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But there are wonders to be found throughout the collection, from a trip through Interior New York Subway circa 1905, to the gorgeous avant-garde 1928 The Fall of the House of Usher, to the only film of Orson Welles's legendary 1936 Haiti-set stage production of Macbeth in the 1937 documentary We Work Again. The breadth of work is astounding and all of it is fascinating, whether it's a revealing glimpse of a forgotten social landscape in a home movie; the preservation of theater, dance, and concert recitals in one-of-a-kind records; or an ancient work of pioneering cinema.
The four-disc set is handsomely designed, with easy-to-navigate menus featuring extensive notes and short documentaries about each archive (narrated by Laurence Fishburne), and a detailed, informative 150-page booklet accompanies the set. It's a one-of-a-kind project and a true film treasure. --Sean Axmaker
| ACTORS: | Laurence Fishburne |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 01 January, 2000 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Image Entertainment |
| MPAA RATING: | NR (Not Rated) |
| FEATURES: | Color, Black & White, Box set |
| TYPE: | Classics (Silents/Avant Garde) |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 5 |
| UPC: | 014381970623 |
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Customer Reviews of Treasures from American Film Archives
A form of time travel for lovers of film and history The majority of this deluxe boxed set is devoted to early silent films. I do not consider myself a particular fan of silent films, and yet most of these I found to be wonderful. While the four feature films were fine, I especially enjoyed the shorts, which commonly consider everyday life at the turn of the century. These silents have a spirit of joy and excitement, and a genuine sincerity, that I've never seen in film before. With only a few exceptions, these silents are in an excellent state of preservation, often offering an amazingly clear window on the past. The main exception is an early version of "Snow White," the one that inspired the famous Disney version. All copies were once believed lost; however, a below-average quality but still quite watchable print was found only a few years ago. The musical accompaniment, custom produced for these DVDs, adds immeasurably to the experience. These silents are highly recommended to anyone interested in the history of film or history in general. I am unaware of any other source of silent shorts on DVD, certainly not of this quality or extent.
Besides the silents, the set also offers several other categories of films, including those produced for the government, commercial and promotional films, home movies, and art shorts. These are generally oldish but not antique, none more recent than 1985. The offerings in the last three categories are generally weak. The art shorts, especially, with their emphasis on the abstract and modern, had little appeal for me. Even though many of them are relatively recent, they have been rarely shown, and with good reason. The big surprise is the quality of the government films, especially "The Battle of San Pietro," directed by John Huston, a true work of art, and one of the finest pieces in the set. Even "We Work Again," with its tiresome script intended to convince blacks of the benefits of government assistance during the depression, features beautiful cinematography, unfortunately uncredited, and ends with four minutes from a famous Orson Welle's adaptation of a Shakespeare play, of which no other footage exists.
Each disc is arranged in roughly chronological order, taking viewers on four trips through time, from the 1890's to the modern age. The set includes a 130 page booklet describing each film; these descriptions also appear on the DVDs themselves. The menus on the DVDs are professional, attractive, and easy-to-navigate. The transfers to DVD are excellent, with no digital artifacts that I could see.
This set could easily have been dry and academic. Instead, at its best, it's extremely moving, entertaining, and expressive of the past. The commentary could have condemned the past in light of today's viewpoints and ideologies; instead, with unexpectedly rare exceptions, its fair and informative. This set should have broad appeal for those willing to adjust to the limitations of early film technology. Overall, I cannot recommend this set highly enough.
Slices of Film History Preserved on DVD
This is the first review I am writing for amazon because I want to praise a great collection. Yes, there are many "slice-of-life" clips, that once you watch them, you may ask yourself: "Why bother?"
There are many reasons. If you view films as merely an entertaining diversion at best, then this is not the set for you... If you want to see different styles of filmmaking through different periods of history with differing motives, equipment, and budgets, then get ready for a great ride. You are presented with amateurs, professionals, auteurs, and the casual filmmaker, but all of them took their craft seriously enough to warrant being included in this set.
"Rose Hobart" is amazing. "Fall of the House of Usher" is very innovative. "Hell's Hinges" is one of the most straightforward portrayals of redemption I have ever seen with the greatest pre-John Wayne Western actor/director: William S. Hart. "Battle of San Pietro" is an interesting look at John Huston looking at war while making a government film. The Groucho Marx home movie is fun. The films which show life in the early part of the century are priceless.
Laurence Fishburne's commentary on the archive houses is respectful and informative. A fine choice to document the hard work and dedication of these restoration organizations.
A Final Note, There is a film on this collection called "Battery" which is an experimental film melding line animation with photography, and it uses battery park and the world trade center as its backdrop. The music for the film is very compelling, and the shots of an empty battery park with the twin towers appearing obfuscated by trees gave me goosebumps in this post 9/11 world. A very compelling short film...
The Bureaucrat's Delight
This is just about the most disappointing DVD purchase I've made. To say that is not to detract from the goal of preserving and presenting rarely seen, non-Hollywood projects. Most of the items in these eleven plus hours are passably interesting, and several are more than that. Still, the label "treasures" suggests a qualitative richness that simply isn't there, for the good reason that the selection criteria were obviously political, not aesthetic.
By "political" I mean that the goal clearly was to demonstrate the breadth (or, if you must, the "diversity") of American film culture, rather than presenting the best the participating archives had in their collections. So we get standard narratives, experimental shorts, home movies, propaganda, ethnic cinema, records of theatrical performances and documentaries, but what we for the most part do not get is a collection of outstanding films. You can practically feel the politically correct clerks checking off their demographic lists to be certain the collection is "inclusive." The bland results are the perfect bureaucratic solution: the discs won't offend anyone.
Some of the films are more famous than others, such as D.W. Griffith's short "The Lonedale Operator" or John Huston's "The Battle of San Pietro." Even these are not necessarily the filmmakers' best work, however, although it is nice to have copies of them for analytical purposes. The less well-known works vary widely in quality and interest. Many seem to have been included just because they are "rare." Rarity does not necessarily imply value, however. (Maybe I should apply for a National Endowment of the Arts grant to preserve *my* home movies.)
The navigation is simple, devoid of the gimmicks that can make DVDs more obnoxious than entertaining. With one major exception, the discs are well-produced and handsomely packaged. That exception is the musical accompaniment to most of the films. In small doses, it's passable, but if you watch more than a couple of the films at a time, the impersonal clackety-clack of the solo piano is enough to drive you mad. It makes Techno seem like Verdi by comparison.