- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,424
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
These Few Words are less about The Telephone Book, a 1971 soft-core mini-epic shot essentially in black & white, and a part of the NY underground film scene in that era, and more about the new company releasing it, Vinegar Syndrome.
Vinegar Syndrome (I love the name) is a new distributor, who also do their own transfer and digital clean-up work.
What's apparent from spending a bit of time with three of their early releases, The Telephone Book, Massage Parlor Murders and The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis,is that they love film. And they get it.
Right out of the gate, even with low-budget productions, their quality is superb, and actually far better than much of the work Universal has done on their Hitchcock films.
The Telephone Book is derived from an original print -- the neg is apparently long gone -- and the folks at VS have scanned and harvested every last vestige of information from the element. Same thing with Massage Parlor and Lost Films. Anyone unfamiliar with the work of Mr. Lewis should know that he came out of the documentary world -- The Naked Eye. And went on to direct and shoot a myriad of low-budget, mostly soft-core productions, that are legendary.
Before there were Spielberg and Scorsese, there was Mr. Lewis.
If you're interested in these films, a fun look back at the era -- love the cars and sideburns -- these Blu-rays are as perfect as the films ever looked (yes, I'm aware that Telephone is derived from a print, but it looks great regardless)
But the overall point here is to welcome Vinegar Syndrome to the world of Blu-ray. With a bit of success with these titles, hopefully they'll move up the ladder and begin working on higher end productions.
There should be no doubt in pre-ordering their titles, as quality is very much at the top of the game. If you see the words Vinegar Syndrome, and desire to own the title, have no fear.
I look forward to their next endeavors.
RAH