PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - So where are we at in 2011? in Silent Horror Forum

0 Points

Forum Jump

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - So where are we at in 2011?

Author	Comment
Hunch and Judy	Wasted opportuntity	#121	[-]
Jul 11 12 7:23 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wich2 wrote: Well, I said "being prepped" (as in "work's being done, I think.") Sorry, but I didn't mean I'd heard of a concrete DVD plan, H&J. I would guess its not so much a rumor, as they have (UCLA) been restoring it forever. It would have been nice if UNI saw fit to "help" this restoration along and included it in their big blu box set, considering it is one of the films that put them on the map. The later color phantom is far too much music for my taste (the only musical I like is Blues Brothers) and does not take precedent over the Chaney Phantom. It also would have been nice if they (UNI) took the 16 mm master from Image Ent. and "steadied" the picture, because other than the shakyness (sp?) its an awsome print. In fact the first four discs should have been Hunchback, Phantom, The Man Who Laughs and Cat and the Canary And, in the sound department, Old Dark House should have been restored using the elements the LOC has that are far superior to whats been released on DVD. Its a shame that they are calling it 100 years of UNI or whatever yet completely ignoring the first 18 years or so that INVENTED the UNI horror brand AND kept the UNI studio alive! Other than Jaws, All Quiet and a few more, most of their new restorations (non horror) are of no historical film signifigance as far as I'm concerned. Should have callet it 80 years if that is all they are going to cover. There, I've got that off my chest. Carry on. Jim (and Judy) Jim and Judy's Horror Models WWW.jimandjudyshorrormodels.com The Music WWW.earthmanout.com
	Remove this ad
PhantomXCI		#122	[-]
Jul 11 12 7:44 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The problem is that PHANTOM is public domain. Everybody can legally release it. And Universal doesn't want to put $$$ into the restoration of an 87 year-old P.D. film, even if it is the title that put them on the map.
Wich2		#123	[-]
Jul 11 12 8:57 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Someone will, though... With 99% of the homevids out there being the '29/'30, there ARE still sales to be made if the honest ballyhoo can be, "unseen in this form since its original release!!!" Which means: the best possible '25 print, colorization replacing what was lost, and the closest possible approximation of the original score.
pulp novelties		#124	[-]
Jul 12 12 2:55 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wich, gotta say I appreciate you're optimism, but I'm not sure I share it. There's a restored OLD DARK HOUSE (either UCLA or Library of Congress) that's 6 years old yet no better DVD or Blu-ray ever came to market. It seems like Euro-silents get more benefactors in their native lands than we afford silents in the US. If Milestone doesn't bring this footage to the home market, I don't know who will, especially if both they and Image will have already released their own Blu-ray. I think then PHANTOM may seem a little too played-out to be a hot property. Last Edited By: pulp novelties Jul 12 12 2:58 AM. Edited 1 times.
Hunch and Judy	IE: Phnatom	#125	[-]
Jul 12 12 4:45 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	pulp novelties wrote: Wich, gotta say I appreciate you're optimism, but I'm not sure I share it. There's a restored OLD DARK HOUSE (either UCLA or Library of Congress) that's 6 years old yet no better DVD or Blu-ray ever came to market. It seems like Euro-silents get more benefactors in their native lands than we afford silents in the US. If Milestone doesn't bring this footage to the home market, I don't know who will, especially if both they and Image will have already released their own Blu-ray. I think then PHANTOM may seem a little too played-out to be a hot property. Not the superior (IMO) '25 cut, and yes Phantom xci, it IS in public domain but as Wich2 stated if they added color to the missing color footage and did a few more tweeks THIER version would NOT be PD for anyone to copy (Alpha comes to mind-for copying that is).They could even sell THIS set seperate from the sound chillers so as not to lose buyers not wanting the "creeky" titles! I just dont think they are lavishing the attention on these bonafide classics the way they should. Shame, but somewhere down the line SOMEBODY will reap the rewards, however sparse and I'll be there- wallet open! Jim and Judy's Horror Models WWW.jimandjudyshorrormodels.com The Music WWW.earthmanout.com
Wich2		#126	[-]
Jul 12 12 9:42 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That's about what I was trying to say, pn. 1. Such a bells-and-whistles '25 package COULD be marketed as, "Unseen in this form since the original release!" -and, as Hunch says- 2. If containing enough differences (some found footage, replaced color, newly recorded score), that version would be copyrightable. Chaney's POTO is enough of a tentpole piece that I think those multi-dipping on the '31 classics would jump in here, too. And in this case, you have the Phantomphan market as well. -Craig
pulp novelties		#127	[-]
Jul 12 12 2:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I just don't know how big of an audience there is for PHANTOM to begin with, classic or not. Silent films a tough sell or we'd see more of them. Even in these parts I've heard people say "All I have is the Alpha version of......" I could believe that if someone else did all the heavy lifting of restoration for preservation, and the result could be cheaply licensed, but that still would be in the face of two other Blu-rays and countless DVDs if Milestone has their own version. Don't get me wrong, they have my money, but I will say after buying the IMAGE BD, and inevitably the MILESTONE, I'll even be a little purchase weary on this.
Wich2		#128	[-]
Jul 12 12 2:04 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, quien sabe? But if people will plunk down their repeat shekels for spiffed silents like METROPOLIS and NOSFERATU, and creaky early talkies like DRACULA, I really think a sharp POTO would sell.
PhantomXCI		#129	[-]
Jul 12 12 2:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I agree that a really good restoration would sell. My sour grapes post (#122) was meant that Universal will not undertake a restoration. If it happens at all, it will come from Image or Kino or Criterion, or somebody who accepts that it's not going to sell a million copies. And I'll pick up one in a snap.
pulp novelties		#130	[-]
Jul 12 12 3:23 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wich2 wrote: Well, quien sabe? But if people will plunk down their repeat shekels for spiffed silents like METROPOLIS and NOSFERATU, and creaky early talkies like DRACULA, I really think a sharp POTO would sell. METROPOLIS has more sci-fi geek appeal than PHANTOM, and NOSFERATU as got that Gothy vampire thing, just a hunch. Problem is that is cobbled from 16mm Show-at-home prints, you won't see as sharp a PHANTOM as we have now, all they can do is wring as much as is possible out of the format. I hope it happens, but since Image had to re-press their last Blu-ray, I bet they've already barely broke even on the last release of the film.
	Remove this ad
Wich2		#131	[-]
Jul 12 12 3:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Pn, this is cordial, I promise! >METROPOLIS has more sci-fi geek appeal than PHANTOM, and NOSFERATU as got that Gothy vampire thing, just a hunch.< True. But PHANTOM has its own phantomania subset, due partly to the invigiration from the Webber version. And yes, itt does extend to the Chaney film (a quick websearch will show that.) >Problem is that is cobbled from 16mm Show-at-home prints, you won't see as sharp a PHANTOM as we have now, all they can do is wring as much as is possible out of the format.< If those from-the-original-negatives prints are in decent shape, and they're treated with TLC, they will look leagues better than the beat dupe that the "new" METRO. footage come from. Myself, I've never understood the LACK of clamor for this longer, more complete, more original cut to be better represented -- and by a crowd that salivates over a few new seconds of a closeup for Hammer's DRAC. -Craig
pulp novelties		#132	[-]
Jul 12 12 4:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, I should come clean. I like PHANTOM, I don't love PHANTOM. It seems more Victorian stagey in sentiment than supernatural. A Gothic romance if you will. Sure, all these films have dated, but I kind of get why there is a little less enthusiasm for PHANTOM (if indeed there is), than for other films of it's vintage with contemporary audiences. It may be that it's just a little bit too "Hollywood" for it to get the same amount of serious respect that a Murnau or Lang film gets. It may also be that Europe takes it's film heritage more seriously than the US, and that horror still bears enough stigma in the US that a film like PHANTOM. That said, two Blu-rays of it do speak to it's popularity, so it's not like it's been neglected either. Last Edited By: pulp novelties Jul 12 12 6:29 PM. Edited 1 times.
Rick		#133	[-]
Jul 12 12 8:13 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	As one who is loathe to spend full-price for any DVD (I still haven't gotten the restored METROPOLIS and I loved it in the theatre), PHANTOM is one I'd definitely spring for immediately. If it really was an improved-as-possible, complete-as-possible version of the '25, I'd be there in a heartbeat. So that's one sale. Think about it, Universal...
jamesenstein31		#134	[-]
Jul 12 12 9:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm with you, Rick. This has to be one of my all-time favorites and the 25' version is in such horrid condition.
Wich2		#135	[-]
Jul 12 12 10:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Pn, I don't think POTO is Great Silent Cinema, either -- that would be Murnau's SUNRISE, Gance's NAPOLEON, Sjostrom's THE WIND, and the like. And in fact, as far as classic filmed monstuh stories from the era, I prefer Robertson's DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE. But Lord knows, the film is legendary, and is one of the most famous pictures from a legendary star. And I firmly believe that the '25 cut is the better movie, in content, in flow, and in substance.
pulp novelties		#136	[-]
Jul 13 12 2:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wich2 wrote: Pn, I don't think POTO is Great Silent Cinema, either -- that would be Murnau's SUNRISE, Gance's NAPOLEON, Sjostrom's THE WIND, and the like. And in fact, as far as classic filmed monstuh stories from the era, I prefer Robertson's DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE. But Lord knows, the film is legendary, and is one of the most famous pictures from a legendary star. And I firmly believe that the '25 cut is the better movie, in content, in flow, and in substance. I would like to see it. Legendary is good term. SUNRISE, THE LAST LAUGH, FAUST, NAPOLEON, JOAN OF ARCH all reach beyond legendary in my book to having (at least now) some timeless appeal. Legendary to me acknowledges the importance of a film, but leaves room that not all legends live up to their reputation. PHANTOM is a little messy, a little hokey, and a bit "tantrums and swoons" in the dramatic department. I'm fine with that, and do agree it's a lot of fun. Has Chaney's performance ever put fear in my heart or a lump in my throat? No, never, it's just old-timey, spooky fun to me. As far as people clamoring for an extended shot in Hammer's Dracula. It true, if you said "Turn the grasshopper and a restored Blu-ray of the 1925 PHANTOM will pop up, or turn the scorpion and a restored Hammer Blu-ray of DRACULA complete with the more graphic Asian-market footage will emerge" I'd be turning the scorpion.
Wich2		#137	[-]
Jul 13 12 10:33 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Boy, not me. Because though they are both essentially only potboiler Horror Mellers, not Great Cinema, what's missing from the later POTO materially alters the film much more than a few frames here and there does in the case of HOD. -Craig
pulp novelties		#138	[-]
Jul 13 12 2:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wich2 wrote: Boy, not me. Because though they are both essentially only potboiler Horror Mellers, not Great Cinema, what's missing from the later POTO materially alters the film much more than a few frames here and there does in the case of HOD. -Craig I just think DRACULA has been woefully short-changed on DVD, and knowing that a pristine, more complete, lush, Technicolor restoration is floating about in the either excites me. I think a longer PHANTOM is a more understandable PHANTOM, but maybe not a more entertaining one. That said METROPOLIS is a much more digestible film in it's extended cut.
Gojira		#139	[-]
Jul 13 12 5:17 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think between the several dvds, we have perfectly watchable versions of Phantom, yet I think that the least one could do for posterity is make a better version of the 1925 cut, using the 35mm elements when suitable. Worked for Metropolis.
pulp novelties		#140	[-]
Jul 13 12 6:17 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Gojira wrote: I think between the several dvds, we have perfectly watchable versions of Phantom, yet I think that the least one could do for posterity is make a better version of the 1925 cut, using the 35mm elements when suitable. Worked for Metropolis. I'd also probably rather see a hybrid
	Remove this ad

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Add Reply

Yuku free message boards

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - So where are we at in 2011?