Pre-Order The Last Warning (1928) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

The price link below will take you directly to the product on Amazon. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Wow! This is a big deal

 

[bujaki]

Saw this as well as The Man Who Laughs on a big screen during my younger years. Another must!

 

[Bert Greene]

Prints of this film have floated around, but it's one I never got to, so I'm happy I waited for this high-grade restoration, which has received so much acclaim.

Most will be drawn to it for Paul Leni, but an added appeal for me is Laura La Plante, whom I've always liked. Always hoped some of those many Universal comedies she made would turn up... "Silk Stockings," "The Beautiful Cheat," "Home, James," "Beware of Widows," "Her Big Night," "Thanks for the Buggy Ride," etc. I suspect most of them are lost, however. On the other hand, it does seem like a fair number of those concurrent Reginald Denny titles have survived. Maybe things aren't as bad as I fear.

 

[Bert Greene]

(double post) deleted.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Prints of this film have floated around, but it's one I never got to, so I'm happy I waited for this high-grade restoration, which has received so much acclaim.

Most will be drawn to it for Paul Leni, but an added appeal for me is Laura La Plante, whom I've always liked. Always hoped some of those many Universal comedies she made would turn up... "Silk Stockings," "The Beautiful Cheat," "Home, James," "Beware of Widows," "Her Big Night," "Thanks for the Buggy Ride," etc. I suspect most of them are lost, however. On the other hand, it does seem like a fair number of those concurrent Reginald Denny titles have survived. Maybe things aren't as bad as I fear.

According to the LOC silent film database, "Silk Stockings," "The Beautiful Cheat, "Home, James," and "Her Big Night" have survived. I also hope to see Universal cover more Laura La Plante titles in their silent film restoration series. The few that I've seen have all been fun. Anyway, I haven't seen "The Last Warning" so I'll be sure to soon pre-order this Flicker Alley release.

 

[Bert Greene]

According to the LOC silent film database, "Silk Stockings," "The Beautiful Cheat, "Home, James," and "Her Big Night" have survived. I also hope to see Universal cover more Laura La Plante titles in their silent film restoration series. The few that I've seen have all been fun. Anyway, I haven't seen "The Last Warning" so I'll be sure to soon pre-order this Flicker Alley release.

Ah, that's good to know. I've long had a little, original handbill advertisement for "Home, James," and always hoped it might still be around. There's also a title I recall from the "Universal Story" book entitled "Poker Faces" (1926), although I believe it might have been more a vehicle for Edward Everett Horton, with La Plante supporting, perhaps. Sounded fun. I've consulted that database a number of times, usually checking on the survival rate of some of the films of cowboy stars like Hoot Gibson, Leo Maloney, Art Acord, and such, but I never had thought to look up La Plante. But gosh, it can be such a depressing task, looking things up, and realizing all the tons of films that are lost.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Ah, that's good to know. I've long had a little, original handbill advertisement for "Home, James," and always hoped it might still be around. There's also a title I recall from the "Universal Story" book entitled "Poker Faces" (1926), although I believe it might have been more a vehicle for Edward Everett Horton, with La Plante supporting, perhaps. Sounded fun. I've consulted that database a number of times, usually checking on the survival rate of some of the films of cowboy stars like Hoot Gibson, Leo Maloney, Art Acord, and such, but I never had thought to look up La Plante. But gosh, it can be such a depressing task, looking things up, and realizing all the tons of films that are lost.

I picked up a vintage still from Poker Faces several years ago showing Horton and La Plante having a rather contentious meal together. I would love to see if the film is as humorous as my still. Universal silents in general have a low survival rate (thanks to certain business decisions that Universal made in the late 1940s), but luckily Kodascope prints and foreign archives saved the situation from a total loss. I was actually surprised that only two of the La Plante silents you listed were noted as being lost. What's really depressing is the Tom Mix survival rate for his Fox westerns. I recently watched Sky High, Riders of the Purple Sage, and The Great K&A Train Robbery, and I would have been very happy to watch another slate of films featuring Tom and his wonder horse Tony, but that late 1930s Fox vault fire made sure that that task would be difficult. I've learned to be grateful that we have what has survived in spite of the years of hostility, negligence, and indifference.

 

[dana martin]

it's wonderful that Universal went and did all of these great restorations, i cant seem to find that anouncement with the titles listed that were being worked on, but i do remember the two expressly being mentioned, Man who Laughs and last Warning, hopefully in that mix somone in Universals Restoration department decided to tackle Paul Leni's The Cat and the Canary in the same 4K restoration efforts, hey one can hope

 

[Bert Greene]

I picked up a vintage still from Poker Faces several years ago showing Horton and La Plante having a rather contentious meal together. I would love to see if the film is as humorous as my still. Universal silents in general have a low survival rate (thanks to certain business decisions that Universal made in the late 1940s), but luckily Kodascope prints and foreign archives saved the situation from a total loss. I was actually surprised that only two of the La Plante silents you listed were noted as being lost. What's really depressing is the Tom Mix survival rate for his Fox westerns. I recently watched Sky High, Riders of the Purple Sage, and The Great K&A Train Robbery, and I would have been very happy to watch another slate of films featuring Tom and his wonder horse Tony, but that late 1930s Fox vault fire made sure that that task would be difficult. I've learned to be grateful that we have what has survived in spite of the years of hostility, negligence, and indifference.

Believe me, it kills me that so many of Tom Mix's westerns at Fox are lost or unavailable. The few that circulate are great fun, with "Riders of the Purple Sage" (1925) and "The Great K&A Train Robbery" (1926) at the top of the list. I hope good 35mm copies of these two survive, as all I've ever seen look like worn 16mm. "The Last Trail" (1927) is also found in similar shape. I've always particularly wanted to see "Soft Boiled" (1923), which is around, and been screened at a few festivals. Mix's Fox movies also have the neat aspect of a lot of actresses as leading ladies who went on to bigger careers... Billie Dove, Clara Bow, Esther Ralston, Patsy Ruth Miller, Marion Nixon, Olive Borden, Colleen Moore, Sally Blane, and several others.

Switching back to Universal, I understand that the studio has fully remastered (and screened at the MoMa retrospective on Laemmle-era Universals) Mix's talkie "Rider of Death Valley" (1932), which is an absolute gem of a western. Oh, how I would love to get this on blu. I'm not sure if any of the others from Mix's 1932-33 series have been given similar treatment, though. I rather liked "The Fourth Horseman" (1932) as well, but the copies of the old 16mm tv-print of it that I've encountered seem to have about ten minutes of its original running time missing.

I guess Laura La Plante didn't manage to ever be a leading lady for Mix, as she was busy over at Universal. But she did seem to get her start there as leading lady in a number of their Hoot Gibson westerns. Three or four of them, I think. And her sister, Violet La Plante, was also in one of the Hooter's outings, as well. Universal's silent westerns seem a bit more modest than the Mix ones at Fox, but from all I've seen they are also pretty breezy and enjoyable. I hope these type of things don't get overlooked in Universal's restoration efforts. Of course, sometimes if those Kodascope prints are all that exist, they are also prone to be edited down a bit. But I'll take what I can get.

 

[lark144]

Prints of this film have floated around, but it's one I never got to, so I'm happy I waited for this high-grade restoration, which has received so much acclaim.

Most will be drawn to it for Paul Leni, but an added appeal for me is Laura La Plante, whom I've always liked. Always hoped some of those many Universal comedies she made would turn up... "Silk Stockings," "The Beautiful Cheat," "Home, James," "Beware of Widows," "Her Big Night," "Thanks for the Buggy Ride," etc. I suspect most of them are lost, however. On the other hand, it does seem like a fair number of those concurrent Reginald Denny titles have survived. Maybe things aren't as bad as I fear.

I first discovered Laura La Plante in "The Cat and the Canary" another Paul Leni directed Universal silent old dark house comedy/thriller, when I was in my early teens, I've never seen "The Last Warning." Needless to say, this is already pre-ordered.