Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
04-25-09, 08:31 PM
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04-26-09, 08:20 AM
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Re: Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
They hinted at this after pulling the DVD out of print. I'm wondering what the reissue DVD will be like. In this case, this might be the oldest film on BD?
04-26-09, 05:06 PM
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06-04-09, 10:19 PM
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Re: Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
From MoC's Twitter page:
In Sept, a new edition of SUNRISE with a newly-found Czech print of the film, utilising different shots. Both versions in HD on the Blu-ray!
06-04-09, 10:50 PM
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Re: Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
this is excellent news.
06-05-09, 09:07 AM
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Re: Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
The Twitter page also lists two Pialat films in August, instead of one. This is good news, because Nous Ne Viellirons Pas Ensemble was originally announced as an October release on Eureka's website, and that's the one I've most wanted to see.
06-10-09, 04:48 PM
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Re: Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
Also from MoC's Twitter page:
The long-awaited 3rd MoC Series Catalogue will debut inside our new edition of SUNRISE in Sept (a futureproof DVD+Blu-ray combo pack w/book)
07-23-09, 09:31 PM
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Re: Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
No new extras, and the booklet now appears to be 68 pages:
This new 2009 reissue of Sunrise (for the first time anywhere in the world in 1080p HD on Blu-ray, in addition to a newly mastered 2 x DVD set) contains two versions of the film: the previously released Movietone version, and an alternate silent version of the film recently discovered in the Czech Republic. The Blu-ray edition includes both versions in 1080p HD.
The culmination of one of the greatest careers in film history, F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise blends a story of fable-like simplicity with unparalled visual imagination and technical ingenuity. Invited to Hollywood by William Fox and given total artistic freedom on any project he wished, Murnau’s tale of the idyllic marriage of a peasant couple (George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) created a milestone of film expressionism.
Made in the twilight of the silent era, it became both a swan song for a vanishing medium and one of the few films to instantly achieve legendary status. Winner of three Oscars for Best Actress (Gaynor), Cinematography, and a never-repeated award for “Unique and Artistic Picture”, its influence and stature has only grown with each passing year. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present a new 2xDVD and Blu-ray special edition of the film, including an all-new alternate version recently discovered in a Czech archive of a higher visual quality than any other known source.
The culmination of one of the greatest careers in film history, F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise blends a story of fable-like simplicity with unparalled visual imagination and technical ingenuity. Invited to Hollywood by William Fox and given total artistic freedom on any project he wished, Murnau’s tale of the idyllic marriage of a peasant couple (George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) created a milestone of film expressionism.
Made in the twilight of the silent era, it became both a swan song for a vanishing medium and one of the few films to instantly achieve legendary status. Winner of three Oscars for Best Actress (Gaynor), Cinematography, and a never-repeated award for “Unique and Artistic Picture”, its influence and stature has only grown with each passing year. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present a new 2xDVD and Blu-ray special edition of the film, including an all-new alternate version recently discovered in a Czech archive of a higher visual quality than any other known source.
08-16-09, 11:00 PM
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Re: Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
I'm confused (not an unusual state for me) ... is the Czech print different from the Czech print that was used for the Fox DVD (for the silent, not Movietone version)?
I recently watched this for the first time (and was blown away) ... in the Movietone version of the "swamp" scene, at the very end there is a small splice; I watched the Czech version hoping that maybe it was intact there (and so might eventually be repaired using that print's intact frames), and it was ... but it was a different (but extremely similar) take.
I recently watched this for the first time (and was blown away) ... in the Movietone version of the "swamp" scene, at the very end there is a small splice; I watched the Czech version hoping that maybe it was intact there (and so might eventually be repaired using that print's intact frames), and it was ... but it was a different (but extremely similar) take.
09-02-09, 04:36 PM
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09-14-09, 01:39 AM
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Re: Sunrise on Blu-ray from MoC
Hi
This Czech print, of high quality image detail, it's not any news. Just the divulging of it's quality is news, cause they had this copy found years ago, when they started the restoration of Sunrise, searching for the best quality footages of movietone version.
But since the czech print was silent, with different takes, and no soundtrack at all, they choose to work with the inferior image quality diacetate footage of the original movietone version, despite of be a 5th generation material.
Unlike lang's Metropolis and the restoration of the Carl Laemmle's The Phantom of The Opera, where they combine footage of different versions, they prefer to get the very original, instead of try to insert the high quality footage as lmuch as possible.
Check this, :
There were at least two original negatives for Sunrise, one for the Movietone version (1.20:1) that was exhibited in the few North American theaters equipped with Fox's patented Movietone sound system, and one for the full-aperture (1.33:1) silent version that was exhibited everywhere else. Both negatives were lost in 1937, when a fire destroyed the New Jersey storage facility that housed Fox's film materials. When the restoration team began gathering materials last year, the most viable source for their work was determined to be a 1936 diacetate print that had the Movietone track, held by the BFI's National Film and Television Archive. (Fox had a fine-grain master positive that was in worse shape, and the Academy had a safety print from the 1960s.) At an archive in Prague, Oliveria and David Pierce, director of the BFI archive, discovered a full-aperture nitrate print that had been made in 1927, but it was missing almost a reel of footage and featured different camera angles and edits. "Restoring silent movies is always a bit of a conundrum because you're dealing with A- and B-camera negatives, and sometimes C- and D-camera negatives, that are all different," notes Michael Pogorzelski, director of the Academy Film Archive. "The only way to generate more than one negative in those days was to have more than one camera film the action, and the A-camera footage was always intended for the film's home audience. For Sunrise, the European market was the secondary market." The restoration team eventually decided to treat the BFI's diacetate print "as the official version of the film, and fix it up as best we could," says Belston.
http://www.theasc.com/magazine/june03/sub/page4.html
Can someone, who saw the Blue Ray of the Czech version (found in prague), tell me if it's complete, cause the text above said it was missing almost a entire reel?
The text also said it used different camera angles, but the DVD Beaver comparison show that it's just different takes, but with the camera in same position.
Maybe they only found the missing reel of czech print recently.
Is the acting of the silent version (Czech print) in the same style of the movietone version, or a bit more expressionist?
I the acting is the very same stylke, and the scenes very close in length, maybe could be possible to create a alternate version, using as much as possible the czech print footage and the movietone soundtrack.
This Czech print, of high quality image detail, it's not any news. Just the divulging of it's quality is news, cause they had this copy found years ago, when they started the restoration of Sunrise, searching for the best quality footages of movietone version.
But since the czech print was silent, with different takes, and no soundtrack at all, they choose to work with the inferior image quality diacetate footage of the original movietone version, despite of be a 5th generation material.
Unlike lang's Metropolis and the restoration of the Carl Laemmle's The Phantom of The Opera, where they combine footage of different versions, they prefer to get the very original, instead of try to insert the high quality footage as lmuch as possible.
Check this, :
There were at least two original negatives for Sunrise, one for the Movietone version (1.20:1) that was exhibited in the few North American theaters equipped with Fox's patented Movietone sound system, and one for the full-aperture (1.33:1) silent version that was exhibited everywhere else. Both negatives were lost in 1937, when a fire destroyed the New Jersey storage facility that housed Fox's film materials. When the restoration team began gathering materials last year, the most viable source for their work was determined to be a 1936 diacetate print that had the Movietone track, held by the BFI's National Film and Television Archive. (Fox had a fine-grain master positive that was in worse shape, and the Academy had a safety print from the 1960s.) At an archive in Prague, Oliveria and David Pierce, director of the BFI archive, discovered a full-aperture nitrate print that had been made in 1927, but it was missing almost a reel of footage and featured different camera angles and edits. "Restoring silent movies is always a bit of a conundrum because you're dealing with A- and B-camera negatives, and sometimes C- and D-camera negatives, that are all different," notes Michael Pogorzelski, director of the Academy Film Archive. "The only way to generate more than one negative in those days was to have more than one camera film the action, and the A-camera footage was always intended for the film's home audience. For Sunrise, the European market was the secondary market." The restoration team eventually decided to treat the BFI's diacetate print "as the official version of the film, and fix it up as best we could," says Belston.
http://www.theasc.com/magazine/june03/sub/page4.html
Can someone, who saw the Blue Ray of the Czech version (found in prague), tell me if it's complete, cause the text above said it was missing almost a entire reel?
The text also said it used different camera angles, but the DVD Beaver comparison show that it's just different takes, but with the camera in same position.
Maybe they only found the missing reel of czech print recently.
Is the acting of the silent version (Czech print) in the same style of the movietone version, or a bit more expressionist?
I the acting is the very same stylke, and the scenes very close in length, maybe could be possible to create a alternate version, using as much as possible the czech print footage and the movietone soundtrack.
Last edited by Alfred Bergman; 09-14-09 at 01:45 AM.
09-21-09, 05:45 PM
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09-22-09, 06:38 AM
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