Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

DVD has been so great for fans of silent movies, that I'm a bit surprised that it took so long for a silent movie to appear on Blu-ray.

It's finally here! The first Silent movie on Blu-ray has been released in the UK from Masters of Cinema and it's region free:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...lu-sunrise.jpg

Reviewed here: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sunris...y-Review/6696/

Also available in the US from Kino is Buster Keaton's best movie:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...lu-general.jpg

Masters of Cinema has also released FW Murnau's City Girl:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...3-citygirl.jpg

Battleship Potemkin is out now from Kino

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...2-potemkin.jpg

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times is now available in Germany

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...oderntimes.jpg


and Chaplin's The Kid is out now in the UK (Consumer alert! please read post 28 below before buying):

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...737-thekid.jpg

Are there any other silent Blu-rays out there? If so, please post the details here.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr. is coming July 6 from Kino

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...-sboatbill.jpg

Chaplin's The Gold Rush will be released in the UK on August 23.

Metropolis is coming from Kino in November:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...metropolis.jpg

Edited to change post for pre-release news

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

I'm excited about Sunrise after reading the blu-ray.com review.

I'm hopeful for some Chaplin eventually. The current DVD options are largely less-than-ideal.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

I think the current Chaplin DVDs are mostly OOP, so I think we can expect blu-rays eventually.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Did Sunrise actually come out? I can't find a listing for it on Amazon.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

It's a British release:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunrise-Mast...3654580&sr=1-1

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/internation...u-ray-moc.html

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/hd-talk/560...1-10-09-a.html

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

The General was on the top of my buy list until today - Potemkin now takes that place. It's great that we are starting to see some of the truly classic silent era films emerging on Blu-ray.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

The semi-confirmed rumor is that Criterion has acquired the Chaplin films and will be releasing them, so BD is definitely a possibility there. I'm not sure of all the details really.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Working on my Battleship Potemkin review now. In a word, though...? Wow.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Really excited for this...
Thanks for the teaser.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Really excited for this...
Thanks for the teaser.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Thanks for the bump. I have updated my previous post which referenced a non-English friendly release from Sweden in October. I am looking forward to the review!

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

I'd never seen The General until the Blu-Ray came out and I decided to check it out. It was great, I watched it three times.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Oh that looks nice...

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

The new restoration of the complete Metropolis on Blu-ray is coming in November from Kino!

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/members/dam...metropolis.jpg

Kino link.

DVDTalk Discussion Thread.

Much has already been written about the lost footage that has been restored. I am looking forward to seeing this on the big screen this summer, can't wait!

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

I'll wait for MoC's Metropolis release.

After watching City Girl and seeing the screencaps for City Light I'm very excited for more Silent Film releases. I hope Criterion double dips with Pandora's Box and MoC with Diary of a Lost Girl.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Although I'll definitely catch this theatrically this summer.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Any whispers about CC's Chaplin stuff coming out soon?

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Adam Tyner's review of Battleship Potemkin has been posted

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/42063...emkin/?___rd=1

Great review, those still captures are incredible!

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

They are. That one w/ the guy looking to side of the camera is some intense shit there. Clarity is amazing.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Just pre-ordered Steamboat Bill Jr (Kino) on Amazon, release date is July 6th. :up:

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Not yet AFAIK, but Modern Times is now out in Germany and The Kid has been released in the UK.

Modern Times has been reviewed favorably at DVDBeaver, I haven't seen a review of The Kid yet.

I will be waiting for the Criterions myself.

I have also updated the first 2 posts in this thread so that the first lists silent blu-rays out now and the 2nd is for pre-releases.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Great news! thanks. I have added this to the 2nd post above which I will be using for pre-release news.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Here's the Steamboat Bill Jr. artwork
http://www.kino.com/images/product/216/1309.jpg

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Thanks biglou, I've updated my information.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

Update from Blu-ray.com:

The Steamboat Bill, Jr. Blu-ray will contain two alternate versions comprised of variant takes and camera angles.

In the silent era, it was common practice for filmmakers to create two separate negatives of their films, each comprised of differing takes and camera angles. This Blu-ray edition contains both versions of Steamboat Bill, Jr.: the version from the Buster Keaton Estate version and the version from the Killiam Shows Archive, each mastered from archival 35mm materials.

They have posted a short clip on line http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4648

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

You're better off. I just got my imported copy of The Kid today, and it's awful. The image has been overprocessed and then slapped with hard, heavy edge enhancement to try to compensate...very DVD-like overall and extremely 'digital' looking. I haven't done a direct comparison to the DVD that's in the same package, but this is the worst looking B&W classic I've seen on Blu-ray, and I own pretty much all of 'em.

I can post some screengrabs later if you want.

Re: Silent Era Blu-ray Releases and Discussions
 

RE: The Kid

Well that's unfortunate. The recent comments at Amazon UK say nothing about the image quality although there are comments about the 2nd disk (DVD version & extras) are missing from some copies.

I'm adding a consumer alert above to help warn people about the release, and I'd say a few screen grabs would be helpful.