They're average appearing video products lacking in overall quality. In short, these no longer look like film. A wonderful film that appears to have received an overall digitalĬleansing that removed high-frequency definition. Occasional light positive and negative dirt. Way Out West - Nice densities, wonderful audio, overall lack of resolution and detail, soft on the verge of going waxy. Sons of the Desert - overall dupey, obviously not from original nitrate elements The Music Box - Digitally cleansed, no grain, underlying dirt and wear Help Mates - Soft, appears digitally scrubbed. My and My Pal - Overly digitally soft and grainless Hog Wild - Okay with black levels a bit odd in some shots Here's a sample of what I'm seeing, and keep in mind, everything is publicized to be from 2 and 4k scans of original nitrate:īrats - Overall soft imagery, with some blown-out whites In short, the claims don't match the finished product. Barnum, which I'd surmise came from the marketing side of the project, not being in sync with the restoration and production side. There are some terrific people and entities behind the set, but it's let down by some of the best hyperbole this side of P.T. It bills itself as "Definitive," "2k/4k From Original 35mm Nitrate Sources," and capping those claims with "The best quality since their original release."
Harris wrote:I'm not quite certain how to review this set, as it's an extremely important document.
From what I've seen/heard of the R1 silents, they use the same vintage needle-drop tracks, crudely stitched together, which quickly become annoyingly repetitive. I haven't seen enough of the R1 Image releases to compare visually but I do believe the scores on the R2 are generally much better, in some cases specially tailored to the films. Note the print quality of the silents varies greatly on the UK set. There are also a few exclusive items on the Essential set and, generally speaking, the prints are slightly cleaner or otherwise superior to the R2 talkie transfers.
I own both and bought the Essential set long after the UK one, mainly because the foreign-language versions are subtitled on the R1, but not on the R2 (unless they've added them since the set's initial release). Matrixschmatrix wrote:I'm watching through this whole thing, and really enjoying it, but it's driving me crazy that there doesn't seem to be a good way to get the silent shorts- should I just buy the massive R2 brick? I feel like it would make the Essential set redundant, but it seems preferable to spending what would apparently be about $2500 on the Image discs for the missing parts. The narrative he provides to disappointed customers is so pathologically self-involved, digressive, and overweeningly heroic-with themes of self-sacrifice and isolation amidst hostile resistance-that I can't help but feel a little sorry for him, even if he did end up destroying camera negatives through negligence. He's been involved with this for so long, he has confused himself with Hal Roach Studios, even though, judging by the results of his stewardship, he has knowledge and proprietary interests that can never be met with means. From what I can glean in conversations on forums, in spite of everyone's justifiable anger toward Agee, he seems like a well-meaning guy who wants to be perceived as a champion of film preservation, but can't bear to let anyone (with money, means, knowledge, etc.) to shepherd the project, especially if it means he has to relinquish physical control of the negatives. but in many cases the reel was a total loss. If there had been a single frame we would have saved it. His un-air conditioned, gets hotter than 100 degrees Yorba Linda, California garage!!!! He finally after it was too late for much of the material give it over to UCLA and we had to get rid of a good amount of it. Why? because Michael Agee kept it, and many of the silent nitrate negatives he has in his trust, in his garage. completely beyond ANY chance for restoration.
Nothing is more sickening for a film fan (much less a big L&H lover) then to have to do that, but HABEAS CORPUS was a solid brick. Bor Enots (Rob Stone) wrote:I can tell you where a number of the original camera negatives for the silent went.