Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are
Image/Retromedia
Here Comes Mr. Jordan Sony
and
The Clock Warner DVD
Howdy once more! Reader Don Showalter directed Savant's attention to this interesting Things To Come link, about a May 2 SCI-FI LONDON Film Festival screening of what is described as a "restored, extended edit" of the 1936 H.G. Wells classic that Savant has written about to excess. It sounds too good to be true, especially in that no concrete details are given; the Legend-Harryhausen colorized disc a couple of months back raised false hopes of a restored release, so we hope this will be longer, especially because the article says that a DVD is in the works from Network DVD.
Odd qualifiers sneak into the announcement copy: "This version of the film is the longest known to exist anywhere in the world and has been sourced the best available 35mm elements." Available to whom? "Network has commissioned the best and longest known version to exist of this film anywhere in the world in H.D." I'm awful glad it was commissioned. Longest known to whom? Did they really search the world over? Does H.D. mean that this is a digital video job, and not a real film restoration?
Some American companies will identify a reamed 16mm print transferred to digital tape as a 'digital restoration.' How come the BFI is not mentioned, or any archive or restoration entity? Granada television is the only other company cited. Perhaps some helpful Savant reader can step forward and better inform us of the facts. I'd be happy to apologize for my suspicious attitude, should this be the restoration we've been waiting for.
I've been assured that Things To Come already exists somewhere in a version slightly longer than its present 96 minutes, but continuities and stills show that when originally screened it was upwards of 113 or 117 minutes, perhaps even longer. So we shall wait and hope in cynical optimism. Thanks for reading! Glenn Erickson
Posted by DVD Savant at February 12, 2007 07:26 AM