Von Sternberg silents in August?

Post by **Danny Burk** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:36 pm

Good to hear your advance info, Mike. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my set. I'm not surprised that DOCKS is the best quality of the three, since it was also the best of various prints of the three that I've seen in 16mm. The latter print of DOCKS was one of the best quality 16mm prints of any title, silent or sound, that I've ever seen.

Too bad the rumors of a blu-ray release didn't turn out to be true; these films, especially DOCKS, would deserve it more than most any other silents that come to mind.

Gagman 66 · Post by **Gagman 66** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:22 pm

Hey Mike, How did you get yours so quickly? Was it shipped that far ahead of time if you ordered direct from Criterion? I just ordered the set on Saturday evening.

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:36 pm

It's a review copy.

Gagman 66 · Post by **Gagman 66** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:38 pm

So they just sent it to you in advance because?

Post by **Mike Gebert** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:41 pm

Because of the wonderful things I does!

CoffeeDan · Post by **CoffeeDan** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 11:26 pm

moviepas wrote:Amazon have now revised the pre-release price of this Criterion set by c$16.00 from $55.99 to $71.99(You save $7.94). Not found on DeepDiscount yet.

I pre-ordered my copy of the von Sternberg silents at DVD Empire for $55.94, the best price for the set that I've found. You'll pay about $10 more at Deep Discount.

Overall, DVD Empire seems to be the new price leader for Criterion product -- 35% off the MSRP every day. Even the Criterion website promotes them.

35MM · Post by **35MM** » Tue Aug 10, 2010 2:17 pm

There's a review and a few screenshots from each film in the set at DVD Beaver.

3 Silent Classics

And another at DVDTalk:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/44717/th ... sternberg/

Banned User · Post by **Banned User** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:14 am

Sorry to dredge this old thread back up. I finally got around to watching these. I have a major backlog of movies. I found The Last Command to be my favorite out of the 3. I noticed a bunch of recognizable plot points before figuring out Underworld was basically remade as H.Hawks Scarface. One of my favorite films that never seems to get the proper release it deserves.

George Bancroft did a bang up job in both The Docks and Underworld and Sternbergs framing and inventiveness with the camera were all pretty much spot on. Clive Brook turned in a wonderfully nuanced performance. None of that silent film overacting that many films have and while Emil Jannings pours on the performance it never feels like he is overacting. IMO Evelyn Brent over does some of her scene's during the mob's attack on the general, but it actually works to the advantage of the story by infuriating the viewer that someone could be so cold and heartless only to be surprise later when her true motives are revealed. ( Yes I'm that gullible apparently and was completely taken in by the performance )

Sad that out of all the films Jannings did in America only bits and pieces remain except for this one.

I still wonder why this did not see a Bluray release. I've read in other threads on this forum that mentioned there was a HD transfer of these films so I'll hold out hope for a future release.

Von Sternberg silents in August?

Re: Three Silents by von Sternberg

Re: Von Sternberg silents in August?