The film was originally pitched as a comedy, which it is not. It's actually a drama, in my opinion. And although the story involves the rise and fall of a silent film comedian, it could also be applicable to anybody whose job/career becomes obsolete because of new technology or changing public taste...

Just happened to see that "The Comic" starring Dick Van Dyke is now available on DVD. Here's the link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/COMIC-Dick-Van-Dyke/dp/B00F1FVLPM/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1381285329&sr=1-3&keywords=the+comic+dick+van+dyke" target="_blank I have not purchased this yet...

For those folks who enjoy "pre-Code" films and are interested in the 1934 Production Code, I found an excellent book that is a biography of the Code from its 1930 beginnings to its demise in the 1960's. It's also a biography of Joseph Breen, who administered the Code from 1934 to 1954. The author ma...

This movie was reissued on DVD at least once before, in 2001 by Something Weird Video, as part of a "Spook Show Spectacular" package. I thought it was good and Carlson was suitably tormented, but it was nothing to write home about. However, I will admit that the ending was suitably creepy -- it's am...

I always liked THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG, which had a halfway believable premise and logical plot line, as well as some interesting moments as Karloff kills his persecutors one by one. THE DEVIL COMMANDS had some of the cheesiest sets and props I've ever seen, except possibly for PLAN 9 FROM OUTER...

Interesting comment that all of the Educational shorts are now PD. Is that because they were not copyrighted in the first place, or because the copyrights were not timely renewed, or that they expired, or what? I was of the impression that most materials copyrighted after about 1925 have now had the...

The last I heard, all of these shorts were mouldering in the Zouary estate, which does nothing to preserve them, and also does nothing to make them publicly available, either. Sound familiar? SETH

We know that the Vitaphone Project has been looking for the 1933 film "Convention City" for a while, with the understanding that it is a "lost" film. I just happened to come across what appears to be the opening titles for that film, on YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9HYkU0xFFg . From t...

I'm trying to locate the sheet music for "I Don't Want to Dream (if I can't dream of you)", written by Charlie Dornberger and published by Fred Fisher in 1930. So far I've located a copy in the National Library of Australia (!), but was hoping to find something a little closer to home (and less expe...

My understanding, based on some side comments made by Ron Haver in his book about A STAR IS BORN and its subsequent restoration, is that an original 35mm nitrate two-color print of WAX MUSEUM surfaced in the 1970's. If that's correct, I would guess that it was this print which was the source for the...

Hopefully these transfers will look at least as good or hopefully better than the old 16mm NTA reduction prints that have been floating around for years. Unfortunately, short subjects often seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to restoration and preservation (think L&H), and especial...

Just ran across this on Amazon. Apparently Olive Films is releasing this package of BB cartoons, supposedly remastered in HD from the original 35mm elements. Go to http://www.amazon.com/Betty-Boop-Essential-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B00D4C6780/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_4_DZS5" target="_blank for more info. This...

Thanks for all the additional info. I also would have thought that a good broadcast-quality source would have been used, but either that wasn't the case or somebody just did a poor job of making the transfer. It's interesting to note that although UA is mostly defunct, somebody apparently spent some...

Your advice was well-intentioned and made sense. The bad move was made by Warner/MGM, not you! Fortunately, the total cost was only $19 with shipping, and I can always use the DVD disc as a drink coaster, so not all is lost. But I've seen better dupes from the now-defunct Thunderbird Films, for good...

Well, the Warner/MGM DVD arrived today. Unfortunately, my high hopes of a quality transfer were not realized. In my humble opinion, my own DIY transfer to DVD from the original 1980 VHS videotape looked BETTER than whatever Warners did. The Warner DVD looked even softer and grainer than my original ...

Thanks for the correction about MOVIE NIGHT (1929). Now I seem to remember that NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE (1936 ?) was the sound remake of the same title, with Chase and Rosina Lawrence. SETH

Well, I just watched the TCM broadcast of THOSE LIPS, THOSE EYES, and would say that the quality was somewhat better than my original videotape. The image was a bit sharper than the VHS version, which had a sort of filmy/fuzzy or grainy look to it. The Warner/MGM DVD version is due to arrive in a fe...

The book looks interesting, and will hopefully shine a little more light on this fine but somewhat neglected comedian. I was first introduced to Mr. Chase around 1960, when part of his "Neighborhood House" (1929) two-reeler was used for the opening credits of Robert Youngson's great anthology, "When...

Thanks for the info!! SETH

Everything is replaceable — in theory. Backups exist in Philadelphia. However, some prints are enormously valuable in their own right. EK prints, struck from the original negatives when the negatives were new, are among the most valuable assets, according to experts. What is an "EK print"? Does it ...

This may be a little off-topic since it concerns a television show rather than a movie, but on the other hand it does involve Jack Benny, who also had a long career in films. I saw the following blurb on Amazon about the "Lost Episodes of the Jack Benny Show" and wondered what this was all about. Go...

Well, I decided to splurge and buy the Warner/MGM DVD, and will duly report the results when it arrives.

Meanwhile, I suppose I'll also have to get the Blu-Ray version when it's released for the 35th anniversary of the film in 2015. SETH

Since a VHS tape has a resolution of about 333x480 pixels, a DVD with no dropouts, even a MOD DVD should look significantly better. I agree that for the above technical reasons, a DVD should look better, but I believe it all depends upon the quality of the source material being transferred, as well...

I have the film THOSE LIPS, THOSE EYES (1980) in its original VHS tape format. Some time ago, I transferred it to DVD using one of those VHS/DVD players. Even though a DVD has a technically higher resolution rate than videotape, the DVD transfer was of course no better than the original video, becau...

It's available now on Amazon, for $3 more than the Warner website price. But Amazon offers free shipping and Warner does not, so the prices are actually comparable. SETH

Another entry in the Forbidden Hollywood series has been released, and it's a pretty good one; go to http://www.wbshop.com/product/code/1000388401.do?promo=videoFORBIDDEN7home" target="_blank" target="_blank for more info. I believe all four of these titles have been shown previously on TCM, but the...

Bergen was a terrible ventriloquist (his lips moved almost as much as Charlie McCarthy's). But he was a great actor, and was able to infuse his dummy with a vibrant personality, and the public ate it up. SETH

What Jack said, adding that whatever happens to the Technicolor prints, the color record itself will never fade at all if the original black-and-white negatives for each of the three colors survive in good shape, since they can be recombined photochemically or digitally into full color. Although th...

Very interesting and well done. One question, though -- they said that the wet gate printer used water. I thought that these wet gate printers actually used acetone or some similar chemical, which has the same refractive index as nitrate film, and thus helps to cover scratches and other problems du...

Very interesting and well done. One question, though -- they said that the wet gate printer used water. I thought that these wet gate printers actually used acetone or some similar chemical, which has the same refractive index as nitrate film, and thus helps to cover scratches and other problems. I ...