February 15, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007

Salutations! Savant's new reviews today are

A Man for All Seasons  Sony
and
Blume in Love  Warner DVD

Hi again. I've gotten several welcome notes telling me not to write off the announced Newtwork UK disc of Things to Come, as the Network-Granada connection may be a good one:

"Just a note regarding Things to Come - Network is a well-respected UK distributor and has a massive deal with Granada and releases practically all of their 'archival' titles, both feature films and television. Granada owns the Korda library (which is still very much in copyright here in the UK, unlike in the US) and so has exclusive rights to the film material in the UK. They also own the Rank library, the Romulus library (The African Queen and so on) and the ITC library.

Their most recent HD restoration was Black Narcissus which was a joy to behold and which is compared with the Criterion release at DVD Beaver. This was sourced from 35mm elements, transferred in HD and then subjected to digital restoration, so one may hope that this is the case with Things to Come. This isn't just a legit release, but one made by the company that actually owns the film.

This should be, on past experience, good news - Network do also release many titles as budget releases without the expense of any 'restoration', but in the past at least when they have actually 'restored' a title it has been very impressive. -- Regards, Sergio Angelini" 2.13.07


"Hello Glenn, First something about Things to Come. TLE-Films, who did the additional restoration of Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More for Paramount Germany, seem to be involved in a digital restoration effort of the movie. No exact details are known, but apparently their restoration has nothing to do with the upcoming DVD from Network and seems to be only in the beginning stages.

I've got high hopes for the Network DVD, but the running time is listed at 89 minutes on Amazon UK. Anyway, this is not a small label, but a big company who knows its stuff and has specialized on many British TV classics and movies. Maybe they have a good 35mm source, but it's unlikely they did a film-based restoration - a good HF video restoration would be the next best thing to do if the target market is home video. -- Guido Bibra" 2.13.07


"Hi Glenn, Stephen in Halifax here. Just read your blurb about Things to Come and I thought I'd mention that the Cinefest classic film festival in Syracuse, NY is showing what they say is an expanded print. The festival takes place March 15-18, I've been to several of them and always had a blast. Michael Schlessinger from Sony Pictures Repertory is a regular guest, as is Leonard Maltin.

Here's the link to the Cinefest classic film festival page.

The film will likely be a 16mm print. I have no idea what the source is. The prints usually come from private collectors, although they also have 35mm screenings of recent restorations from archives like the BFI, Eastman House and the Library of Congress). Usually when they promise something they deliver, like the uncut archival print of Tod Browning's Iron Man from the original nitrate negative. So I'll just have to wait and see when they project it.

A film collector friend of mine in Montreal has a 16mm print of Things to Come that he claims is longer than standard versions, but I've never seen it in its entirety and can't verify that for sure. I was there when he got it from another film collector, but only watched part of one reel. If I hear anything else, I'll let you know! -- Stephen Cooke, Halifax, NS."

Not that Savant thinks himself the ultimate clearing house for info on rumored and promised new restorations, but when something potentially exciting comes along, why not stir up some interest? Perhaps the Network-Granada Things to Come will be special and surprise us. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson

Posted by DVD Savant at February 15, 2007 08:57 PM