Release of the Week
Gaumont Treasures 1897-1913 (DVD only)
Kino's Gaumont Treasures box set is a condensed, subtitled version of Gaumont's "Le Premier Cinema" set that was released in France last year. Based on the strength of the materials included here, I should hope they release the Le Premier Cinema features they left out as Gaumont Treasures Volume Two. I'd buy it in the blink of an eye.
The Gaumont Film Company is the oldest still-running film company in the world, having been around since 1895. Treasures features work from three of the cinema's great pioneers, though only two of them are really well-known to most US film lovers and historians. The three directors effectively passed the torch of running Gaumont to one another, from Alice Guy to Louis Feuillade to Leonce Perret. One of whom, Perret, directed himself as an actor. The box set concentrates the work of each filmmaker on its own disc.
Alice Guy's The Birth, The Life, and Death of Christ
In a year that finds many critics rallying behind an excellent female director (Kathryn Bigelow) for awards consideration, it's nice to see the early work of Alice Guy on DVD. Guy was of one of the most important and prolific early film directors during her time working with Gaumont in France before she "went Hollywood" and moved to the States. The Alice Guy disc features 3 hours & 45 minutes of films shot between 1897 and 1907, including what I understand to be one of the first religious epics: The Birth, the Life, and the Death of Christ (1906), which runs 33 minutes. The films from Guy range from half a minute to around half an hour, and span the period in cinema history where movie making went from being a "trick" or optical illusion to being a full-fledged storytelling medium.
Louis Feuillade's Bout de zan Steals and Elephant
Louis Feuillade is best known for spy serials such as Les Vampires and Fantomas, but his influence across all genres is much broader than many have been taught. Feuillade is estimated to have directed anywhere from 600 to 800 films: thrillers, comedies, tragedies, historical epics, satires, and the list goes on. Feuillade also carries the distinction of helping pioneer the multi-crap-sequel trend with his Bebe and Bout de Zan series that featured a small child actor getting into all kinds of mischief. Granted, his serials of this sort were around 10 minutes long as opposed to studios making feature film sequels into tens and twenties of installments and "reimaginings" these days. Kino offers around three and a half hours of Feuillade's work here from various periods. I would love to have seen all the Bebe and Bout de zan shorts that weren't included, however (again, hoping for a Volume Two). The disc also includes Louis Feuillade: Master of Many Forms [10:33], which covers an astounding amount of ground in less than a quarter of an hour, including Feuillade's founding the styles of "La film esthetique" (Esthetic Film) and "La vie telle quelle est" (Life As It Is). None of the Fantomas serials appear here, as the titles included end with his early 1913 work just before that series.
Leonce Perret's The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador
Leonce Perret's work is closer to what modern filmmaking became, and frankly, he composed and directed films superior in execution to that which D.W. Griffith was putting out at the same time. Only two of his films are included: The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador (1912) [43 mins] and The Child of Paris (1913) [124 mins], so there's still nearly three hours of Perret's work. The hour and two-hour feature film really only started being made in the early 10's. I had honestly never heard of Perret prior to watching this set, and now I can't imagine not having been exposed to his work, which would be emulated and stolen from for years to come. Leonce Perret: The Filmmaker's Filmmaker [17:40] is the only extra, and it is just as excellent as the Feuillade featurette.
The Gaumont Film Treasures 1897-1913 box set is an essential component in any true cineaste's library. I will hold out hope for a complimentary second volume that includes more work from these directors during this period.
New Release
Sin Nombre (DVD only)
twelve Deleted Scenes [10:03]
Feature Commentary with director Cary Fukunaga and producer Amy Kaufman
I just wish this were also available on Blu-ray. The extras have no fat on them. Here's my review from yesterday.
State of Play (Blu-ray & DVD)
two Deleted Scenes [3:39]
The Making-of State of Play [18:45]
I wish more people had a chance to see this one. My review/old-man-rant from earlier today.
DisneyNature's Earth (Blu-ray & DVD)
Earth Diaries - The making of DisneyNature's first feature film [42:32]
Blu-ray exclusive: Filmmaker's Annotations, DVD copy of the movie
This goes on collectors' Nature Film shelf right alongside Baraka, the Planet Earth miniseries and its offshoots. Taken from the same hours upon hours of footage as Planet Earth, this James Earl Jones-narrated Disney Earth doc tells a more condensed story that isn't afraid to show things like a lion successfully hunting an elephant and other bloody, death-involving things. People who came out of press screenings crying, "oh, what will the children think?" are infected by the same over-cautious culture that is hermetically sealing kids inside static environments and never letting them go outside so they end up out of shape and wimpy like Russell from Pixar's UP.
The Earth Diaries featurette is worth sitting through, and the Filmmaker Annotations are basically a pop-up text and video track that's only on the Blu. This is a great reference disc for that big beautiful HDTV in or coming to many homes.
Sugar (Blu-ray & DVD)
Featurettes: Making Sugar: Run the Bases, Play Beisbol! The Dominican Dream, Casting Sugar: Interview with Algenis Perez Soto
Deleted Scenes
Blu-ray exclusive: Unrated Cut on the Blu-ray
I've heard really good things about this one and will be watching it in the morning. [Edit: reviewed here on 9.8.09]
Direct to Video
Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (Blu-ray & DVD)
Let's hear it for Bring It On Part Five, folks. A friend of mine did drum programming for the composer and had a track licensed for use in the movie. I might be guilt-tripped into watching it. Great.
Drifter: Henry Lee Lucas (DVD only)
I will be reviewing this one in the coming days. From the press release:
Convicted and sentenced to death in Texas for 11 murders (commuted to life in prison by then-governor George W. Bush), Henry Lee Lucas (Antonio Sabato, Jr., General Hospital, Melrose Place) confessed to more than 350 murders, most with partner Ottis Toole (Kostas Sommer). But due to an ongoing habit of making confessions, then recanting them, it is unknown how many he actually committed. Flashbacks recreate the crimes, violence, ruthlessness and callousness of one of America's most infamous serial killers, who once revealed, "Killing is like eating and you eat because you're hungry. Sometimes I just got hungry."
Devotion: An Unauthorized Tribute to Michael Jackson (DVD only)
Featurettes: "The Memorial", "Media", "Global Phenomenon", and "Charity Work"
If the non-stop news coverage ending traumatized you, this is the perfect fix! A scant two months after his death, this hastily-compiled "tribute" doc is little more than a 50 minute (70 including the featurettes), commercial-free version of what kept going ad nauseam on TV. The highlight here is a couple clips of crazy Joe Jackson being pretty incoherent. The filmmakers pieced together a bunch of stock footage pretty well, all things considered. Frankly, this doc does a cleaner, more efficient job of telling his life story than the major cable networks did.
New to Blu
Braveheart Sapphire Series
Gladiator Sapphire Series
I haven't looked at either due to the studio dragging their feet on review copies. What I hear about the picture on Braveheart is that it's great. On the other hand, Gladiator is apparently not so good due to mixed source elements. There are all-new extras on both. These discs are a top priority as soon as I get them, but I'm not breaking myself in half to get them, since "the story" has already played itself out.
M*A*S*H
The Girl Next Door
High Crimes
These Fox titles are all Blu-grades of their existing special editions. The MASH transfer was the one I was worried about, and upon first inspection, it looks pretty good. I need to give it some more time and attention. High Crimes and The Girl Next Door look and sound great upon a quick glance.
Fire & Ice
Blue Underground has Blu-graded its excellent special edition of this animated, Ralph Bakshi-directed fantasy film. I haven't had a chance to look at it, but the existing DVD is pretty excellent. From what a friend tells me, this is an excellent non-Disney catalog animation reference disc.
Reissue
Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie (DVD only)
All the original extras remain from 2005, but for a limited time, they're including a "Beanz" Pooh-dressed-as-Tigger plush. The main reason I'm even mentioning this title in this column is that I support this style of use for these characters, not the abominable live-action-in-suits and CG kids' TV series I flip past occasionally. Those other implementations of the characters have nothing to do with Winnie the Pooh. Christopher Robin has become a little girl with a too-cutesy dog. It's weird that they took the sequence that most terrified me as a kid (Heffalumps and Woozles) from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and made a cuddly new toy out of it in Lumpy the Heffalump. This kind of brand extension I can accept.
Disc Roundup is posted each week on Thursday, sometimes Friday, depending on what kind of a mountain I have to get through. If you think I've missed something, feel free to send me an email at the name of this column at gmail dot com. Don't include any underscores, dots, or numbers instead of letters, or it'll go into a black hole, from whence never to return.