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Bob Birchard posted in another thread that there was a pending Harold Lloyd Blu-ray release, but he didn't know when it would come out.

If this comes to pass, let it be known that several issues need to be rectified this time around:

SAFETY LAST!: The Carl Davis score is not properly synched during the opening and closing of the film. Also, there is a motion problem, as the film plays a bit jerkily when compared to the other features in the set or its old HBO VHS incarnation.

GIRL SHY: The vital Jim Parker score needs to be included as an option.

HOT WATER: The excellent Adrian Johnston score needs to be included as an option.

OK, the last two are my personal opinion, but I came to know those films through the old HBO VHS releases, and now I can't imagine them with different scores, especially GIRL SHY; I tried it with Robert's score, and it just wasn't the same, though there's nothing wrong with his score of course. I'm a big Robert Israel fan, but I gotta have Jim Parker's score for this one, so I always fire up the old VHS player, sorry Robert.

However, the issues with SAFETY LAST! are definite defects that need to be fixed; otherwise, I'll have to keep watching my VHS of that one too.

The "silent" and sound versions of WELCOME DANGER need to be added obviously, as well as THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK (it's a direct sequel to THE FRESHMAN, after all!), and it would also be great if they pulled some more of Lloyd's short comedies out of the vault; the trust has tons left. From a previous post I made on the current state of Lloyd film availability...

______________________________

The Trust has released all features except for WELCOME DANGER ("silent version"; talkie version was released in UK only), PROFESSOR BEWARE (Universal owns the rights to this) and THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK.

They have released all the Glass Character 2-reelers except for HIS ROYAL SLYNESS and CAPTAIN KIDD'S KIDS.

BUT, they have released no Lonesome Lukes, and only 2 Glass Character 1-reelers: BILLY BLAZES ESQ. and ASK FATHER.

So, there's lots more they could give us, especially if they got together with various archives...

With the help of Annette's awesome website at http://www.HaroldLloyd.us" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank:

One Willie Work film survives:

Just Nuts

The following fourteen Lonesome Lukes survive in various archives:

Giving Them Fits
Peculiar Patients’ Pranks
Luke the Candy Cut-Up
Luke and the Rural Roughnecks
Luke, Crystal Gazer
Luke and the Bangtails
Luke Joins the Navy
Luke’s Movie Muddle
Luke Locates the Loot
Luke’s Shattered Sleep
Lonesome Luke’s Wild Women
Lonesome Luke on Tin Can Alley
Lonesome Luke, Messenger
Lonesome Luke in When Clubs Are Trump

32 one-reel Glass Character shorts are held by the Trust:

Pinched
By the Sad Sea Waves
Rainbow Island
The Flirt
Move On
Bashful
The Big Idea
A Gasoline Wedding
Look Pleasant, Please
Here Come the Girls
Hey There!
Kicked Out
The Non-Stop Kid
It’s a Wild Life
Pipe the Whiskers
Why Pick on Me?
Take a Chance
Ask Father
The Dutiful Dub
Next Aisle Over
Ring Up the Curtain
The Marathon
Pistols for Breakfast
Off the Trolley
A Jazzed Honeymoon
Never Touched Me
Billy Blazes, Esq.
Heap Big Chief
A Sammy in Siberia
Pay Your Dues
Spring Fever
Just Neighbors

The remaining 31 extant one-reel Glass Character films are held in other archives worldwide:

Over the Fence
Bliss
All Aboard
The Tip
Let’s Go
Beat It
On the Jump
Two Gun Gussie
Fireman, Save My Child
The City Slicker
Somewhere in Turkey
Are Crooks Dishonest?
An Ozark Romance
Swing Your Partners
Hear ‘Em Rave
Nothing But Trouble
She Loves Me Not
I’m On My Way
On the Fire
Look Out Below
Just Dropped In
Crack Your Heels
Young Mr. Jazz
Before Breakfast
Back to the Woods
Swat the Crook
At the Old Stage Door
A Jazzed Honeymoon
Chop Suey & Company
Don’t Shove
Be My Wife

As mentioned, none of the one-reelers except for BILLY BLAZES ESQ. and ASK FATHER are included in the box set.

The following shorts are not included in the box set either, but are included on other pressed DVD releases (all are one-reelers except where noted):

LUKE'S MOVIE MUDDLE and PAY YOUR DUES are included in American Slapstick Vol. 1 from All Day Entertainment.

BLISS, BY THE SAD SEA WAVES, DON'T SHOVE, HEY THERE!, and LUKE JOINS THE NAVY are included in American Slapstick Vol. 2 from All Day Entertainment.

ARE CROOKS DISHONEST, HIS ROYAL SLYNESS (2-reeler) and JUST NEIGHBORS are included in The Harold Lloyd Collection Vol. 1 from Kino.

TWO-GUN GUSSIE, THE CITY SLICKER, THE NON-STOP KID, RING UP THE CURTAIN and CAPTAIN KIDD'S KIDS (2-reeler) are included in The Harold Lloyd Collection Vol. 2 from Kino.

SPRING FEVER, DON'T SHOVE, PAY YOUR DUES, ON THE FIRE, COUNT YOUR CHANGE, CINEMA DIRECTOR/LUKE'S MOVIE MUDDLE, ALL ABOARD, TWO-GUN GUSSIE, HEAR 'EM RAVE, GOING GOING GONE, NEVER TOUCHED ME, CHOP SUEY & CO., WHY PICK ON ME, MOVE ON, and A SAMMY IN SIBERIA are included in The Actors: Rare Films Of Harold Lloyd from Classic Video Streams.

The following one-reelers are not included in the box set but have been released on DVD-R:

SOMEWHERE IN TURKEY, FIREMAN SAVE MY CHILD, RING UP THE CURTAIN and SWING YOUR PARTNERS are included in a 3-disc Hal Roach set from Looser Than Loose.

Waverboy, I believe the jerkiness issues you described with Safety Last! on the LLoyd Comedy Collection DVD's are the result of incorrect flagging. In that the video itself is progressive but the flag was not set in the DVD mastering. I ripped mine and enabled the progressive flag and all was fine.

I mentioned this on silent comedians a few years back but no one seemed to care.
http://www.silentcomedians.com/forum/vi ... highlight=" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Well, can you tell I would be happy for any additions to what is out there for Harold LLoyd ( look to the left)?

I really want the one-reelers out there. Some of them are just amazing, and getting a watchable copy or sometimes a copy at all can be difficult to impossible.

CineMuseum is putting out a Mack Sennett collection sometime soon, and there will be included some Harold Lloyds from the period when he left Roach. I am excited to see this.

I do hope some of the other one-reelers get released -

Agnes

Speedy (Waverboy),

I to have a great passion for the Photoplay scores to GIRL SHY and especially HOT WATER. However, there is a major problem with the Jim Parker GIRL SHY, I wish there wasn't The Frame rate of the Photioplay print is about 20 frames per second I believe. The Robert Israel scored version is probably 22 frames per second. I don't think it's 24? While that may not sound like much, but they just don't match up. Believe me. As far as I can tell, the frames rates are the same for both versions of HOT WATER, but some of the editing is slightly different. I'm impressed that a Blu-ray project is actually in the works for the Lloyd features. Terrific news. But no distributor has been specified.

Yes. Yes! YES!! They should do it right this time. There should be only one feature film per Blu-ray/DVD this time, with a whole bunch of short films thrown in this time. And if it only comes out on Blu-ray I would probably even get a Blu-ray player, but only if they add a bunch of extra short films.

Gagman 66 wrote:Speedy (Waverboy),

I to have a great passion for the Photoplay scores to GIRL SHY and especially HOT WATER. However, there is a major problem with the Jim Parker GIRL SHY, I wish there wasn't The Frame rate of the Photioplay print is about 20 frames per second I believe. The Robert Israel scored version is probably 22 frames per second. I don't think it's 24? While that may not sound like much, but they just don't match up. Believe me. As far as I can tell, the frames rates are the same for both versions of HOT WATER, but some of the editing is slightly different. I'm impressed that a Blu-ray project is actually in the works for the Lloyd features. Terrific news. But no distributor has been specified.

I just checked both versions, and you're correct, the Israel version definitely runs a bit faster. Damn. Well, I guess that puts the kibosh on including the Jim Parker score, unless they speed it up just a bit to sync it, which I'd be fine with if they kept the pitch the same.

As for HOT WATER, what is differently edited between the two versions?

moglia wrote:Waverboy, I believe the jerkiness issues you described with Safety Last! on the LLoyd Comedy Collection DVD's are the result of incorrect flagging. In that the video itself is progressive but the flag was not set in the DVD mastering. I ripped mine and enabled the progressive flag and all was fine.

I mentioned this on silent comedians a few years back but no one seemed to care.
http://www.silentcomedians.com/forum/vi ... highlight=" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Yep, you're right, and I forgot about WHY WORRY? being effed up as well I just looked at that one, and it looks even worse than SAFETY LAST!.

So, if a Blu-ray of these titles is mastered from an HD source, if they are transferred at 24fps then they will be inherently progressive at 1080p, and not need flagging, correct? And if they're transferred at a slower framerate like 22fps, they will be interlaced at 1080i, which will need to be flagged for progressive scan, correct? I'm hoping the framerate of these two as seen in their previous DVD release just happens to be 24fps, so that the issue will be moot. If not, they better be flagged correctly this time, and the SAFETY LAST! score synch issue better be fixed, or else...

...they won't be.

There's a setting that I can change on my Panasonic blu-ray player to make the combing go away on Safety Last and Why Worry. If I'm remembering correctly, I think it's a changing a setting from "progressive" to "video." As for the running rate on Girl Shy, I thought it was 24 fps because there is a vintage Gaylord Carter organ score (which is very good btw) on the alternate audio track. I don't think that score would have been recorded to a non-sound frame rate in the 1960s or 1970s. I guess there's the possibility that the track was altered to make it fit. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the Lloyd collection in HD. It's quite nice knowing that the three major comedians of the silent era will be well represented on blu ray.

WaverBoy wrote:

moglia wrote:Waverboy, I believe the jerkiness issues you described with Safety Last! on the LLoyd Comedy Collection DVD's are the result of incorrect flagging. In that the video itself is progressive but the flag was not set in the DVD mastering. I ripped mine and enabled the progressive flag and all was fine.

I mentioned this on silent comedians a few years back but no one seemed to care.
http://www.silentcomedians.com/forum/vi ... highlight=" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Yep, you're right, and I forgot about WHY WORRY? being effed up as well I just looked at that one, and it looks even worse than SAFETY LAST!.

So, if a Blu-ray of these titles is mastered from an HD source, if they are transferred at 24fps then they will be inherently progressive at 1080p, and not need flagging, correct? And if they're transferred at a slower framerate like 22fps, they will be interlaced at 1080i, which will need to be flagged for progressive scan, correct? I'm hoping the framerate of these two as seen in their previous DVD release just happens to be 24fps, so that the issue will be moot. If not, they better be flagged correctly this time, and the SAFETY LAST! score synch issue better be fixed, or else...

...they won't be.

I did Why Worry? as well. It came out close to perfect whereas Safety Last! for me was perfect. For both I used TMPGEnc. The fact that it needed to be done indicates slipshod amateurish disc mastering, probably done by an intern.

HD encoding works differently than DVD but not to say it can't be messed up just as bad....

Speedy,

With HOT WATER it's just a few Frames here or there that don't match up perfectly. Throws the Adrian Johnston score slightly out of synch at times.

Little Caesar wrote:There's a setting that I can change on my Panasonic blu-ray player to make the combing go away on Safety Last and Why Worry. If I'm remembering correctly, I think it's a changing a setting from "progressive" to "video."

The issue is this; the video itself is progressive but the flag the transport needs to see to play it as such is missing. So if you have ability to force progressive Safety and Worry may be fine. Of course you then must change back to auto for all other DVD's. As I said earlier the Lloyd Collections wreak of careless amateurish disc mastering. I hope the "engineer" who mangled the effort is no longer in the video mastering profession.

I tried switching the setting on my Blu-ray player to "Video" instead of "Auto" on the Progressive setting, and it didn't help.

We'll just have to hope that the people doing the encoding know what the hell they're doing.

And, let me decree that the documentary HAROLD LLOYD: THE THIRD GENIUS needs to be included in any upcoming Blu-ray set. And while I'm decreeing, let it also be known that the original opening and closing of the Harold Lloyd's World Of Comedy TV show need to be included.

Hooray for Harold Lloyd!
Duh-DUH-duh-DUH, duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh
Harold Lloyd!
Duh-DUH-duh-DUH, duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh
Laugh awhile
He's got style
A pair of glasses and a smile

Hooray for Harold Lloyd!
Duh-DUH-duh-DUH, duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh
DUH-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-DUH!

Fun tune, but brace yourself for some of the most annoying voiceover narration ever...almost makes Charlie's blathering seem tolerable in the GOLD RUSH reissue...but when I was a kid, I loved it. This show introduced me to Harold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSKlevNf ... ure=relmfu



For some reason the YouTube post function wouldn't work for this, so I had to use the URL function. If one of you nice Moderators could figure out why it didn't work, I'd be ever so grateful!

I removed the "&feature=" part at the end, and the video shows up now.

WaverBoy wrote:...but when I was a kid, I loved it. This show introduced me to Harold:

Same for me