Murnau, Borzage and Fox

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#101 Post by HerrSchreck » Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:03 am

Thanks for that Ola-- that basically solves it.

It'll be interesting to see the way the famous setup with the lamp up in the left upper corner (before the Vamp/Livingtone's shoeshine) is framed, and if this lamp is as chopped as the Movietone version.

Durango

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#102 Post by Durango » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:25 pm

Does it look like the best way to buy this is at Amazon @ $179.99 w/free shipping?

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Murdoch
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#103 Post by Murdoch » Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:09 pm

Deep Discount has it for $179.89 with free shipping, but I don't know how much you care about it being ten cents less.

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HerrSchreck
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#104 Post by HerrSchreck » Mon Dec 08, 2008 1:29 pm

Does anyone who has this know if the transfer used for Street Angel is sonorized with the original Movietone soundtrack, or did Fox just put out a silent version. I've been dying to know this since they released non-sonorized versions of Movietone films like Four Sons (and do I remember hearing that Hangmans House was Movietone too?).

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GringoTex
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#105 Post by GringoTex » Mon Dec 08, 2008 3:43 pm

I plan to first Netflix a single Borzage film, which will then determine if I purchase this set or not. Which film should it be?

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HerrSchreck
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#106 Post by HerrSchreck » Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:20 pm

You can't go wrong with Street Angel or Seventh Heaven (which I haven't seen all of vs online versions). But there's much rich pickin's and others may feel otherwise.

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foggy eyes
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#107 Post by foggy eyes » Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:21 am


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dadaistnun
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:31 am

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#108 Post by dadaistnun » Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:30 am

Dave Kehr: "Altogether, “Murnau, Borzage and Fox” represents the best that home video has to offer in quality, scholarship and enduring aesthetic interest; this is not a set that anyone will exhaust soon."

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#109 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:18 pm

Indeed-- it hasn't landed in the living room yet, but I know this thing is the greatest use of the dvd medium so far.. with a far lesser "ewww" factor than the Ford box (as in klunker films).

zone_resident
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:33 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#110 Post by zone_resident » Tue Dec 09, 2008 1:21 pm

Stunning screen captures, indeed.

BTW, I've just received shipping notice from Barnes & Noble ("Weight: 9.40 lbs").

PillowRock
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:54 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#111 Post by PillowRock » Tue Dec 09, 2008 3:46 pm

zone_resident wrote:BTW, I've just received shipping notice from Barnes & Noble ("Weight: 9.40 lbs").
I got the "shipped" e-mail from Borders Saturday evening. From what I've seen so far in the online tracking, I expect to see it tomorrow.

(I would have never expected last weeks 40% off coupon to work for a pre-order like this if I hadn't seen somebody here post about having done it.)

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Brian Oblivious
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#112 Post by Brian Oblivious » Tue Dec 09, 2008 4:39 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:Does anyone who has this know if the transfer used for Street Angel is sonorized with the original Movietone soundtrack, or did Fox just put out a silent version. I've been dying to know this since they released non-sonorized versions of Movietone films like Four Sons (and do I remember hearing that Hangmans House was Movietone too?).
The DVD contains what sounds to me to be a Movietone soundtrack with that authentic hiss- I don't know enough about the film to be sure of what versions exist or existed. Up to now I've only seen the film once, with a modern score composed and performed by the American Music Club.

As to the question "which Borzage should a newbie netflix", one might consider Seventh Heaven because the River (what's left of it anyway, which is, as someone (Kent Jones?) points out on the new documentary, basically all the love scenes and none of the action setpieces) is on the same disc.

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HerrSchreck
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#113 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Dec 09, 2008 4:52 pm

Thanks-- another member confirmed the same thing, and once he indicated that you hear the lovers whistling for one another that clinched it.

(I actually have an old VHS tape from a very rare airing of the film yrs ago, with the original Movietone soundtrack. I lve those old score-effect-tracked silents.. Man Who Laughs, Sunrise, Tabu, etc.. but was a little worried because of what happened to Four Sons by Ford.)

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Brian Oblivious
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#114 Post by Brian Oblivious » Tue Dec 09, 2008 5:16 pm

Incidentally, folks here might be interested to learn that half of page 122 of the 4 Devils: the Lost Film of F.W. Murnau book is devoted to the "So I've found a lost film" hoax from a little over a year ago on this very site. The respondents to that thread are referred to as "an impressive international fan base for 4 DEVILS."
Last edited by Brian Oblivious on Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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justeleblanc
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#115 Post by justeleblanc » Tue Dec 09, 2008 5:43 pm

Brian Oblivious wrote:Incidentally, folks here might be interested to learn that half of page 122 of the 4 Devils: the Lost Film of F.W. Murnau is devoted to the "So I've found a lost film" hoax from a little over a year ago on this very site. The respondents to that thread are referred to as "an impressive international fan base for 4 DEVILS."
I'm still upset about that being a hoax.

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#116 Post by domino harvey » Tue Dec 09, 2008 5:44 pm

Brian Oblivious wrote:Incidentally, folks here might be interested to learn that half of page 122 of the 4 Devils: the Lost Film of F.W. Murnau is devoted to the "So I've found a lost film" hoax from a little over a year ago on this very site. The respondents to that thread are referred to as "an impressive international fan base for 4 DEVILS."
Coincidentally, Wizard Magazine featured half a page on the Dot Com Forum's love of picture quotes and "Those cool Asian movies where people die in really crazy ways!!"

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Matt
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#117 Post by Matt » Wed Dec 10, 2008 5:23 pm

I am holding the library copy of this in my hot little hands right now and fighting off the temptation to buy one of my own. A lovely set, even if the books are paperbacks and the DVDs are held in truly awful paper slits. It's clear all the packaging budget went into the the outer box, which is nicer and more elegant than any CD or DVD box set packaging I've ever seen (except maybe The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Songbooks set). I am just so happy to finally get a chance to see Seventh Heaven after hearing so much about it for the last ten or so years.

The reference to our forum in the book is kind of an embarrassment, not least to Criterion as we are implied to be their official discussion site.

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swo17
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#118 Post by swo17 » Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:02 pm

Matt, does your library butcher all non-conformist packaging to put everything in generic cases like mine does*?



*Note: This includes putting Eclipse titles in regular-sized nontransparent cases (so I have to pull out the cover sleeve to read the liner notes) and slaughtering digipaks--chopping up and awkwardly folding the outer box to fit in the outer sleeve, and then attaching any thick booklets to the DVD case with masking tape.

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HerrSchreck
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#119 Post by HerrSchreck » Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:09 pm

Julia is holding up the tenderizer that is used to soften then mash the box, before the actual slaughter begins....

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Matt
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#120 Post by Matt » Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:50 pm

swo17 wrote:Matt, does your library butcher all non-conformist packaging to put everything in generic cases like mine does*?

*Note: This includes putting Eclipse titles in regular-sized nontransparent cases (so I have to pull out the cover sleeve to read the liner notes) and slaughtering digipaks--chopping up and awkwardly folding the outer box to fit in the outer sleeve, and then attaching any thick booklets to the DVD case with masking tape.
Only to a certain extent. I am too lazy to do all that work you describe, but all box sets are broken up and put into regular keep cases with simple custom covers. Anything in slim cases, like Eclipse titles, can stay that way. We need the space. In fact, most TV series sets that come in those abominable fold-out digipaks get put into transparent slim cases with custom covers. If I'm feeling particularly ambitious, those custom covers will be color copies of the box artwork shrunk to fit standard cover size. Usually they are just black text on white paper - an Adobe InDesign template.

This particular box set will be broken up into 12 individual keep cases and the books will be cataloged and put in the stacks. I will probably cut up the interior disc-holding book to stick a couple of the stills on my office bulletin board, and the lovely box will probably end up in the trash along with our Scarface money clip, I Am Cuba cigar box, and Blade Runner origami unicorn. I know. It's a shonde. At least I kept the Universal Monsters busts and have them sitting on my desk.

Perkins Cobb
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:49 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#121 Post by Perkins Cobb » Thu Dec 11, 2008 1:19 am

Jesus, the last thing we needed was for that douchebag Mr. 125100 to have his hoax enshrined in the mega-Murnau DVD release. That had to be, um, pretty much what he was after, right?

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HerrSchreck
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#122 Post by HerrSchreck » Thu Dec 11, 2008 3:03 am

I thought the same thing-- the fucking knucklehead is sitting around thinking "Mission Accomplished For My Otherwise Loser Self."

Se7en082
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:39 pm

Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#123 Post by Se7en082 » Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:18 am

Just a heads up to anybody who wants the set. I have been checking before and after this set came out for the best price. Today, Barnes and Noble lowered the price to 20% off for members. That plus their 15% off coupon and the 10% visa link, it came out to a total of a little over $157. The killer was the $10+ tax to Florida, but what the heck.

If Deep Discount runs the 25% or even 20% off, that should be the best price next year. But for the impatient ones... :)

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HerrSchreck
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#124 Post by HerrSchreck » Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:17 pm

Methinks me found me route to the promised land...

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Cosmic Bus
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Re: Murnau, Borzage and Fox

#125 Post by Cosmic Bus » Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:29 pm

The shipping gods are on my side, apparently, as both Ford at Fox back in July and now this (from Borders; at $145, Herr, the 40% coupon from earlier in the month would've been your best option) managed to arrive completely unscathed in transit, all discs snuggly in their holders. The only minor gripe I have is that there are a pair of cardboard chunks that need to be kept in the box so the two books don't bounce around.

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