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?