Buster Keaton Collection: Volume I (The General/Steamboat Bill Jr.) from Cohen 5/14 (1 Viewer)

[david hare]

Just wondering if the Cohen Collection might include some other unreleased silent masterpieces like Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Wind, The Crowd or The Student Prince. All have Carl Davis scores and are connected with Kevin Brownlow. Supposedly WB has them, but are they past copyright? Hopefully they may be since WB seems to be unwilling to release them in any form. I love Keaton, but re-buying the same thing in blu-ray three times is kind of crazy.

Ed, I have four sets of complete Keaton features on disc going back to the old KInos, and the French MK2 PAL discs, then the previous round of Kino Blu Rays. And now rounding it all out with the new 4K Cohens. I was at the Bologna Cinema Ritrovato festival in 2017 where Stemaboat Bill was their last open air screening in the Piazza Maggiore. With a full band (70 players) playing the Carl Davis score live conducted by Neil Brand. The 4K DCP was, like evrything shown in the Piazza projected with carbon arc lamps. THere were something like 15 000 people in both the subscribers' enclosure and standing all around the sublime collonades which enclose the Piazza. The atmosphere was electrifying and the screening was one I will remember for the rest of my life. In sixty years of moviegoing i have never seen such a rapt audience at a silent movie screening. If it's at all earthly possible Sherlock Jnr live at another event was even more incredible. The new Cohens (which I had thought were technically restored at Bologna in fact) are only let down by the fact these new Blus aren't UHD. I would add the same encouragement for one other disc which has not yet hit the labels outside France and tha's the complete Jean Vigo which has been meticulously restored and perfected down to the last frames of missing material from Zero de Conduite by Bernard Eisenschitz in Paris. They are so staggeringly beautiful they make you weep, like the Keatons. There is a Gaumont single disc only which is English sub friendly, and these too are at my pinnacle of classic cinema (L'Atalante is my fave movie of all time.)

 

[bujaki]

Ed, I have four sets of complete Keaton features on disc going back to the old KInos, and the French MK2 PAL discs, then the previous round of Kino Blu Rays. And now rounding it all out with the new 4K Cohens. I was at the Bologna Cinema Ritrovato festival in 2017 where Stemaboat Bill was their last open air screening in the Piazza Maggiore. With a full band (70 players) playing the Carl Davis score live conducted by Neil Brand. The 4K DCP was, like evrything shown in the Piazza projected with carbon arc lamps. THere were something like 15 000 people in both the subscribers' enclosure and standing all around the sublime collonades which enclose the Piazza. The atmosphere was electrifying and the screening was one I will remember for the rest of my life. In sixty years of moviegoing i have never seen such a rapt audience at a silent movie screening. If it's at all earthly possible Sherlock Jnr live at another event was even more incredible. The new Cohens (which I had thought were technically restored at Bologna in fact) are only let down by the fact these new Blus aren't UHD. I would add the same encouragement for one other disc which has not yet hit the labels outside France and tha's the complete Jean Vigo which has been meticulously restored and perfected down to the last frames of missing material from Zero de Conduite by Bernard Eisenschitz in Paris. They are so staggeringly beautiful they make you weep, like the Keatons. There is a Gaumont single disc only which is English sub friendly, and these too are at my pinnacle of classic cinema (L'Atalante is my fave movie of all time.)

Thanks for the info on the Vigo. Just ordered it. L'Atalante is also one of my top tops.

 

[david hare]

You will not believe the quality of these 4Ks. They are outstanding, maybe the best restorations of nitrate material I have ever seen (and some of it wildly dispersed, the process of getting here has taken Eisenschitz and Gaumont since 1994 to finish the project. They are unbelievable. And they project on 4K uprez ALMOST as well as the 4K DCPs I watched. The disc set includes a completely staggering 80 minute rushes and outtakes reel which Eisenschitz personally assembled and pesented one early one Sunday morning at Bologna the same year (2017) which I attended with a major hangover. But all that was forgotten. I had to deal with it in untranslated French (which is easlier to listen to than speak for me) but the disc fully subtitles Bernard's commentary for the reel. You wonder how a lot of it could ever have been left out in the various reconstructions over the decades. The print of Zero also now has an extra minute of censored material, all of it involving the young gay kid who says "je vous dis merde" to the pervy teacher with the glued on beard, and leads the students to riot. This was my disc of the year for 2018 in competition with the last three 1930s French Ophuls (all beautifully restored in 2K.

 

[Astairefan]

Oh man, that's AWESOME news. Sherlock Jr. is probably my favorite Keaton, and The Navigator is no slouch either. Having not upgraded to any of these on Blu yet I'm definitely jumping on these Cohen releases.

The only silent Keatons I have seen so far are Steamboat Bill, Jr. and Go West, so I certainly look forward to all of them. I just hope that Cohen has Go West coming soon as well. And on that note, I also hope WAC (or Criterion) have the 1940 Go West coming. One way or another, I want to make Horace Greeley sorry he ever said "Go west, young man, go West."

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Just received mine and did a quick a/b comparison to the 2009 Kino Blu-ray of The General. The biggest difference is that the new release has no sepia toning and a cleaner looking image. For a film from 1926 it looks very good and worthy of a upgrade.

 

[richardburton84]

Not sure how reliable ImportCDs is, but it’s worth noting that they seem to have a pre-order up for a third volume consisting of Seven Chances and Battling Butler with a temporary release date of August 20th.

https://www.importcds.com/the-buste...l-3-battling-butlerseven-chances/741952853596

 

[Tino]

So are these versions the best? I’m a Keaton newbie ( )

 

[titch]

So are these versions the best? I’m a Keaton newbie ( )

Yes they are. Nothing to be ashamed of about being a Keaton newbie, you have hours of pleasure to look forward to. My young seven year old nephew desperately wanted to see the latest James Bond film, Spectre, a couple of years ago. I refused and gave him the old Kino of Buster Keaton's Seven Chances instead. He was absolutely horrified at first: "Oh my God, Uncle Kevin, is this in black and white??" And then, even more horrified, "Is this a SILENT film??", his lower lip trembling. After ten minutes he was well and truly hooked, laughing hysterically. When the film ended he asked, "can we see it again?".

 

[Tino]

Thanks. Just bought volumes 1-3. Looking forward to it.