Edition Filmmuseum (USA) has announced the upcoming release of the first high-quality DVD edition of
Die freudlose Gasse [
The Joyless Street] (1925) starring
Greta Garbo and Asta Nielsen. The 2-disc
PAL DVD edition will be available July 2009.
Flicker Alley (USA) and
Film Preservation Associates (USA) has announced their upcoming
NTSC DVD release,
Bardelys the Magnificent and Monte Cristo – Lost Films of John Gilbert (1922-1926), presenting two films that were previously presumed lost,
Monte Cristo (1922) and
Bardelys the Magnificent (1926). A joint production with Lobster Films, Paris, the release will be available 7 July 2009.
Kino International (USA) has announced their upcoming
NTSC DVD boxset
The John Barrymore Collection (1920-1928). The four-disc set will include their previously available 2001 edition of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), two new DVD editions of
The Beloved Rogue (1927) and
Tempest (1928), and the first quality home video release of the
George Eastman House reconstruction of
Sherlock Holmes (1922). The boxset and its individual discs will be available 7 July 2009.
McFarland & Company (USA) has published the detailed and illustrated 299-page book
Silent Film Stars on the Stages of Seattle: A History of Performances by Hollywood Notables by Eric L. Flom.
Flicker Alley (USA) and
Film Preservation Associates (USA) have released their next
NTSC DVD collection,
Under Full Sail: Silent Cinema on the High Seas (1922-1933), presenting the DeMille-produced feature
The Yankee Clipper (1927) in its high-quality DVD debut, a lengthy 1922 feature-film whale-hunting exerpt, and three nautical short films.
Warner Bros. Home Video (USA) has introduced a new line of small-run DVD releases in their Warner Archive Collection. Of the 150 Warner catalog titles that kick-off the series on 24 March 2009, 12 silent era titles have been announced for direct-sale through Warner Home Video’s
Warner Archive Collection website, including
Exit Smiling (1926),
The Kiss (1929),
Love (1927),
The Red Lily (1924),
The Red Mill (1927),
Scaramouche (1923),
The Single Standard (1929),
The Smart Set (1928),
Souls for Sale (1923),
The Temptress (1926),
The Trail of ’98 (1928), and
Wild Orchids (1929). Go to the site to vote on future silent film releases in the Warner Archive series.
John Libbey Publishing (England) has published Paul Spehr’s biography of cinema pioneer W.K.L. Dickson,
The Man Who Made Movies: W.K.L. Dickson.
Looser Than Loose Publishing (USA) has released their latest collection of Laurel and Hardy related films,
The Larger World of Laurel & Hardy, Volume 9 (1915-1930).
20th Century Fox Home Video (USA) has released a mammoth
NTSC DVD collection of films directed by
F.W. Murnau and
Frank Borzage for
Fox Film Corporation in the 1920s and 1930s,
Murnau, Borzage and Fox (1925-1932). The 12-disc collection includes the silent films
Lazybones (1925),
Sunrise (1927),
7th Heaven (1927),
Street Angel (1928),
Lucky Star (1929) and
City Girl (1929).
Flicker Alley (USA) and
Film Preservation Associates (USA) have released a new
NTSC DVD collection,
Douglas Fairbanks: A Modern Musketeer (1916-1921). The digitally-mastered five-disc set features eleven of Fairbanks’ early films, including five previously unavailable on DVD.
Note: A few DVD players have encountered problems playing some discs in this boxset. Flicker Alley has inititated a program to replace defective discs from this Fairbanks set.
Click here to report defective discs.
Sunrise Silents (USA) has released their
NTSC DVD-R edition of the final seven chapters of
A Woman in Grey (1920) starring Arlene Pretty.
Kino International (USA) has released a new
NTSC DVD boxset entitled
Griffith Masterworks 2 (1909-1931). The multidisc set features new high-definition video transfers of three D.W. Griffith silent era features, a short, and Griffith’s two sound films.
The Avenging Conscience (1914) with
Edgar Allan Poe (1909),
Way Down East (1920),
Sally of the Sawdust (1925), and
Abraham Lincoln (1930) with
The Struggle (1931), and is accompanied by the three-part documentary
D.W. Griffith: Father of Film (1993) by
Photoplay Productions, all also available separately.
Kino International (USA) has released a new
NTSC deluxe DVD edition of
Buster Keaton’s The General (1926). The two-disc set features a new high-definition video transfer, accompanied by three optional music scores — the
Carl Davis score from
Photoplay Productions, a score arranged and performed by Robert Israel, and an organ score performed by
Lee Erwin.
Sunrise Silents (USA) has released their
NTSC DVD-R edition of the first eight chapters of
A Woman in Grey (1920) starring Arlene Pretty. Also available is a digital CD-R edition of an issue of
Photoplay Magazine from 1923.
Alpha Video (USA) has released an
NTSC DVD edition of Robert Wiene’s
Crime and Punishment (1923).
MGM Home Video (USA) and
20th Century Fox Home Video (USA) has released an eight-disc
NTSC collection of
Alfred Hitchcock films that contains the first high-quality release of
The Lodger (1926) on DVD home video.
Kino International (USA) has released a new
NTSC deluxe DVD edition of
F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh (1924). The two-disc set features the 2003 restoration from the F.W. Murnau Stiftung with a new 5.1 orchestral performance of the 1924 Giuseppe Becce score, along with the USA version originally released on home video by Kino with music by
Timothy Brock.
Flicker Alley (USA) and
Film Preservation Associates (USA) has released their two-disc
NTSC DVD edition of Abel Gance’s
J’accuse (1919). Restored to its 1919 premiere form in a joint effort of Lobster Films, Paris, and the Nederlands Filmmuseum, the definitive edition features an orchestral score by Robert Israel, and essay contributions from Kevin Brownlow and Leslie Hawkins.
Sunrise Silents (USA) has released their
NTSC DVD-R edition of
Skinner’s Dress Suit (1926) starring Reginald Denny and Laura LaPlante. Also released is their digital CD-R edition of the November 1925 issue of
Picture-Play Magazine.
The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra (USA) has released their
NTSC DVD edition of
The Mark of Zorro (1920) starring
Douglas Fairbanks.
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung (Germany) has announced the recovery of a 16mm reduction negative of
Metropolis (1927) in Argentina. Staff members of Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducros Hicken in Buenos Aires recovered the worn negative, which is said to contain missing scenes not surviving in other prints of the film.
Read the F.W. Murnau Stiftung announcement. Read the Zeit Online story.
Unknown Video (USA) has released a double-feature
NTSC DVD-R edition of
The Sea Lion (1921) starring Hobart Bosworth and Bessie Love, and
The Average Woman (1924) starring Pauline Garon and Harrison Ford.
Kino International (USA) has released their long-awaited
NTSC format DVD edition releases of three films by Victor Sjöström.
The Outlaw and His Wife (1918) also includes the documentary
Victor Sjostrom (1981). Available separately is a double-feature disc of
A Man There Was (1917) and
Ingeborg Holm (1913).
All Day Entertainment (USA) has released their three-disc
NTSC DVD collection
American Slapstick 2 (1915-1937), including shorts featuring Harold Lloyd, Snub Pollard, Billy West, Larry Semon and Ben Turpin, and the feature comedy
Charley’s Aunt (1925) starring Sydney Chaplin.
Sunrise Silents (USA) has released
Silent Rarities (1911-1928), featuring surviving footage of
The Cost of High Living (1916) starring William Duncan and Corinne Griffith;
[Chaplin Animation] (circa 1915) with animated characterizations of
Charlie Chaplin,
Fatty Arbuckle and
Mabel Normand;
Top Sergeant Mulligan (1927) with Lila Lee and Wesley Barry, only reels two and four survive of this six-reel feature;
The Country Doctor (1927) with Rudolph Schildkraut and Junior Coghlan, from a one-reel Kodascope abridgement;
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1911) directed by Albert Capellani; and
Whose Baby? (1917) with
Gloria Swanson and Bobby Vernon; transferred from an incomplete one-reel print of this rare title. Also released is a digital edition of the April 1924 issue of
Photoplay Magazine.
Grapevine Video (USA) has released their
NTSC DVD-R editions of
The Count of Monte Cristo (1913) starring James O’Neill,
The Devil Horse (1926) starring Yakima Canutt,
Häxan (1922) directed by Benjamin Christensen,
Soul of the Beast (1923) starring Madge Bellamy and Cullen Landis, and
A Tale of Two Worlds (1921) starring
Leatrice Joy and
Wallace Beery.
Flicker Alley (USA) and
Film Preservation Associates (USA) have released
Perils of the New Land (1910-1915), a compilation of social dramas that explore the immigrant experience in early 20th century America. Featured are
Traffic in Souls (1913) and
The Italian (1915), plus three Edison short films.
Kino International (USA) has released their
NTSC format DVD edition of the
BFI restoration of Franz Osten’s
A Throw of Dice (1929). The Indian epic features a cast of thousands, and is accompanied by a new orchestral music score by Nitin Sawhney, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Kino International (USA) has released three more
NTSC format DVD editions in their Slapstick Symposium series. Available separately are
The Extra Girl (1920) starring
Mabel Normand, the second volume of
The Stan Laurel Collection (1918-1926), and a double-feature edition of
Three’s a Crowd (1927) and
The Chaser (1928) starring
Harry Langdon.
Sunrise Silents (USA) has released their edition of
The Vortex (1927), starring Ivor Novello. Also released are digital editions of the April 1925 issue of
Photoplay Magazine, and the December 1923 issue of
Photoplay Magazine.
Flicker Alley (USA) and
Film Preservation Associates (USA) have released what will easily be one of the three most-important DVD releases of 2008, a two-disc, 4.5-hour
NTSC format edition of Abel Gance’s
La Roue (1922). The film has been restored to 20 of the 32 reels of its French premiere, and is presented with an orchestral score composed and conducted by Robert Israel.
Kino International (USA) has released a number of
NTSC format DVD titles previously available only on VHS. Available separately are
The Red Kimona (1925) starring Priscilla Bonner,
Lois Weber’s Hypocrites (1915) with
Cleo Madison’s Eleanor’s Catch (1916), Alice Guy Blaché’s
The Ocean Waif (1916) with Ruth Ann Baldwin’s
’49-’17 (1917), and the Charles Musser documentary
Before the Nickelodeon (1982).
Criterion Collection (USA) has released their DVD boxset of silent Yasujiro Ozu films,
Silent Ozu (1931-1933). The
NTSC format set includes
Tokyo Chorus (1931),
I Was Born, But . . . (1932) and
Passing Fancy (1933).
Kino International (USA) has released their DVD boxset
Houdini: The Movie Star (1919-1923). The three-disc
NTSC format set includes the serial
The Master Mystery (1919) and the feature films
Terror Island (1920),
The Man from Beyond (1922) and
Haldane of the Secret Service (1923).
