talemyn

Just been looking into this and figured I'd turn to you guys for any insight. I'm interested in comments on both the set as a whole as well as any thoughts on the films themselves (so the thread sort of walks the line in between DVD Talk and Movie Talk . . . sorry ).

Thanks everyone!

FilmFanSea

The overtly racist plot of The Birth of a Nation (the Ku Klux Klan are the good guys) can make it difficult to watch at times, but there's no question that it is a great film, and was hugely influential (the editing of the final scenes is still a textbook example of how to create an exciting action picture).

I find both Intolerance and Broken Blossoms to be masterpieces, although they are very different films. Intolerance is an historical epic with great use of montage and special effects (for the time). Broken Blossoms is more along the lines of a Victorian melodrama--almost Dickensian. Lillian Gish gives a heartbreaking performance as a fragile waif who is terrorized by her drunken father; she finds a kind of pure (Platonic) love through a Chinese man played by Richard Barthlemess. I haven't viewed Orphans of the Storm yet. The 2 discs of Biograph Shorts show Griffith's remarkable breadth as a filmmaker. I especially recommend The Muskateers of Pig Alley and Corner in Wheat.

The discs in the set were produced by the esteemed David Shepard. Source materials are variable, but I don't believe there was significant digital restoration (I could be wrong). Supplements are light but otherwise excellent.

For anyone with any interest whatsoever in silent film or great filmmakers, this set is a must-have. Highly recommended.

RevKarl

FilmFanSea pretty much covered the subject, but you might want to check the following two threads for addtional information:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=388370

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269257

natevines

Is the Kino version of 'Birth' the best version?

talemyn

Yeah, I saw the second thread when i searched, but I missed the first one. FilmFanSea's response was really the type of thing that I was looking for. I've now some about The Birth Of A Nation, and a little less about Intolerance, but don't know anything about the others in the set. So I figured I'd just ask for overall impressions of the set, both technically and content-wise.

Thanks, FFS for the great reply.

talemyn

As I was looking into this set, I did run across this interesting comment on DVDBeaver (http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcom...hofanation.htm):

Note: The "Eureka DVD" is a Region 0 - PAL version.

Cameron

you will not be dissapointed...it is put together well.

If your a fan of Griffith pick it up...but i wouldn't just blind buy this without looking over a cheap PD version and reading up a little on the Man and the flak that comes with Birth of a nation.

very cool stuff

talemyn

It would actually be a blind buy, but I have been reading up on it and, frankly, it's the conversations and the back-and-forth that got me interested in the set to begin with. I'm particularly interested to see Birth Of A Nation and Intolerance together since, from what I understand, the latter is somewhat of a response to the criticisms of the former. I've even heard people propose that Griffeth's intent was not to make a racist movie and that a lot of the anger against the KKK that resurged after his film (which, apperantly, was a very different organization that the original KKK) has been redirected to the film itself.

I'm also curious from the perspective of these films' place in cinematic history. I understand that they made quite an impact on the movie-making world.

However, I still don't know much about the other titles in the set . . . still need to read up more on them.

I guess you could say that that I'm just generally intregued by the whole thing.

FilmFanSea

When I was in college, I had the pleasure of attending a screening of Broken Blossoms with live musical accompaniment. Lillian Gish was in attendance, and afterward spoke about her experience of making films with D.W. Griffith (whom she always referred to as Mister Griffith). There are many who believe that Lillian Gish was the greatest dramatic actress of the silent era. TCM occasionally runs what is probably her greatest silent film, The Wind (1928/Victor Sjöström), and she has a pivotal role in Charles Laughton's brilliant The Night of the Hunter (1955), but she will always be thought of as the Muse for Mr. Griffith.

Sorry ... that was probably a bit off-topic. But Gish does provide a touching filmed introduction to Broken Blossoms in the Kino set.

JiM T

I researched this a bit myself back when the Kino set was being released. That was a few years ago, but at that point, the Kino set was the best. I know I've been happy with it.

JiM T

djtoell

The biggest flaw with the set is probably that Intolerance is presented without the proper tinting. While Kino ostensibly used David Shepard's transfer for this, they inexplicably removed the tinting. I contacted Mr. Shepard back at the time of its release to see if this was perhaps an alternate version, but he informed me that the tinting is a necessity. I never contacted Kino to find out if they would correct this error.

Early in the print run of the box, Intolerance also came with a flawed audio track that was missing one of its two channels. Kino repressed the disc and made exchanges available, although I don't know if the corrected copies have made their way to store shelves. Intolerance seems to be the doomed disc of the bunch.

DJ

PatrickMcCart

Not quite... the defective audio was on the original Image Entertainment disc, not the Kino one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0006864/dvd

DVD Beaver has captures from Kino's edition and it has color tinting. http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcom...ntolerance.htm

FilmFanSea

Patrick is correct. The Kino edition is tinted (I don't recall any specific audio problems, but it's been a while since I watched it).

Here are the only reviews I could find of the set (both are "raves"):
Boxoffice.com MediaScreen.com

RevKarl

I don't know about the Image DVD, but there was definitely a digital audio problem with some of Kino's Intolerance discs, which the company admitted to and, as djtoell stated above, "made exchanges available" for. This was originally discussed in the below thread:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269257

Cameron

Then i say go for it...it seems like you know what your getting into it, and its good film to know about...it has always brought great debates, and will never be forgotten. Post when you buy it, and tell everyone what you think

djtoell

We're both half right.

The Kino Intolerable disc unquestionably had an audio defect, as has been well documented in this forum. On the other hand, it is actually Kino's Orphans of the Storm that is missing the tinting. See this thread on HTF for more info, including David Shepard's e-mail to me on the issue.

DJ

unclehulot

Has anyone confirmed that an exchanged copy of Intolerance from Kino DOES have 2 channel audio now? -- a while back someone reported a "replacement" copy from them with the same defect.

Thanks

Cameron

still nothing that i have heard of...i was asking the same question in another thread...no response

RevKarl

Sorry, guys, I still have an analog sound hookup, so I never did the exchange.

djtoell

I can confirm that it has been corrected. The first exchange disc I received was still defective. I informed them of this and they sent me a second disc, which correctly had 2 active audio channels.

DJ