Chaplin Mutuals 90th Anniversary Edition back in print

[charlie]

Thanks for that great info. Sounds like the Blu-ray set could be really nice. Hopefully it comes out sooner rather than later!

Are the Van Beuren editions different versions with different takes than the ones David Shepard is working with?

[DShepFilm]

On almost all of the films, we had multiple elements from both A and B negatives. There are differences between them.

Almost everything we used was a first generation full aperture 35mm nitrate print. All were scanned at 2K, edited together with new reproduction 1916-1917 intertitle cards, and digitally restored and repaired on a Phoenix Revival system. (The new main titles are not reproductions and clearly identify the films as modern restorations).

We used A negative sources unless a shot was obviously missing, incomplete or badly damaged, in which case we substituted the most similar shot from a B negative source.

What we did not do is conflate the A and B versions to make a longer film than was originally released in either neg version.

The running speeds run the gamut between 18 and 22 fps.

DVD (not Blu-Ray) will be released in Europe on November 25th, a very important date for the European publisher.

Each film has two scores -- one on piano, one with orchestra. The only score that is recycled is Carl Davis' music for ONE A. M. The new orchestral scores are by Donald Sosin, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, Rodney Sauer, Neil Brand, Timothy Brock and Antonio Coppola. "The Fireman" was scored on the FotoPlayer. For "The Pawnshop," Eric Beheim and Robert Israel reconstructed the 1932 Ven Beuren score by Winston Sharples as nearly as they could, and Robert conducted a new orchestral recording.

We think futher improvement will be possible to two of the films and we will hold the American Blu-Ray release until we have achieved the best we think we can get.

Meanwhile we will try and inure ourselves to the fusillade of Nitrateville complaints that will doubtless be our reward for the incredible amount of effort and money!

David Shepard (for the Mutual team -- this project involved many people, many institutions)

P.S. Apparently the ReelClassics DVD is copied without permission from the three laserdiscs I produced in 1984. These are basically the Van Beuren versions in new 35mm prints with new main titles. The film speed was slowed to 20 frames per second, and the scores, although now slower, were raised to the original pitch using an Eventide Harmonizer. Apparently Grapevine's versions are copied from Republic's laserdiscs, which are mastered at 24 fps from Blackhawk 16mm prints of the versions Bill Lindholm and I prepared in 1975.

[Scoundrel]

Wonderful news, David.

Looking forward to those Blu rays.

[charlie]

Wow, David -- this sounds incredible! Thanks so much for the information and for all the work you and others have put into this effort. I can't wait to see the results!

By the way, I'm a little new in my discovery of loving Chaplin and just purchased the Keystone set -- which, if I'm not mistaken, I believe you also worked on? I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed watching that -- also loved the behind the scenes mini-documentary about how the work was done. Amazing how great all those films looked at just about 100 years old! So thank you for that, too -- all the work you and others do to preserve/restore these old movies is MUCH appreciated.

[WaverBoy]

David, I'm extremely thankful for all the work you and your various teammates and co-conspirators have done on these timeless classics over the decades, and especially grateful that they will be improved yet again. All of these Blu-ray Mutuals details sound ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL AND IN ALL WAYS PERFECT...with two nagging exceptions which I'm compelled to address in the interest of the greater good (or at least my opinionated opinion), being the Chaplin Mutuals fanatic I am:

(The new main titles are not reproductions and clearly identify the films as modern restorations).

The running speeds run the gamut between 18 and 22 fps.

18fps? Yikes. I can only hope most of them will be 20-22fps. As for the modern main titles, that's fine, but wasn't it possible to recreate the original style main title card to throw on after your new titles, you know, for the sake of pedantic authenticity? I mean, if you're gonna go to the trouble of re-creating the intertitles properly, you might as well go all the way and do the main title card too, right?

And now for the effusive praise:

Almost everything we used was a first generation full aperture 35mm nitrate print. All were scanned at 2K, edited together with new reproduction 1916-1917 intertitle cards, and digitally restored and repaired on a Phoenix Revival system.

Oh, this is gonna look so good...and original style intertitles at last!

We used A negative sources unless a shot was obviously missing, incomplete or badly damaged, in which case we substituted the most similar shot from a B negative source.

What we did not do is conflate the A and B versions to make a longer film than was originally released in either neg version.

Can't wait to see the results! I hope you were able to restore the sizable chunks of missing footage to THE CURE and THE IMMIGRANT; that would be absolutely smashing. And I hope you were able to recover the shot of Charlie falling off the car at the end of THE RINK.

Each film has two scores -- one on piano, one with orchestra. The only score that is recycled is Carl Davis' music for ONE A. M. The new orchestral scores are by Donald Sosin, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, Rodney Sauer, Neil Brand, Timothy Brock and Antonio Coppola. "The Fireman" was scored on the FotoPlayer. For "The Pawnshop," Eric Beheim and Robert Israel reconstructed the 1932 Ven Beuren score by Winston Sharples as nearly as they could, and Robert conducted a new orchestral recording.

Excellent; the best of three worlds, 'cause we get new scores by some of the best in the business for most of the films, we get a reconstruction of the Van Beuren score for THE PAWNSHOP by aces Eric Beheim and Robert Israel, and the Davis score for ONE A.M. is probably the best of his Mutual accompaniments. Who did the piano scores?

We think futher improvement will be possible to two of the films and we will hold the American Blu-Ray release until we have achieved the best we think we can get.

Fantastic; thank you SO MUCH for putting so much hard work into this. If this Blu-ray release avoids the stop-and-go stutter syndrome that plagues the Blu-rays of Kino's LES VAMPIRES, DIE NIBELUNGEN, THE BLACK PIRATE and Cohen Media's THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (all apparently caused by mastering in 1080p instead of 1080i), it should be a joy to behold.

Meanwhile we will try and inure ourselves to the fusillade of Nitrateville complaints that will doubtless be our reward for the incredible amount of effort and money!

I'll try and go easy on ya, especially if most of the films are at least 20fps.

P.S. Apparently the ReelClassics DVD is copied without permission from the three laserdiscs I produced in 1984. These are basically the Van Beuren versions in new 35mm prints with new main titles. The film speed was slowed to 20 frames per second, and the scores, although now slower, were raised to the original pitch using an Eventide Harmonizer. Apparently Grapevine's versions are copied from Republic's laserdiscs, which are mastered at 24 fps from Blackhawk 16mm prints of the versions Bill Lindholm and I prepared in 1975.

Yep, just as I reported previously. Mine eyes didn't deceive me after all. I've owned these films in just about every version put on video over the years, and EASY STREET I even own in Blackhawk Super 8 Sound, ordered directly from Blackhawk back in the day even.

[Mark Roth]

I guess I should step in here to keep the record straight.

The Reelclassicdvd.com versions of the Chaplin Mutuals DO NOT derive from David's laserdiscs - period.

I am also looking forward to the new versions. I'm sure they will be spectacular in HD!

Mark
http://www.reelclassicdvd.com" target="_blank

[DShepFilm]

Apologies, Mark; I did not mean to impugn you wrongly.

Waverboy, we did not find even one example of an original 1916-1917 Chaplin Mutual main title, and we felt it not in the spirit of ever-more-rigorous standards of restoration to make something up.

And I forgot that another of the new orchestral scores is by Gabriel Thibadoux.

As to the speeds, several of the project leaders looked at the films at different speeds and we all agreed on the final choices. Your mileage may be different.

David S

[Darren Nemeth]

I have my credit card ready for this BluRay. Please keep us posted for the US release!!!

[Darren Nemeth]

Fantastic; thank you SO MUCH for putting so much hard work into this. If this Blu-ray release avoids the stop-and-go stutter syndrome that plagues the Blu-rays of Kino's LES VAMPIRES, DIE NIBELUNGEN, THE BLACK PIRATE and Cohen Media's THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (all apparently caused by mastering in 1080p instead of 1080i), it should be a joy to behold.

"Stutter Syndrome" on DIE NIBELUNGEN??

On what brand and model are you playing this on??? lol

On my side it looks excellent. On a 8 foot wide screen its been hard for me to tell if it is a film print or video.

[Sammy Jones]

Waverboy, we did not find even one example of an original 1916-1917 Chaplin Mutual main title, and we felt it not in the spirit of ever-more-rigorous standards of restoration to make something up.
David S

Can 163 from the BFI's collection of the Chaplin Mutual outtakes contains a complete version of the Floorwalker. Would this be an original Mutual release print, and if so, would it have the Mutual titles intact?

http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi ... t-list.pdf

I'm very excited about the news that the Mutuals are getting a first-class Blu-Ray reissue. Was there any thought to presenting both the A and B versions, or at least comparisons of the most interesting differences?

David, when you say "full-aperature 35mm nitrate prints" have been used, does that mean the negatives that have been part of your releases for so long have been abandoned? The image was very sharp on those, but of course we missed picture information from the left side of the screen where the soundtracks were added.

The most glaring example of this is the introduction of the escalator in the Floorwalker: Lloyd Bacon's trip at the top is barely visible on the 90th Anniversary DVD, but I've seen a 16mm print that includes more of the left side image. The bit is very funny when you can see it...

Anxiously awaiting this release!

[s.w.a.c.]

Anybody else seeing a malware warning when they try to read this thread? (I'm using Google Chrome.) I have no problem writing this reply, obviously, but I'm blocked from reading page 3 of the thread. Weird. If anyone has some ideas, send me a private message, since I won't be able to see any replies, at least not on page 3.

[Danny Burk]

It's fine on Firefox.

[Mike Gebert]

I see the warning on Chrome and it references giant-squid-audio-lab.com which is Darren Nemeth's site. Darren, I suggest you check with your hosting company as it appears your site may be infected with malware.

Update: on the advice of my hosting co. I deleted the link to the picture in Darren's signature which was setting off Chrome. It should work now.

[s.w.a.c.]

Thanks Mike, working fine now!

[Darren Nemeth]

It seems everything on my webserver is infected with MalWare and it isnt the first time this year.

I am getting it sorted out today. I run a ebusiness from it and its my sole income. My site is gone and no $$$ since Friday!!!!

I am sorry for the problems, everybody!!

[WaverBoy]

I guess I should step in here to keep the record straight.

The Reelclassicdvd.com versions of the Chaplin Mutuals DO NOT derive from David's laserdiscs - period.

Mark
http://www.reelclassicdvd.com" target="_blank" target="_blank

I did a direct A/B comparison of your DVD release and David's laserdiscs, and they look and sound exactly the same, and I mean EXACTLY, right down to the slowed-down pitch-corrected slightly out-of-sync soundtrack; that's why I assumed your release was taken from those LDs (the Media/Image ones, not the Republic LDs).

[Jim Roots]

The other day I was looking through my Chaplin DVDs and was puzzled not to be able to find the set of his First Nationals. I had it in my memory that they, too, were in a 3-disc set like the Mutuals and the Essanays.

When I couldn't find them in my collection, I checked various sites on-line and couldn't find them there, either. I finally realized that in the past I had watched the FN's on old Burbank Entertainment VHS tapes which I store somewhere else in the house.

Have the FN's ever been released in DVD format as a stand-alone set? I'm aware the features and semi-features are in the MK2 collection, but Chaplin made 3 shorts in that period, too.

Jim

[Rick Lanham]

Have the FN's ever been released in DVD format as a stand-alone set? I'm aware the features and semi-features are in the MK2 collection, but Chaplin made 3 shorts in that period, too.

Jim

Is this the collection you mean?

http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Chaplin-F ... 6305772339" target="_blank

Rick [Always confused by all the Chaplin collections.]

[Jim Roots]

Have the FN's ever been released in DVD format as a stand-alone set? I'm aware the features and semi-features are in the MK2 collection, but Chaplin made 3 shorts in that period, too.

Jim

Is this the collection you mean?

http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Chaplin-F ... 6305772339" target="_blank" target="_blank

Rick [Always confused by all the Chaplin collections.]

Bingo! Many thanks! Different box design, but it's from Image Entertainment, same as the one I was searching for.

Jim

[charlie]

Rick [Always confused by all the Chaplin collections.]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!

[Donald Sosin]

All the Mutuals have now been painstakingly restored by the Cineteca di Bologna and will be on Blu Ray early next year thanks to Lobster Films/David Shepard. Each film has a new instrumental score and a piano improvisation. My contributions are piano tracks for THE PAWNSHOP, THE IMMIGRANT and EASY STREET, and a string quartet, piano and bass score for THE COUNT.

If you would like to see a preview of this beautiful restoration of THE COUNT, email me at [email protected]" target="_blank with COUNT in the subject.

[Scoundrel]

Looks very nice.

Should be worth the wait.

[Boo Diddly]

[deleted]

Confusion nicely cleared up!

(Now why can't I delete satisfied post queries? Oy. Just more internet clog... !)

[Smari1989]

Response to Boo Diddly: I definitely can't recall any such defects with my discs (I own the first-printed version, though). Sounds to me there's something wrong with your set, but of course, maybe I'm just a less alert Chaplin-fan than I thought.

[Boo Diddly]

[deleted]

Confusion nicely cleared up!

[fwtep]

Those are video fields. The video is interlaced. If you're watching on a computer monitor (computer monitors are not interlaced) you can set the player to interpolate or combine fields.

[Boo Diddly]

smari -- Thanks for the reply. I assumed it had to be something on my end, glad to know it's likely true. There were moments I was pretty sure I was having flashbacks to the experiments of my younger days. One moment Chaplin would be human, the next there'd be three synced versions of him, or he'd suddenly spout 4 fuzzy feet! Ah... those were the days.

fwtep -- Thanks for the tip. I've never had a disc behave the way these discs do. Very surreal to watch. And irritating. I guess I'll have to make a point of finding time to watch these later on the big screen, as Windows Media player apparently doesn't support interpolation, except for Win Media Video 9. No wonder it's having so much trouble for me.

You are a champion!

[Mike Gebert]

Please do not delete posts. In this case, we now have a thread with answers but no questions, making it unhelpful to others with similar questions.

[Steve Massa]

Just a question on the intertitles for the new set (as opposed to the main titles) - were they made from samples of original Mutual titles or based on a later re-issue?

[DShepFilm]

Just a question on the intertitles for the new set (as opposed to the main titles) - were they made from samples of original Mutual titles or based on a later re-issue?

The intertitles are made from samples of the original Mutual titles.

DS