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Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:36 pm
by Chris Seguin
Well, not literally, it's sitting on my desk at home. Seems Kino is happy to ship before the March 22 release date to Canada. Socialized medicine AND pre-release Keaton! What a great country.
I haven't had a chance to unwrap the cellophane, but I'm quite looking forward to this -- especially the 49-minute HOSPITALITY cut unearthed by Paul G. Stay tuned, I'll try to report on it asap.
Chris

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 3:39 pm
by David B Pearson
And?....

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 4:54 pm
by Chris Seguin
...and I've been too swamped at work to write down any thoughts!! :)
(Also, in all honesty, I was sidetracked by the Max Davidson set...)
I will say this... HOSPITALITY is a really fascinating piece of film, and the David Pearson documentary is, like those that preceded it on earlier discs, stellar.

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 6:29 pm
by David B Pearson
Chris Seguin wrote:...and I've been too swamped at work to write down any thoughts!! :)
(Also, in all honesty, I was sidetracked by the Max Davidson set...)
I will say this... HOSPITALITY is a really fascinating piece of film, and the David Pearson documentary is, like those that preceded it on earlier discs, stellar.


Well, the OUR HOSPITALITY documentary belongs to Patricia Eliot Tobias, although she was kind enough to add me as her associate.

Now, finish with Davidson and stop leaving us hanging...

:-)

DBP

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:35 pm
by Chris Seguin
True about Patty, I apparently didn't give credit where credit was due! She's done a fantastic job with these docs, they're tremendously watchable and endlessly interesting. Great stuff, and kudos to the Queen of Keatonia!

As for Max, I DO hate to keep folks hanging. Here's my two word review: GET IT. The shorts themselves are nothing short of hilarious, it's an extremely strong and consistently funny series and it's a real shame it didn't continue longer. And I have to say that any DVD that has two minutes of tragically decomposing footage of Max and Oliver Hardy together is okay with me. It's stuff like this (and the rediscovered HOSPITALITY) that reminds me of how very LUCKY we are to have what we have, rather than focusing on what's lost to time.

Best things on the Max set? PASS THE GRAVY (of course, and looking great), a beautiful 35mm nitrate of JEWISH PRUDENCE (far superior to the one on the UK L&H box set), SHOULD SECOND HUSBANDS COME FIRST (Spec O'Donnell in drag and semi-naked!) and DUMB DADDIES. Then there's Hal Roach's first talkie, the truly bizarre and utterly delightful HURDY GURDY, which is so advanced in its use of music and dialect that it borders on genius.

And, as I've said before, more later.

Chris

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:47 am
by Rob Farr
Yeah, I have the Max set in my hot little hands too. Chris, let's race to see who can be first to post a review. And...I'm off!

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:56 pm
by Chris Seguin
Rob... you win. ;)

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:24 pm
by DaveGlass
Hey Chris

Any news on whether the IRON MULE extra is the full 2 reel version or the usual Shepherd cutdown??

With bated breath...

Dave

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:43 pm
by Chris Seguin
Hi Dave; in all honesty, I haven't screened THE IRON MULE yet. But I'll take a look tonight. I'm pretty convinced it's the complete film, but don't take my word for it. Chris

Re: Kino's OUR HOSPITALITY blu-ray is in my hands

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:50 am
by Ben Model
It was newly transferred in HD from MoMA's 35mm restoration, made from a print they preserved from a 35mm nitrate from the Czech film archive several years ago (thank you, Eileen Bowser), and is 4-5 mins longer (because of footage not running speed). I connected Kino with MoMA when they hired me to score the film and were only aware of the shorter edition, and I was pleased that MoMA let something out of the vault for DVD. (Doesn't always happen.)