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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Nov 4, 2010 2:13:19 GMT -5
It's also nice that they're concentrating on the Pathe films, since the MGM silents have already been released on DVD. I don't yet know much about official releases of the silent films, and I have a couple of questions in that vein. Have the Pathé silents been released in any contemporary format other than DVD over the past couple of decades, or are they just not available at all to the average consumer? About the MGM silents: Are these the ones that Laughsmith had been planning to release, or were some of the Pathé films to be included, as well? From what I understand the Laughsmith project has been put on the back burner, but is there currently an official DVD collection that groups all of the MGM silents into one release? The TCM Our Gang marathon should be a wonderful event, one that I'll be looking forward to as the New Year approaches. I'm planning on rearranging my sleep schedule so that I can stay up all night and watch. :-)
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Post by mtw12055 on Nov 4, 2010 16:25:59 GMT -5
Only a handful of the Pathe silents have been released onto DVD in recent years. The easiest ones to find include "Dogs of War!", "Derby Day", and "The Sun Down Limited" among others. Several of the Pathe shorts (as well as several of the MGM silents) were released onto VHS by a few companies (namely Grapevine) a few decades ago. Some of these prints aren't that great, however (i.e. poor picture quality, incomplete prints). Most of these copies have been released onto bootleg DVD releases in the last few years. Reelclassicdvd and a-1video both offer a pretty decent collection of the silents. Grapevine also has plans to release more of the silents to DVD. Laughsmith's list of Our Gang shorts they wished to release was mostly from the Pathe era, though about three or so MGM silents were also on the list. Not too long ago, there was an official DVD release in Germany containing a most of the MGM silents. Keep in mind that a few of these shorts are still considered lost (although "The Old Wallop" and "Fair and Muddy" both showed up not too long ago). www.amazon.de/Die-kleinen-Strolche-1927-1929-Stummfilme/dp/B002880H7S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1288905818&sr=8-3On a side note, didn't Laughsmith get their hands on a complete copy of "Our Gang" at some point?
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Post by ymymeatemup on Nov 4, 2010 16:53:09 GMT -5
My understanding is that Laughsmith was going to include Robin Cook's version of "Our Gang."
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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Nov 8, 2010 19:51:02 GMT -5
I'm curious: Is the German DVD release that you mention compatible with the American region of DVD players, or would some converting of the disks' information be required?
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Post by mtw12055 on Nov 8, 2010 20:44:10 GMT -5
I'm curious: Is the German DVD release that you mention compatible with the American region of DVD players, or would some converting of the disks' information be required? I could be wrong, but I think more recent American DVD players are able to play Region 2 DVDs. I do have a Laurel and Hardy DVD collection in Region 2 that I was only able to play on certain players.
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Post by antifrodis on Dec 31, 2010 9:45:22 GMT -5
So are we all getting geared up for this barrage of Our Gang silents coming our way? I sure hope they're all complete versions of the films.
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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Dec 31, 2010 17:12:34 GMT -5
I certainly am! I asked TCM to send me an e-mail reminder both one week and one day in advance of the marathon, but I really doubt that I would forget, anyway. Staying up all night is going to be a little bit rough, but it will be worth it to see all of those uncommon Our Gang silent films!
Excitement, excitement... :-)
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Post by mtw12055 on Jan 1, 2011 12:55:35 GMT -5
I'm hoping to record the entire silent marathon, as well as the marathon of other Hal Roach shorts that takes place on January 19!
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Post by fourlittlerascals on Jan 1, 2011 22:24:07 GMT -5
The times are now listed for each short. Boxing Gloves was only 1 reel? It's listed as only 13 min...........
8:00 PM Helping Grandma (1930) C-18 mins, TV-G, CC 8:30 PM Love Business (1930) C-19 mins, TV-G, CC 9:00 PM Shiver My Timbers (1931) C-20 mins, TV-G, CC 9:30 PM Dogs is Dogs (1931) C-21 mins, TV-G, CC 10:00 PM Free Eats (1932) C-19 mins, TV-G, CC 10:30 PM Hook and Ladder (1932) C-18 mins, TV-G, CC 11:00 PM Free Wheeling (1932) C-19 mins, TV-G, CC 11:30 PM Birthday Blues (1932) C-17 mins, TV-G, CC 12:00 AM Fish Hooky (1934) C-18 mins, TV-G, CC 12:30 AM Forgotten Babies (1933) C-17 mins, TV-G, CC 1:00 AM Mush and Mile (1933) C-18 mins, TV-G, CC 1:30 AM Mike Fright (1934) C-17 mins, TV-G, CC 2:00 AM First Round-Up (1934) C-12 mins, TV-G, CC 2:30 AM Mama's Little Pirates (1935) C-12 mins, TV-G, CC 3:00 AM Little Sinner (1935) C-12 mins, TV-G, CC 3:13 AM Short Film: Gems Of Mgm (1931) An MGM musical and comedy revue from 1931. BW-16 mins, 3:30 AM Bored of Education (1936) C-10 mins, TV-G, CC 3:45 AM Two Too Young (1936) C-10 mins, TV-G, CC 4:00 AM Glove Taps (1937) C-11 mins, TV-G, CC 4:15 AM Hearts are Thumps (1937) C-11 mins, TV-G, CC 4:30 AM Rushin' Ballet (1937) C-9 mins, TV-G, CC 4:45 AM Fire Fighters (1922) C-26 mins, TV-G, CC 5:15 AM Saturday Morning (1922) C-15 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 5:45 AM Champeen, The (1923) C-23 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format
5 Wednesday 6:15 AM Cobbler, The (1923) C-22 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 6:45 AM Pleasant Journey, A (1923) C-20 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 7:15 AM July Days (1923) C-20 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 7:45 AM No Noise (1923) C-15 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 8:15 AM Big Business (1924) C-23 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 8:45 AM Buccaneers, The (1924) C-19 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 9:15 AM Seein' Things (1924) C-22 mins, TV-G, CC 9:45 AM It's A Bear (1924) C-21 mins, TV-G, CC 10:15 AM High Society (1924) C-20 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 10:45 AM Every Man For Himself (1924) C-14 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 11:00 AM Fast Company (1924) C-12 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 11:15 AM Sun Down Limited (1924) C-25 mins, TV-G, CC 11:45 AM Mysterious Mystery (1924) C-22 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 12:15 PM Dog Daze (1925) C-13 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 12:45 PM Shootin' Injuns (1925) C-21 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 1:15 PM Official Officers (1925) C-25 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 1:45 PM Boys Will Be Joys (1925) C-22 mins, TV-G, CC 2:15 PM Mary Queen of Tots (1925) C-20 mins, TV-G, CC 2:45 PM One Wild Ride (1925) C-19 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 3:15 PM Good Cheer (1926) C-21 mins, TV-G, CC 3:45 PM Buried Treasure (1926) C-14 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 4:00 PM Monkey Business (1926) C-12 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 4:15 PM Uncle Tom's Uncle (1926) C-23 mins, TV-G, CC 4:45 PM Thundering Fleas (1926) C-20 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 5:15 PM Shivering Spooks (1926) C-20 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 5:45 PM Fourth Alarm !, The (1926) C-24 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 6:15 PM Love My Dog (1927) C-22 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 6:45 PM Olympic Games (1927) C-17 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format 7:00 PM Boxing Gloves (1929) C-13 mins, TV-G, CC 7:30 PM Bouncing Babies (1929) C-21 mins, TV-G, CC
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Post by littlerascal4891 on Jan 1, 2011 22:29:24 GMT -5
I am so excited for this! I went through and recorded every single episode to my DVR... sure, I had to go and delete a bunch of programs to make room for them, but it's worth it!
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Post by mtw12055 on Jan 2, 2011 12:31:21 GMT -5
Most of the silents will be in letterbox format? Seeing an Our Gang short in widescreen format would be interesting, but at the same time, that means that part of the picture will be cut off. We'll have to wait and see...
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Post by fourlittlerascals on Jan 2, 2011 12:41:05 GMT -5
Letterbox? And only some of them in letterbox- that's strange since they were all shot in the same format - not like they're cinemascope or something...... And unfortunately these are far from complete prints - look at Monkey Business - just 12 minutes....... but what's worse, is that films that were originally two reels - Mama's Little Pirate, is down to 12 minutes?? That's nearly cut in half--and we know that complete prints of that one exist Sounds like they got some kind of package somehow on them all - who knows what the source was.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jan 2, 2011 13:21:11 GMT -5
The times are now listed for each short. Also: THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS (1930), 1/19 4AM PUPS IS PUPS (1930), 1/19 4:30AM GENERAL SPANKY (1936), 1/25 9:15PM Laurel and Hardy marathon from January 11-12 and other Roach shorts (including the Our Gang spin-off series "The Boy Friends" with Mickey Daniels and Mary Kornman) on January 19. TCM is also throwing in a short in the middle of the marathon called Gems Of Mgm (1931). It's to be aired at 3:13 AM on January 5th. TCM will also air "Dig that Uranium", a Bowery Boys comedy featuring a very entertaining small part by Alfalfa Switzer. This isn't Hal Roach related, but I though I'd mention it anyway. Since early 2010, TCM has been airing the Bowery Boys films every Saturday morning at 10:30 am. This particular film will air on January 22.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jan 2, 2011 13:26:07 GMT -5
I'm not sure what the source for where all of these Our Gang prints are coming from, but I want to say RHI, as they own mostly all of the talkie short subjects produced by Hal Roach (including most of the non-Our Gang shorts). I heard that TCM paid RHI some large amount of money for exclusive TV rights to the Laurel and Hardy films (some that TCM will be showing this month are rarely shown on TV). I'm guessing the other non-Our Gang shorts were part of a similar deal.
Another possible source for the Our Gang shorts is CBS Television Distribution, whom King World merged with a few years back. Hopefully, the smaller amount of time has to do with making up for added time listed between each short.
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Post by fourlittlerascals on Jan 2, 2011 15:42:17 GMT -5
And the MGM silents are strangely missing from this package. It's a shame -they're worthy of showing - especially since they are complete for the most part. Rainy Days and Wiggle Your Ears are two of my favorites - and Saturday's Lesson is my favorite silent. I know Maltin/Bann didn't like the "lesson" aspect, but the frantic pace of it and the expressions and overly exaggerated things that go on are great!
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