Washington Post: Zorro at 100

[Rodney]

The Washington Post has a nice article on Zorro at 100, with plenty of mentions of Doug.

Now there's a movie that could use a nice BluRay upgrade.

[bobfells]

The Washington Post has a nice article on Zorro at 100, with plenty of mentions of Doug.

Now there's a movie that could use a nice BluRay upgrade.

Agreed, and the same with DON Q, SON OF ZORRO, which seems to be regarded as the redheaded stepchild of Doug's big 1920s films, at least to judge by its release on DVD. I admit this film is "bigger" than ZORRO production-wise but not really better. Still, it's a lot of fun with a strong cast.

[Rodney]

I also love Don Q, and it does get a mention in the article. As I understand, it only survives in 16mm, but people have been doing amazing things with 16mm lately. There's a good print of the original Mark of Zorro, and as I understand, a more recent digital scan of that print has been made than what's on the Flicker Alley DVDs.

[silentfilm]

Apparently MOMA has a 35mm print of Don Q, Son of Zorro (1926).

[Rodney]

Apparently MOMA has a 35mm print of Don Q, Son of Zorro (1926).

Good to know! I expect it was used for the Kino release, then, because as I recall those were done in collaboration with MoMA. But I could easily be wrong.

Don Q will presumably be in the public domain next year, unless it already is.

[Jeffrey Vance]

The Museum of Modern Art holds 35mm material on DON Q SON OF ZORRO. They preserved it way too late and there's a lot of decomposition in the preservation material. When I viewed the MOMA print, MoMA curator Steven Higgins apologized in advance for the way DON Q looked. The Cohen Collection holds 35mm material on DON Q that's superior to MoMA.

The Kino home video edition of DON Q was sourced from 16mm pre-print material held in the Blackhawk Collection. (I worked with David Shepard on that original telecine).

MOMA, Eastman Museum, and the Academy Film Archive hold good 35mm material on THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920). My preference is the preservation work achieved by the Academy Film Archive, but the exhibition print I viewed was in B/W while the MOMA show print is tinted. (THE MARK OF ZORRO was originally tinted as was DON Q SON ON ZORRO). Indeed, it's been a disappointment for me to see several Fairbanks films preserved with no effort to tint them as they were originally intended. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS AS THE GAUCHO (1927) contained two-color Technicolor and tints. The MOMA preservation print is B/W and I see on the Eastman Museum website they are trying to make the case that THE GAUCHO was intended as B/W when my years of research indicate much evidence to the contrary.

Jeffrey Vance

[Rodney]

The Museum of Modern Art holds 35mm material on DON Q SON OF ZORRO. They preserved it way too late and there's a lot of decomposition in the preservation material. When I viewed the MOMA print, MoMA curator Steven Higgins apologized in advance for the way DON Q looked. The Cohen Collection holds 35mm material on DON Q that's superior to MoMA.

The Kino home video edition of DON Q was sourced from 16mm pre-print material held in the Blackhawk Collection. (I worked with David Shepard on that original telecine).

MOMA, Eastman Museum, and the Academy Film Archive hold good 35mm material on THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920). My preference is the preservation work achieved by the Academy Film Archive, but the exhibition print I viewed was in B/W while the MOMA show print is tinted. (THE MARK OF ZORRO was originally tinted as was DON Q SON ON ZORRO). Indeed, it's been a disappointment for me to see several Fairbanks films preserved with no effort to tint them as they were originally intended. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS AS THE GAUCHO (1927) contained two-color Technicolor and tints. The MOMA preservation print is B/W and I see on the Eastman Museum website they are trying to make the case that THE GAUCHO was intended as B/W when my years of research indicate much evidence to the contrary.

Jeffrey Vance

Thanks for that background! The Flicker Alley/Mont Alto Mark of Zorro DVDs come from David Shepard's 35 print, which has some occasional decomp. I expect that material is now with the revived Blackhawk Films. I'd love to see the Academy Film Archve preservation. When I released my Mont Alto edition on DVD, I added digital tinting based on the content of the shots (as in, if the scene is outside at night, make it blue). But the original was just black and white. The Flicker Alley version went through additional digital clean-up and stabilization, but was also tinted digitally.

In this video from the Eastman Museum, Anthony L'Abbatte says that the film had color in the premieres in New York and L.A. but not in general release.

[Rodney]

The Museum of Modern Art holds 35mm material on DON Q SON OF ZORRO. They preserved it way too late and there's a lot of decomposition in the preservation material. When I viewed the MOMA print, MoMA curator Steven Higgins apologized in advance for the way DON Q looked. The Cohen Collection holds 35mm material on DON Q that's superior to MoMA.

The Kino home video edition of DON Q was sourced from 16mm pre-print material held in the Blackhawk Collection. (I worked with David Shepard on that original telecine).

MOMA, Eastman Museum, and the Academy Film Archive hold good 35mm material on THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920). My preference is the preservation work achieved by the Academy Film Archive, but the exhibition print I viewed was in B/W while the MOMA show print is tinted. (THE MARK OF ZORRO was originally tinted as was DON Q SON ON ZORRO). Indeed, it's been a disappointment for me to see several Fairbanks films preserved with no effort to tint them as they were originally intended. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS AS THE GAUCHO (1927) contained two-color Technicolor and tints. The MOMA preservation print is B/W and I see on the Eastman Museum website they are trying to make the case that THE GAUCHO was intended as B/W when my years of research indicate much evidence to the contrary.

Jeffrey Vance

Thanks for that background! The Flicker Alley/Mont Alto Mark of Zorro DVDs come from David Shepard's 35 print, which has some occasional decomp. I expect that material is now with the revived Blackhawk Films. I'd love to see the Academy Film Archve preservation. When I released my Mont Alto edition on DVD, I added digital tinting based on the content of the shots (as in, if the scene is outside at night, make it blue). But the original was just black and white. The Flicker Alley version went through additional digital clean-up and stabilization, but was also tinted digitally.

In this video from the Eastman Museum, Anthony L'Abbatte says that The Gaucho had color in the premieres in New York and L.A. but not in general release.