NitrateVille.com

The following grabs are for the Lon Chaney film THE BLACKBIRD. Not only this film does exist and it was scored in 2005 by Robert Israel, it has been available online for quite a while.

The presence of Spanish subtitles could make you think that Spain's TCM has exhibited, but it is not the case. In fact, I don't know from where this video originated except that somebody in Argentina made it available (although the Latin American TCM is a repugnant channel):

[quote="radiotelefonia"]The following grabs are for the Lon Chaney film THE BLACKBIRD. Not only this film does exist and it was scored in 2005 by Robert Israel, it has been available online for quite a while.

The presence of Spanish subtitles could make you think that Spain's TCM has exhibited, but it is not the case. In fact, I don't know from where this video originated except that somebody in Argentina made it available (although the Latin American TCM is a repugnant channel):


I believe Robert Israel also scored the 2007 restoration of "The Big Parade", made from the original camera negative discovered at Eastman, but this has never been shown on TCM either (at least in the US).

Robert Israel did the arrangement of the original score of THE BIG PARADE which was presented live at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on March 18, 2005.
I don't believe this restoration has ever been released in video. The only version I know of is from the Thames Television version about 20 years ago with the Carl Davis score.
I supervised the 2005 restoration when I was at WB.

Richard P. May wrote:Robert Israel did the arrangement of the original score of THE BIG PARADE which was presented live at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on March 18, 2005.
I don't believe this restoration has ever been released in video. The only version I know of is from the Thames Television version about 20 years ago with the Carl Davis score.
I supervised the 2005 restoration when I was at WB.

Is there additional material in this restoration or *just* better elements?

How come just screen captures of the titles and nothing else??

Seems fishy to me..........

The restoration of THE BIG PARADE was from the original negative, as released in the fall of 1925. The original tints were restored, but no additional footage.

LouieD wrote:How come just screen captures of the titles and nothing else??

Seems fishy to me..........

There is no fish in this film and I didn't capture those frames myself.

But I have it on DVD. And you can get it yourself:

http://www.mundosilente.com.ar/filmo11.htm

radiotelefonia wrote: There is no fish in this film and I didn't capture those frames myself.

But I have it on DVD. And you can get it yourself:

http://www.mundosilente.com.ar/filmo11.htm

Linky no worky.

LouieD wrote:

radiotelefonia wrote: There is no fish in this film and I didn't capture those frames myself.

But I have it on DVD. And you can get it yourself:

http://www.mundosilente.com.ar/filmo11.htm

Linky no worky.

You are wrong. The link does work and I was able to download it from there.

Doesn't work for me either. Seems to be some format that Safari doesn't like.

Works with Firefox.


Bob

The filmo11.htm link works for me (using Internet Explorer), but I am not able to download the .avi movie files.

Some of these films are Milestone Films and even show the Milestone Films DVD cover. I'm sure that Dennis would not be happy that this site allows you to download his products for free.

The films are not in the site.

The links are for a P2P software, if you check each one of them.

radiotelefonia wrote:The films are not in the site.

The links are for a P2P software, if you check each one of them.

I have tried all the links in Internet Explorer and Firefox and the links do not exist. Oh well.

silentfilm wrote:The filmo11.htm link works for me (using Internet Explorer), but I am not able to download the .avi movie files.

Some of these films are Milestone Films and even show the Milestone Films DVD cover. I'm sure that Dennis would not be happy that this site allows you to download his products for free.

And Kino, Criterion, Danish Film Institute, Flicker Alley, Filmedition, and the list goes on forever. Major scum-sucking bootlegger. I've sent the site on to my friends and sent an email to the site to express my disappointment with them and how their parents raised them.

I contacted a reliable source at TCM who has shared the news that THE BLACKBIRD is on the USA broadcast schedule for this coming October 2008. Better late than never, right?

So check your schedules in October!

milefilms wrote:

silentfilm wrote:The filmo11.htm link works for me (using Internet Explorer), but I am not able to download the .avi movie files.

Some of these films are Milestone Films and even show the Milestone Films DVD cover. I'm sure that Dennis would not be happy that this site allows you to download his products for free.

And Kino, Criterion, Danish Film Institute, Flicker Alley, Filmedition, and the list goes on forever. Major scum-sucking bootlegger. I've sent the site on to my friends and sent an email to the site to express my disappointment with them and how their parents raised them.

Did you introduce them to your very good friend, Mr. Lawyer?

Fred

TSTNews wrote:I contacted a reliable source at TCM who has shared the news that THE BLACKBIRD is on the USA broadcast schedule for this coming October 2008. Better late than never, right?

So check your schedules in October!

TCM has already announced their schedule for October, and The Blackbird is not listed...
http://www.tcm.com/schedule/month/?cid=&oid=10/1/2008

You are right - TCM was alerted that that title is not on the current October schedule posted and they have plans to update the error. Someone on their own message board pointed it out, and they are working on the problem.

I guess maybe check again in a couple days to see if anything changes.

Just so I don't create any more confusion (since I did not pin point the message on the TCM boards) the exact words sent to me are: "We're putting it into the October schedule".

milefilms wrote:

silentfilm wrote:The filmo11.htm link works for me (using Internet Explorer), but I am not able to download the .avi movie files.

Some of these films are Milestone Films and even show the Milestone Films DVD cover. I'm sure that Dennis would not be happy that this site allows you to download his products for free.

And Kino, Criterion, Danish Film Institute, Flicker Alley, Filmedition, and the list goes on forever. Major scum-sucking bootlegger. I've sent the site on to my friends and sent an email to the site to express my disappointment with them and how their parents raised them.

And in a related story, Luke at the invaluable blogsite THE BIOSCOPE has posted an entry on websites where you can download silent movies legally! Support the small producer, don't steal their stuff.

http://bioscopic.wordpress.com/

Y'all should have that link bookmarked anyway.

Fred

The exact URL for the post on silent films that are freely and legitimately available online (all blog posts have a unique URL, called a permalink) is:

http://bioscopic.wordpress.com/2008/07/ ... ts-online/

If anyone knows of sites not listed there, please let me know. I can't cover every small site with a couple of clips, but I like to make it as useful a reference guide as I can. Strictly no sites which have ripped off content from somewhere else (I've mentioned YouTube, but I'm uneasy about it).


Luke

The links are for a P2P software, if you check each one of them

What does that mean? All I get is a message that the website is unavailable....

P2P means peer-to-peer software. It's not a normal website. You must have a P2P client.

A word of comfort to those who fear mass piracy and a word of solace to those who can't wait to start downloading from mundosilente.com.ar.......I made the P2P connection and tried a download from that site. After 12 hours and an estimated additional 3 days 10 hours and 45 minutes- I uninstalled the server. Too bad, too, as there are some films there that are not and probably will never be, available in the US of A......

So if you want to see your DSL charged PC downloading for days at speeds as low as 1.39 Kbs, this is for you.....(tongue in cheek).....

Although many won't like what I say, because of the questionable existence of that page (and many others I could mention), many films are only available in those versions.

And I did manage to download several of them. The version of EL ULTIMO MALON has a musical compilation that I myself prepared.

One of the film that I'm downloading (not featured in Mundo Silente) now is the Photoplay version of NAPOLEON, not the Coppola version.

Richard P. May,

Please note, I was the person who sent Charles Tabesh these captures. It was to simply point out that Israel had recorded a score for THE BLACK BIRD, no other reason. I was trying to uncover the mystery of why this film had never been shown on TCM in this country? I was very gratified that Mr. Tabesh was able to locate the version and schedule the North American premier for October.

I might add that without the so called "miserable bootlegers" (as some of you have branded them) of Cinema-Classico, there is no way you would be seeing this movie premier in October, because Mr. Tabesh wouldn't have even known about it, if Jorge hadn't obtained a copy for me from there. So please don't be so quick to judge.

Speaking of King Vidor's THE BIG PARADE, Mr. Tabesh told me in July, that He is certain that Warner Home Video will have the new version ready by next year for MGM's 85th Anniversary. He is quite anxious to run the 2004 restoration on TCM since seeing it at a film festival last year. The sad thing is THE BIG PARADE has been stuck in limbo on TCM as they have been waiting, and waiting for this version to arrive. No version of the film has been shown since Memorial Day 2004.

Tabesh noted that they have resisted the temptation to run the Brownlow presentation from the 80's (1983) again, as the new master was supposed to be ready much sooner than this. Perfectly understandable in 2005 and 2006, but to me in late 2008 this is wearing pretty dang thin. I know lot's of new to silent film fans who have never seen THE BIG PARADE, and are very frustrated! It took along time for the film to even be restored, as Brownlow found the Negative by pure Fluke at Eastman House in 1997! The film wasn't restored until 2004, and a fine-Grain Master prepared.

I have been hoping that Warner's will commission Robert Israel and His Orchestra to reprise the original 1925 William Axt, David Mendoza score they have preformed at a few live screenings since 2005. Was shocked to hear from David Shepard as of this past March it had yet to be recorded! Which tells me there is no guarantee that we will get this score at all! I sure hope so though! It would be a travesty to see this Masterpiece desecrated by some inferior score, when the original still exists in-tact, and could be freshly recorded!

There had also been talk of including the earlier Thames version of the film, with Carl Davis score all re-mastered. Like FLESH AND THE DEVIL was for the Garbo Silent's set. Again no guarantee of this either. I took this even one step further, also asking for the 1931 sound re-issue, for an Ultimate Special Edition DVD set of THE BIG PARADE. After waiting for the film for this long, it deserves something far more than just a standard old run of the mill release. Does anyone here have additional details about this matter?

I never thought in a million years that SEVENTH HEAVEN, and STREET ANGEL would actually beat THE BIG PARADE to official DVD, but it's now clear that this will indeed happen. It's little short of ridiculous that no version of THE BIG PARADE has been offered on DVD by now! To me this is easily one of the greatest Silent films, and for that matter finest movies period ever made! Shocking that it is not available!

Incidentally, is there any update on the Colleen Moore restorations, or on BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT?

I have been hoping that Warner's will commission Robert Israel and His Orchestra to reprise the original 1925 William Axt, David Mendoza score they have preformed at a few live screenings since 2005. Was shocked to hear from David Shepard as of this past March it had yet to be recorded! Which tells me there is no guarantee that we will get this score at all! I sure hope so though! It would be a travesty to see this Masterpiece desecrated by some inferior score, when the original still exists in-tact, and could be freshly recorded!

You would not believe the expense this could entail -- the legal and rights issues are a real mess. You could probably use the originally recorded score, as there's some evidence that it's regarded as part of the "picture" (though see "It's a Wonderful Life" for a counter-argument.) For a newly recorded score, even if it's identical, you'd need to find the title of each piece used in the score (Axt and Mendoza certainly didn't compose the whole thing, they compiled parts of it from music in their library, they may or may not have written down what the pieces were), identify who owns the copyright now, and clear sync rights with the copyright owners. You'd be surprised at how quickly the tens of thousands of dollars will pile up. And that's before you pay Robert Israel and his musicians a fair rate for their work. Carl Davis is expensive too, but the nice thing about licensing his scores is that since he wrote them, at least you're only dealing with ONE agent.

The answer to many of your recent "how come they can't..." questions is simply that there isn't enough money to make it worth while.

Rodney,

So are you saying that it simply can not possibly be done, and we will never get to hear the original scoring arrangement from 1925? What I do know is Jack T got to see THE BIG PARADE screened live in 2005 with the Axt-Mendoza score being preformed by Israel's orchestra, and couldn't stop raving about it at the time! Stating on Harold Lloyd.com, that He actually preferred it to Davis score. Which I felt was fantastic, and is the score I am used too. So how can you blame me, if ever since I have dreamed of hearing the vintage score?

Even Kevin Brownlow back in May, as a guest on Silver Screen Oasis, stated that He expected Israel to record this score for Warner's DVD release! I'mean, who wants to hear some hack new-composer hired for a project of this magnitude? I sure as heck wouldn't!

Anyway, I imagine that the majority of the Axt-Mendoza score is now "public domain material" isn't itl? I might add that Carl Davis adopted a great deal of that score into his own arrangement for the Thames version. So with respect, to some extent it's already been done. The Gilbert-Adoree Romance theme, was all originally used by Axt-Mendoza. The Melisande theme (a French Waltz), and several others. He used "Strawberry Blonde" for Karl Dane's "Slim" character. "My Buddy" was used by Axt, and by Davis too. Carl didn't write any of those. He generally does compose mostly original music, but not with THE BIG PARADE He didn't.

Incidentally, wanted to be sure to mention, I really enjoyed you guy's score for Fairbanks THE MODERN MUSKETEER, when it premiered on TCM some months ago. Great work!

I don't know about the details of this particular title, but if Kevin Brownlow says it's happening, that's good news, as I'm sure he has better information than I have. And music written before 1923 is public domain, but due to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, that written in 1923 and afterwards mostly is not. Silent film scores from the late 20s contain music written over about a thirty-year period, but a fair amount of it is from then-recent publications.

And public performance is an entirely different thing from "sync" rights -- Robert Israel can perform the score in any auditorium that pays its ASCAP license. He could even use pieces by Puff Daddy if he likes. It's covered by the license. There's no such license for sync, so you have to negotiate on a case-by-case, piece by piece basis when you're recording a score.

For instance, the AFI (using its nonprofit and academically-oriented nature to great benefit) was able to release REDSKIN with a new piano recording of Zamecnik's cues on the recent TREASURES release. If I had been trying to do it with a "commercial" company like Kino, it would probably not have been possible without a huge budget.

Glad you liked MODERN MUSKETEER. There are excerpts of many more (public domain) silent film pieces at our website if you want to hear more.