I'm confused! I thought the WB discs were made-to-order (MOD); that is, they are "burned" rather than pressed. So I thought your complaint was that the MOD discs were perhaps less stable than a pressed disc. From what little I know about DVD's, the pressed discs (if manufactured correctly) are suppo...

If the video is pixillated, it may not be the DVD's that are at fault. My guess is that the lens in your player may have gotten a bit of dust or small dirt particle on it. Go to Staples or Office Depot and buy a DVD lens cleaning disc, about $10 or less. If that doesn't solve your problem, I suppose...

I suppose how many pre-1940 films you got to see on television depended a lot on how many independent (non network) stations your market had. Growing up in the NYC suburbs, we had 3 independent stations, and 3 network station, and one public television station. Channel 9 (WOR) was owned by RKO Gene...

Thanks for the information! Here's a link to the forthcoming book, which sounds very interesting: http://www.amazon.com/Hollywoods-Copyri ... 0231159463" target="_blank

I'm still waiting for DANTE'S INFERNO (1935), with great performances by Spencer Tracy and Henry B. Walthall, and a neat bit part by dancer Rita Cansino (later known as Rita Hayworth), not to mention a wonderful six-minute pre-Code montage of the Seven Circles of Hell. I understand the movie has bee...

It may be logical, but that doesn't necessarily make it right. If I remember correctly, the "film preservation" program at Columbia Studios consisted of copying all of the "A" features onto safety film, and then destroying the nitrate originals. But in a cost-saving move, the "B" features and shorts...

Finally got to see "The Artist" today -- what a great movie, and what an ambitious and audacious undertaking! Although it is based upon the silent-to-talkies situation, it is really a timeless story of people made obsolete by technology. I'm thinking of all the employees made obsolete by steam engin...

I have never seen an official release of the once ultra rare Fred Astaire TV specials. I have two of them from a private source but no commercial releases ever done. The story of how they were restored to viewable copies is interesting. They were on the original 2inch videotapes. I forgot where I r...

Who knows? Obviously the "legal eagles" on the Supreme Court didn't think about that side of the issue.

All this decision will do is encourage the "Raymond Rohauers" of the world, not any legitimate players. SETH

Looks like more "Mickey Mousing" by Congress. I thought the Constitution permitted copyrights for a "limited" term, but did not specify the length of the term. Still, the word "limit" seems to suggest that there must at some point be an end to all things, even copyrights, and even Disney copyrights....

I have the Alpha release of GABBO, and it's the usual Alpha-dupe quality. There are no color sequences, although the main title does state that the film is in PrizmaColor or some other early two-color process. I have seen clips of GABBO in other documentaries, where the picture quality is much bette...

With all due respect and thanks to UCLA for its current efforts to preserve any surviving elements of the sound films of Laurel & Hardy that were produced by Hal Roach, it angers one to think of the 70-plus years of profiteering by a succession of companies with no regard to proper preservation on ...

Just wanted to mention two really good CD issues from the Take Two label: "Echoes From The Cocoanut Grove with Gus Arnheim and His Orchestra" (Take Two #410) and a companion disc, "Echoes From The Cocoanut Grove with Phil Harris and His Orchestra" (Take Two #416). Lots of fine, smooth music here, an...

But since the trailer is simply a compilation or condensation of scenes from a copyrighted movie, it would seem to follow that the copyright owner is not giving up any rights in the source material by creating and exhibiting a trailer. The copyright owner has the right to use the copyrighted materia...

Randy -- since you seem to have turned over almost every existing "rock" in your search for Aaronson information, it seems almost superfluous to ask if you've checked with The Vitaphone Project at http://www.picking.com/vitaphone.html" target="_blank" target="_blank about the missing picture element...

Does anyone know of a published biography of Alice Faye? To my knowledge, there isn't one.

I have the 1974 "Alice Faye Movie Book" by Franklin Mosher; it's good, but it's more of a scrapbook than a biography. SETH

For those who are interested, I did see several copies of the Essential L&H Collection for sale today at a local Sam's Club, for $65.

That's evidence of some distribution of the set into common retail outlets, which is a good sign! SETH

If you enjoy hot dance music of the late 1920’s, then you ought to take a listen to the “Irving Aaronson and His Commanders” release #BSW-1155 on the Rivermont Records label. This is the first of several planned CD’s, comprising the entire recorded output of the Aaronson band, which is widely regard...

Good news on GEISHA BOY, which I don't believe has ever been re-issued since its initial release.

Does this mean that we might also get to see CINDERFELLA and VISIT TO A SMALL PLANET sometime in the near future? SETH

Well, I was close, but wrong -- the info is in Scott MacGillivray's "Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward." SETH

Now I remember, it was the Lippert re-issue that I saw, thanks.

I also think there is some background on these re-issues in Randy Skredvedt's book, "Laurel & Hardy, the Magic Behind the Movies." I'll take a look and see. SETH

A lot of the MGM nitrate prints went to the George Eastman House. They have an original nitrate print of Laurel & Hardy's Babes in Toyland before it was hacked into March of the Wooden Soldiers. Maybe they had a print of HP with the Disney footage still intact. Well, now you have my curiosity up! W...

Oops, a thousand pardons, folks -- just realized that PHANTOM being a silent film, I should have checked the "Silents" section of Nitrateville. I did that and found exactly the info I needed. My bad, sorry! SETH

Any word on whether the "re-release" of Milestone's restored PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is an improvement over the first try? Apparently much good work went into restoring the film, and there were plenty of extra goodies included as well. But there were supposedly mastering and production problems at the ...

Agreed on the stock footage issue, although most of the time the stuff doesn't look too bad, at least in my opinion. So let's assume for a moment that the hair IS original to the film, part of the original negative. Should a restorer leave it alone, on the theory that it was there to begin with? Or ...

Jack, you're right in that I don't know the origin of the "hair" in question. But somewhere along the line, it obviously got stuck in the film gate. Curiously, it's only in the main titles and not in the section of film that immediately follows, which lends some credence to the idea that it possibly...

As a former projectionist, I've also seen my share of speckled, spliced, worn and scratched prints -- some even with holes punched in the film where the changeover marks should have been! Maybe I'm spoiled, but I remember better image quality from the 1960's and 70's Blackhawk 16mm prints of the L&H...

Well, you can't beat a generally positive review in the New York Times, but there are two points that deserve clarification. When the reviewer notes "the matter of pace" and says "these are, for the most part, magisterially slow films," he should have noted that they were orignally made and designed...

I agree and intend to do the same, for the following reason: The Universal L&H set that was issued in the UK several years ago was a vast improvement over the two garbage L&H DVD's that Hallmark previously issued in the U.S. Now, the latest RHI release in the US is a big improvement over the Univers...

I had the same thought about the paper sleeves, but I think they'd be OK as long as you don't get any dirt in the sleeves or on the discs. All the same, I would have preferred the standard storage arrangement, which keeps the DVD surface off the bottom of the box. Of course, if you have a DVD burner...