Les Vampires, Early Lang on Blu-ray

[Nosferatu]

[Christopher Jacobs]

Not having the VHS myself, I can't speak to the other damage -- but VHS-era transfers often had a considerably cropped frame, losing some of the edge of the image in order to make sure no frame edges were visible on your TV. This would also have cropped off places where the sprocket holes have intruded into the image area. Recent transfers tend to be more edge-to-edge, which gives you all the available image, perhaps including intrusive sprocket holes.

Also, the softness of VHS transfers may reduce the number of noticeable specks and lines, which (along with the detail you want) become more apparent in BluRay.

Then again, maybe it's just that the source material is a couple of decades older...

In a film theater, the edges of the screen are masked with black cloth to make them sharp, a practice you could adapt to your home theater

I plan to order the Blu-ray edition of LES VAMPIRES soon, and welcome a transfer that includes as much of the image as possible. Visible sprocket holes on the edges, while slightly distracting, are to some extent also an enjoyable film artifact. Our last local theatre that runs real 35mm film plans to switch to completely digital sometime in October. I tend to watch all movies on16mm film, DVD, or Blu-ray projected in my home theatre, so I can simply pull in my side black velvet masking to cover up the sprocket hole if they become too annoying. Of course if you watch on a TV set, you're stuck with them unless you set it to underscan the picture and lose image information all around.

[Rodney]

Here's a rather interesting review from Slant Magazine.

[FrankFay]

Great to hear that the new version has a Mont Alto score. I'm very fond of the Robert Israel score and was afraid something inferior had been substituted- all of the announcements I've seen make no mention at all of the score.

[sc1957]

I've just watched the first episode ("The Severed Head") of the Kino Blu-Ray and compared it to my Image DVD. Here are some of my thoughts:

The Kino has night tinting (blue), but not the green tinting that apparently means "outdoor daylight" on the Image version.

I'd say there's a similar amount of print damage -- spots and scratches -- in both versions.

The Image version replaced all handwritten letters with modern text on a blank screen. The Kino shows the handwritten letters with subtitles below.

The Kino shows the edges of sprocket holes in certain scenes... for example, at night in the reporter's bedroom, and when the Grand Vampire escapes. But that means you're seeing more of the original picture, too.

The Kino Blu-Ray shows much more picture detail than the Image DVD. For example, in Mazamette's photo of his children, the kids are more than just blurs.

The Image DVD came with a booklet that discusses Feuillade and Gaumont, though it also veers a bit into "film school blather". There's nothing like that in the Kino version.

The Kino Blu-Ray uses Kino's accordion-style menu format, which I find very crisp and clean.

Nice job by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra on the new Kino score. Blu-Ray makes their music big and bright.

I'm happy.

[Rodney]

Here's a useful review from Carl Bennett's silentera.com.

[Rodney]

Daryl Loomis' review at DVD Verdict.

[Rodney]

Reviews for this title keep trickling in...

http://battleshippretension.com/?p=8575" target="_blank

http://j-entonline.com/tag/a-j-ent-blu-ray-disc-review/" target="_blank

[GishFan]

I've just watched the first episode ("The Severed Head") of the Kino Blu-Ray and compared it to my Image DVD. Here are some of my thoughts:

The Kino has night tinting (blue), but not the green tinting that apparently means "outdoor daylight" on the Image version.

I'd say there's a similar amount of print damage -- spots and scratches -- in both versions.

The Image version replaced all handwritten letters with modern text on a blank screen. The Kino shows the handwritten letters with subtitles below.

The Kino shows the edges of sprocket holes in certain scenes... for example, at night in the reporter's bedroom, and when the Grand Vampire escapes. But that means you're seeing more of the original picture, too.

The Kino Blu-Ray shows much more picture detail than the Image DVD. For example, in Mazamette's photo of his children, the kids are more than just blurs.

The Image DVD came with a booklet that discusses Feuillade and Gaumont, though it also veers a bit into "film school blather". There's nothing like that in the Kino version.

The Kino Blu-Ray uses Kino's accordion-style menu format, which I find very crisp and clean.

Nice job by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra on the new Kino score. Blu-Ray makes their music big and bright.

I'm happy.

I held off getting the blu ray since I had the Image DVD and didn't think there would be much of a difference in quality, and there are no extras on the blu ray. Just got the blu ray, which I got for 12 bucks from a sale, and I was blown away by the upgrade in quality. Way better than the DVD. I will keep the DVD because of the two shorts and booklet that it has over the DVD though.

[Battra92]

The best upgrade on the Kino release of Les Vampires is the score. I really love the Mont Alto score. I own the Artificial Eye and saw (but never owned) the Image release and Kino had the best score. We'll see how good the French release is that I just ordered.

[FrankFay]

The best upgrade on the Kino release of Les Vampires is the score. I really love the Mont Alto score. I own the Artificial Eye and saw (but never owned) the Image release and Kino had the best score. We'll see how good the French release is that I just ordered.

I love both scores, though the Mount Alto wins out a bit. At the time of the original release Robert Israel was not so much scoring as he was fitting pieces together with little editing. He's grown considerably since.

[Battra92]

Whatever the bit of music at the opening is used on Les Vampires just gets stuck in my head from time to time. It's one score I've actually listened to without watching the movie.

Yes, Robert Israel has grown quite a bit. I was watching the Disney Oswald shorts on the Disney Treasures set (which was quite a few years ago) that he scored and they are excellent!

[Rodney]

Whatever the bit of music at the opening is used on Les Vampires just gets stuck in my head from time to time. It's one score I've actually listened to without watching the movie.

If you mean the Mont Alto score, that's a piece called "Fourteen Fathoms Deep (an Undersea Tragedy)" by M.L. Lake, from 1917. It was extremely useful for this score, since it has that little four-note introduction that can be quoted anywhere in the serial when the Vampires strike. Then we can either continue that piece or go to a different one, as the action requires.

The piece also has six different sections, each one of which is very off-kilter and bizarre sounding, and several of which occasionally quote the four-note theme. By using different sections at different times, I could keep the score from getting monotonous.

M.L. Lake was quite a character, and wrote a lively memoir called Great Guys, in which he claims to have been the first person to compose music for films, in Havana Cuba in 1899 (though I caution that any such claims should be taken with a grain of salt). He also did a lot of composing and arranging for Broadway and the marching bands.

[Battra92]

Whatever the bit of music at the opening is used on Les Vampires just gets stuck in my head from time to time. It's one score I've actually listened to without watching the movie.

If you mean the Mont Alto score, that's a piece called "Fourteen Fathoms Deep (an Undersea Tragedy)" by M.L. Lake, from 1917. It was extremely useful for this score, since it has that little four-note introduction that can be quoted anywhere in the serial when the Vampires strike. Then we can either continue that piece or go to a different one, as the action requires.

Oh wow, cool. Looks like there are vintage sheet music copies for sale but no recordings of it (at least nothing that a quick Google Search turns up.)

[Rodney]

Whatever the bit of music at the opening is used on Les Vampires just gets stuck in my head from time to time. It's one score I've actually listened to without watching the movie.

If you mean the Mont Alto score, that's a piece called "Fourteen Fathoms Deep (an Undersea Tragedy)" by M.L. Lake, from 1917. It was extremely useful for this score, since it has that little four-note introduction that can be quoted anywhere in the serial when the Vampires strike. Then we can either continue that piece or go to a different one, as the action requires.

Oh wow, cool. Looks like there are vintage sheet music copies for sale but no recordings of it (at least nothing that a quick Google Search turns up.)

Flattery will get you everywhere. I've added a "player" to my Recordings page listing of Les Vampires so that you can play the entire unedited version of the piece. In Les Vampires it never appears in its entirety: I used short excerpts of the piece, edited in different ways, for different scenes so that it didn't get too repetitive.

M.L. Lake also wrote a short coda that I did not record, because it just restates the four-note phrase with a silly added "stinger," so this is only most of the piece.

And I hadn't seen the cover art before: clearly this piece was composed for a rather dramatic adventure photoplay! I'm guessing that The Submarine Eye (1917) is a lost film, or certainly rare, as the imdb page for it is quite sparse.

[Battra92]

WOW! Thank you so much!