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More Treasures from American Film Archives 1894-1931 - 50 Films
directed by D.W. Griffith, Ernst Lubitsch, J.P. McGowan, Gregory La Cava, Jack
Connolly, George Bernard Shaw, Edwin S. Porter, Ashley Miller, Harold L. Muller,
Max Fleischer etc.
USA 1894 -
1931
Like the first "Treasures from the American Film Archives" produced by the National Film Preservation Foundation, "More Treasures" takes as its starting point the preservation work of America's film archives. More Treasures covers the years from 1894 through 1931, when the motion pictures from a peepshow curio to the nation's fourth largest industry. This is the period from which fewest American Films survive. Five film archives have made it their mission to save what remains of these first decades of American film: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, The Library of Congress, The Museum of Modern Art and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. More Treasures (made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities) reproduces their superb preservation work-fifty films followed by six previews for lost features and serials. *** What the DVD set does is bring together over 50 U.S. early films that have remained unseen outside of museums and festivals for almost a century. These formative years correspond roughly to the "Silent era", although as evident from some of the films here, synchronized sound was a goal from the start. Filmmakers persistently challenged technical limitations, exploring new equipment, photographic techniques and presentation formats. |
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DVD Review: Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC
CLICK logo to order |
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Distribution | Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC |
Audio | English Commentary (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) |
Time | Over 9 hours of material |
Intertitles | English |
Features |
Release Information: DVD Production: Image Entertainment Aspect
Ratio: Edition Details:
DVD Release Date: September 7th, 2004 |
Comments: |
'Wonderful' is an understatement to describe this DVD set. I never owned the first 'Treasures..." and feel I definitely should now. What we are privy to in this boxset is the primordial soup of the medium of film.... experimentation, initially conceived ideas still in place today, trailers for lost films, first use of coordinated sound, first use of color, early advertising films, international newsreels, innovative animation and much more. The commentaries are magnificent and extremely important to appreciating and understanding what you are watching. The book (almost exactly the size and shape of a DVD) is the 'programme notes' for the films that are being shown. It is golden. A wealth of information useful to browse while you are watching or preparing to turn on your Home theatre system with keen anticipation. The image varies from severly damaged (as expected) to surprisingly intact. But aspect ratios have been maintained and occasional black bars down the side are exhibited dependant on the film and its original format. Menu navigation is easy and the best option is the "Play All" where you can simply sit back and watch it unfold in front of you. Commentaries can be accessed on the fly. All the films are presented with two-track sound. The newly recorded musical accompaniments are glorious, however those with pre-existing sound tracks are monaural and recorded on two track mono. Commentaries are in two track stereo. There are no subtitles and all inter-titles are in English. It is so
refreshing to see what can be done with the DVD medium as opposed to
creating a stream of "Legally Blond' discs that undoubtedly will always
outsell something like this. This DVD Boxset is so professionally
created that it almost brings me to tears. This is the history
and evolution of film. It can be given nothing but |
Associated Reading (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
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Metropolis (Bfi Film Classics, 54) by Thomas Elsaesser |
Movie Posters of the Silent Film Era To Color by Rex Schneider, Christopher Buchman |
American Film Cycles: The Silent Era (Bibliographies
and Indexes in the Performing Arts) by Larry Langman |
Family Secrets: The Feature Films of D. W. Griffith by Michael Allen |
The First Female Stars : Women of the Silent Era by David W. Menefee |
Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical
Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses by Anthony Slide |
The Silent Cinema Reader by Lee Grieveson, Peter Kramer |
Silent Stars Speak: Interviews With Twelve Cinema
Pioneers by Tony Villecco |
Haunted Screen Expressionism in the German Cinema by Lotte Eisner |
Program 1
Keen highlights for me where Dickson's Experimental; Sound Film (circa 1894), D.W. Griffith's "The Country Doctor", the Early Advertising Films and The Hazards of Helen (great commentary!), but it is all fascinating.
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Runtime | Approx 3 hours |
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Average
Bitrate: 4.75 mb/s Chapters : 13 |
DVD Menus
and Sample of Title screens
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Sample Screen Captures
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Early Advertising
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Program 2
Highlights are the Early Color films, At the Foot of the Flatiron, the animated "There It Is" and "A Bronx Morning", The Streets of New York, and The Clash of the Wolves (75 minutes)!
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Runtime | Approx. 2 3/4 hours |
Video |
Average
Bitrate: 4.75 mb/s Chapters : 12 |
DVD Menus
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Screen Captures
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Programme 3
The Hollywood Promotional Films impacted
me a lot, especially seeing the "Greed" footage which will have to suffice until
Warner deigns to put it out on DVD. A lot of what is in programme 3 expresses
the shift from the east to the west of the US - most prominently Hollywood.
The Trailer for Lost Films are also fascinating... in fact - it is all
amazing!
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Runtime | Approx 3 hours |
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Average
Bitrate: 4.78 mb/s Chapters : 14 |
DVD Menus
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Screen Captures
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On the set of 'Greed'
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