8mm Forum: Kevin Brownlow Hollywood

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Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 11, 2017, 03:12 AM:

Does any member own this dvd ? http://classicmoviesdvd.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=kevin brownlow&product_id=2358

I wish to know if it has the French version as well.

Posted by Mike Newell (Member # 23) on June 11, 2017, 07:24 AM:

Hi Dominque

I bought my set from similar site at around $50 mark. Originated from laser disc source quality is fair to good but only English selection. I don't think anything has ever be released officially due to copyright issues.

Mike

Posted by Mike Newell (Member # 23) on June 11, 2017, 07:27 AM:

Hi Dominque

I bought my set from similar site at around $50 mark. Originated from laser disc source quality is fair to good but only English selection. I don't think anything has ever be released officially due to copyright issues.

Mike

There are a number of similar sites on Internet.

http://www.pandorasvideo.com/page661.html

http://www.ioffer.com/i/hollywood-a-celebration-of-the-american-silent-film-dvd-116637241

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 11, 2017, 09:22 AM:

Thank you, Mike. I was not aware that it could be copies and not an original release. It appears that there has been a official release about ten years ago but probably not in French [Frown]

[ June 12, 2017, 11:51 AM: Message edited by: Dominique De Bast ]

Posted by Mike Newell (Member # 23) on June 11, 2017, 12:42 PM:

I think it was released briefly in US on DVD before being quickly withdrawn it was never released officially on Region 2. The problem is the family relatives of those who were interviewed in the original series. Apparently, they sued for royalties so the project collapsed and is with the lawyers.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 11, 2017, 01:19 PM:

Thank you for those précisions. It's a shame it's not easily available as the serie is fantastic. I remember having enjoyed it a lot when it was broadcasted on a French national channel in the eighties.

Posted by Chris Bird (Member # 3839) on June 12, 2017, 10:24 AM:

Hi Dominique, the problem is the film clips were not cleared for indefinite use, as it's much more expensive to do so. So the rights to every single clip, where there is copyright, would have to be individually renegotiated, and it would only take one or two greedy companies to make it uneconomic.

It has been on the cards moe than once to try to clear and redistribute the series, but it has always come to nothing. Kevin's later documentaries, from 1997 on, don't have this problem as the rights were cleared in perpetuity for exactly this reason.

The various DVDs floating around indeed come from the laserdiscs - they look not bad under the circumstances, and are the best you will ever get I'm afraid. Most of the episodes are also on youtube in poorer quality.

One thing - it's actually Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's Hollywood - David always sadly gets ignored today despite being one half of the team!

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 12, 2017, 12:02 PM:

Thank you for having add those informations, Chris. It seems that an official release will not be sold before long time so I decided to order what is available from one of Mike's link (as the seller says "zone free").
David Gill certainly deserves to be credited for the work that was done for this serie !

Posted by Joe Caruso (Member # 11) on June 12, 2017, 12:27 PM:

I bought the VHS set when it came out, and gladly so - Shorty

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 12, 2017, 01:04 PM:

I got a quick answer to my order from the seller (http://www.ioffer.com/i/hollywood-a-celebration-of-the-american-silent-film-dvd-116637241). In addition to thank me for the order, he sent me a (very long) list with other titles and I can choose two extra for free !

Posted by Gary Sayers (Member # 5545) on June 13, 2017, 05:01 PM:

Most of the series is on youtube. Just search for 'Hollywood the pioneers'.

Looks like it's probably from the VHS release but still very watchable on a smart TV.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 13, 2017, 06:04 PM:

I like YouTube for music clips but not for films and series. The discs I ordered should arrive next week [Smile]

Posted by William Olson (Member # 2083) on June 14, 2017, 03:26 PM:

Taped it on VHS from public television broadcast in the 80s. Love the series but my tapes are fair quality at best. Transferred them to DVD because I could. Got a laserdisc player in 1990 and I'm still kicking myself for not buying the boxed laserdisc set when I had the chance. Now, if you can find it used (it's rare) it costs a bundle. How come nobody goes after the people selling bootleg copies on the internet?

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on June 14, 2017, 07:15 PM:

Just watched a little of episode one on youtube -- saw Hal Roach spew his faux story about wrecking the wrong house in BIG BUSINESS.
Ugh!
[Mad]

As Stan Laurel once said in an interview about Roach's story, "What did he think we were nuts?"

Posted by Claus Harding (Member # 702) on June 15, 2017, 10:07 AM:

This is one instance where it is actually ok to have grey-market DVD copies available as the odds of this series ever getting re-mastered and re-released are very slim.
I have seen mentioned that Brownlow apparently is ok with the series being "distributed" like this as he knows most likely it'll be the only way the show will be seen by a lot of people.

The original was mastered on video tape of the era. Between having to digitize the surviving interview segments and getting them decent-looking, and then getting clearances, both from the families of the interviewees and from the rights-holders to get HD copies of all the film clips used, it becomes an expensive undertaking. It essentially becomes "reconstructing" the series.

I have the HBO-released original VHS set; I also have the DVD-version mentioned by Dominique. It is mastered from the laserdisc version, and that's as good as we can get right now. The seller is honest and provides good service.

I would not make the YouTube copies your introduction to this series, though. The copies I have seen on there are horrible-looking (unless they have been re-uploaded again recently.)

Claus.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 16, 2017, 01:16 PM:

I received my copy of 9.5, the (as one could have guessed) British Group 9.5's magazine. The name of kevin Brownlow appears as he was the judge for a script contest :-)

[ June 20, 2017, 06:19 AM: Message edited by: Dominique De Bast ]

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 20, 2017, 06:24 AM:

David Gill also worked on the excellent three parts serie Chaplin Unknown, I noticed. It seems that Chris is right when he says that David is unfirly ignored. This serie was officially released in French, so I have the original dvds [Smile]

Posted by Joseph Randall (Member # 4906) on June 20, 2017, 02:32 PM:

It is worth noting that UNKNOWN CHAPLIN was also narrated by James Mason.

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 20, 2017, 04:19 PM:

I didn't know that, Joseph. In French, it is narrated by Pierre Tchernia who was called "Monsieur cinéma" as a reference to a famous tv programm in the '60s and the '70s. James Mason is probably more known than Pierre Tchernia in the Anglo-saxon world [Smile]

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on June 21, 2017, 04:53 AM:

The postman brought me the dvds this morning :-)

Posted by Chris Bird (Member # 3839) on June 21, 2017, 11:09 AM:

Dominique, David Gill was Kevin's co-producer and co-director on all his work from Hollywood up to his death in 1997. Several award-winning documentary series and also dozens of silent restorations. That's why I hate seeing his name left out, as they were equal partners for 20 years.

I am glad your discs have arrived, it's a fine series. Next you have to track down 'Cinema Europe - the Other Hollywood', made by the same team in 1995 and also out of print for the same reasons! (My wife worked on that one, then I worked as film editor and later co-director on his films from 1999 onwards.)

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