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Post by 4farina2 on Sept 20, 2005 21:11:29 GMT -5
can some kind person tell me if the CabinFever of volumes 13 thru to the last ,are of poor quality? also... what about ANY Hal Roach Silents of Our Gang out there without any sound...? do all 220+ Episodes which are both silents and talkies ever fall under one roof .. or is just a rare and continuous task for the individual ??
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Post by Mark on Sept 20, 2005 22:41:11 GMT -5
All authentic Cabin Fever videos and DVDs are excellent quality. Notice they say on the box, remastered and unedited. They're all restored.
Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the biggest part of the silents. Many of them were butchered to death, some with caption titles missing, original opening and endings replaced, etc. If Grapevine Video's transfers to video were better, we probably would have had better picture quality (there's too much contrast, plus they look kind of like they took a video camera and pointed it to the screen while running the films). Grapevine was the only source for many of the silents (with PicPal selling copies of Grapevine's versions), so we can't be choosey when it comes to the silents.
I'm not sure what your 3rd question means.
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Post by 4farina2 on Sept 22, 2005 11:21:26 GMT -5
.. thanks for your knowledge.... the Silents seem like a rare find. I was merely suggesting that to have any Silents(preferably all) without any added sound which I feel many of them may have been doctored up with a cheapened sound back-drop. I am a film enthusiast~~ and regard these early Pathe Silents and the ones following up before the Talkies should be presented without sound... if all possible. It's not a real pressing concern of mine... i just think that whoever was responsible for the added sounds to the Silents could have done a much better attempt, musically. now when the Talkies arrived... wow! the music for these back-drops= pure genius...! What can one say....
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Post by Mark on Sept 22, 2005 12:42:04 GMT -5
Well, Our Gang had nice sychronized music during the late silent period right before the talkies came along. You can experience that on Cabin Fever Volume 15, with "Cat, Dog & Co."
I rarely watch anything from Grapevine's videos. The music is just terrible, except for the Scallawags TV prints which aren't all too bad.
Also, the music used for silent films on the "Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy" DVDs were excellent, some of the best 'silent film music' I've heard. It's anything but cheap. Just thought I'd mention it.
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Post by rarefilms on Sept 23, 2005 15:57:02 GMT -5
In reply to 4farina2, From what company have you seen the silents where you don't like the music? I know of some people who turn off the music from some silent films and play their own! If you don't want to hear any music at all, you can always turn the sound off. I personally think silent films should have some music, though. I am getting closer to releasing some of the 'Our Gang' silents, myself. Some of the soundtracks will be specially played for my releases - on an organ.
Robin of C-W Films.
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Post by zootmoney on Sept 23, 2005 20:47:54 GMT -5
That is good to hear, Robin.
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Post by sidewayscap on Sept 24, 2005 9:07:36 GMT -5
Yeah, it would be nice to have pleasant background music. I found the calliope music from some of the Cabin Fever early silents to be...ummmm....shall we say aggravating.
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Post by rarefilms on Sept 24, 2005 16:09:30 GMT -5
I also find the 'Cabin Fever silents' music aggravating. I don't mean "Cat, Dog & Co." but I mean "Baby Brother" I've also got "Dog Heaven" from them but I can't remember how the music goes! (which might be a good thing!).
Robin.
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Post by 4farina2 on Sept 25, 2005 12:31:15 GMT -5
..and maybe too i had made an unfair conclusion on ALL the Our Gang Silents and music that has been added. As Mark Brumfield has pointed out,.. there are some moments of good musicality..and im sure i can believe his statement .. but i do know that one Silent that had been included on one of the a GoodTimes collection which i had rented from my neighborhood video store... the background sound seemed safe and all. I feel i can do much better. 4Farina2
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Post by Mark on Sept 25, 2005 13:18:30 GMT -5
Are you talking about "Shivering Spooks?" I always liked the music GoodTimes had for that one.
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Post by 4farina2 on Sept 25, 2005 18:32:50 GMT -5
ya know~... i just can't remember the title of this one! .. I thought i'd remember it only because i was eager to watch it when i rented it...( one of the main reasons why i rented this particular DVD ) it was the one of which there were scenes of the chaps doin' their funning & clowning around at the Fair,, Rides and Ferris Wheels and all~~ also , there was this scene where some of the Gang were trying to push a funny looking boat out onto the water....[which of course it sank splendidly] some parts of the music were pretty effective while alot of it[in my little opinion] seemed "ok" [?] maybe some musicalities could have been a little more dramatic .. or something. Could this be the Episode you were thinking about ?
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Post by Mark on Sept 25, 2005 21:23:36 GMT -5
Aww. The one I was refering to was the second edition of the video you rented. Unfortunately the second one wasn't released on DVD. You can only have it on VHS.
The music in the episode you saw isn't terrible, but it "symbolizes" how badly chopped up the silent episodes are because that music was from the horrid abridged TV prints.
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Post by beatnik1968 on Oct 22, 2005 19:46:15 GMT -5
Some of the music on the Blackhawk Editions is a little annoying there was one video i bought of Derby day where there was no music at all!
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Post by cubear on Nov 26, 2005 15:41:28 GMT -5
It does seem like the Blackhawk prints of the silents are the best quality out there. Does anyone know if they were ever all collected on DVD and if they are avilable?
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Post by beatnik1968 on Nov 27, 2005 10:37:16 GMT -5
I don't think all the blackhawks were, but i bought a DVD at a dollar store that had blackhawk 'Spook Spoofing" and another short.
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