30 / BD 150 Buster Keaton: Complete Short Films 1917-1923

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jamie_summers · #51 Post by **jamie_summers** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 7:19 am

Like how you dropped that in there. Shoah is absolutely stunning, unforgettable and will be a must buy.

godardslave · #52 Post by **godardslave** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 6:26 pm

jamie_summers wrote:Like how you dropped that in there. Shoah is absolutely stunning, unforgettable and will be a must buy.

Some people seem to be somewhat outside of the loop, this thread might help.

What A Disgrace · #53 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 3:36 am

Play.com says October 23.

Caligula · #54 Post by **Caligula** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:42 am

Available for pre-order at amazon.co.uk.

Monsieur Verdoux · Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:54 am

Amazon does seem to be the better choice at the moment.

derek · #56 Post by **derek** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:55 am

davidhare wrote:MK 2 has released most if not all of them. I think (but cant be sure) with the Neil scores.

A 4 DVD set from Arte Video/Lobster films released a while back in France contains all 32 shorts and some do indeed have Neil Brand on piano. See http://www.frombutcherboytoscribe.co.uk ... item_no=28 for more details, including music credits for each short where it's noted on the DVDs/packaging.

Monsieur Verdoux · Fri Sep 15, 2006 7:28 am

derek wrote:
davidhare wrote:MK 2 has released most if not all of them. I think (but cant be sure) with the Neil scores.
A 4 DVD set from Arte Video/Lobster films released a while back in France contains all 32 shorts and some do indeed have Neil Brand on piano. See http://www.frombutcherboytoscribe.co.uk ... item_no=28 for more details, including music credits for each short where it's noted on the DVDs/packaging.

Yeah that was the boxset I was talking about as it has the infamous lost final joke on Hard Luck...

derek · #58 Post by **derek** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:44 pm

A full page press advert for the set from the London Film Festival programme

bigger version here

Monsieur Verdoux · Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:26 am

davidhare wrote:Do tell!!

Will have to wait.... but there is a great story about it, when this missing joke arrived at Lobster for Serge Bromberg the footage had come on a negactive setting that no one had ever seen before... they had to re run the film digitally, to even get see what it was. Keaton talks about it in his autobiography and there is a small line about it in both Blesh biography and also in Dardis biography; although it was taken out after the first hardback print in 1979...

If you want me to tell you what the sequence is, email as I don't want to give away the joke to people who don't want the joke spoiled....

greggster59 · #60 Post by **greggster59** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:39 pm

The Arte Video 4 disc set has all the same titles as this new one. I have emailed MOC asking the difference between the two.

Best,
GF

toiletduck! · #61 Post by **toiletduck!** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:23 pm

greggster59 wrote:The Arte Video 4 disc set has all the same titles as this new one. I have emailed MOC asking the difference between the two.

Best,
GF

If it will help, I'll consult my inside source for you, greggster.

Hey Nick! Check your e-mail!

-Toilet Dcuk

greggster59 · #62 Post by **greggster59** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:37 pm

Any reliable info would be most appreciated. I am a big fan of the MOC series but would like to avoid a double-dip if I could.

Thanks, mate!

GF

peerpee · #63 Post by **peerpee** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:51 pm

The French ARTE set has modern French intertitles on about 3/4 of the films in the set. The MoC box will not have any French intertitles.

The restorations are all from the same source (Lobster Films) and in many cases, they're not in the greatest shape, but they are the oldest films we've yet encountered in the MoC Series and these are the best available materials.

Our encoding should hopefully be better than the ARTE set, which is over 5 years old -- and we've got a few extras lined up, mentioned earlier in this thread. The book is now 180-pages, not 212-pages as previously advertised.

greggster59 · #64 Post by **greggster59** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:57 pm

peerpee wrote:The French ARTE set has modern French intertitles on about 3/4 of the films in the set. The MoC box will not have any French intertitles.

The restorations are all from the same source (Lobster Films) and in many cases, they're not in the greatest shape, but they are the oldest films we've yet encountered in the MoC Series and these are the best available materials.

Our encoding should hopefully be better than the ARTE set, which is over 5 years old -- and we've got a few extras lined up, mentioned earlier in this thread. The book is now 180-pages, not 212-pages as previously advertised.

Thanks for the response. I noticed that although the Arte discs are DVD-9's, they exhibit a lot of combing artifact and are probably interlaced transfers. I'm not too thrilled about the tinted prints, either. IMHO, the black & white versions on the Kino and M2K sets are generally better. Just my preference really.

Best,
GF

peerpee · #65 Post by **peerpee** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:08 pm

If there are tints on some of the films in the Arte set, it's because the original prints were tinted that way. They haven't been tinted arbitrarily.

Sparks · #66 Post by **Sparks** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:48 am

The cover on this has changed a bit.

I like it!

blindside8zao · #67 Post by **blindside8zao** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 1:21 am

curious as to the best way to acquire all of keaton's works available on DVD. Is this the best way to go for the material?

Shite, edit that.

What A Disgrace · #68 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:27 pm

Will this set be ready to go in time for the current street date?

peerpee · #69 Post by **peerpee** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 2:53 pm

No.

We're struggling with last minute delays with it at the moment. It's the largest release we've done yet, and it's logistically quite difficult. Please bear with us. Should be about a week or 10 days late.

Lemdog · #70 Post by **Lemdog** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:34 pm

Take your time. I rather it be done right, than be done fast.

derek · #71 Post by **derek** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 11:33 am

davidhare wrote:MK2

(if you can find 'em. You'll have to use a French etailer and the titles seem to drift in and out of print -I couldnt find Battling Butler only last June for instance.)

The Kino versions of the features are pretty good, but MK2 wipes them all out, with the sole exception of Go West.

As for the two MGM features Cameraman and Spite Wedding - I have the R1 TCMS which I am NOT crazy about, and again there are French discs of these as well, but quality thus far unknown.

The UK 3 disc set containing the MK2 restored versions of College, Steamboat Bill Jr and Three Ages is currently available at a bargain 13.99 at play.com and I totally agree with David... these are hugely better than the Kino versions.

- Derek

rollotomassi · #72 Post by **rollotomassi** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:20 pm

Strange. My order at play.com went to Order Taken, as it does just before it can send them. Now it's back to Preordered and the release date is 13th November. Let's hope that's the last delay and the teething delays don't turn out to be of the Wisdom tooth variety. We've been waiting a long, long time for this one.

What A Disgrace · Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:06 pm

The MoC website has updated, with a word on the final delay, which is indeed until November 20.

The specs also indicate, and I quote, "Over 740 minutes running time plus extras". Does this mean there will be video extras?

peerpee · #74 Post by **peerpee** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 12:05 am

I'll let you all know when it's left the factory. Currently I'm proofing discs 3 and 4 and haven't seen the latest incarnation of discs 1 and 2 yet. We've got the hard box and the book printed, but not the Amaray sleeves.

There are no video extras... just six commentaries and the Buster Keaton party audio recording from 1962. The set is over 12hrs, so it's over 3hrs per disc.

Logistically, box set releases can be plagued with delays because there are so many components to get ready at the same time. We're still very hopeful of shipping on November 20th.

greggster59 · #75 Post by **greggster59** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:53 am

I don't argue that the tinted prints the transfers came from are arbitrary. Its just that I've seen other versions of these films in black & white. For example, the Mk2 B&W print of the General looks far sharper and cleaner than the tinted one.

That said, I am going to pick up the MoC version because I'm confident that they will look as good as is currently possible. Every other release they have out attests to this. Faust....wow! I never thought it could look that good.

Cheers,
GF

my current review at DVDBeaver.com (Last Exit To Brooklyn)

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30 / BD 150 Buster Keaton: Complete Short Films 1917-1923