The
House Of Mystery (1921 -
1923/Flicker Alley DVD Set)/Solomon
& Sheba (1959/United
Artists/MGM/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+/B- Sound: B-/C+ Extras: C/C+ Films: B/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Solomon
& Sheba
Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is
limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last
from the link below, while we add a direct link to Flicker Alley's
site for House
Of Mystery
in case Amazon.com runs out of copies below as well.
Here's
a look at two different types of epic film productions from two
different eras...
Alexandre
Volkoff's The
House Of Mystery
(aka La
Maison du mystere,
1921 - 1923) is
a French silent movie serial (cineroman) not made for kids as the
Hollywood chapter serials of the 1930s, 1960s and 1950s were, but a
drama with some comedy and even some action and stunts from the
Albatros Studios whose surviving work is being slowly issued on DVD
and Blu-ray by the great folks at Flicker Alley in its French
Masterworks
set and separate Late
Mathias Pascal
releases (reviewed elsewhere on this site).
Taking
place just before those films were made and released, Ivan Mosjoukine
(who co-wrote the screenplay adaptation) is Julien, a young man who
lives life, is doing well and has fallen for a beautiful young woman
named Regine (Helene Darly) and if that was all, this would probably
been simply a short romantic film with some comedy. However, the
relationship causes 'friend' Henri Corradin (Charles Vanel) to be so
angry that he plots to get her by getting rid of him by framing him
for a crime he did not commit, then marry Regine without either of
them realizing it.
This
leads to an odyssey that includes court sequences, prison sequences,
melodramatic stretches, plot line connected to WWI and more surprises
than I was even expecting in its decent 383 minutes. That may be
long, but this is so unlike any serial you have seen before that even
the down parts are interesting. This includes the use of tinting the
film and one early, beautiful sequence done totally in silhouette.
The makers were determined to keep people watching and we don't get
(sometimes phony) cliffhanger endings at the end of each chapter, but
dramatic peaks that makes us wonder what to expect next time.
Though
some pats may seem cliched, this was very new and fresh at the time
and you can feel the makers working out how to show these situations
cinematically when that was still very uncommon, especially at this
length; which was still rare as the Italian Superepics and Griffith's
back to back long-form epics Birth
Of A Nation
(1915) and Intolerance
(1916) were recent developments. In all that, it makes it more
exciting and fun to view than you would think. In this restored
version, it is a true pleasure. Serious film fans should give it a
good chance, as they won't be disappointed.
King
Vidor's Solomon
& Sheba
(1959) came
out of the peak of widescreen Biblical epics that were being made,
sometimes whether they were good or not, just like what is happening
in 2015 as the latest digital visual effects-powered cycle starts to
wane. The 1950s cycle began with The
Robe
(1953) and ended with The
Greatest Story Ever Told
(1965). Originally set up as a vehicle for Tyrone Power, the great
actor and star collapsed well into the film's shoot and passed away,
shocking the industry and fans everywhere. Instead of canceling the
film, Yul Brynner took over as Solomon (you can still see Power in
long shots if you look hard enough) and Gina Lollobrigida played
Sheba, still the most popular actors to ever take on either role.
The
story of the power struggle and changing world with the death of King
David (Finlay Currie) was competing with the likes of Ben-Hur
with Charlton Heston and when that is the film that stole the thunder
of the genre and cycle at large at that point, with Heston still
associated strongly with the smash Ten
Commandments
(1955 in VistaVision) which happened to co-star Brynner. Running a
long 141 minutes, this is a film that has its moments, but one that
also gets muddled in parts, campy in others and even offers a few
unintended howlers as its goes along.
David
wants son Solomon to take over his throne via a dream from God, but
Adonijha (George Sanders) is unhappy with that one and has other
plans, while Sheba has plans of her own to take on Solomon to make
sure he loses his power, rule and she takes over everything they ever
had. Of course, the leads (by the laws of casting and the star
system) will have passionate conflict with each other meaning all
their plans will be put on the back-burner as their passions burn for
power and each other.
The
leads have some good moments together, but the screenplay cannot seem
to make that relationship totally pay off as it should (not unlike
Mel Gibson and Tina Turner in Mad
Max: Beyond Thunderdome,
where the plot gets in the way of relationship development) leaving
the film open for pacing problems. However, unlike an action sequel,
this is supposed to be a religious story and only so many liberties
(ala Cecil B. DeMille) can be taken, so the film become muddled and
the chemistry between the leads never totally pays off.
There
is money in the sets and costumes (elaborate, but a little
fake-looking as they can be), along with big set pieces and large
casts of extras that still put the digital recreation of 'a
cast of thousands'
to shame. The supporting cast also includes Harry Andrews, John
Crawford, Laurence Naismith, Marisa Pavan, Jean Anderson, Alejandro
Rey (uncredited) and David Farrar give their best, helping smooth
over those limits, but ultimately, its wide frame shows more
emptiness than the substance epics like these need and it was still a
hit in its time.
Vidor
was getting mixed results at the end of his career from epic projects
like this one, War
& Peace
(1956 in VistaVision) and Duel
In The Sun.
This would be the last feature film he would ever helm, but at least
he went out on an interesting project if not an entirely successful
one. It is a plus and tribute to Power that they finished the film
he passed away trying to complete.
The
1.33 X 1 black & white image on House
has remarkably survived for about 100 years, so wear and flaws are
expected, but there are some remarkable shots throughout the chapters
even by today's standards and one reason is that this was apparently
shot on 35mm DuPont/Pathe monochrome film stocks. Then the print
materials here managed to survive from a era that never considered
serious preservation, who knows what changes and conditions, plus any
wear and tear if any of the copy went through a projector(s). The
full 10-chapter version here was saved photochemically back in 1992,
now presented on 3 DVDs from Flicker Alley's new 2K HD master.
The
image has not been scrubbed or cleaned in a way to render it phony,
resulting in some surprisingly, nice, beautiful and sharp shots
throughout. This includes a few most HD cameras could not capture
today, but thus is the performance of real monochrome film with real
silver content. Some shots have been nicely tinted yellow/orange and
blue to good effect as intended.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Solomon
can also show the age of the materials used, but this is a 35mm
tradedown print here for a film shot in the ultra-sharp, ultra clear
large frame Technirama format (also including Zulu
(also on Twilight Time Blu-ray & elsewhere in this site),
Kubrick's Spartacus,
Pink
Panther
(1964), Music
Man,
Auntie
Mame,
Trials
Of Oscar Wilde,
El
Cid,
Gypsy,
55
Days At Peking,
Visconti's The
Leopard)
that ends to be one of the most underrated.
Such
35mm prints would be issued at the time in
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor, but this one is not always
that colorful despite many fine such shots. Still, you can see the
money in this production and the great Director of Photography
Freddie Young, B.S.C. (Lawrence
Of Arabia,
You
Only Live Twice,
Gorgo,
Lord
Jim,
Doctor
Zhivago)
uses the very widescreen frame to its fullest extent, saving the film
from its shortcomings. I believe all large frame format films need
to be our there in the best Blu-ray edition possible and this will do
until MGM gets the best materials for a full 70mm upgrade.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the silent House
is a newly recorded instrumental score that is pretty clean and
clear, though the score did not stay with me. The DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 2.0 lossless mix on Solomon
is barely stereo if that, has some flaws and compression issues, but
will have to do for now. The best soundmaster for the film would be
the 6-track magnetic tracks for the 70mm version if they survived,
while the better 35mm prints offered 4-track magnetic sound; both
with traveling dialogue and sound effects.
Extras
in both releases include nicely illustrated booklets on the
respective film releases including informative text (including bios
on House)
and essays (Lenny Borger on House,
Julie Kirgo on Solomon),
with House
adding a Stills Gallery and Solomon
adding an Original Theatrical Trailer and Isolated Music score track
of the work of Mario Nascimbene.
To
order the Solomon
& Sheba
limited edition Blu-ray, buy it while supplies last, along with other
great exclusives at this link:
www.screenarchives.com
...and
to directly order the House Of Mystery DVD set from Flicker
Alley, go to this link...
http://www.flickeralley.com/classic-movies/#!/The-House-of-Mystery-La-Maison-du-mystère/p/46
-
Nicholas Sheffo
