the death of VHS, disappearing films, and the state of cinephilia

http://www.movieactors.com/actors/Freezes-Characters/jfk305donald.jpeg

Er:

http://www.collider.com/uploads/imageGallery/Be_Kind_Rewind/be_kind_rewind_movie_image_jack_black_and_mos_def.jpg

in the future all movies will be sweded

in the future all movies will be good

I still own at least 50 videocassettes – I watched The Opposite of Sex last night. Man, I forgot how much space they can occupy.

I like rewinding back 20 seconds sometimes.

BKR seems like one of the 10 best American films of last year, btw.

you can rewind dvds now btw

im writing a thesis about films that were simply destroyed when sound came along. some of them would have been worth keeping, but most of them not

You could go on about this more, maybe. It's an interesting (and rather depressing) subject to me. I don't know if I agree with the "...most of them not" A lot of the more "mundane" programmer silent films I have have been the ones I've enjoyed the most.

Pash, let celluloid burn, it's the trendy thing to do

You could go on about this more, maybe. It's an interesting (and rather depressing) subject to me. I don't know if I agree with the "...most of them not" A lot of the more "mundane" programmer silent films I have have been the ones I've enjoyed the most.

― Pashmina, Tuesday, March 3, 2009 10:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yea im studying (well, among other stuff) british film from the 1920s. heck of a lot of it, from the first part of that decade, was just melted down. but then there isn't a hell of a lot from before the 1920s left either. no national archive till 1935. so you have a (by all accounts) major filmmaker like george pearson (worked a lot with music-hall star betty balfour, biggest british movie star of the decade), and almost nothing survived.

it's a shame, but i have mixed feelings on this subject. i watch and enjoy a lot of films from the past. they've come to be available by whatever means. occasionally there's something i wish were available. but things are infinitely better now than 10 years ago. the idea that the decline of vhs means films will disappear is mindboggling. like, what, those films only existed on magnetic tape?

Eh, I read a bit of that article, there's some kind of a germ of a point, in that you could/can get a bunch of films, say, "Palmy Days" or "Ever Green" on VHS (also on laserdisc in the past) but not on DVD, but it didn't seem to well argued or well-written to me. It was a bit waffly. Also this:

"Concentrating on technical quality eliminates 90 percent of American film history," says Kehr, who notes that a film like Frank Borzage's Man's Castle could never come out on DVD, because only a dupe negative exists in studio vaults.

...is kind of bollocks, given that Fox recently released a set of Murnau and Borzage films of DVD! Supposedly the source print used for "Sunrise" was a dupe of a dupe. (Talk about hanging by a thread!)

I know shit about British film from the 1920's, apart from the received wisdom re apart from Alfred Hitchcock and "A Cottage on Dartmoor" it was all rubbish (often suspected this wasn't true, but never had any way of finding out). As far back as I go is looking at those Gracie Fields, Anna Neagle and George Formby collections that Canal Plus put out and sometimes thinking about buying them (also: wishing they'd put out a Jessie Matthews set) I'd be interested in hearing what you discover as you go along. If you are able to find out anything about the following british titles: "The Way of Lost Souls" (aka "The Woman he Scorned") (1929) "Perfect Understanding" (1933) &/or "Lily Christine" (1932) I'd be especially interested, the latter especially, I think it's lost, but I'm not sure.

In any case, being into silent films, and being in the UK, it's a lot better for me now than it was in the eighties. I remember waiting about 6 weeks for a VHS copy of "Steamboat Bill Jr" to arrive, and that was the ONLY TITLE I COULD LOCATE AT ALL for about 2-3 years. I pretty much gave up until the internet sparked my interest again. Now, I can actually watch a flapper movie or a Pola Negri film, stuff I was curious about for years, but never able to actually see.

I know shit about British film from the 1920's, apart from the received wisdom re apart from Alfred Hitchcock and "A Cottage on Dartmoor" it was all rubbish (often suspected this wasn't true, but never had any way of finding out).

well yeah, this is what 20% of my thing is about! the difficulty is basically arguing that there were good things, but they no longer exist. or really: there were talented people but the circumstances were inauspicious. some people have written a bit about it recently: chr1stine gl3dh1ll for one. my angle is more to do with how hitchcock came to be hitchcock... and this dude pearson. the story that gets told is more or less: everyone was hopelessly provincial before hitchcock and asquith; and hitchcock and asquith took their inspiration from german and russian film. i will write those titles down.

yea im studying (well, among other stuff) british film from the 1920s. heck of a lot of it, from the first part of that decade, was just melted down.

saw this: http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/everson_interview.html ...somewhat interesting interview w/William K Everson, and noted, somewhat related to the above:

S.G.: Along these lines, the story about the BFI catalogue of their hundred most wanted, you've got three I believe?

W.K.: I've got three of them, Kevin Brownlow has one and I know there is one other in circulation. The annoying thing about that catalogue is about 72 or 73 of the films are Warner Bros. films and about 25 years ago Warner Bros. offered all their collection to the BFI and the BFI wanted to select and Warner Bros said "no, take everything or nothing" and BFI said "fine, nothing" so they junked everything. The very least the BFI could have done was to have said "alright, we'll take everything" and then themselves taken only what they could afford to keep. But there's some tremendous stuff in there. At least half a dozen Michael Powell's. The Warner Bros. films were very carefully made, they were not just made to comply with legal requirements. There was some first rate filmmaking in there. Many of them were remakes of American films. It's extremely interesting to see an American Bette Davis vehicle suddenly transposed into a British rural milieu. It is completely changed but the basic plot remained.

A.B.: Those would have been for quota quickies?

W.K.: Yes, except that some of the Warner quota quickies ran as much as eight reels. They were good pictures and one or two of them were released over here, like MR.COHEN TAKES A WALK which is a charming film. Its an absolute tragedy that the B.F.I. could have had them all.

A.B.: When they junk them do they just throw them out?

W.K.: They destroy them in a way that retrieves the silver unless they are just so far decomposed that they will just burn them...carefully.

I had never heard this story before - hard to imagine this happening now. I gogled but couldn't find what actually was on the BFI "hundred most wanted" list or any mention of it beyond this interview.

I wonder what the 10/20/however many "most wanted" lost films actually are in 2009.

....you could/can get a bunch of films, say, "Palmy Days" or "Ever Green" on VHS (also on laserdisc in the past) but not on DVD....

"Evergreen" (1934) out next week:

http://tinyurl.com/ous2kg

Some Looking for Mr. Goodbar talk on another thread--I've got a VHS copy--got me to finally figure out how to hook up my old VCR to the big-screen. At first I tried to over-think the hookup, and it took me about 20 minutes; turned out to be the easiest configuration possible.

I've got so many tapes downstairs, both store-bought and home-taped, that I haven't watched for at least five years. (Before buying the big-screen, I had a VCR give out on me--replaced the machine, but it sat there downstairs unused.) I immediately went on a search for Altman's Buffalo Bill, which I got at a store closing about 10 years ago and never watched. Couldn't find it, but I've put aside Who Is Harry Kellerman, The Hospital, and Breaking Away for the rest of the week. Three most un-VHS store-bought things I noticed: The Sacrifice, The Merchant of the Four Seasons, and Shirley Clarke's Portrait of Jason.

so. many. memories. this Tumblr is fantastic (and not entirely Safe For Work obvs)

http://vhscoverjunkie.tumblr.com/archive

totally forgot about double feature tapes!

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md5puwRbMC1qbapgqo1_500.jpg

a documentary about VHS collectors

http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/vhs-obsessed-adjust-your-tracking

Ooh, thanks. My girlfriend collects VHS and it's been great for my movie-viewing habits. Plus it's just fun since tapes are almost always a buck or less, so you can kinda buy 'em on a whim or think of it as a "rental." We've swooped in on a couple of stores going out of business and loaded ourselves up with enough viewing for the next decade or something... but tapes also make it more fun to pick what you're watching tonight...fewer choices, weighty enough that you really have to pull a few off the shelf, lay them out and make a choice by whatever system. I like the darn things, shitty awful pan-n-scan and all, though with the latter in mind, the format really is best for Academy ratio films, direct-to-video, and dubious would-be blockbusters that were almost made to be tossed into the rental market back in the day.

Hard to pick a thread for this... Brody on Amos Vogel and Cinema 16:

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/limits-american-cinephilia

Excellent megamix of VHS footage

https://vimeo.com/76346612?outro=1

Forcing myself, in advance of a move, to take four boxes of duplicates that I also have on DVD to the Salvation Army. You'd think that would be the most obvious thing in the world, but I initially boxed them all up for the move, then unboxed them and removed the duplicates. Rosemary's Baby, Sweet Smell of Success, three copies of Taxi Driver...tomorrow's your lucky day, Luddite person out there.

https://www.fiafnet.org/pages/News/FIAF-Statement-Cinemateca-Brasileira-07-2021.html

"It is with great shock and upset that the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) and its 172 Members and Associates around the world heard reports of a fire in one of the warehouses of the Cinemateca Brasileira in São Paulo on 29 July 2021."

It's too soon to tell what if anything has been lost, but the initial reports are heartbreaking.

Ugh

i sort of feel sorry for people who want to rent sam fuller's 'hell and high water'.

Own it on blu now so get fucked.

but tapes also make it more fun to pick what you're watching tonight...fewer choices, weighty enough that you really have to pull a few off the shelf, lay them out and make a choice by whatever system

Scapulomancy or gtfo imo

Sortilege way too convenient

an actually useful tech device would be a set of a half-dozen VHS size blocks and when you press a button, their surfaces all become VHS covers for six random movies from your watchlist, and you and whoever you're watching with agree to pick what to watch from these six tapes. no clicking around in the menu ever again. this is what we brought home from the video place.

not exactly the right thread for this but on the plane I saw the first 20 extraordinary minutes of SICCITÀ (2022), an Italian film set in a near future where it has not rained in Rome for 3 years. it's an ensemble piece looking at all layers of society, intimate, political, funny, desperate, beautifully photographed, pacy. Just amazing.

So I'm like, well, I'll find a way to see the rest when I get home. but there is no way. It's not on any streaming service I can find. It's not on Karagarga. It's not on Pirate Bay. Not on DVD! ARGGGHHH!!! I have to know what happens!!

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt13806164/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_3_act

Out of interest, how did you see it on the plane? Was it one of the in flight films?!

Yes!

American Airlines, no less.

email american airlines and ask how they got hold of it

I should!

Apparently this has grossed a little north of $1m lol. I don’t understand anything. It’s a little unusual in its structure and that it doesn’t have a single protagonist but it’s so epic, so pacy, so relatable, it’s hard to see how a streaming service hasn’t just snaffled it up and marketed the hell out of it to its “cognoscenti” audiences at the very least.

I really wanna see this now.

It’s on MUBI now.

aha! Thank you!

In the US too? Doesn’t seem to be :(

hmm yeah not “now showing” on my uk app either

Aw shit 😞

I haven’t joined MUBI yet but it *looked* like it would be available to watch there, was gonna sign up today …

Well, eventually, I guess.

it's on the torrents at idope.se, an Italian blu-ray rip which probably won't have ENG subs.

Looks like the blu-ray was released on January 23.

I'm not sure where I would even buy a new Blu Ray or DVD these days!

I checked Amazon even though i don't have an account there and nothing. eBay has a couple of copies but the shipping from Italy is like 20 euros. Just found a torrent I think.. "Traccia n. 6" looks promising....

Durata: 02:03:59 (7439.008 s)
Contenitore: matroska
Production date: Fri, 20 Jan 2023 15:38:13 +0100
Totale tracce: 6
Traccia n. 1: video (V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC) {eng}
Traccia n. 2: audio (A_DTS) [DTS-HD MA] {ita}
Traccia n. 3: audio (A_AC3) {ita}
Traccia n. 4: subtitle (S_TEXT/UTF8) [FORCED] {ita}
Traccia n. 5: subtitle (S_TEXT/UTF8) [NON UDENTI] {ita}
Traccia n. 6: subtitle (S_TEXT/UTF8) [REGOLARI] {eng}

It’s on Amazon

Ah amazon.it! Well i’m not opening an Amazon account just for this because fuck Amazon

one of you has sent me a... note... on ilxmail and i am v grateful, writing this here since you can't reply to ilxmail

Of *course* it’s on Amazon, which I will never join to watch movies or TV.

No, the blu-ray is for sale. I only mentioned it because Tracer had said it wasn’t.

lost media: movies direct to video

for future reference, there are plenty of places to buy DVD/blu rays beyond Amazon (I use Zavvi UK), and of course if you're in central London you can drop by Fopp.

Any particular DVD sites recommended for Americans?

(I know a bunch of good sites for older movies but am unsure about new movies/TV show DVDs.)

i appreciate the website recommendations! but fyi none of them sell siccita and no sic i am not going to create an amazon account just for the pleasure of paying shipping from italy

I don’t recall advising anyone to create an Amazon account for any reason

it has bbc4 written all over it tbh. I'm sure if you wait a while it'll turn up.

lol the ring of truth

otoh better not wait too long or bbc four won’t exist