The River on DVD!

[Damfino]

The German company Edition Filmmuseum has recently released an all-region DVD of Borzage's late silent The River....which I think is the first Borzage silent on disc, and pretty certainly the first silent feature missing half its length to be released!

http://www.edition-filmmuseum.com/produ ... e626b9cf5b (includes an essay on the film)

The beginning, middle, and end of the film are missing (shown here with a few stills & brief summary), and only about 40 minutes remain; the reconstruction was originally seen on French TV, but is a bit more complete and in better quality here.
Those who haven't seen The River might wonder why this mutilated fragment is being released.....but this is as essential viewing as any Borzage film. The 'plot' of the film is gone, and what's left are the romantic scenes between Charles Farrell & Mary Duncan -- he plays a naive country bumpkin, and she a jaded woman of the world who meets him swimming the river, and soon invites him into her home, and her bed. The website describes this as "the most erotic film in silent cinema," and the erotic tension between Farrell & Duncan is unmatched in any American silent. She looks like a precode actress of the '30s dropped into an initially innocent-looking silent movie, and Farrell becomes increasingly bewildered by her intense gazes and bizarre demands. There is a newly-discovered scene from the Swedish censors in which they compare heartbeats, which is one of the most eye-popping moments I've seen in the silents.
There is also an illuminating documentary included which shows FW Murnau's influence on Borzage (they were both working at Fox), full of long clips from their films - including many stills from 4 Devils, also featuring the tantalizing Mary Duncan! I hope Lucky Star will be released eventually, as it is one of Borzage's most intense efforts.
A second disc features three of Borzage's earliest surviving films, two-reel westerns from 1916. The Pitch o' Chance is outstanding, and The Pilgrim has many fine moments -- these are almost on the level of a WS Hart film though in a lighter vein. (Nugget Jim's Pardner is not so great, but no matter.)
A highly recommended release.

[jessica]

I scanned my glass slide of THE RIVER for what I assume is an extra
with stills etc. It was a nice image. My old UCLA prof Janet Bergstrom
was heavily involved

[silentfilm]

Monday Morning Foreign-Region DVD Report: 'The River'

http://glennkenny.premiere.com/blog/200 ... rning.html

Apparently there is a chance that this will be released in the USA late in the year.

[Gaucho]

According to Ken Hanke over at Scarlet Street this is set to be part of another massive DVD boxset from Fox ala Ford - but this time on the work of Murnau/Borzage. More info on the contents:

Having just recorded interviews for an upcoming box set I never thought I'd see -- a collection of the films of F.W. Murnau and Frank Borzage from their late silent/early sound Fox period (LAZYBONES, 7TH HEAVEN, SUNRISE, THE STREET ANGEL, CITY GIRL, THE RIVER [wht there is of it], FOUR DEVILS [a documentary on the film, which is lost], LUCKY STAR, THEY HAD TO SEE PARIS, SONG O' MY HEART, LILIOM) -- I started thinking of movies that still have no DVDs.

[LouieD]

Having just recorded interviews for an upcoming box set I never thought I'd see -- a collection of the films of F.W. Murnau and Frank Borzage from their late silent/early sound Fox period (LAZYBONES, 7TH HEAVEN, SUNRISE, THE STREET ANGEL, CITY GIRL, THE RIVER [wht there is of it], FOUR DEVILS [a documentary on the film, which is lost], LUCKY STAR, THEY HAD TO SEE PARIS, SONG O' MY HEART, LILIOM) -- I started thinking of movies that still have no DVDs.

I'll believe it when it's in my hands.

[rollot24]

Having just recorded interviews for an upcoming box set I never thought I'd see -- a collection of the films of F.W. Murnau and Frank Borzage from their late silent/early sound Fox period (LAZYBONES, 7TH HEAVEN, SUNRISE, THE STREET ANGEL, CITY GIRL, THE RIVER [wht there is of it], FOUR DEVILS [a documentary on the film, which is lost], LUCKY STAR, THEY HAD TO SEE PARIS, SONG O' MY HEART, LILIOM) -- I started thinking of movies that still have no DVDs.

I'm assuming the FOUR DEVILS doc is the same one that's on the previously released SUNRISE disc.

[Gaucho]

According to another website it is. That poster also quoted Dave Kehr as having confirmed this on his blog.

The rumors about the Murnau/Borzage set are definitely true: it will be Fox’s equivalent for this holiday shopping season of the great “Ford at Fox” set last year. I’m hearing that the set will consists of “Sunrise,” “City Girl” and the reconstruction of “Four Devils” that Janet Bergstrom put together; on the Borzage side, it looks like “Seventh Heaven,” “Street Angel,” “They Had to See Paris,” “Liliom” and “The River” — which of course I hope is just for starters.

Even the Fox Studio Classics website has this unsubtle hint about 7th Heaven coming for Christmas.

[N_Phay]

Well, this looks like some thrilling news! I never got round to ordering the Spanish DVD edition of "7th Heaven", I guess I can hold on 'till Christmas.

[Mike Gebert]

Although the most exciting single aspect of this for me would be finally seeing City Girl (I own a Grapevine copy which looks okay, but have been hesitant to watch it, convinced that a 35mm showing would immediately pop up if I did), the most important part of it overall would be elevating Frank Borzage to his proper place as one of the major name directors.

At one time, he was that-- as his winning of two direction awards in the first five years of the Oscars demonstrates-- but his intensely sincere romances fell out of fashion, his post-1940 work, which mostly ranges from forgettable to unbearable, diminished his reputation, and his best films became less widely seen due to having been made mostly for studios which neglected their heritages-- Fox, Universal, independently for Walter Wanger, etc. and rarely featuring first-tier Hollywood stars (his most frequent performers were the likes of Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor, Margaret Sullavan, and Robert Young).

For my money, though, few bodies of work epitomize the dream factory in the silent era and the depths of the Depression more than Borzage's tenderly poetic tales of poverty-stricken young people dazzled by the first blush of sexual experience, trying to make it in a frequently heartless world. Like Douglas Sirk, his stories ought to have been utter schmaltz, but they throb with feeling no one else could have gotten out of them (God knows no one else got it out of Charles Farrell!)

Hopefully Fox's attention to Borzage's period of greatest success in the late silent and early sound era will lead to more availability for later masterpieces-- and I use that word advisedly-- such as Man's Castle, Little Man What Now?, and History is Made at Night.

[greta de groat]

Hopefully Fox's attention to Borzage's period of greatest success in the late silent and early sound era will lead to more availability for later masterpieces-- and I use that word advisedly-- such as Man's Castle, Little Man What Now?, and History is Made at Night.

Hopefully some of his earlier films, too, like his two Norma Talmadge films, The Lady and Secrets, which i think are her best. Of all her directors, i think he brought out the best in her. In these films the emphasis is less on bedazzled young lovers than on the emotional journey of a woman over many years. Unfortunately The Lady is missing an early reel and has some significant decomp issues, while Secrets is, as last i heard, still needing restoration (LOC has an incomplete American print, Gosfilmofond has a complete European print, and MOMA has a worn 16mm European print). Either would be great with a Borzage set, and the latter would be lovely paired with Pickford's version, which i have not yet seen.

Has anyone seen Humoresque? Someone did review it on IMDB.

greta

[Mike Gebert]

I saw Humoresque some years ago. It's interesting that two eras could find completely different genres in the same story-- the 40s version is film noir, focusing on the relationship between the violinist (John Garfield) and his unstable patroness (Joan Crawford), while that's a pretty minor part of the silent version, where the focus is on how the mother's sacrifices pay off in the violinist son's career.

That said, I think while it's a well-crafted film for 1920, slick enough to seem like it was made five years later, it's really Borzage before he was Borzage, and could have been directed by Clarence Brown or a million others for all you'd know. I haven't seen anything between that and Seventh Heaven, so I don't really know when he became himself stylistically (though the young-love theme obviously became his focus because of Seventh Heaven's huge success).

[greta de groat]

Interesting. Perhaps his 20s range was broader, but i think he brought some of the same spirit of transcendent love to different circumstances--mother love (Humoresque and The Lady), wifely devotion (Secrets), and even a man's awkward unrequited love with some mother love thrown in for good measure (Lazybones, another wonderful film)

greta

[Jim Roots]

Even the Fox Studio Classics website has this unsubtle hint about 7th Heaven coming for Christmas.

What's with the "Chico" entry? All of the Marx Brothers films are already out on official DVD releases.

Jim

[precode]

Hopefully Fox's attention to Borzage's period of greatest success in the late silent and early sound era will lead to more availability for later masterpieces-- and I use that word advisedly-- such as Man's Castle, Little Man What Now?, and History is Made at Night.

And don't forget NO GREATER GLORY, still for my money the best anti-war allegory ever; it always leaves me bawling buckets at the end.

Mike S.
(up to his ass in buckets)

[Mike Gebert]

Never seen it... but now I have a new one to hunt for!

[silentfilm]

DVD Times reviews THE RIVER

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=67827

[35MM]

And a review at DVDBeaver.com:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRevie ... _river.htm