CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

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Paul E. Gierucki
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CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

Postby Paul E. Gierucki » Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:36 pm

A quick reminder:

CineMuseum's new reconstruction of THE GARAGE, starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, will premiere tonight on TCM! This new version required in excess of 150 edits to replace footage missing from previous releases, and features a new piano score from the inimitable Ben Model. Please check local listings for times.

Gary Johnson
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Re: CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

Postby Gary Johnson » Sun Oct 16, 2011 8:55 pm

I didn't give this evening of Keaton a second thought since I've seen everything...,I own everything......
I will now tune in (at least for the viewing of THE GARAGE).

Am I assume that everything else are the usual prints that TCM shows?

Paul E. Gierucki
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Re: CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

Postby Paul E. Gierucki » Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:54 pm

There appear to be a few new things scattered through the festival, last Sunday saw three new CineMuseum reconstructions, tonight is the last of our contributions. Cannot say what else might be new.

-- P

Ben Model
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Re: CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

Postby Ben Model » Mon Oct 17, 2011 12:08 am

The Keaton solo shorts are from the new Kino DVD/Blu, so those versions will not be the usual prints. Some of these have new scores, some do not.

Ben

Richard M Roberts
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Re: CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

Postby Richard M Roberts » Mon Oct 17, 2011 5:26 am

Kudos to Paul Gierucki and Cinemuseum for the newly restored version of THE GARAGE (1920) that was broadcast on TCM in the wee hours this morning. This restoration, that utilized original print materials from David Shepard/Serge Bromberg, Myself, and others put together the most complete version of the last Arbuckle/Keaton short to be so-far seen. The tinting of the fire sequence looked great, the score by Ben Model was delightful, and it was at the good and correct comedy speed. A job well done.

Though I also got a great laugh looking at the TCM promo that preceded the short about westerns fans that featured the sight of Michael Blake and Mark Heller in cowboy hats! Yippie Ty-Yi-Yo, get along little film buffs.......


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Paul E. Gierucki
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Re: CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

Postby Paul E. Gierucki » Mon Oct 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Thanks for the kind words, Richard!

Brittany and I are very grateful for all of the help and support we received from The Mafia. In fact, the project would not have been possible without the assistance of yourself, David Shepard, Serge Bromberg, Charles Tabesh, Zoran Sinobad, Rob Farr, Steve Massa, Brent Walker, Robert Arkus, Ben Model David B. Pearson, The Library of Congress and a host of others.

With this lot under our belts, we are again moving forward with the collections announced here previously.

Again, our thanks to all.

-- Paul E. Gierucki

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Re: CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

Postby Gary Johnson » Mon Oct 17, 2011 2:14 pm

I just watched last night's showing of THE GARAGE. Marvelous print. Just to refresh my memory I pulled out my Image version to compare how much of the flickering effect Paul was able to eliminate in his version. Also, the the subtitles help to clarify some of the gags, like the opening prohibition line and what the filmmakers actually thought the true value of a Ford was.

Paul E. Gierucki
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Re: CineMuseum: Arbuckle - Keaton on TCM

Postby Paul E. Gierucki » Mon Oct 17, 2011 3:14 pm

Thanks, Gary. We used three different prints: one original full aperture 35mm print courtesy of Messrs. Shepard and Bromberg, and two vintage 16mm prints to fill in the missing material. As one of the 16mm prints was also full aperture (Richard's) we were able to reintroduce missing frames as well as various bits of business and extended action which had been lost. (The exact number of edits escapes me but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 150.) That particular process is labor intensive but well worth the effort.

We then executed a second color correction, blending the lesser quality prints as seamlessly as possible, and ran a light flicker reduction. From there we applied an overall stabilization filter (absolutely critical when merging such vastly different source materials) added a microscopic amount of DNR and dirt removal, then moved on to tinting and toning the fire sequence. As we have not yet been able to do larger amounts of dirt and scratch removal without affecting the integrity of the image we decided to take a minimalist approach. Hopefully some of the newer programs we are testing now will help yield better results.

This is a simplified account of the work involved in the picture restoration, recreating intertitles is just as time consuming, but it will give you some idea of what we are trying to accomplish and the reasoning behind it.


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