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DVD

Saved from the flames 54 rare and restored films 1896-1944

Call Number

  • DVD 791.43 S266 (CEN)

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Edition

Full screen version.

Languages

Mostly silent with musical accompaniment, or in English or French with English subtitles.

Publication Information

Los Angeles, Calif. : Flicker Alley, c2008.

Physical Description

3 videodiscs (420 min.) : sd. and si., b&w, tinted and col. ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet ([15] p. ; 19 cm.)

Audience

Not rated.

Summary

A collection of 54 rare and restored short films from the inflammable years of cinema. Movies were once made on nitrate film stock, which has a chemical composition similar to gunpowder and is highly vulnerable to fire and decay. This seven-hour anthology, organized in eight thematic groups over three DVDs, presents treasures from the vaults of Lobster Films in Paris and from the Blackhawk Films Collection, rescued during half a century of gathering movies from the nitrate era.

Notes

Collective title from container, individual titles, credits, and durations from booklet.

Originally produced as 54 short films between 1896-1944.

Booklet includes program notes for each film by Serge Bromberg and David Shepard.

Contents

  • Disc 1. New beginnings. Exiting the factory (France, 1896, 1:13) ; Arrival of a train / ( France, 1897, 0:48) ; Card party / (France, 1896, hand-colored, 1:26) ; Kobelkoff (France, 1900, 1:24); Danse Serpentine (In a lion's cage) (France, 1900, hand-colored, 2:08) ; Cyrano de Bergerac / (France, 1900, hand-colored, sound on cylinder, 1:55) ; La Marseillaise / (France, 1907, sound on disc, 2:41)
  • Magical movies. Excelsior! Prince of Magicians / (France, 1901, 2:06) ; The Talion punishment / (France, 1906, stencil-colored, 4:13) ; Kiriki, Japanese acrobats / (France, 1907, hand-colored, 2:38) ; An excursion to the moon / (France, 1908, stencil-colored, 6:47) ; The Automatic Moving Company / (France, 1911, 4:23)
  • Seeing the world. Seine flood / (France, 1910, 4:16) ; Over the top (A battle with the elements) / (USA, 1915, 11:22) ; A visit to Los Angeles / (USA, 1916, 10:25) ; Montmartre's kids / (France, 1916, 3:51) ; Dirigible Los Angeles / (USA, 1924, 19:24) ; In the land of giants and pygmies / (Belgian Congo, 1925, stencil-colored, English intertitles, 8:33) ; Technicolor fashion parade / (USA, 1927, 5:53) ; Charles A. Lindbergh, hero of the air / (USA, 1927, 11:50) ; Fireman of the Follies-Bergère / (France, 1928, 7:38) ; Meet me down at Coney Isle / (USA, 1932, 8:13).
  • Disc 2. Laughing like we used to. The dancing pig / (France, 1907, 2:24) ; Monkey race / (Italy, 1909, 4:03) ; I fetch the bread / (France, 1907, 5:10) ; Artheme swallows his clarinet / (France, 1912, 3:54) ; Kid's auto race / (USA, 1914, 6:20) ; The pest / (USA, 1922, 22:26) ; Lizzies of the field / (USA, 1924, 14:04)
  • Drawings and models. Fantasmagorie / (France, 1908, 1:30) ; Cartoon factory / (USA, 1924, 7:53) ; In the orient : Tony Sarg's Marionettes / (USA, 1929, 9:52) ; Ain't she sweet / (USA, 1932, 7:11) ; Balloonland (aka The Pincushion man) / (USA, Cinecolor, 1935, 6:41) ; Play safe / (USA, Technicolor, 1936, 7:05)
  • Grace notes. Radi-Ators / (USA, 1929, 9:18) ; Black and tan / (USA, 1929, 18:10) ; Louis Armstrong in Copenhagen (Denmark, 1934, 9:05) ; Jazz hot / (France, 1939, 6:20).
  • Disc 3. Persuade me. California election news #2 / (USA, 1934, 6:52) ; 3 advertisements for theaters produced in France: Week-end / (France, 1938, 2:17) ; Cette nuit-la / (France, 1935, 1:31) ; Clo-cloche / (France, 1935, 2:08) ; MGM promo reel / (France, 1936, 8:30) ; Master hands / (USA, 1936, 31:48) ; Philips Broadcast of 1938 / (Holland, 1938, 4:57) ; Three "Soundies" made for coin-operated jukebox devices: Yankee Doodler / (USA, 1942, 2:54) ; Rosie the riveter / (USA, 1943, 2:38) ; Dear Arabella / (USA, 1942, 2:38) ; Hell bent for election / (USA, 1944, 12:30)
  • Tell me a story. For his son / (USA, 1912, 14:52) ; Suspense / (USA, 1913, 10:10) ; The heart of an Indian (aka. The Indian massacre) / (USA, 1912, 32:20)
  • One for the road. Stolen kisses [compilation] (ca. 1920s, 3:30).

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