French Masterworks: Russian Emigres in Paris 1923-1929

[pro-bassoonist]

Courtesy of Flicker Alley:



AMAZON PRE-ORDER

French Masterworks: Russian Emigres in Paris DVD



Note from Flicker Alley:

Release is pushed back to Tuesday, May 14th, 2013. We are still on track, however, to ship direct sales through Flicker Alley on or before April 30, 2013.

The collection of Russian filmmakers who made up the core of what came to be known as Films Albatros arrived from Moscow after the October 1917 revolution by way of Yalta, Constantinople and Marseilles, establishing their base of operations in an old Pathé greenhouse-style studio in the Paris suburb of Montreuil. From it flowed some of the finest French films of the 1920s – variously experimental, spectacular, charming, witty; and always beautifully executed.

The five exciting features in this collection, each restored to excellent condition by the Cinematheque Francaise, are all U.S. home video premieres, accompanied by outstanding new music scores by Timothy Brock, Robert Israel, Neil Brand, Antonio Coppola and the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Three of the films showcase the multi-faceted talents of Ivan Mosjoukine, who left a starring career in Russia for even greater glory in France. He wrote and directed The Burning Crucible (Le Brasier ardent, 1923) in which he also plays eleven parts. Of this film Jean Renoir said “I was ecstatic … I decided to abandon my trade, ceramics, to try to make films.” Mosjoukine also collaborated on the script and plays the title role in Alexandre Volkoff’s lavish Kean (1924), dramatizing the later life of Edmund Kean, the greatest Shakespearian of the early 19th century. In The Late Mathias Pascal (Feu Mathias Pascal, 1926)-a nearly three-hour super-production based upon a Pirandello Novel and brilliantly directed by Marcel L’Herbier — Mosjoukine inhabits the dual lives of the eponymous main character. To see him in action is to be mesmerized; he combines the theatrical skill of John Barrymore with the élan of Valentino or John Gilbert.

Alexander Kamenka, the head of Albatros, thought Jacques Feyder the greatest French filmmaker, and secured his talent for the dazzling comedy-dramas Gribiche (1925) and The New Gentlemen (Les Nouveaux messieur, 1929). Jean Forest (Faces of Children, Crainquebille) is Gribiche, a working-class youth who allows himself to be adopted in the hope that his widowed mother can marry a man unwilling to take on a step-son. The New Gentlemen, one of the wittiest, most sophisticated comedies ever to come out of France, describes a tug-of-war over a pretty young actress between an aging aristocrat and a young left-wing union organizer.

For each film, the original French titles are retained with optional English subtitles.

BONUS FEATURES:

In acknowledgment to on-going, serious archival restoration, a scene from Gribiche not in the set’s current restoration but only in the foreign negative, is presented as a bonus feature. Also presented is a new essay on Films Albatros and notes on each film by historian Lenny Borger.

Pro-B

[pro-bassoonist]

Hi, I wanted to bring to your attention this fabulous upcoming release from Flicker Alley. Unfortunately, I cannot post a full review on the site because we do not have a DVD section for reviews, but I have taken some pictures for you and will post them here.

This is a five-disc set with each disc having the following content:

Disc One:

Le Brasier Ardent a.k.a The Burning Crucible. First run release: 1923. Directed by Ivan Mozzhukhin. Restored in 1997 by The Cinemathique Royale de Belgique, in collaboration with Cineteca del Comune di Bologna, from a black-and-white original negative conserved by the Cinematheque Francaise. Music for this edition: Neil Brand. ALL films in the box set come with optional Yellow OR White subtitles.

Disc Two:

Kean (or Wildness and Genius). First run release: 1924. Directed by Alexandre Volkoff. Music by Robert Israel.

Disc Three:

Feu Mathias Pascal a.k.a The Late Mathias Pascal. First run release: 1926. Directed by Marcel L'Herbier. Music for this edition: Timothy Brock. Recorded in a live performance on Jun 28th, 2009 by The Orchestra of the Municipal Theatre of Bologna.


Disc Four:

Gribiche a.k.a Mother of Mine. First run release: 1926. Directed by Jacques Feyder. Music for this edition: The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. The film was restored by the Cinematheque Francaise with the support of the Franco-American Cultural Foundation.

Disc Five:

Les nouveaux messieurs a.k.a The New Gentlemen. First run release: 1929. Directed by Jacques Feyder. Music for this edition: Antonio Coppola.

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I will try to add some screencaptures as well.

The Burning Crucible







Kean (or Wildness and Genius)







Pro-B

[TJS_Blu]

This title is currently available from Flicker Alley's site for $44.96. Free shipping in the US. Current price on Amazon is $59.95, ImportCDs has it for $44.96 as well (on sale till 5/12), but you have to pay S&H.