J’Accuse (1919) is a story set against the backdrop of World War I that is considered one of the most technically advanced films of the era and the first major pacifist film. Gance, who had served briefly in the military during World War I, decided to return to active service in 1919 in order to film real battle scenes to include in the project. The film was reedited and shortened for peacetime reissue in 1922, and has not been available since in its original form.
Lobster Films Studios, Paris, working in collaboration with Netherlands Filmmuseum and Flicker Alley have culled materials from the Lobster Collection, the Czech archive in Prague, the Cinematheque Francaise, and the Netherlands Filmmuseum to make the best possible and most complete edition of the original 1919 edit of the film. The 2-DVD Flicker Alley Collection edition will have a retail price of $39.95, and features a new symphonic score composed and conducted by Robert Israel.
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More great stuff is on the way from Flicker Alley that haven't been given solid dates yet. Details below.
COMING IN JULY:
Traffic in Souls (1913) and The Italian (1915) are riveting and important social dramas of the American silent screen. Released during the earliest years of feature-length film, when movies were more dedicated to advocacy and reform than to escapist entertainment, both depict new immigrants to America and the hazards that await them. Both films are honored with inclusion in The National Film Registry (which selects up to twenty-five “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films” each year). In addition to the features, this two-Disc DVD set, produced by David Shepard from the Blackhawk Films library, presents three short theme-related bonus films from the pioneer Edison company: Police Force, New York City (1910), The Call of the City (1912), and McQuade of the Traffic Squad (1915).
According to legend, Traffic in Souls was filmed surreptitiously at Universal Pictures with the producer (Jack Cohn) and director (George Loane Tucker) prepared to buy the picture in case the company wouldn’t release it. Exploiting a recent exposé of prostitution rings, this “white slavery” story proved a huge financial success. An underworld melodrama, Traffic In Souls is a very accomplished work for its time, and makes excellent use of New York City locations. This edition is copied from the only known original nitrate print of the domestic release; there is an excellent piano score by Philip Carli and an illuminating optional scene-specific audio essay by Prof. Shelley Stamp.
The Italian, produced for Paramount Pictures by Thomas H. Ince and directed by Reginald Barker, stars George Beban, who was renowned for his ethnic characterizations. It is the story of Beppo, a gondolier who comes to America and settles in lower Manhattan, where he operates a shoeshine business and eventually saves enough money to import his fiancée. Crime and poverty soon impact their lives – and there is no artificial, happy ending. Conflated from three sources, our tinted edition is mostly copied from an original nitrate print, and has an optional scene-specific audio essay by Prof. Giorgio Bertellini. A compiled score of authentic photoplay music is performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra led by Rodney Sauer, who also provides the music for the three Edison shorts.
COMING IN NOVEMBER:
Lobster Films Studios, Paris, working in collaboration with Netherlands Filmmuseum and Flicker Alley have culled materials from the Lobster Collection, the Czech archive in Prague, the Cinematheque Francaise, and the Netherlands Filmmuseum to make the best possible and most complete edition of the original 1919 edit of the film. The 2-DVD Flicker Alley Collection edition will have a retail price of $39.95, and features a new symphonic score composed and conducted by Robert Israel.
MORE STUFF FROM FLICKER
More great stuff is on the way from Flicker Alley that haven't been given solid dates yet. Details below.
COMING IN JULY:
Hardships in the New Land - Traffic in Souls (1913) and The Italian (1915)
Traffic in Souls (1913) and The Italian (1915) are riveting and important social dramas of the American silent screen. Released during the earliest years of feature-length film, when movies were more dedicated to advocacy and reform than to escapist entertainment, both depict new immigrants to America and the hazards that await them. Both films are honored with inclusion in The National Film Registry (which selects up to twenty-five “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films” each year). In addition to the features, this two-Disc DVD set, produced by David Shepard from the Blackhawk Films library, presents three short theme-related bonus films from the pioneer Edison company: Police Force, New York City (1910), The Call of the City (1912), and McQuade of the Traffic Squad (1915).
According to legend, Traffic in Souls was filmed surreptitiously at Universal Pictures with the producer (Jack Cohn) and director (George Loane Tucker) prepared to buy the picture in case the company wouldn’t release it. Exploiting a recent exposé of prostitution rings, this “white slavery” story proved a huge financial success. An underworld melodrama, Traffic In Souls is a very accomplished work for its time, and makes excellent use of New York City locations. This edition is copied from the only known original nitrate print of the domestic release; there is an excellent piano score by Philip Carli and an illuminating optional scene-specific audio essay by Prof. Shelley Stamp.
The Italian, produced for Paramount Pictures by Thomas H. Ince and directed by Reginald Barker, stars George Beban, who was renowned for his ethnic characterizations. It is the story of Beppo, a gondolier who comes to America and settles in lower Manhattan, where he operates a shoeshine business and eventually saves enough money to import his fiancée. Crime and poverty soon impact their lives – and there is no artificial, happy ending. Conflated from three sources, our tinted edition is mostly copied from an original nitrate print, and has an optional scene-specific audio essay by Prof. Giorgio Bertellini. A compiled score of authentic photoplay music is performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra led by Rodney Sauer, who also provides the music for the three Edison shorts.
COMING IN NOVEMBER:
Douglas Fairbanks - A Modern Musketeer
Douglas Fairbanks came to the movies in 1915, when high salaries were luring well-known stage performers to the new feature-length productions. Although most of these performers failed to “register” on camera and soon returned to New York, Fairbanks quickly became a super-nova. His energetic, optimistic character, his ingratiating smile, and his graceful, acrobatic style rapidly made Fairbanks one of the most admired stars in the world. By 1917 he had established his own production company; in 1919, along with Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and D. W. Griffith, Fairbanks formed United Artists Corporation.
This Five-Disc DVD collection includes eleven of the delightful modern-dress comedies, westerns, satires, dream-fantasies and romances which made Fairbanks a popular hero, before he launched into the costume spectacles for which he is best remembered. The common theme of these films can best be expressed by “Doug” himself: “There is one thing in this good old world that is positively sure – happiness is for all who strive to be happy – and those who laugh are happy.”
Included are Flirting With Fate, The Matrimaniac, His Picture In The Papers, and The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916, produced by Triangle); Wild and Woolly, Reaching for the Moon and A Modern Musketeer (1917-18, produced by Fairbanks for Paramount/Artcraft); and When The Clouds Roll By, The Mollycoddle, The Mark of Zorro and The Nut (1919-1921, produced by Fairbanks for United Artists). Almost all have been digitally mastered from 35mm or original-negative sources, with music scores created for these editions by Eric Beheim, Philip Carli, Frederick Hodges, Robert Israel, the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra and Franklin Stover. A Modern Musketeer, long thought to survive only as a fragment, is finally complete in a new restoration by the Danish Film Museum and with an optional audio essay by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta. The Mark of Zorro is digitally re-mastered from an original 35mm fine grain. Both of these films have new orchestral scores by Rodney Sauer and Mont Alto. There is a bonus gallery of very rare stills from Douglas Fairbanks’ personal collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a brochure featuring an essay by Jeffrey Vance, author of Douglas Fairbanks (University of California Press, 2008).
This Five-Disc DVD collection includes eleven of the delightful modern-dress comedies, westerns, satires, dream-fantasies and romances which made Fairbanks a popular hero, before he launched into the costume spectacles for which he is best remembered. The common theme of these films can best be expressed by “Doug” himself: “There is one thing in this good old world that is positively sure – happiness is for all who strive to be happy – and those who laugh are happy.”
Included are Flirting With Fate, The Matrimaniac, His Picture In The Papers, and The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916, produced by Triangle); Wild and Woolly, Reaching for the Moon and A Modern Musketeer (1917-18, produced by Fairbanks for Paramount/Artcraft); and When The Clouds Roll By, The Mollycoddle, The Mark of Zorro and The Nut (1919-1921, produced by Fairbanks for United Artists). Almost all have been digitally mastered from 35mm or original-negative sources, with music scores created for these editions by Eric Beheim, Philip Carli, Frederick Hodges, Robert Israel, the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra and Franklin Stover. A Modern Musketeer, long thought to survive only as a fragment, is finally complete in a new restoration by the Danish Film Museum and with an optional audio essay by Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta. The Mark of Zorro is digitally re-mastered from an original 35mm fine grain. Both of these films have new orchestral scores by Rodney Sauer and Mont Alto. There is a bonus gallery of very rare stills from Douglas Fairbanks’ personal collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a brochure featuring an essay by Jeffrey Vance, author of Douglas Fairbanks (University of California Press, 2008).
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