I can't wait to pick up this set. THE RINK and ONE A.M. will finally, reportedly, be complete. Sadly, there are many bits missing from some of the other films in the series in all video releases of them, due to distributor cuts or print damage over the years. THE IMMIGRANT, for instance, is pretty chopped up; I have a version on DVD-R restored by a friend who collects film prints, and the difference is striking. I'll be interested to see how many more previously missing bits turn up. And I'm greatly looking forward to Carl Davis' scores, which can't be anything but a step up from Michael Mortilla's scores. What is sad, though, is that the wonderfully bouncy scores for the Van Beuren versions of the Mutuals aren't being preserved; yes, the sound effects were overdone, but the '30s scores compiled by Winston Sharples and played by Gene Rodemich and his band are fabulous. I think it would be a great (if commercially unsound) idea if these scores were reorchestrated and rerecorded to fit the new longer restored prints of the Mutuals. I can dream...but since this will never come to pass, I've retained my old Republic laserdiscs.
They are direct NTSC transfers and have never looked better! There's only one PAL conversion-- BEHIND THE SCREEN because there were many editorial changes and it seemed overwhelming to change them all. But great care is always taken at Image to have a PAL transfer done CORRECTLY, and I'm sure you won't be able to tell the difference between that and its NTSC counterparts.
GENTLEMAN TRAMP is NTSC.
CHAPLIN GOLIATH is from PAL because it was a Scottish television program and that was the nature of the beast.
Jeff,
Being as patchwork as they are, I'm sure we'll all be glad to see the Mutuals in any of their fullest form.
While I share an appreciation with you for the Winston Sharples scores, it would be indeed a massive undertaking to even try to sync that music with fuller editions of the films with new recordings. However, that's not to say you can't edit your own needle-drops to these new editions from the old scores!
Sorry if I'm being dense here but I'm still confused as to whether or not there actually will be two different releases on the same day, or if this is a mistake by Amazon and there's really only one.
They list this one, which I assume is the subject of this thread, and which Amazon lists as a 2 DVD set for $44.99:
I think the Passport 5-disc set reeks of public domain tripe. The giveaway is the inclusion of all the First National films (except for The Kiid), which are still copyrighted, I think.
The original cut is the one that's PD. The "director's cut" by Warner is the only one that has a copyright. THE KID has been included in at least five different Chaplin sets.