Showing posts with label Buster Keaton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buster Keaton. Show all posts
KINO: Buster Keaton Shorts Arrive in May
Kino has announced May 24th as the release date for their 5-disc presentation of the Buster Keaton Shorts Collection (1917-1923) on DVD and Blu-ray. Click here for details.
KINO BLU: Keaton's College & Little Fugitive in March
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: |
College (Ultimate Edition) March 5th Kino Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99 |
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WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: |
College (Blu-Ray) March 5th Kino Retail $34.95, Our: $27.99 |
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WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: |
Little Fugitive (Blu-Ray) March 26th Kino Retail $34.95, Our: $27.99 |
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Kino has scheduled March for the Blu-Ray debuts of Buster Keaton's hilarious College (1927) and 1953's charming Little Fugitive. A standard Ultimate Edition DVD of College will also be released.
Bonus features for the Keaton feature are below, but have yet to be determined for Fugitive.
Buster Keaton goes back to school and stages a hilarious send-up of university life in College.
Keaton stars as Ronald, an idealistic freshman who attends Clayton College in pursuit of higher learning, but finds himself instead embroiled in a war of athletics as he fights for the heart of his beloved coed, Mary (Anne Cornwall). More than he had in any other feature, Keaton stretched the boundaries of solo physical comedy.
In a series of unforgettable vignettes, stone-faced Ronald tries his hand as a baseball player, soda jerk, waiter, coxswain, and track star, performing each task with a steady determination but with consistently disastrous results. These scenes are especially amazing because in demonstrating Ronald's athletic inadequacies, Keaton reveals a surprising degree of physical prowess and finesse, particularly during the film's exhilarating climax.
BONUS FEATURES:
- Audio commentary by film historian Rob Farr (Slapsticon Founder)
- Visual essay on the film's locations
- "The Scribe," a 1966 industrial short that was Keaton's final filmed performance
BUSTER BLU: The Navigator in September
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | The Navigator (Ultimate Edition) September 4th Kino Retail: $29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | The Navigator (Blu-Ray) September 4th Kino Retail: $34.95, Our: | |
Kino has announced a September 4th released date for The Navigator (1924) on standard DVD & Blu-Ray.
Bonus features are still sketchy, but some initial details are below.
The Blu-Ray will have a special pre-order price of $21.98 until Monday.
SYNOPSIS:
Brilliantly exemplifying Buster Keaton's ability to mime rich humor from the inanimate, The Navigator is a classic of the Golden Age of Comedy, centered on and about a single extraordinary prop: an immense five hundred-foot yacht.
In a return to the "pampered youth" role he had played in The Saphead (and would return to in Battling Butler), Keaton stars as Rollo Treadway, an inexperienced lad of extraordinary wealth -- and surprisingly little common sense -- who finds himself adrift on "The Navigator" with no one else on board except an equally naïve girl (Kathryn McGuire). After discovering each other's presence in an ingenious ballet of unintentional hide-and-seek, the couple resourcefully fashion a home for themselves aboard the derelict boat, in spite of their unfamiliarity with the tools of domesticity.
They then embark on a series of misadventures on the ocean floor (where Rollo in a diving suit must parry the attacks of an aggressive swordfish) and upon the high seas, surrounded by a fleet of menacing cannibals, where the film reaches its explosively funny climax, with the aid of a crate of rocket flares.
BONUS FEATURES:
- The Navigator short subject documentary
- Audio Commentary (TBD)
- Trailers and more features to be announced
KINO: Saphead, The Devil's Needle - Standard & Blu in July
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | The Saphead (Ultimate Edition) July 10th Kino Retail: 29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | The Saphead (Blu-Ray) July 10th Kino Retail: 34.95, Our: $27.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | The Devil's Needle July 10th Kino Retail: 34.95, Our: $27.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | The Devil's Needle (Blu-Ray) July 10th Kino Retail: 39.95, Our: $30.99 | |
More silents on Blu from Kino as they have announced Buster Keatons's The Saphead (Ultimate Edition) and The Devil's Needle and Other Tales of Vice and Redemption on both standard DVD & Blu-Ray for release on July 10th.
The Saphead will come with numerous bonus features that have yet to be announced. The Devil's Needle release showcases three titles making their DVD debut. Details are below. All will be single disc releases.
SYNOPSIS:
In its continuing effort to showcase the great works of early cinema, Kino Classics launches a new series of Blu-ray and DVD releases dedicated to archival rarities -- influential classics that have gone virtually unseen for decades. Presented in association with the Library of Congress, the films have been mastered in HD from the original film elements and are backed with newly commissioned musical scores. In some cases the films survive in less-than-perfect condition. But it is the mission of this series to preserve and promote these films in spite of their flaws, rather than allow them to disappear entirely from the cultural radar.
The Devil's Needle and Other Tales of Vice and Redemption is comprised of three feature films that dared to address incendiary subject matter: drug abuse, prostitution, and the exploitation of labor. By folding these explosive issues within layers of melodramatic storytelling, the filmmakers were able to dodge public criticism while making their political views even more compelling. These films were among the first to demonstrate the cinema's potential as a persuasive cultural force.
The Devil's Needle (1916, 66 min.)
Norma Talmadge stars as Renée, a French artist's model who uses morphine as an escape from the dull reality of her life. She recommends it to a neurotic artist played by Tully Marshall (Queen Kelly), because "it kindles the fires of genius." The artist quickly becomes addicted to the drug and the quality of his work begins to disintegrate. He takes on a new model, marries her, and starts her on the same path of moral degradation, until a guilt-ridden Renée decides to intervene in order to save them both. According to silent film historian Kevin Brownlow, The Devil's Needle was banned by the state of Ohio, but the censor board reversed its decision after recognizing the positive message beneath the film's scandalous surface. This special edition was mastered from a 35mm preservation print of the 1923 re-release version. The only known surviving copy, the element suffers significant nitrate decomposition during some scenes.
Children of Eve (1915, 73 min.)
Most famous today for its detailed reenactment of the tragic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911, which had become a symbol of unsafe working conditions and capital's apparent disregard for labor. Viola Dana stars as an illegitimate child of the slums who labors in an oppressive canning company, not realizing she has a significant connection to the cold-hearted factory owner. This special edition includes outtake footage of the sensational fire scene, for which the Edison Studios set an actual four-story factory ablaze.
The Inside of White Slave Traffic (1913, 28 min.)
One of the most notorious films of the silent era, as it not only centered on the theme of forced prostitution, "It goes in for the utmost fidelity in picturing the evil which has been its inspiration" (Variety). Demonstrating the methods of the network of American pimps known as "white slavers" in meticulous detail (including a helpful guide to underworld slang), the film plays more like docudrama than melodrama. It is easy to see why it was such a public sensation upon its release. The complete four-reel version of the film no longer exists.This edition was mastered from the sole surviving copy, a two-reel version that has experienced significant damage. Explanatory titles have been added to bridge missing footage.
BONUS FEATURES:
- The Inside of White Slave Traffic (unrestored version, 19 min.)
- Children of Eve - 8 minutes of outtake footage
MGM MOD: Frankie Avalon in Sergeant Dead Head Plus 2 More
A Frankie Avalon vehicle, and two B's are part of MGM's MOD releases this March 27th. They are:
- Sergeant Dead Head (1965) - Frankie Avalon, Deborah Walley, Cesar Romero, Fred Clark, Gale Gordon, Buster Keaton, Reginald Gardiner, Pat Buttram, Eve Arden & Dir. Norman Taurog
- Pharaoh's Curse (1957) - Mark Dana, Ziva Rodann, Diane Brewster
- Vice Raid (1960) - Mamie Van Doren, Richard Coogan, Brad Dexter
KINO BLU: Lost Keaton - 16 Comedy Shorts in March
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Lost Keaton - 16 Comedy Shorts (1934-37) - Blu-Ray March 20th Kino Retail $39.95, Our: $30.99 | |
More Blu from Kino as they have announced Lost Keaton - 16 Comedy Shorts (1934-37) - Blu-Ray for release on March 20th.
Released in standard definition in July 2010, this 2-disc Blu-Ray set will feature the same content.
SYNOPSIS:
For Buster Keaton, the era of the "talkies" was a tumultuous time. As a result of signing with MGM, the quality, the quality of his ambitious, eclectic comedies began to decline and in 1934, he signed a contract with Earle W. Hammons's Educational Pictures which, despite its name, specialized in comedy short subjects. Keaton's move to Educational was a return to his roots, crafting a stream of two reel comedies in rapid succession, as he had done in the early 1920's, when he first refined his cinematic craft.
The films Buster Keaton made with Educational Pictures (ALL sixteen of which are collected here) pay homage to his earlier work, but at the same time incorporated the element of sound, all while exploring new possibilities for his recurring comic persona, "Elmer".
This FIVE HOUR+ collection features all 16 Educational Pictures shorts.
DISC 1:
- The Gold Ghost
- Allez Oop
- Palooka from Paducah
- One Run Elmer
- Hayseed Romance
- Tars and Stripes
- The E-Flat Man
- The Timid Young Man
BONUS FEATURES:
- Film Notes
- Photo Gallery
- Why They Call Him "Buster"
DISC 2:
- Three on a Limb
- Grand Slam Opera
- Blue Blazes
- The Chemist
- Mixed Magic
- Jail Bait
- Ditto
- Love Nest on Wheels
BONUS FEATURE:
- Film Notes
KINO BLU: Sherlock Holmes, Seven Chances in December
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Seven Chances (Ultimate Edition) December 13th Kino Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Seven Chances (Blu-Ray) December 13th Kino Retail $34.95, Our: $27.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Sherlock Holmes (Blu-Ray) December 13th Kino Retail $34.95, Our: $27.99 | |
More Blu from Kino as they have announced Sherlock Holmes (1922) and Seven Chances (1925) for release on December 13th.
Also out will be a standard Ultimate Edition of Seven Chances. Both the Blu and Standard version ofChances will have the bonus features below:
- Audio Commentary (TBD)
- “Silent Echoes” featurette
- Seven Chances restoration featurette featuring Technicolor comparison and more!
KINO: Battling Butler / Go West - Ultimate & Blu in September
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Battling Butler / Go West (Ultimate Edition) September 27th Kino Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Battling Butler / Go West (Blu-Ray) September 27th Kino Retail $34.95, Our: 27.99 | |
More Buster from Kino as they have announced a September 27th release date for a double feature of Battling Butler and Go West in both a Standard Ultimate Edition and Blu-Ray. The standard release will be across two DVD's, while the Blu-Ray will be a single disc. Bonus features are not yet known, but will be numerous if the pattern of previous Ultimate Editions are followed.
KINO: Keaton Shorts Collection (1920 - 23) in Standard & Blu This July
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Buster Keaton Shorts Collection (1920 - 1923) July 12th Kino Retail $34.95, Our: $24.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Buster Keaton Shorts Collection - Blu-Ray (1920 - 1923) July 12th Kino Retail $49.95, Our: $34.99 | |
More Buster in Blu as Kino has announced the 3-disc Buster Keaton Shorts Collection (1920 - 1923) for release on July 12th in Standard DVD & Blu-Ray formats.
This marks the first time these shorts are available as a collection and it contains plenty of bonus features (below).
SYNOPSIS:
For the first time ever, Kino International proudly presents a box set of all of Buster Keaton’s classic silent short films in one collection. All films have been digital remastered in high definition and include all new extras.
DISC 1:
- The High Sign (1920/21, 19 Min.)
- One Week (1920, 24 Min.)
- Convict 13 (1920, 19 Min.)
- The Scarecrow (1920, 18 Min.)
- Neighbors (1921, 19 Min.)
- The Haunted House (1921, 20 Min.)
- Hard Luck (1921, 21 Min.)
- The Goat (1921, 23 Min.)
- The Play House (1921, 23 Min.)
- The Boat (1921, 23 Min.)
- The Paleface (1922, 20 Min.)
- Cops (1922, 18 Min.)
- My Wife’s Relations (1922, 17 Min.)
- The Blacksmith (1922, 21 Min.)
- The Frozen North (1922, 17 Min.)
- Day Dreams (1922, 19 Min.)
- The Electric House (1922, 23 Min.)
- The Balloonatic (1923, 22 Min.)
- The Love Nest (1923, 20 Min.)
- Fifteen visual essays, illustrated with clips and stills, written by various Keaton experts.
- Four visual essays on the film’s locations by Silent Echoes author John Bengston
- Eight page booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vanc, author of Buster Keaton Remembered
- The Men Who Would Be Buster, a collection of clips from slapstick films influenced by Keaton’s work
- Character Studies (ca. 1925) a gag film starring Carter DeHaven, with cameos by Keaton, Harold Lloyd Fatty Arbuckle and others
- Seeing Stars (excerpts) a 1922 promotional film featuring cameos by Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and others
- A series of brief, alternate / deleted shots from The Goat, The Blacksmith and The Ballonatic
ARTWORK ADDED: Our Hospitality
-- ARTWORK ADDED TO PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT --
ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Our Hospitality (Ultimate Edition) March 22nd Kino Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Our Hospitality (Blu-Ray) - Ultimate Edition March 22nd Kino Retail $34.95, Our: 27.99 | |
Kino has announced a March 22nd release date for a Our Hospitality in both a Standard Ultimate Edition and Blu-Ray. Bonus features are below.
SYNOPSIS:
Like his 1926 film The General, this elaborate historical comedy broadened the boundaries of slapstick and proved that Keaton was not just a comedian, he was an artist. Keaton stars as youthful dreamer Willie McKay, who travels westward on a rickety locomotive to claim his birthright, only to find that his inheritance is a shack. And he learns that the object of his affection (Keaton’s real-life wife, Natalie Talmadge) is the daughter of a man with whom his family has been engaged in a long, violent feud.
McKay’s personal struggles are punctuated by brilliant slapstick set pieces that involve an exploding dam, raging waterfalls, and a primitive steam engine. Keaton supervised the design and construction of the train, which he revived two years later for the short The Iron Mule (in which he appears without credit as an Native American chief).
BONUS FEATURES:
- Music composed and conducted by Carl Davis, performed by The Thames Silents Orchestra (in 5.1 Surround or 2.0 Stereo)
- Musical score compiled by Donald Hunsberger (2.0 Stereo)
- “The Iron Mule” (1925, 19 min.) with music by Ben Model
- Original documentary on the making of the film, written by film historian Patricia Eliot Tobias with David B. Pearson
- Hospitality -- a 49-minute alternate cut of the film, with an explanatory introduction, and an organ score by Lee Erwin
- 2 Galleries: Photos & Snapshots
KINO: Our Hospitality - Ultimate & Blu in March
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Our Hospitality (Ultimate Edition) March 22nd Kino Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Our Hospitality (Blu-Ray) - Ultimate Edition March 22nd Kino Retail $34.95, Our: 27.99 | |
Kino has announced a March 22nd release date for a Our Hospitality in both a Standard Ultimate Edition and Blu-Ray. Bonus features are below.
SYNOPSIS:
Like his 1926 film The General, this elaborate historical comedy broadened the boundaries of slapstick and proved that Keaton was not just a comedian, he was an artist. Keaton stars as youthful dreamer Willie McKay, who travels westward on a rickety locomotive to claim his birthright, only to find that his inheritance is a shack. And he learns that the object of his affection (Keaton’s real-life wife, Natalie Talmadge) is the daughter of a man with whom his family has been engaged in a long, violent feud.
McKay’s personal struggles are punctuated by brilliant slapstick set pieces that involve an exploding dam, raging waterfalls, and a primitive steam engine. Keaton supervised the design and construction of the train, which he revived two years later for the short The Iron Mule (in which he appears without credit as an Native American chief).
BONUS FEATURES:
- Music composed and conducted by Carl Davis, performed by The Thames Silents Orchestra (in 5.1 Surround or 2.0 Stereo)
- Musical score compiled by Donald Hunsberger (2.0 Stereo)
- “The Iron Mule” (1925, 19 min.) with music by Ben Model
- Original documentary on the making of the film, written by film historian Patricia Eliot Tobias with David B. Pearson
- Hospitality -- a 49-minute alternate cut of the film, with an explanatory introduction, and an organ score by Lee Erwin
- 2 Galleries: Photos & Snapshots
KINO: Sherlock Jr., Three Ages - Ultimate & Blu in November
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Sherlock Jr. / Three Ages (Ultimate Edition) November 16th Kino Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99 | |
| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: | Sherlock Jr. / Three Ages (Blu-Ray) November 16th Kino Retail $34.95, Our: 27.99 | |
Kino has announced a November16th release date for a double feature of Sherlock Jr. and Three Ages to be released in both a Standard Ultimate Edition and Blu-Ray.
Both titles have been previously released, but this marks the first time either has made it to Blu-Ray. Bonus features, which are many, are below.
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Dramatizing the uproarious exploits of a meek theater projectionist turned amateur sleuth, the film blends the knockabout physical comedy normally associated with more subtly crafted moments of humor -- such as the sequence in which Buster leaps through the silver screen and lands in the midst of the action.
Packed within its modest 45 minutes is enough comic material for several ordinary features, but Keaton chooses to compress it all into a dazzling display of cinematic inventiveness that races along like the driver-less motorcycle hurtling through a traffic-clogged city in the film's unforgettable climax -- with a stone-faced Buster perched obliviously on the handlebars.
Three Ages (1923)
A brilliant historical satire teeming with inventive flourishes, Buster Keaton's Three Ages is a silent comedy of truly epic proportions. This clever parody of D. W. Griffith's Intolerance follows Buster's hard-luck romantic adventures throughout world history: form the dawn of man in the Stone Age, through the gladiatorial arenas of Ancient Rome, to the city streets of the American Jazz Era.
By flavoring the ancient stories with bits of modern comedy (e.g. the "spare tire" with which Buster repairs his chariot, the "home run" that he scores against an angry caveman), Keaton not only won raucous laughter from the audience but forged an original approach to history, humor, and cinema that clearly foreshadowed the Mel Brooks and Monty Python films that followed half a century later.
BONUS FEATURES:
- Sherlock Jr.
- Music by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround (DTS on the Blu-ray) and 2.0 Stereo
- Music by The Club Foot Orchestra
- Vintage jazz score compiled by Jay Ward
- 15 minute documentary on the making of the film
- Audio commentary by historian David Kalat
- Stills gallery
- Three Ages
- Music arranged and directed by Robert Israel in 2.0 Stereo
- Organ Score by Lee Erwin
- Piano score
- Man’s Genesis (1912): A nine-minute excerpt of the D.W. Griffith prehistoric romance that inspired Keaton’s parody
- Visual essay on the film’s locations by Silent Echoes author John Bengston
- Three Ages re-cut as a trio of stand alone short films
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