Tweet Keaton Educationals in blu-ray?!

Does anyone know why Kino did not not do a blu-ray release of the Keaton Educationals when they did the initial DVD release. I would have bought it then. Now, forget it. Not typical behavior from Kino. What gives?

[Mike Gebert]

They did that, what, two years ago? I'm not sure they had released any blu-rays at that point. Or that anyone had of anything but the most famous classics.

It's also a good question how much better they're going to look in a higher format.

This will be the first Kino "upgrade to BD" that I don't get. I don't see the point, unless they offer some sort of a trade-in discount to those of us who bought the DVDs.

Kino had released The General in blu-ray by the time the Educationals were released on DVD. Amazon, at least, confirms this if their release dates are accurate. Anyway, this is not one I would feel the need to upgrade unless our friends at Kino would care to offer a trade-in plus $5 offer. I've tried to enjoy the Educational and Columbia shorts for what they are, but they offer intermittent joys along with much frustration. They are well worth watching, but far from classic (expect for a few and even those don't approach his silents). My favorite Keaton talkie, for what it's worth, is Speak Easily. Anyone from Kino care to chime in? Truly a great company, but please try to release blu-ray and DVDs simultaneously.

Actually, I would probably jump on the Columbias in Blu-Ray right away, even though most of the films were not as Keaton-esque as the Educationals, because the prints were so beautiful on the DVD release, that there probably would be a visible improvement. But the Educationals that I have seen on the Kino Discs (I previously picked up the ReelClassics DVDs) did not look all that great, so I am not sure there would be much point in upgrading to Blu-Ray unless they have found new material to work from.

Oh, I'd get the Columbia Keatons in HD as well... but those weren't Kino.

There was an interview with Bret Wood posted here when they were preparing the Keaton shorts for blu ray about their release strategy. They said that they were only going to blu ray with discs that would show significant improvement in the format, and Bret singled out by name Lost Keaton, saying that since it wasn't a showcase for the format, they were doing it DVD only. And that did make sense. Which is why this release doesn't make sense. My guess is that they aren't ready with The Navigator or College yet on BD, and they don't want to lose momentum on the Keaton blu ray conversion, so they are doing this to buy time while not losing a spot on the calendar. I agree, had I known I might have waited too....

Found it, it was an earlier interview when Steamboat Bill Jr came out:

http://www.doblu.com/2010/06/26/intervi ... n-blu-ray/

"On the other hand, we released Steamboat Bill Jr. simultaneously with the DVD-only release of Lost Keaton (the low-budget Educational Films shorts of the 1930s). Even though we mastered the films in HD, from 35mm archival elements, the picture and sound quality are not up to our Blu-ray standards, so we decided to withhold a Blu-ray release. As a result, that release didn’t get the critical attention it would have, if released on Blu-ray, but we probably would have faced some criticism for the condition of the films. At this stage in the Blu-ray game — as we are pioneering the release of silents and early talkies in HD — we can’t afford any blows to our reputation."

"...of course, in 2012, we'll blow our reputation. We won't care by then."

[Mike Gebert]

That seems very unfair. They're responding to the market— and to the fact that they have enough product out there that they won't be judged on one release.

"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" —John Maynard Keynes

It makes sense to me to keep them to one format for now, for the same reason that MOD lines like Warner Archives are sticking to standard DVD for their titles. Obviously the silent Keaton classics are strong catalogue items that will prompt repurchase on blu-ray, but the Keaton Educationals seem like more of a niche title where the source material probably doesn't warrant porting it over to hi-def as much as the restored silents. You can't put a new digital music score on them either, since they're sound films, so you wouldn't really get any added bonus soundtrack-wise.

[Christopher Jacobs]

I got the DVDs because there was no Blu-ray release at the time, but although there was obvious print wear they were sharp enough that I was wishing there had been the Blu-ray option then. I don't know if I'll upgrade, but if I hadn't gotten them already I'd certainly want the Blu-ray versions. It's like collecting 16mm originals vs. 16mm reductions or really good 8mm film prints. Even the rather dupey print of Lupino Lane's ONLY ME included as a bonus on the Metro shorts looks subtantially better in HD than it would have in SD. If you sit close enough to the picture to see the difference, sharper is always better. If you watch on a small TV set or from across the room (or the back row of a home theatre) there's little point in buying it again for the slight boost in crispness when the picture already looks pretty good. I do like the Keaton Educational shorts much better than his Columbia shorts as a whole. Maybe when they have a good sale price, I'll get the Blu-rays and give the DVD set to a friend or the public library. Of course if the Blu-ray editions add new Blu-ray-only bonus features, it could help speed up such a decision.

If any of you pre-order this from deepdiscount.com, you might be receiving it soon. I got my copy in the mail today.

If any of you pre-order this from deepdiscount.com, you might be receiving it soon. I got my copy in the mail today.

Please let us know how the blu-ray looks and if there are new extras.

New York, NY - March 14, 2012 - Following the release of eight of Buster Keaton's acclaimed silent feature-length comedies (plus all 19 of his independently-produced silent shorts) in the Blu-ray format, Kino Classics is proud to announce the Blu-ray debut of Lost Keaton, a collection of all sixteen short subjects that the great comedian made for Educational Pictures between 1934 and 1937. This collection of rare films offers a fascinating look at how Keaton creatively adapted his unique brand of slapstick comedy for talking pictures.

Lost Keaton comes to Blu-ray on March 20th with special features including extensive film notes by David Macleod, author of The Sound of Buster Keaton, a stills gallery, and "Why They Call Him Buster", a montage of pratfalls and stunts excerpted from Keaton's Educational comedies. All sixteen films are mastered in HD from original 35mm archival materials. The SRP is $39.95.

In 1934, Buster Keaton signed on with Earle W. Hammons' Educational Pictures ("The Spice of the Program"), which had specialized in short comedy subjects since the 1920s. During Educational's heyday, many established and rising comic talents would work for the studio, including Mack Sennett, Bob Hope and Danny Kaye.

Educational proved to be a good match for Keaton's talents. The return to the two-reel comedy format marked a return for Keaton to his cinematic roots. Working at Educational allowed Keaton to craft a series of short subjects in rapid succession (creating sixteen shorts in just three years) that pay homage to his earlier work, and also allow Keaton to explore his new comic persona, "Elmer".

Though the budgets for these films may have been small (budgeted at $20,000 each), Keaton's rich creative talents are present in each one and are reminiscent of his silent classics. One Run Elmer features a celebrated baseball game sequence, and Grand Slam Opera is generally regarded as the best of the series, as well as Keaton's favorite of his Educational comedies.

The films also feature some of Keaton's favorite supporting players. Allez Oop co-stars Dorothy Sebastian, with whom Keaton had worked in his silent feature, Spite Marriage. Harold Goodwin (who would work with Keaton a number of times throughout his career) appears in One Run Elmer. And Keaton's parents (Joe and Myra) co-star in Palooka from Paducah.

Keaton would work with top tier talent behind the camera at Educational as well. Twelve of the films were directed by Charles Lamont, a childhood friend of Keaton's from their days in vaudeville (and who would later direct comedy series at Universal including some of the Abbott & Costello and the Ma & Pa Kettle films). The Chemist was directed by pioneer comedy producer Al Christie, and The Timid Young Man marks the only time that Keaton would be directed by the legendary Mack Sennett.

Long unavailable, Keaton's films for Educational were too frequently dismissed or ignored outright. Reappraisal came from critics such as Leonard Maltin, who wrote of Keaton's Educational comedies in his book The Great Movie Shorts: "Legend has it that Buster Keaton's career started sliding downhill in 1930 and never stopped - that his talkie films are unspeakable horrors...The talking films, however, still exist, and they disprove what has been said for so many years. To be sure, they are not in the same league as Keaton's silents, but they show a comic talent very much alive."

Because they were produced outside the studio system, these "orphan" films were saved from obscurity by Keaton himself late in his life, in cooperation with archivist Raymond Rohauer. Because they were rescued from a variety of sources, the quality varies considerably from battered to pristine. Kino Classics' release of these sixteen short comedies in the Blu-ray format makes them available again, in the best possible quality, so that audiences can see for themselves the range and skill of Keaton's talent at adapting his brilliant and timeless brand of slapstick comedy for the sound film medium.

List of All Films Included in Lost Keaton:
The Gold Ghost (1934, 21 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
Allez Oop (1934, 20 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
Palooka from Paducah (1935, 20 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
One Run Elmer (1935, 19 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
Hayseed Romance (1935, 20 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
Tars and Stripes (1935, 20 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
The E-Flat Man (1935, 20 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
The Timid Young Man (1935, 20 min., dir: Mack Sennett)
Three on a Limb (1936, 18 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
Grand Slam Opera (1936, 20 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
Blue Blazes (1936, 19 min., dir: Raymond Kane)
The Chemist (1936, 19 min., dir: Al Christie)
Mixed Magic (1936, 16 min., dir: Raymond Kane)
Jail Bait (1937, 19 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
Ditto (1937, 17 min., dir: Charles Lamont)
Love Nest on Wheels (1937, 18 min., dir: Charles Lamont)

Special Features
Film Notes by David Macleod, author of The Sound of Buster Keaton
Stills Gallery
"Why They Call Him Buster," a montage of pratfalls and stunts

Lost Keaton
(Blu-ray)
Genre: Comedy
SRP: $39.95
Street date: March 20, 2012

If any of you pre-order this from deepdiscount.com, you might be receiving it soon. I got my copy in the mail today.

Please let us know how the blu-ray looks and if there are new extras.

The transfers look good. As you likely already know, the print material on these films is quite rough, but they probably look as good as they will ever look. I watched "Grand Slam Opera" and "The Chemist" last night, and I was actually pleasantly surprised at how nice they looked (especially "The Chemist"). No new extras, but the essays are printed in a small booklet as opposed to be being text on the menus as they were with the DVD release.

This film have the earliest slow motion effect (do not confuse with projection speed please) than I ever see. I didn't imagined a silent film would have such effect available.

Indeed the effect it's imperfect, looking like the camera was forced to it's limite, creating many warping and instability.

Was this effect made with a usual camera forcing to high speeds, or in the 20's there was already a special camera for that purpose ?

Any other silent with intentional slow motion effect?

Slow motion is easy, especially with cameras of the time, whose registration pull-down mechanisms were perfect (at least Mitchell's were).

No offense meant, folks - but I am chuckling over here, reading how people are griping about the Lost Keatons coming out tomorrow on Blu-ray versus the standard DVD set that first appeared two years ago...but it wasn't all that long ago when I was thrilled to acquire my first battered 16mm original print of Keaton's Educational THE GOLD GHOST -- and I never bitched to anyone because it was splicy and scratched...I was simply HAPPY to SEE IT and OWN IT.

Perhaps we should all be a little more grateful to Kino and the other adventurous entrepeneurs...and a little less penurious...

I don't see anything wrong with those of us who've faithfully purchased each of the Keaton Blu-rays to "gripe" about being asked to upgrade a DVD set not released very long ago - with no offer of a discounted price for doing so. This'll be the first Kino Blu-ray classic I don't buy.

I don't see anything wrong with those of us who've faithfully purchased each of the Keaton Blu-rays to "gripe" about being asked to upgrade a DVD set not released very long ago - with no offer of a discounted price for doing so. This'll be the first Kino Blu-ray classic I don't buy.

Christopher Jacobs has a terrific suggestion (see above) for those who might want to upgrade their Keaton set..."paying it forward" and giving others an opportunity to discover these forgotten films is not a bad idea.

I don't see anything wrong with those of us who've faithfully purchased each of the Keaton Blu-rays to "gripe" about being asked to upgrade a DVD set not released very long ago - with no offer of a discounted price for doing so. This'll be the first Kino Blu-ray classic I don't buy.

Nobody's asking you to upgrade, and I don't recall ever being asked to upgrade anything over the years I've been collecting. I upgrade the titles I feel are worth it. If you're satisfied with what you've got, cool. But I think denigrating Kino for putting out a nicer edition of these Keaton obscurities is counterproductive.

Buying something, only to have it come out in a nicer edition a while later, is the price of doing business when you're a collector. And I agree with Ed and Christopher above; pre-upgrade items make excellent gifts to budding film fans. I've done this countless times, and never griped once.

Now, if a new release is technically messed up in some way that could have been avoided through a bit of QC, then gripe away. For instance, I've got some serious gripes about the Kino Blu-ray release of the Keaton silent short films, which was largely botched in the area of strange motion-artifacting, possibly due to improper authoring or encoding, but I haven't organized those gripes for a post yet.