New York Post: DVD Extra: Rohauer library getting a facelift

[silentfilm]

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/movies/dv ... ly/10d7ttR

DVD Extra: Rohauer library getting a facelift

By Lou Lumenick
Posted: 9:39 AM, March 22, 2013

Ownership and video rights to classic films (not always the same thing) changes hands from time to time. Many important Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd films distributed in the past on DVD by Warner Home Video have now been licensed from the comic genius' heirs to the Criterion Collection (which will release a restored version its first Lloyd title, "Safety Last'' to mark its 90th anniversary in June) -- while Samuel Goldwyn Jr. has transferred video releases of his father's famous library from MGM (which confusingly still owns films produced and acquired by Junior's former company, like "Babes in Toyland'' and "Sayonara'') to WHV.

Another recent seismic shift in classic holdings perhaps less noticed by classic film fans has occured due to the acquisition of the celebrated Raymond Rohauer library from its previous owners, the Douris U.K. Ltd.. by real estate magate Charles S. Cohen, who has announced a major restoration program. He's also letting the video rights that Kino Lober has long leased from Douris expire and has begun releasing titles on Blu-ray under the new Cohen Media Group label (with physical distribution through Entertainment One), beginning with superb recent restorations of Raoul Walsh's "The Thief of Bagdad'' (1924) and Luis Bunuel's "Tristiana'' (1970).

"This is a treasure trove of opportunity that's not been really well exploited,'' Cohen says of the 700 film whose rights, negatives and long-term licenses were amassed over decades by the controversial archivist and distributor Rohauer (above left, with archivist David Gill) who died in 1987. They include key silent works by Buster Keaton and D.W. Griffith, as well as independently made talkies like Fritz Lang's "Hangmen Also Die'' (1943) and David Miller's "Sudden Fear'' (1952), a noir starring Joan Crawford. The library also includes many musical shorts produced by Paramount during the early talkie era, a few of which have been released on video by Kino in the past.

(Copyrights have expired on some of the older films like Keaton's "College,'' which Kino recently released on Blu-ray using materials licensed from Film Preservation Associates).

"It's going to take a lot of work,'' says Tim Lanza, who was hired by Cohen after overseeing the Rohauer library for Douris for two decades. "Finally, there's going to be a major investment in restoration and we're working with a number of fine labs, as well as working with archives like the Library of Congress and the British Film Institute.''

White Plains native Cohen, who has also produced movies like "Frozen River'' and is distributing new films, primarily French, on the arthouse circuit, calls it "a world-class collection that needs to be respected, restored and re-released, including in theaters. We can rebrand this library and introduce them to a whole new audience.''

[Doug Sulpy]

Does the Rohauer Estate still have any rights to the Chaplin Mutual outtakes?

I would love to have the entire Mutual series on blu-ray, supplemented with every scrap of surviving outtakes.

[Okay. I'll wake up, now]

[Stan16mm]

Does the Rohauer Estate still have any rights to the Chaplin Mutual outtakes?

I would love to have the entire Mutual series on blu-ray, supplemented with every scrap of surviving outtakes.

[Okay. I'll wake up, now]

On a visit to England in 1993, Kevin showed me a portion of what had been saved from the Mutual outtakes and by 1993 more of it had decomposed since Unknown Chaplin was made the decade previously. The BFI, in an effort to save what was left, transferred the footage but much of it has turned to goo. As you know, it wasn't stored well by Rohauer. By the time Brownlow and Gill got to it, the exposed round canisters had damaged a significant amount of the footage.

Upon seeing take after take with Kevin (he walked out of the room during the viewing), it was evident to me that a lot of the takes were almost identical to the previous one. After hours of watching, I declared that Kevin and David and their staff did the hard work for all of us by making the outtakes more enjoyable for all of us in Unknown Chaplin by showing us the key points that turned endless repeated takes into the artistic classics we know and love today.

If you have Unknown Chaplin, you've got the best of the best.

[Ray Faiola]

Well, I sure as hell hope this means that someone will FINALLY access the Library of Congress print of THE OLD DARK HOUSE for video release!

[BixB]

Well, I sure as hell hope this means that someone will FINALLY access the Library of Congress print of THE OLD DARK HOUSE for video release!

It's been brought to my attention that while distribution rights are now in the hands of Cohen, the physical rights to the LoC restoration are not. Supposedly Universal is claiming physical rights to the LoC material. Cohen has OLD DARK HOUSE in their catalog but it's still the Rouhauer materials only. Reminds me of the tangle that kept ANIMAL CRACKERS out of circulation.

[Richard M Roberts]

Well, I sure as hell hope this means that someone will FINALLY access the Library of Congress print of THE OLD DARK HOUSE for video release!

It's been brought to my attention that while distribution rights are now in the hands of Cohen, the physical rights to the LoC restoration are not. Supposedly Universal is claiming physical rights to the LoC material. Cohen has OLD DARK HOUSE in their catalog but it's still the Rouhauer materials only. Reminds me of the tangle that kept ANIMAL CRACKERS out of circulation.

No supposition involved, the material at LOC is Universal's master materials and they do indeed belong to Universal. I'm amazed that considering how much money they still make off their old horror product, that Universal has let that Rohauer claim stand for so long, it was based on a quit claim on story rights that I'm not sure actually came from J. B. Priestley himself and probably wouldn't hold up ten minutes in court. Then again, it may also be likely that Columbia actually owns the rights because I'm sure they still have some story property rights they bought for the William Castle remake that they either had to buy from Universal, or from Priestley if the film rights had reverted to him by the 60's, but they seemed to have no difficulty putting out the remake on DVD.

And to make it worse, what Cohen Media Group has for materials on THE OLD DARK HOUSE are even worse than what Kino put out on video, which was not the Rohauer material. We used to refer to the copies of that film that Rohauer distributed as "The Old Dark Print".


RICHARD M ROBERTS

[BixB]

"Old Dark Print" is right. It looks as though it were printed on Kodalith. Virtually no gray scale. It amazes me too that Universal hasn't exerted its hefty legal powers to retrieve the rights. Considering the value they place on their classic horror titles, one would assume they'd like to have the property back again. Personally, I'd love to see it happen. Not only would it clear the way for a decent DVD release but somehow it would be nice to see the film back in the company of it's classic horror brethren.