Press Release PHE Press Release: Paramount Presents! The Sheik (1921) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

I suspect the studio restored it for the sake of restoring it/preserving the studio heritage and that the disc is just one way to recoup some of that. I doubt the work was greenlit based on disc sale potential alone.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Yep. And don't get me wrong, a major studio committing significant dollars to restoring and releasing a silent film in 2021 on physical media is absolutely cause for celebration, no matter how many copies they move. Just seems like they're fighting such an uphill battle with a movie that isn't really an established classic. Nobody would be happier than me to be wrong.

I think we are all rooting very hard for Paramount.

For years they refused to release catalog products to Blu-ray. In a way, I can't blame them for hesitating when the entire home release marketplace was going through a transition and less product was being placed on store shelves.

Paramount has been doing a tremendous job for the past year with these releases. I know they are actively mining their catalog as I think I have solid information that there will be full catalog releases for one of their biggest comic stars.

This release has me worried. I don't want any setbacks for the studio.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I suspect the studio restored it for the sake of restoring it/preserving the studio heritage and that the disc is just one way to recoup some of that. I doubt the work was greenlit based on disc sale potential alone.

Good point. That makes more sense.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I really wouldn’t worry - Paramount has been restoring a bunch of their silents in recent years and Kino has put out some of them so I don’t think preserving the silents in and of itself is anything new. I think they’ve just decided to hold on to this one because of its importance in studio history and perhaps a desire to have the Paramount Presents line represent a wide diversity of filmmaking.

 

[lark144]

Yet Carmine Coppola's score features solo interludes with that "whining" instrument.

And Carmine Coppola's day job was the intermission organist at Radio City Music Hall.

When I was a child, many of the first run theaters in downtown Syracuse had an intermission organist.

 

[Arthur Powell]

And Carmine Coppola's day job was the intermission organist at Radio City Music Hall.

When I was a child, many of the first run theaters in downtown Syracuse had an intermission organist.

Learn something new everyday. This brings to mind Groucho Marx's classroom quip in Horse Feathers: Now here is a most unusual organ. The organ will play a solo after the feature picture.

 

[bujaki]

I have the LD, the DVD and the Kino BD of The Sheik. I'll be purchasing the Paramount release as well. If I remember correctly, the elements for the Kino release were in better shape than for the sequel.

 

[Thomas T]

Yet Carmine Coppola's score features solo interludes with that "whining" instrument.

I have nothing against the use of organs in a proper underscore. In fact, one of my very favorite film scores of all time uses an organ prominently ..... Bernard Herrmann's Obsession (1976). But it's not the entire score. And let's get real, Gaylord Carter is no Bernard Herrmann. If nostalgists enjoy their organs, fine but I stand my original statement.

 

[dana martin]

 

[Paul Penna]

Yet Carmine Coppola's score features solo interludes with that "whining" instrument.

Coppola included the organ segment to provide breaks for the orchestral musicians.

 

[lark144]

I have the LD, the DVD and the Kino BD of The Sheik. I'll be purchasing the Paramount release as well. If I remember correctly, the elements for the Kino release were in better shape than for the sequel.

I thought it was the reverse, but who remembers? I'll be buying it anyway. Day one as I want to support this. That makes seven.

 

[Robert Harris]

Kudos to Paramount for restoring and releasing a PD film!

 

[darkrock17]

Kudos to Paramount for restoring and releasing a PD film!

I didn’t know this film was PD? mind you I’ve only heard of this film by name only and maybe seen parts of this and other Valentino movies when they were used in the 1963 TV series, Fractured Flickers.

 

[StarDestroyer52]

I'm very excited to see Paramount releasing this one. While I grabbed the Kino Blu, I will be double-dipping for this one.

 

[StarDestroyer52]

I didn’t know this film was PD? mind you I’ve only heard of this film by name only and maybe seen parts of this and other Valentino movies when they were used Fractured Flickers.

Under the PD law in the United States, all motion pictures made and exhibited before 1926 are in the public domain. However, many times the best materials will still be with the original studio, in this case, Paramount.

 

[battlebeast]

So it is! How did I miss that? Thank you.

No problem!

 

[battlebeast]

So, would Disney buy up EVERY print of Steamboat Willie they can?

 

[darkrock17]

So, would Disney buy up EVERY print of Steamboat Willie they can?

it’s way too early for Charlene Syndrome.

 

[Vern Dias]

Thanks for the history lesson but this is 2021, not 1921. Even most churches have dumped the organ. A symphonic underscore give silent films more texture and nuance instead of a droning organ. Imagine replacing Carl Davis's or Carmine Coppola's symphonic scores to Gance's Napoleon with a whining organ. Heaven help us!

You are right, it is 2021, and concerts performed on theatre organs can be an amazing experience, either live or reproduced through a modern multi-channel audio system.

I can only attribute your comments to a lack of actual exposure to an actual theatre organ or its modern digital counterpart in a concert setting.

Comparing a theatre organ to a church organ is like comparing an plum to a prune. They are two totally different instruments with different capabilities.

BTW, a score can be performed equally well on a theatre organ as it can be by an orchestra. It depend on the peformer(s), not the composer.

Of course, if you are not watching a silent movie with a theatre organ score in person or on a first class audio system, it's going to be pretty hard to make an accurate judgement.

 

[Thomas T]

You are right, it is 2021, and concerts performed on theatre organs can be an amazing experience, either live or reproduced through a modern multi-channel audio system.

I can only attribute your comments to a lack of actual exposure to an actual theatre organ or its modern digital counterpart in a concert setting.
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Comparing a theatre organ to a church organ is like comparing an plum to a prune. They are two totally different instruments with different capabilities.

BTW, a score can be performed equally well on a theatre organ as it can be by an orchestra. It depend on the peformer(s), not the composer.

Of course, if you are not watching a silent movie with a theatre organ score in person or on a first class audio system, it's going to be pretty hard to make an accurate judgement.

Whatever Why do I get the feeling if I had said I hated trumpets or xylophones, you couldn't care less? I'm glad you love your organ but please allow those of us who don't sit in your pew to go to another church.