

Originally Posted by Starchild

I tried to share the raw scan of “Little Daddy” (1937). I couldn’t add the link. If anyone else can please do. And continue to support this great effort.

Thank you

Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PP3...ature=youtu.be

The context:

A clip of the just completed raw scan of the 17th Little Rascal sound short LITTLE DADDY (1931).

- NO SOUND -

It is not yet restored, but the underlying sharpness is evident.

And while it might look like cleaning up the dirt, flicker and scratches is an impossible task, it is actually in much better shape than the first two shorts we scanned and restored (LAZY DAYS & DOGS IS DOGS) and it will look fantastically eye-popping when our restoration work is done!

Please pledge your support and spread the word: https://igg.me/at/littlerascals
- David
ClassicFlix Founder, Producer

[Don Corleone]

Anyone figure out how to add this to top news on bluray.com, not sure what the rules are

Originally Posted by whiteberry

I figured out how to submit a news item. Hopefully it will get approved.