A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

These few words are not meant as a review.

They are offered as simple advise to anyone with a shred of interest in the most creative elements of American cinema as it entered the sound era.

Following their immense 21 disc set of director John Ford's work at the studio, Fox Home Entertainment has taken another huge step toward bringing the early work of the studio to the public with a boxed set, that in my personal opinion, is the most beautifully and elegantly packaged in memory.

The films run from 1925 to 1932 and include Murnau's glorious 1927 Sunrise and his 1930 City Girl, plus a dozen Frank Borzage productions with 7th Heaven and Street Angel topping the list, as well as a reconstruction of The River (1929) derived from extant footage and stills. Rounding out the package is a new 106 minute documentary.

While I've sampled several of the productions, I've not yet had quality time to delve into them. Several have been restored by the likes of AMPAS, The BFI, UCLA, MOMA and the Netherlands Filmmuseum in association with Fox. Quality varies based obviously upon what has survived. A quick check of Liliom (1930), the basis for the musical Carousel, exhibited a highly resolved image, a superb gray scale, excellent steadiness, and a first in any version that I've encountered -- quality audio.

This set is coming on the 9th of December, is apt to be produced in limited quantities, and may well sell out and become an eBay staple.

It is currently available via Amazon at $180. While not an insignificant amount, especially in today's economy, the overall quality of this set -- down to the superbly designed and produced packaging -- is a rarity not to be overlooked.

More on this as time permits.

Fox's magnificent Murnau, Borzage and Fox set portends to be the home video event of the year when it comes to early, classic cinema.

All five pounds of it.

RAH

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I never saw this set coming and my jaw dropped when I saw the review at DVD BEAVER. On the top of my wish list, but the price is a tough one, some day though...some day.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Will Sunrise look any different than the "Studio Classics" release that came boxed with All About Eve, Gentleman's Agreement and How Green Was My Valley?

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

The Beaver thinks it's a new transfer.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I seem to recall reading at some point in time that an "international" cut of SUNRISE would be included in the set.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Yes, it has the Movietone version, and the European silent version.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Looks nice, but man I wish they had released this as two more affordable sets, one devoted to each director.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Has anyone heard why they left out Doctor's Wives and Young As You Feel?

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

oh my!

I just ordered it!

No Christmas presents for anyone (except the pleasure of coming to my house to watch these wonderful films)

I really really hope this paves the way for more Borzage releases--even WITH this wonderful set, he's the most under-represented great Studio Age director... pretty much NONE of his MGM stuff (Three Comrades, Mortal Storm, Smilin Through, Shining Hour, etc.) is out there, and things like History Is Made At Night and Moonrise are absolute musts...

I'd also like to see sets devoted to Wiliam Dieterle and King Vidor someday--although neither of those could come from Fox

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Has anybody found any good online coupons this year. I would love to get this, but I can't swing the $180 right now. Maybe in January or February.

Last year, I picked up the "Ford at Fox" for under $120 through a B&N coupon.


I would pay big $$$$ for either of these.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I hefted this box in the store the other day.
I would be surprised if Fox did not break up the Murnau / Borzage box into separate sets eventually, as they did with the Ford box. No book with the Ford sets, but you get the films at a reasonable price and that's the important thing.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Keep in mind that Murnau is two films, with one already in release for some time. I finally picked up the Ford at Fox set (well discounted), which arrived in all its glory at a hefty 14 pounds. Fox is doing an exceptional job of mining their vaults and presenting their product in an elegant, albeit weighty fashion.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

If you have access to a Costco, they will have it for under $120 starting Monday.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Wow! That's incredible. I'll have to either find a member, or maybe get a membership for that.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I see what you mean, if Fox breaks this box up into sets, there's not enough Murnau for a smaller box-set. Unless they include one of the books with it? Well, I'm sure they'll think of something. I'm particularly eager to set my eyes on City Girl. Sunrise I've come to know, but Borzage is like an undiscovered country for me. I might buy the box after the holidays, unless I come across another good deal on short ends for my refrigerator.

Fox is setting the highest standard with these two releases. I wish Paramount would gather all their Josef von Sternberg films into a box-set like this, fully restored and supplemented, but I know that's a daydream.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

The Paramount pre-49 (more or less) sound era films are owned by Universal.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

My set arrived yesterday. I sampled a few moments of each to check out picture quality and was not dissapointed. I'll probably watch them in chronological order as I believe it will be interestingto follow one director's (Borzage) work through the transition from silent to talking pictures.


Thanks Robert. The more attention drawn to sets like this, the better.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

How's the audio on the early talkies? Any sound / silent alternate versions?

There was a region 2 edition of The River (1929) released in France that included three shorts by Borzage: The Pitch o' Chance (1915), The Pilgrim (1916) and Nugget Jim's Pardner aka Calibre of Man (1916). I just looked it up at amazonFrance but don't find it there now.

Scarecrow Press published Souls Made Great Through Love and Adversity: The Film Work of Frank Borzage, another one of those histories I buy but never have time to read. There is also a new book about Borzage introduced by Martin Scorsese which sounds like it might be a nice companion to this box-set:

Amazon.com: Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic: Herve Dumont, Jonathan Kaplansky, Martin Scorsese: Books

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Oh, that's right. Universal did release a couple of von Sternberg's Paramount films in their Dietrich Franchise Collection. I can't keep track anymore of who owns what.

I'll look forward to that. After The Scarlet Empress everyone expected Criterion to move faster on their von Sternbergs, but they never disappoint once the DVD comes out.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Has anybody found this set at a Costco yet? I looked at the shelves at two Costco's, to no avail. When I asked the staff to look up the title, they were unable to type-in the title to produce any 'hits'. They said it would be easier to search by item number.

If anybody does pick this set up at Costco, could they post the item number here, so I (and others) might have better luck with the staff/computers at Costco?

Thank you.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Paramount owns all their silents, and that includes The Last Command, Underworld and Docks of New York. Universal owns the talkie Von Sternbergs, starting with "Thunderbolt."

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

According to the coupon in the December Costco Connection, the item number is 357231, which it shares with the complete X-Files and Stargate sets.

Since the coupon becomes valid tomorrow, I was expecting that Murnau/Borzage would be put out this week. The other two sets are already out. I'll be very disappointed if they don't show up here.

Hmmmm.... Murnau/Borzage... sounds like an investment bank.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Thanks, Tim, for the reply. I think those are all Fox products, so I have a sinking feeling I may still have difficulties with Costco's computer system.

Still, I intend to at least try to determine if they'll be stocking this item at any of my local stores.

Thanks again.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I hefted one in Costco a couple of days ago. The weight of it is impressive. The box-set has the authority of weight(!). Costco cost: $180. Maybe after the holidays. I gather, from what a sales clerk told me, that Costco lumps different products from one brand under the same lot number. So if I buy Alfred Hitchcock Presents volumes 2 and 3 at $16 each, they ring up as the same thing twice, but if I want volume 1, they don't have a separate number with which to find it, because it's all under the same lot number from Universal. Likewise all Disney stuff is under the same lot number regardless of which title.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I remember how big the Ford box was- huge!

It's ironic that Fox is willing to make deluxe sets from their silent film catalog, while its TV division has done very little in releasing its classic shows from the 50s and 60s!

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I don't think they own IT (1927)...it's out on two different DVD labels currently, and both of these releases are from legitimate companies, Milestone and Kino.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Two things.

Costco groups different titles, if they are bought them at the same time, from the same same distributor and in approximately the same retail price group, with one stock number. See their recent group from Universal which includes the new Gregory Peck Collection along with Cecil B. DeMille and the Marx Brothers ($10. off last week).

Locally, Costco got three copies of this set in last week and today they had the same three sets left, but they moved them and it took ten minutes to find them. It's not a coupon item, but an instant discount, though sales tax is collected on the higher price.

Now for my question. The Murnau set includes "Sunrise" including a "European Version" which is presumed to be a German version. This version runs 11 minutes longer then the "Movietone" version. What is this longer version? It is one filmed by Fox for european release or was a version filmed before Fox produced his version? And what is the difference between the two versions?

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I've got a co-worker running me to Costco at lunch today. Hopefully they have this in stock where we're going. I saw a posting on another board, where somebody picked up the set for $130 at a Costco.

For that price, I could buy a year's membership and still be less than the best web deal right now.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

I should wait and post once I'm more certain of things; but a cursory glance through the flipper Sunrise disc in Murnau/Borzage set shows a couple of misstatements on the part of Fox Home Video. There's only one commentary track--the John Bailey that was part of the Studio Classics Version (the original press statement had promised the Bailey plus a new one by Robert Birchard and Anthony Slide) and the running time is listed 106 min, but the Movietone version is 96 min and I *think* the European version (Czech... not German) is much, much shorter... about 71 min (I haven't watched it all the way through, but I clicked through the disc chapter by chapter... my timing on the European version could be way off... but it's definitely shorter). In the early scenes the main difference I noticed with my brief spot checking is that the European version simply contains far fewer shots... just as if the film were cut. The gray scale for the b&w image is much, much better on the European version however (the image, though, is 1.33 and seems cropped, as opposed to the pillared box 1.20 movietone version). Another peculiarity: the European version is advertised as the "silent" version, yet it utilizes the same Movietone score on an old optical track as the American version.

I could be wrong, but the good news is that I think there is marginal improvement in the Movietone/American version's image over the old Studio Classic disc (it's not huge... in fact I wouldn't even want to swear to it... but to my eyes it looked better).

If your main reason for purchasing the set is the additional Sunrise material you mat be a bit disappointed (though God knows, there are many, many more reasons to get this gorgeous box); but even though the Czech print of Sunrise is a bit of a bust as far as I'm concerned, it's better gray scale could help elucidate images from the full version of the movie.

Re: A few words about...™ Murnau, Borzage and Fox - Preview

Well, at least Fox didn't skimp on providing another HEAVY box. This thing weighs a ton. Thank heavens for Amazon Super Saver Shipping!