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SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited Edition Hardcase Box Set [2000 copies]
Set includes all four serials across 10 Blu-ray Discs, all presented in 1080p HD from stunning 4K restorations courtesy of Gaumont Film Company
Uncompressed LPCM 2.0 audio on all serials, including scores by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra and Patrick Laviosa
Brand new audio commentaries on select serial chapters
Brand new interviews with film critics and historians
A collector’s booklet featuring new and archival writing on Louis Feuillade and the serials included in this set
** More TBC, extras subject to change

27 hours. Fantômas + Les Vampires + Judex + Tih Minh would span those years and take up about 25 hours(?)

Whoa!

swo17 wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2024 11:24 pm

27 hours. Fantômas + Les Vampires + Judex + Tih Minh would span those years and take up about 25 hours(?)

Those 4 films together are 26 hours (if runtimes on Letterboxd are accurate). Which means that there is an extra hour remaining.

There could be space for something like Lagourdette, gentleman cambrioleur, where Feuillade parody his own films, featuring Musidora reading a Vampires novelization.

How I wish the dates were 1913-1918! We could have got some of the hard to see 1920s crime serials.

But if it sells well maybe we will get more (if any even exist in an HD scan)

Regardless of owning multiple versions of these films this is a day 1 purchase for me!

Peacock wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:26 am How I wish the dates were 1913-1918!

They are, but you probably meant to say something else

Peacock wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:26 amWe could have got some of the hard to see 1920s crime serials.

Are there any? I thought Feuillade serials in the 1920s were all melodramas.

Quite proud of my inertia in never buying any of the previous releases of these. I know it’s a minor concern but I do hope the discs are region ABC. It seems they ought to be since the films are public domain, and the Gaumont French blus are ABC.

Saturnome wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 1:39 am Are there any? I thought Feuillade serials in the 1920s were all melodramas.

It appears you’re right.. Barabbas is 1919 and Feuillade’s final serial The Scar I has always assumed to be a conspiracy crime thriller but appears to be a melodrama. Oops!

Damn! These are of course amazing films. Revisiting Judex and Tih Minh in the new restorations was a revelation. I think Judex may be his best. I guess I won’t need the French set anymore. In any event, this is wonderful news!

This is pretty nuts. Wow! One of the most exciting releases of the year! I can flip Fantômas from Kino and finally pick up the rest, all in one package with French intertitles, surely.

TMDaines wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 9:57 am This is pretty nuts. Wow! One of the most exciting releases of the year! I can flip Fantômas from Kino and finally pick up the rest, all in one package with French intertitles, surely.

IIRC the Kino release carries two David Kalat commentary tracks. You may want to wait and see the final specs from MoC before making the decision.

I can't check my 2017 Gaumont Fantomas + Vampires boxset (which is 6 BDs), but Judex and Tih-Minh's Gaumont BDs (2 BD-50 each) runtimes are 199 min 46 + 183 min 37 for Judex and 199 min 16 + 185 min 34 for Tih-Minh.

Will this box include La Nouvelle Mission de Judex? Can´t remember reading about this title being restored.

Feuillade´s Judex at 2024 Ritrovato, "restored in 4K in 2020 by Gaumont from a negative tinted nitrate print of the reduced version preserved by Lobster Films." The running time is 381 minutes, I googled it but found no info about a longer version of Judex.
https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/e ... ant-parut/

The Cinématheque Francaise ran Judex in 2024 at 203+187 minutes:
https://www.cinematheque.fr/cycle/festi ... -1223.html

More info (browser translation from French) about the restoration:
"the restoration, undertaken in 2020, was carried out after 4K scan of a Gaumont nitrate negative, supplemented by a tinted nitrate print kept by Lobster Films and that the subtitles have been recreated from the scripts filed at the National Library."
Source:
https://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/c169063-judex.html

andyli wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 10:40 am

TMDaines wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 9:57 am This is pretty nuts. Wow! One of the most exciting releases of the year! I can flip Fantômas from Kino and finally pick up the rest, all in one package with French intertitles, surely.

IIRC the Kino release carries two David Kalat commentary tracks. You may want to wait and see the final specs from MoC before making the decision.

I have long since moved on from keeping releases for additional extras. Shelves are way too full as it is!

TMDaines wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 1:02 pm Shelves are way too full as it is!

Couldn't agree more. Hoping for a "compact" release and not a bulky box! A book is always welcome, but surely it is not necessary to have a separate box (in the bigger box) for every title in the release?

yoloswegmaster wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2024 11:36 pm

swo17 wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2024 11:24 pm

27 hours. Fantômas + Les Vampires + Judex + Tih Minh would span those years and take up about 25 hours(?)

Those 4 films together are 26 hours (if runtimes on Letterboxd are accurate). Which means that there is an extra hour remaining.

The run times will be entirely dependent on the frame rates. Anyone know offhand what the optimal frame rates are for each of these series?

My brain is shutting down in joy!!! I already have the Kino blu but never followed up on actually importing the others. Judex has been on my watch list for years so this announcement has me overjoyed.

This is the MoC of old operating here, definitely their biggest set in years! I'm honestly impressed, as I didn't expect a box set this indulgent from them nowadays. I thought they were more likely to do all four separately, but perhaps something spurred them on to drop them all in one go. I like it!

Funnily enough I was recently discussing these titles in regards to Radiance, as they were teasing a 'landmark silent' and I wondered if it could be one of these. Whilst I was deciding which I wanted to see most (it's between Judex and Fantomas, but of course I want to see all of them), I didn't think another great label would be about to announce all four in one set.

That said, it's a lot of money for one purchase...luckily I don't have that much on in September as it stands. But like everyone else here, I have limited space now (in fact I'm moving house this week and the Blu-ray collection is the biggest impediment). Lucky for MoC that they're my priority when it comes to collecting, followed by Radiance, Criterion, Indicator, Second Run, Arrow and BFI (and a few others).

Caligula wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 1:24 pm

TMDaines wrote: Thu Jun 27, 2024 1:02 pm Shelves are way too full as it is!

Couldn't agree more. Hoping for a "compact" release and not a bulky box! A book is always welcome, but surely it is not necessary to have a separate box (in the bigger box) for every title in the release?

I don't mind if they use the ultra-slim cases, as sometimes boutiques labels do with this many discs. I suppose they'll decide between that model (my personal preference, and BFI have often opted for it), two discs per keepcase (logical but a bit boring), or separate digipacks (like Indicator usually opt for nowadays).

PS: I wonder what #300 will be now? How can you top a release like this one, honestly?

I think it would be separate cases for each title and a book housed in a big box - very similar to the Early Murnau set.

I suspect it is a boxset and a limited run, because there will be more people buying in early with FOMO and the collector's market too. Individual releases might move far more slowly.

Happy for this to take up shelf space currently occupied by

Spoiler

Indicator's Hammer Volume 3 Set

.

In all seriousness, this set looks incredible. I held off of the Kinos due to the framerate issue I read about / laziness, but this seems like a must have and I sure will.

I'm running out of shelf space too, but it doesn't matter. Something else will just have to go to make space for this set.