Around
India With A Movie Camera
(2017/Icarus DVD)/Charlie
Chaplin's Circus
(1928, 1969/Criterion Blu-ray)/Fragment
Of An Empire
(1929 w/DVD)/L'Argent
(1928)/Mack
Sennett Collection, Volume One
(1909 - 1933/all Flicker Alley Blu-ray)/Shiraz:
A Romance Of India
(1928/MVD Blu-ray w/DVD)
Picture:
C+/B/B- & C+/B/B/B & C+ Sound: C+/B-/B & C+/B/B-/B &
B- Extras: C+/B+/B-/B-/B/D Films: B-/B/B-/B/B/B-
Up
next are a huge amount of mostly silent films, all of which are have
lucky to have survived for a number of reasons (unstable nitrate
film, no film preservation at the time, censorship, copies worn out)
and all of which should be rediscovered today. Some are known, but
all should be.
We
start with Around
India With A Movie Camera,
a 2017 compilation film by Sandhya Suri that covers 48 years of life
and history in India (from 1899 to 1947) that includes some of the
earliest surviving film footage of the country and much more, the way
of life there (even when staged) and both international movie star
Sabu and Gandhi are among those we see in this very compelling 72
minutes. Some will be surprised the footage exists, while others
(especially those who are conned by the lie that HD digital video is
somehow a step above film) will be shocked at the detail of some of
these clips.
The
cameramen and directors then wanted to make a record for people to
see, but even they would be shocked that the footage has survived
long after they have gone. Fortunately, it has and it should be
added that India, especially in daylight, tends to photograph very
well and always has. No wonder they have such a huge film industry
now all their own. Everyone should see this film at least once.
Extras
include a silent Home
Life
film (33 minutes), Indian
Scrapbook
film (11 minutes) and Scenes
Of His Excellency The Viceroy's Garden Party at Belvedere
(6 minutes, silent).
Charlie
Chaplin's Circus
(1928, 1969)
is one of the comedy genius' funniest films and it is very seamless,
but he made it at a very bad time in his life and the period was so
bad, he pulled the film and tampered with it over the next few
decades until he settled for a version that made him happy 41 years
later!
Due
to that and destroying all previous versions, the original is a lost
film and that is a shame, because it might tell us some interesting
things about his art, work and person we will never see or know and
the addition of an opening song with vocal before going into title
card silent movie mode does not totally ring true for me. With that
said, his last silent-era film has The Tramp in top form with
brilliant stunts, sight gags, suspense and great use of the title
locale that he gets as much out of as possible. Viewed on its own
without knowing about the delays and reediting, it fits in with his
great work of the time and this restoration and rerelease by
Criterion is yet another Chaplin gem they have done total justice to.
It also shows once again how unstoppable and amazing his talent was.
Extras
include an illustrated foldout on the film with tech info and an
essay by critic Pamela Hutchinson, while the Blu-ray disc adds a new
feature-length audio commentary featuring Charlie Chaplin biographer
Jeffrey Vance, Interview with Chaplin from 1969, New interview with
Chaplin's son Eugene Chaplin, In the Service of the Story, a new
program on the film's visual effects and production design by effects
specialist Craig Barron, Chaplin Today: "The Circus," a
2003 documentary on the film, featuring filmmaker Emir Kusturica,
Excerpted audio interview with Chaplin musical associate Eric James,
Unused cafe sequence with new score by composer Timothy Brock, and
related outtakes with audio commentary by Chaplin historian Dan
Kamin, Newly discovered outtakes featuring the Tramp and the bareback
rider, Original recording of the film's opening song, "Swing,
Little Girl,"
by Ken Barrie, Footage of the 1928 Hollywood premiere and Re-release
trailers.
Fridrikh
Ermler's Fragment
Of An Empire
(1929) is a film that has not been seen much in recent decades, but
at the time of its release, the film and its director influenced what
became Soviet Cinema as much as any filmmaker there, including
Eisenstein. A pro-Soviet propaganda film with some substance, a
soldier suffering amnesia (Fiodor Nikitin, his fourth and final film
for Ermler, whose relationship was strained at this point, all as
silent cinema was coming to an end) has his condition as a result of
WWI.
The
Russian Revolution of 1917 will finally help him remember and be his
salvation, but not before going through and does this in part with
some very bold, stark moments with sometimes shocking and definitely
intentionally provocative images and ideas that would still be
shocking for any cinema when they are used to actually say something.
Even if you land up not agreeing with the politics or find them
trite and now passe as the USSR is gone, they were effective enough
to support an empire that was growing then before it itself
fragmented permanently in 1990.
Extras
include an illustrated booklet including text credits, illustrations
and the long, detailed essay "A
Masterpiece in Soviet Cinema":
A new booklet essay on the historical importance of this film in
Soviet Cinema. The discs add Feature Length Audio Commentary:
Commentary track featuring Russian film historian and curator Pater
Bagrov and film restorer Robert Byrne on the collaborative efforts
that went into preserving Fragment
of an Empire,
Restoring
Fragment
of an Empire:
A demonstration by film historian and preservationist Robert Byrne on
the film's restoration, "Notes
On the New Score":
A short essay by composers Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius on their
new score for Fragment
of an Empire,
"Adapting
Vladimir Deshovov":
A short essay by composer Daan van den Hurk on his recent adaptation
of Vladimir Deshevov's 1929 original piano score and a Rare Image
Gallery: A slideshow presentation of vintage marketing materials,
original poster artwork, and more!
Marcel
L'Herbier's L'Argent
(1928) is
a darkly comical classic about greed, the bad side of human nature
and at 150 minutes, a key silent cinema epic that takes us inside the
world of big money and big business, complete with its portrayal of a
stock exchange that is visually remarkable and was inspired by the
actual 1882 collapse of a real bank, the Union Generale.
Pierre
Alcover plays Nicolas Saccard, whose bad stock bets lead to disaster,
but even in the face of total collapse, comes up with a grandiose
scheme about an aviator (a bigger deal at the time, as the Martin
Scorsese film on Howard Hughes also reminds us) that he'll back, but
not just as a publicity stunt and celebration of technological
innovation, but wi9th plans to take raw materials from a foreign
country for next to no money and rebuild another fortune based on all
the wrong things.
Lost
as a complete film after its success for decades, it was remarkably
reconstructed to its complete original form in the 1970s and that is
the version that now survives. Guess there were some people who
could not handle its honesty about greed and destruction, but it
lives and is as relevant now as it ever was. I love the way it was
shot (the Director of Photography Jules Kruger was the highest paid
in French cinema at the time and you can see why here) along with
solid editing and nice transition shots and fades.
Yes,
it is a long film and that might be trying at times, but it is as key
as any French silent films, including Children
of Paradise
and its arrival on Blu-ray is something to celebrate. Cheers to to
all the other actors, who are really very good and effective here.
Take the time to see this one and be surprised.
Extras
include a Souvenir Booklet featuring an essay by Mireille Beaulieu
and collection of unique photographs and promotional material
recently discovered in Mrs. L'Herbier's collection, while the Blu-ray
disc adds The
Making of L'Argent
(Autour de L'Argent):
A pioneering documentary, directed by L'Herbier's assistant Jean
Dreville, featuring incredible footage of the cast and crew during
the actual production as well as the director's comments recorded
later in 1971 (39 minutes), Photo Gallery with promo stills, posters
and advertising to sell the film, The
Two Restorations of Autour de L'Argent) runs
five minutes and compares the 1971 version with the 2019 version and
short film Prometheus
Banker
(aka Promethee
Banquier):
A perfect thematic complement to L'Argent,
complete with new restoration, this short film by Marcel L'Herbier
tells the story of a banker-seducing vampire (15 minutes).
Issued
a few years ago, The
Mack Sennett Collection, Volume One
(1909 - 1933) is a fun, amusing and often funny collection of 50 live
action comedy shorts the legendary producer/director at the great
Keystone Studios was once the stronghold for most of the comedy
talent in U.S. cinema of the time including Mabel Norman, Harry
Langdon, Ben Turpin, Fatty Arbuckle, Ford Sterling, Billy Bevan, Mack
Swain and before he left for a massive career on his own, Charlie
Chaplin.
Sennett
also acted in some of the films and also wrote some of them, so he
was the driving force in helping to build cinematic comedy and the
proof is that many of these films are still very funny and
authentically funnier than many 'comedies' we see all the time that
fail, the work here is from an honest place about what is seriously
funny and the people who made these films cared. Also, the last 5
shorts (staring in 1930) have sound and when I finished watching
(save knowing the unfair fate Arbuckle suffered), I wondered why more
of the talent here did not move on to greater success. This is a fun
set everyone should try out once. I am amazed at how good some of
these are.
Extras
include another great 16-page full color booklet filled with rare
images, production information, restoration notes, and Keystone -
Sennett player biographies, New music scores from silent film
accompanists Philip Carli, Ben Model, Dennis Scott, Andrew Simpson,
and Donald Sosin, Audio Commentary tracks from noted comedy
historians Brent Walker, Steve Massa, Richard M. Roberts, Stan
Taffel, Sam Gill, Paul Gierucki, and others, Memorabilia Galleries
featuring vintage lobby cards, glass slides, posters, scripts, studio
photographs, The Mack Sennett Story by film historian Joe Adamson,
and rare audio recordings and Long unseen rarities: newsreels,
trailers, outtakes, Sennett-Color films, the dedication of the Mabel
Normand soundstage, This
Is Your Life
Mack Sennett, and much more rare outtakes and silent clips!
Finally
we have Franz Osten's Shiraz:
A Romance Of India
(1928) telling the amazing tale of how the legendary Taj Mahal was
made, because one man loved a woman so much, he used his
architectural talents to create what become one of the most iconic
man-made structures in history. Taking place in the 17th
Century (!!!) and using an all-Indian cast, it was shot on location
and is remarkable in its naturalistic look, flow and use of the
actors and country. Running 106 minutes, it has Himansu Rai as its
lead, a huge star in that country's silent cinema and it takes its
time to tell its story well.
It
has a new score that is fine, but I like just watching it silent
because the detail and smoothness of the editing is so compelling as
it tells its story, once you get involved, it is hard to stop
watching and I cannot believe the film looks this good considering
its age. It took two cameramen to shoot the film (Henry Harris and
Emil Schunemann), but it is all seamless and the film is a gem that
tells a story that few people seem to know of these days considering
the building is still talked about to this day. It is yet another
silent gem that defies the stereotypes of silent films being boring
and that reading title cards is somehow a 'burden' for a viewer.
Extras
include a 2017 restoration demo (3 minutes) and 1944 Musical
Instruments Of India
film (12 minutes).
All
the films featured on all these discs were shot in the original
academy aperture of black style (aka narrow vision) 1.33 X 1 and for
some of the films on our sole DVD, all of it originated on 35mm
nitrate film, which has gun powder in it and can ignite just by
becoming unstable. Water cannot put it out as it produces its own
oxygen, so the fact that all these films survived is amazing and that
they then had to be restored is pretty amazing. Sometimes they
survive in dupe negative form, other older nitrate or acetate prints
and restored versions are usually on polyester or Kodak's ESTAR
photochemical film stocks for proper preservation.
The
India
DVD looks good for the format and pulls together many varied, usually
black and white and priceless clips for its program. It is
remarkable to see these rare moments in a country that only later
gained its independence after being part of the British Empire for so
long, but here it is. This is all well edited together. Old sound
and new music is in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix with obvious vintage,
location mono sound.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfers on all the Blu-rays can show the age of the materials used,
but are far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the films
where applicable and only Fragment
has more scratches, softness and issues than the rest that hold it
back, but even it looks good enough and is very watchable. This new
scan is mostly from a 35mm nitrate print, but a little more work and
footage was needed to complete what we get here.
Circus
is a 4K scan from a 1967 35mm duplicate negative as set by Chaplin
for what he considers the final and only cut. L'Argent
is a 4K scan from, remarkably, its original 35mm nitrate negative
(reconstructed and finally restored fully by the 1990s), while the
Sennett
are HD scans from various sources and Shiraz
was restored by BFI from several sources.
All
the Blu-rays have new music scores, save a new song on Circus
that debuted in the late 1960s reissue, all in PCM 2.0 Stereo.
Shiraz
has its new music in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless
mix. The 1.33 X 1 Fragment
and Shiraz
DVDs
have lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks that are fine for what
they are, but are no match for their Blu-ray counterparts and are
only included for convenience.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
