|
Post by antifrodis on Jan 27, 2017 14:15:58 GMT -5
Your Own Back Yard (1925) - Hal Roach remembered this as being one of his favorite Gang shorts. Lost for the longest time, bits and pieces of this short were found by different people, and eventually re-compiled by our own antifrodis. After finally being able to see YOUR OWN BACK YARD, I find it to be entertaining, and at the same time fascinating. While I'm glad that the film is available in some format for people to see, let me just say that the version floating around out there was never intended to be made public. It was a preliminary edit that I did for my personal use. It contains some old footage for the first reel that belongs to Robin Cook of CW Films. As far as I know, Robin still intends to release a restored version of the film someday. Regardless, I did not have permission to release his footage publicly. However, I never posted this film and I am still not sure, to this day, how it got out there. On the plus side, the footage that Robin currently owns is light years better in terms of quality. Let's hope he is able to make it available to us sometime in the near future.
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Jan 8, 2017 21:33:55 GMT -5
Hey all,
In 2007, I started putting together edits of Our Gang silent films, using various sources. It was my intention to assemble more complete, and better quality versions of the films and make them available to the public. The first film I ever worked on was Young Sherlocks. Here were are, 10 years later, and I am posting that same film to Youtube again. However, this version (my third attempt at editing this film) has some extra bits not found in other currently available prints.
As always, thanks to James for providing some of the footage included here. Enjoy!
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Dec 30, 2016 22:40:55 GMT -5
Hey all,
Here is the Our Gang silent film "Seein' Things". I used the TCM version for the vast majority of the film, since it's the best quality and most complete. I used a transfer of a 16mm print that I owned for some additional footage not found in the TCM airing. Enjoy!
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Dec 19, 2016 1:37:23 GMT -5
Hey all,
Here's an old edit I did of the Our Gang silent "War Feathers". I used several sources of varying quality to piece the film back together. So you'll notice some drastic jumps in the film image at times in order to make the film as complete as possible. There is probably 2 minutes of additional footage in this version when compared to whatever else is posted on Youtube currently. This is as good as it's gonna get until our friend and fellow forum member Robin Cook releases his complete print of the film. Also, my apologies for the poor quality remade opening credits. This edit was created 8 years ago and I didn't have much ability in recreating titles. I still don't.
Enjoy!
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Dec 15, 2016 20:14:14 GMT -5
Okay. That footage is in my edit. The quality of mine varies from scene to scene, but it's more complete than anything else out there that I'm aware of. I'll try and post this weekend.
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Dec 15, 2016 9:27:45 GMT -5
War Feathers (1926) - The kids find themselves on a ranch with a gang out outlaws. Anyone know where I can find a decent print of this one? There's one online - originally put out by Reel Classic DVD, I believe - that has nice picture quality, but is missing several inter-titles. The version I just viewed, put out by Bill Sprague through his Video Classics label, has most of the inter-titles, but the picture is virtually unwatchable. Anyone that takes on the task of compiling this short back together, my hats off to you. Footage for "War Feathers" seems to have been scattered just about everywhere. There's even a home movie fragment that includes a tiny bit of footage in the wagon missing from most other prints. I may need to take another look at the Reel Classics print when I get a chance. I will repost my edit of the film sometime soon. I figured it was making the rounds on Youtube, but after checking, my version doesn't seem to be available. You had mentioned a while back that mine was still missing some brief footage. Can you be specific about what is missing? If I have it, I will add it. Thanks.
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Dec 11, 2016 19:33:49 GMT -5
Hey all,
Here's a new transfer of "Circus Fever". A while back, someone took a blurry still shot of the title screen and attached it to the old version and posted it to Youtube. This version of the film has the full original opening titles. The image is has much less cropping than the old version well. Enjoy!
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Dec 4, 2016 16:49:29 GMT -5
Hey all,
I am happy to be able to announce that the "long lost" Our Gang silent film "The Old Wallop" is finally available for EVERYONE to enjoy. While the film has been known to exist since the 1970's, next to no one has seen it. Thanks to an Ebay purchase from our own forum member, Farina, and his generous and costly efforts to have a brand new digital transfer completed, it is now on Youtube. Special thanks goes to the amazing Michelle Schacht for spending countless hours painstakingly recreating the original opening titles and intertitles, ALL of which were missing from the print we have. They are all accurately worded to the original film and look amazing! Also, thanks to James and Bob for their help with this film over the years. As well as to Robin, for making me aware of the film in the first place. Check another one off your list and ENJOY!
...and THANKS AGAIN to forum member Farina for making this project possible!
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Nov 14, 2016 0:01:21 GMT -5
I've been researching the Gang - and their various imitators - through news magazines of yesteryear for some time now. While I always find something of interest in the pile of bland "Good comedy... everyone laughed" reviews, this one comment really made me cringe - from a review for "Election Day." I'd compliment them on getting his gender right, if I wasn't so distracted by that awful comment at the end. Ugh! If you hadn't cited the source, I might have just mistakenly assumed the reviewer was a southerner. So much for Canada being progressive in terms of race relations, in the 1920s, at least! UGH, is right! Even in the 1920's interracial relations, cohabitation and marriage were still very much taboo in society. There were even laws against such goings on. Mull over some of this info. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation_laws_in_the_United_StatesTo me, the reviewer's comment about the perspective of the viewer on an implied improper relationship between an older Farina and the girl was in line with the era in which the comment was made. It certainly doesn't make it right and it is rather shocking to read in today's society, but it was probably not uncommon for someone to make a statement like that back then. Which leads me to my point. Was the reviewer making racist statements or was he just unwittingly following along with the norms of society in the 1920's? Maybe a little of both. Who knows? There is a scene in the Buster Keaton film "Seven Chances" that I recall being bothered by the first time I viewed it. It is where Buster's character is trying to find a wife in order to collect an inheritance. He sees a woman walking down the street from behind, and rushes up to ask her to marry him. He then realizes when he sees her face that she is black. He grimaces and walks away. Is his pained look because he does not like African-Americans, or is it because of the laws/beliefs/etc. of the time that prevent him from considering her as a wife? It certainly comes off as a tasteless joke when viewed today, but I was always curious what the intentions were behind the gag.
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Aug 30, 2016 22:24:29 GMT -5
Great news! Thanks for thinking to ask about "School Begins". Now we know.
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on May 25, 2016 22:33:35 GMT -5
That's a 35mm print! What you're probably used to is a 16mm source. 35mm is going to have much better detail for sure. You hardly ever see 35mm prints for sale.
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Apr 18, 2016 16:59:27 GMT -5
I got confirmation today that they shipped one to me at $9.30. Should arrive in a day or two.
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Apr 11, 2016 17:42:55 GMT -5
Price went up sometime after I made the post. It's at $35.49 now.
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Apr 11, 2016 8:56:11 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by antifrodis on Mar 31, 2016 11:34:00 GMT -5
Nevermind. I tracked it down.
|
|