The Bois D'arcy archival restoration dates from 1986. The VHS has
excellent visuals and sound (for a VHS). The NTSC copy I have came
from a PD distributor. The film is indeed very long but then again
how often do we get a chance to see an ensemble production such as
this: Paul Poiret did the costume design, Robert Mallet-Stevens did
the architectural design, PIerre Chareau was responsible for some of
the furniture, Rene Lalique for some of the objects, Fernand Leger
designed the sets for the laboratory sequences. Claude Autant-Lara
and Alberto Cavalcanti also contributed various design elements. It's
a veritable who's who of design in the gestating pre-art deco period
right before the 1925 Paris exposition. The film is rather
significant historically for this purpose rather than for its
narrative. The credits on the restoration indicate that Darius
Milhaud did the score for the film in 1925 but that it was
subsequently lost and the Bois D'Arcy restoration credits its
original musical score to Jean Christophe Desnoux. The producer of
the 1986 restoration is La Boite a images, and director Jean
Dreville was responsible for the tinting and toning in the
restoration. I love this movie: it has a dining room where the eating
area is on a kind of moat surrounded by a pool and Jaque Catelain
tools around in a beautiful Bugatti. Art Deco heaven to be sure.
Oksana
At 08:45 AM 23/08/2011, you wrote:
Another side note, even if the VHS was produced prior to GATT (1998)
taking effect, the score would almost surely be under copyright. You
would be surprised how many pirates of films that might be PD then
use copyrighted scores. Many years ago Kino was a decent settlement
with a company that literally ripped of the Kino version of
STEAMBOAT BILL JR which is indeed a PD title. Perhaps the funniest
one was a major chain that bought a ripped off version of QUEEN
KELLY. The even left the KINO LOGO on the DVD (while putting in a crappy box).
On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 7:10 AM, Shoaf,Judith P
<<mailto:jsh...@ufl.edu>jsh...@ufl.edu> wrote:
I have thought about the ins and outs of treating the item as public
domain though I didn't think of section 108 because I'm just a
language lab, not a library. The first 1/2 hour is in fact available
online; last night I watched about 15 minutes of it and found that
viewing it in a small window helps with the "torn and dirty pages"
quality Jessica mentions; also, it has a terrific performance of the
score (by Milhaud) which I presume dates from a postwar
recording/performance (i.e. not PD) and really helps to juice up the
strange rhythms of the film. I am not sure I could make a better
digital copy from the tape, and NTSC VHS from SECAM VHS is not
likely to be much good either.
Apparently there was an NTSC copy in the media library, and I think
that probably means it was released in the US at some point.
Apparently a prof who has left UF took it with her and it is now on
its way back. I will look to see whether it's a US release with English subs.
The professor's 80's SECAM copy is probably the best option--I
assume it is based on the restoration/orchestral performance used to
make the online video, but it would be better visual quality.
I think that the professor is likely to agree with Jessica about the
film being boring--she told me she has never watched the whole thing
but wanted to use it for the class because of the subject matter
(Paris fashion in the movies). My impression is that the reason the
online project only presents the first half hour (about 1/5 of the
whole film, I gather) is that this is the bit that has the moderne
costumes, sets, and special effects which make the film "important."
(The other interesting thing is the sci-fi/horror themes!)
Jessica, you mentioned a recent restoration, but nobody has said
anything about a DVD release. Does anyone know if it has been picked
up for release? Has anyone seen the restoration--it would be
interesting to know how well it "reads" in terms of the visuals...?
Judy
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VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of
issues relating to the selection, evaluation,
acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current
and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It
is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for
video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between
libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues
relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control,
preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and
related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective
working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication
between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and
distributors.