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Editorial Reviews
Flicker Alley proudly presents SAVED FROM THE FLAMES, a unique and wonderful collection of 54 rare and restored short films from the inflammable years of cinema. Movies were once made on nitrate film stock, which has a chemical composition similar to gunpowder and is highly vulnerable to fire and decay. This remarkable seven-hour anthology, organized in eight thematic groups over three DVDs, presents amazing treasures from the vaults of Lobster Films in Paris and from the Blackhawk Films Collection, rescued during half a century of gathering movies from the nitrate era.
DISC ONE
NEW BEGINNINGS: Seven films including the early cinematic experiments of Lumière, Georges Mendel and others, featuring Cyrano De Bergerac from 1900, believed to be the first color and sound film. MAGICAL MOVIES: Five early fantasy and trick films, including a previously-unseen trick film by Georges Méliès, hand-colored films from Segundo de Chomon and Gaston Velle, and astonishing stop-motion animation from 1911. SEEING THE WORLD: Among the ten films in this section: A transatlantic crossing in a Zeppelin dirigible, a stencilcolored trek through the Belgian Congo in 1925, Parisian street kids in Montmartre during the first World War, a 1916 visit to Los Angeles, 1927 sound film of Charles Lindbergh embarking on his New York-Paris flight, an early 1930s portrait of New York s Coney Island, and a film promoting Josephine Baker s revue at the Folies-Bergère.
DISC TWO LAUGHING LIKE WE USED TO: Seven comedies, including four restored from turn of the century Italy and France, a recently-discovered nitrate negative of Chaplin's first appearance in his tramp attire, a frenetic Mack Sennett gag fest with tin lizzies galore, and The Pest, starring an early Stan Laurel (before Hardy). DRAWINGS AND MODELS: Six works of animation: Gaumont's Fantasmagorie (1908), three cartoons from the Fleischer Studios Cartoon Factory (1924), Ain't She Sweet (1932), and Play Safe (1936) Ub Iwerks' Balloonland (1935) featuring a new color restoration made from the original negatives, and a filmed performance by puppetry pioneer Tony Sarg. GRACE NOTES: Rare musical performances: Django Reinhardt with Stephane Grapelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Duke Ellington and the Cotton Club Orchestra, Louis Armstrong, and the Utica Jubilee Singers.
DISC THREE PERSUADE ME: Eleven films designed to influence, including vintage promotional films featuring Laurel & Hardy (dubbed in French), Michel Simon and Jacques Tati, puppet animation by George Pal, three WW-II era musical shorts, two political campaign films, and Master Hands, a paean to the 1936 Chevrolet, selected for the National Film Registry. TELL ME A STORY: Narratives from 1912-1913 by D.W. Griffith (For His Son), Lois Weber (Suspense), and Thomas Ince (The Heart of an Indian), all mastered from beautiful 35 mm film elements.
SAVED FROM THE FLAMES Booklet: An illustrated history and comments on each film in the collection, written by David Shepard and Serge Bromberg.
DISC ONE
NEW BEGINNINGS: Seven films including the early cinematic experiments of Lumière, Georges Mendel and others, featuring Cyrano De Bergerac from 1900, believed to be the first color and sound film. MAGICAL MOVIES: Five early fantasy and trick films, including a previously-unseen trick film by Georges Méliès, hand-colored films from Segundo de Chomon and Gaston Velle, and astonishing stop-motion animation from 1911. SEEING THE WORLD: Among the ten films in this section: A transatlantic crossing in a Zeppelin dirigible, a stencilcolored trek through the Belgian Congo in 1925, Parisian street kids in Montmartre during the first World War, a 1916 visit to Los Angeles, 1927 sound film of Charles Lindbergh embarking on his New York-Paris flight, an early 1930s portrait of New York s Coney Island, and a film promoting Josephine Baker s revue at the Folies-Bergère.
DISC TWO LAUGHING LIKE WE USED TO: Seven comedies, including four restored from turn of the century Italy and France, a recently-discovered nitrate negative of Chaplin's first appearance in his tramp attire, a frenetic Mack Sennett gag fest with tin lizzies galore, and The Pest, starring an early Stan Laurel (before Hardy). DRAWINGS AND MODELS: Six works of animation: Gaumont's Fantasmagorie (1908), three cartoons from the Fleischer Studios Cartoon Factory (1924), Ain't She Sweet (1932), and Play Safe (1936) Ub Iwerks' Balloonland (1935) featuring a new color restoration made from the original negatives, and a filmed performance by puppetry pioneer Tony Sarg. GRACE NOTES: Rare musical performances: Django Reinhardt with Stephane Grapelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Duke Ellington and the Cotton Club Orchestra, Louis Armstrong, and the Utica Jubilee Singers.
DISC THREE PERSUADE ME: Eleven films designed to influence, including vintage promotional films featuring Laurel & Hardy (dubbed in French), Michel Simon and Jacques Tati, puppet animation by George Pal, three WW-II era musical shorts, two political campaign films, and Master Hands, a paean to the 1936 Chevrolet, selected for the National Film Registry. TELL ME A STORY: Narratives from 1912-1913 by D.W. Griffith (For His Son), Lois Weber (Suspense), and Thomas Ince (The Heart of an Indian), all mastered from beautiful 35 mm film elements.
SAVED FROM THE FLAMES Booklet: An illustrated history and comments on each film in the collection, written by David Shepard and Serge Bromberg.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I've gotta share that I've just received one of the niftiest anthologies of historic ephemera in my collection, it's a painstakingly well done three disk set of rare Blackhawk Films nitrate films called "SAVED FROM THE FLAMES". With probably the least pretense I've seen for a volume of priceless "trick films", cartoons, comedies, a pioneering efforts in early sound and color, and just plain fun stuff, this set simply aims to hand our way some gorgeous renditions of very entertaining rarities.
Some of the highlights include a bewilderingly bizarre and fully articulated giant dancing pig form 1907, which would give any Jim Henson creation a run for its money, a "human torso" performing in a 1900 midway freak-show, gorgeous hand-colored Pathe shorts including a variant on TRIP TO THE MOON; AN EXCURSION TO THE MOON, an early experimental synchronized-sound Ko-Ko The Clown short from Max Fleischer, and a pristine Cinecolor restoration of UB Iwerks' surreal BALOONLAND (aka THE PINCUSHION MAN).
All this is the tip of the iceberg in this massive FLICKER ALLEY outing, I just can't recommend his reasonably-priced set enough. If it's any preview of what we can expect from their coming Melies set, were in for another great set as well.
If you like this kind of thing, snap this baby up, you can't go wrong.
Some of the highlights include a bewilderingly bizarre and fully articulated giant dancing pig form 1907, which would give any Jim Henson creation a run for its money, a "human torso" performing in a 1900 midway freak-show, gorgeous hand-colored Pathe shorts including a variant on TRIP TO THE MOON; AN EXCURSION TO THE MOON, an early experimental synchronized-sound Ko-Ko The Clown short from Max Fleischer, and a pristine Cinecolor restoration of UB Iwerks' surreal BALOONLAND (aka THE PINCUSHION MAN).
All this is the tip of the iceberg in this massive FLICKER ALLEY outing, I just can't recommend his reasonably-priced set enough. If it's any preview of what we can expect from their coming Melies set, were in for another great set as well.
If you like this kind of thing, snap this baby up, you can't go wrong.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Flicker Alley has been the producer of some interesting silent and early sound packages lately, and this is their latest entry. This is the press release describing the contents:
Flicker Alley's "SAVED FROM THE FLAMES" DVD set is the North American home video premiere of Lobster Films and Blackhawk Films materials previously exhibited as part of the semi-annual live presentation of Serge Bromberg's "Retour le Flamme" in Paris as well as many materials which have rarely been shown before. The DVD edition also includes an illustrated booklet with annotations by film preservationists and historians David Shepard and Serge Bromberg. The DVD content is as follows:
NEW BEGINNINGS: Seven early cinematic experiments of Lumière, Georges Mendel and others, including Cyrano De Bergerac (1900), generally believed to be the first ever film produced with both color and sound.
MAGICAL MOVIES: Five early fantasy and trick films--including a previously-unseen trick film by Georges Méliès, hand-colored films from Segundo de Chomon and Gaston Velle, and astonishing stop-motion animation from 1911.
SEEING THE WORLD: Among the ten films in this section are a transatlantic crossing in a Zeppelin dirigible, a 1925 stencil-colored trek through the Belgian Congo, World War I-era Parisian street kids in Montmartre, a 1916 visit to Los Angeles, a 1927 sound film of pilot Charles Lindbergh embarking on his New York-Paris flight, an early 1930s portrait of New York City's Coney Island, and a promotional film made for Josephine Baker's revue at the Folies-Bergère, Paris.
LAUGHING LIKE WE USED TO: Seven comedies, including four restored from turn of the century Italy and France, a recently-discovered nitrate negative of Charlie Chaplin's first appearance in his "tramp" attire, a frenetic Mack Sennett "gag fest" replete with tin lizzies, and The Pest (1922), starring a pre-Hardy Stan Laurel.
DRAWINGS AND MODELS: Six works of animation: Gaumont's Fantasmagorie (1908); three Fleischer Studios cartoons--Cartoon Factory (1924), Ain't She Sweet (1932), and Play Safe (1936); Ub Iwerks' Balloonland (1935), featuring a new color restoration made from the original negatives; and a filmed performance by puppetry pioneer Tony Sarg.
GRACE NOTES: Rare musical performances: Django Reinhardt with Stéphane Grapelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France in Jazz Hot (1939), Duke Ellington and the Cotton Club Orchestra featured in Black and Tan (1929), Louis Armstrong in Copenhagen, 1934, and a 1929 performance from the Utica Jubilee Singers.
PERSUADE ME: Eleven films designed to influence, including a vintage promotional film of a French-dubbed Laurel & Hardy, theatrical advertisements featuring Michel Simon and Jacques Tati, a 1938 George Pal puppet animation, three WW-II era musical shorts, two political campaign films, and the National Film registry selection Master Hands, a paean to the 1936 Chevrolet automobile.
TELL ME A STORY: Narratives from 1912-1913: D.W. Griffith's "For His Son", Lois Weber's "Suspense", and Thomas Ince's "The Heart of an Indian", all mastered from beautiful 35mm film elements.
Don't expect this set to be as flawlessly put together as the National Film Archives' Treasures series. The films have been digitally cleaned up some, but not completely restored such as the NFA sets have been. It's still an interesting collection though.
Flicker Alley's "SAVED FROM THE FLAMES" DVD set is the North American home video premiere of Lobster Films and Blackhawk Films materials previously exhibited as part of the semi-annual live presentation of Serge Bromberg's "Retour le Flamme" in Paris as well as many materials which have rarely been shown before. The DVD edition also includes an illustrated booklet with annotations by film preservationists and historians David Shepard and Serge Bromberg. The DVD content is as follows:
NEW BEGINNINGS: Seven early cinematic experiments of Lumière, Georges Mendel and others, including Cyrano De Bergerac (1900), generally believed to be the first ever film produced with both color and sound.
MAGICAL MOVIES: Five early fantasy and trick films--including a previously-unseen trick film by Georges Méliès, hand-colored films from Segundo de Chomon and Gaston Velle, and astonishing stop-motion animation from 1911.
SEEING THE WORLD: Among the ten films in this section are a transatlantic crossing in a Zeppelin dirigible, a 1925 stencil-colored trek through the Belgian Congo, World War I-era Parisian street kids in Montmartre, a 1916 visit to Los Angeles, a 1927 sound film of pilot Charles Lindbergh embarking on his New York-Paris flight, an early 1930s portrait of New York City's Coney Island, and a promotional film made for Josephine Baker's revue at the Folies-Bergère, Paris.
LAUGHING LIKE WE USED TO: Seven comedies, including four restored from turn of the century Italy and France, a recently-discovered nitrate negative of Charlie Chaplin's first appearance in his "tramp" attire, a frenetic Mack Sennett "gag fest" replete with tin lizzies, and The Pest (1922), starring a pre-Hardy Stan Laurel.
DRAWINGS AND MODELS: Six works of animation: Gaumont's Fantasmagorie (1908); three Fleischer Studios cartoons--Cartoon Factory (1924), Ain't She Sweet (1932), and Play Safe (1936); Ub Iwerks' Balloonland (1935), featuring a new color restoration made from the original negatives; and a filmed performance by puppetry pioneer Tony Sarg.
GRACE NOTES: Rare musical performances: Django Reinhardt with Stéphane Grapelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France in Jazz Hot (1939), Duke Ellington and the Cotton Club Orchestra featured in Black and Tan (1929), Louis Armstrong in Copenhagen, 1934, and a 1929 performance from the Utica Jubilee Singers.
PERSUADE ME: Eleven films designed to influence, including a vintage promotional film of a French-dubbed Laurel & Hardy, theatrical advertisements featuring Michel Simon and Jacques Tati, a 1938 George Pal puppet animation, three WW-II era musical shorts, two political campaign films, and the National Film registry selection Master Hands, a paean to the 1936 Chevrolet automobile.
TELL ME A STORY: Narratives from 1912-1913: D.W. Griffith's "For His Son", Lois Weber's "Suspense", and Thomas Ince's "The Heart of an Indian", all mastered from beautiful 35mm film elements.
Don't expect this set to be as flawlessly put together as the National Film Archives' Treasures series. The films have been digitally cleaned up some, but not completely restored such as the NFA sets have been. It's still an interesting collection though.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Wonderful!
Fans of Prince Ranian wil cherish a 1900 film of human torso "Kobelkoff," showing off his unique dance stylings.
"Danse Serpentine," "The Talion Punishment," and "Kiriki" feature breathtakingly beautiful coloring by hand and stencil.
In the delightfully funny "Excelsior," Melies materializes a giant lobster (seventy years before "Multiple Maniacs"), among other magical feats.
"Over the Top" documents a trip across a snowy mountain range by a group of madmen in a 1915 Buick, a feat to daunt Werner Herzog.
"The Dirigible Los Angeles" documents the majestic airship's trip from Germany to the U. S.
"The Fireman of the Follies-Bergere" resembles a fifties Nudie movie: some slob wanders around and imagines naked ladies in every nook and cranny of Paris. At one point a priest is transformed into a nude, starting rumors of Bunuel's involvement! Notable only for a forgotten dance routine by Josephine Baker, allowed to retain her top.
"In The Land of Pygmies and Giants," a documentary on the Belgian Congo, is prettily stencil-colored but depressingly condescending and not recommended to those who are sensitive to elephant slaughter.
"The Pest," a Stan Laurel comedy, features a cameo by the Hats Off/Music Box stairs (or are those the "An Ache In Every Stake" stairs?) and will teach you a politically incorrect term for the Brazil nut.
The Fleischers are represented by several films, from the Screen Song "Ain't She Sweet?" featuring a charming pre-alcoholic Lillian Roth and lots of bouncing black cats, to "Play Safe," from their bland and cutesy period, with some great 3-D technicolor effects.
We have several musical shorts, documenting the Utica Jubilee Singers, Louis Armstrong (in 1934, performing "I Cover The Waterfront," "Dinah," and "Tiger Rag"), and Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli (performing "J'attendra" in 1939, in a short which unfortunately wastes half its brief running time explaining what jazz is before getting to the musical number!). Less important musicians are showcased in three WWII soundies; William Frawley in "The Yankee Doodler," the Smoothies and the Cappy Barra Harmonica Boys in "Rosie the Riveter," and Ray Noble in "Dear Arabella."
A 1936 MGM promo reel is hosted by Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and James Finlayson! They are dubbed into French, but with their own wordless exclamations intact; it amounts to a brief Laurel/Hardy/Finlayson short you've probably never seen!
A few familiar titles - "Kid's Auto Race," "Black and Tan" with Duke Ellington, Ub Iwerk's Cinecolor "Balloonland" - are here reproduced from original negatives, and presumably look as good as they ever will.
Chuck Jones, Yip Harburg, and UPA rally support for FDR in the stylish "Hell Bent for Election" (if you vote Republican you'll soon be selling apples on a street corner for Hoover), while MGM undermines Upton Sinclair's gubernatorial campaign in the fake newsreel, "California Election News #2" (Sinclair is supported by twitchy foreigners).
"Philips Broadcast of 1938" is one of George Pal's most beautiful works.
D. W. Griffith's "For My Son" is a 1912 morality drama that prefigures the later drug scare exploitation cycle. A doctor invents a cocaine laced soft drink, "Dopokoke" (!), "For That Tired Feeling," only to see his son fall victim to soda pop addiction!
In "Suspense," cinematically sophisticated for 1913, writer/director/star Lois Weber is menaced by a sandwich-purloining, knife-wielding tramp; Lon Chaney is rumored to be an extra, but I must have blinked.
And more! Overall, "Save from the Flames" at least as resourceful and engaging a collection as the American Film Archives compilations. There are no commentaries; the accompanying booklet tells how the films were rediscovered, but otherwise adds little to the discs.
Fans of Prince Ranian wil cherish a 1900 film of human torso "Kobelkoff," showing off his unique dance stylings.
"Danse Serpentine," "The Talion Punishment," and "Kiriki" feature breathtakingly beautiful coloring by hand and stencil.
In the delightfully funny "Excelsior," Melies materializes a giant lobster (seventy years before "Multiple Maniacs"), among other magical feats.
"Over the Top" documents a trip across a snowy mountain range by a group of madmen in a 1915 Buick, a feat to daunt Werner Herzog.
"The Dirigible Los Angeles" documents the majestic airship's trip from Germany to the U. S.
"The Fireman of the Follies-Bergere" resembles a fifties Nudie movie: some slob wanders around and imagines naked ladies in every nook and cranny of Paris. At one point a priest is transformed into a nude, starting rumors of Bunuel's involvement! Notable only for a forgotten dance routine by Josephine Baker, allowed to retain her top.
"In The Land of Pygmies and Giants," a documentary on the Belgian Congo, is prettily stencil-colored but depressingly condescending and not recommended to those who are sensitive to elephant slaughter.
"The Pest," a Stan Laurel comedy, features a cameo by the Hats Off/Music Box stairs (or are those the "An Ache In Every Stake" stairs?) and will teach you a politically incorrect term for the Brazil nut.
The Fleischers are represented by several films, from the Screen Song "Ain't She Sweet?" featuring a charming pre-alcoholic Lillian Roth and lots of bouncing black cats, to "Play Safe," from their bland and cutesy period, with some great 3-D technicolor effects.
We have several musical shorts, documenting the Utica Jubilee Singers, Louis Armstrong (in 1934, performing "I Cover The Waterfront," "Dinah," and "Tiger Rag"), and Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli (performing "J'attendra" in 1939, in a short which unfortunately wastes half its brief running time explaining what jazz is before getting to the musical number!). Less important musicians are showcased in three WWII soundies; William Frawley in "The Yankee Doodler," the Smoothies and the Cappy Barra Harmonica Boys in "Rosie the Riveter," and Ray Noble in "Dear Arabella."
A 1936 MGM promo reel is hosted by Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and James Finlayson! They are dubbed into French, but with their own wordless exclamations intact; it amounts to a brief Laurel/Hardy/Finlayson short you've probably never seen!
A few familiar titles - "Kid's Auto Race," "Black and Tan" with Duke Ellington, Ub Iwerk's Cinecolor "Balloonland" - are here reproduced from original negatives, and presumably look as good as they ever will.
Chuck Jones, Yip Harburg, and UPA rally support for FDR in the stylish "Hell Bent for Election" (if you vote Republican you'll soon be selling apples on a street corner for Hoover), while MGM undermines Upton Sinclair's gubernatorial campaign in the fake newsreel, "California Election News #2" (Sinclair is supported by twitchy foreigners).
"Philips Broadcast of 1938" is one of George Pal's most beautiful works.
D. W. Griffith's "For My Son" is a 1912 morality drama that prefigures the later drug scare exploitation cycle. A doctor invents a cocaine laced soft drink, "Dopokoke" (!), "For That Tired Feeling," only to see his son fall victim to soda pop addiction!
In "Suspense," cinematically sophisticated for 1913, writer/director/star Lois Weber is menaced by a sandwich-purloining, knife-wielding tramp; Lon Chaney is rumored to be an extra, but I must have blinked.
And more! Overall, "Save from the Flames" at least as resourceful and engaging a collection as the American Film Archives compilations. There are no commentaries; the accompanying booklet tells how the films were rediscovered, but otherwise adds little to the discs.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marvelous Potpourri of the old and the odd
Other reviewers have done a great job at describing the contents in detail, so I will simply add that this collection of films offers something for everyone. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Thelonious
4.0 out of 5 stars
Disc 2 problems
Rather late for me to be writing this, but I had a problem with disc 2 as well. Got my set 2 years ago and all dvds played well then. Read more
Published on January 27, 2011 by james schielein
5.0 out of 5 stars
Disc #2 and other stuff
First, If you have a problem with your #2 disc, contact [...] and they will replace the disc. They said a batch got damaged during printing and are happy to replace them... Read more
Published on February 1, 2010 by 1365Mike
1.0 out of 5 stars
Caveat: Problem with Disc 2
What I've seen of this DVD set has been excellent. Unfortunately, I've gone through three copies and all of them had a disc two that was unreadable in multiple machines.
Published on January 20, 2010 by Vorple
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun time capsule; lucky to see
Flicker Alley's 3-Disc set titled SAVED FROM THE FLAMES is without doubt, an excellent release for film lovers and historians. Read more
Published on June 21, 2009 by jrc
1.0 out of 5 stars
A huge disappointment
There are a lot of interesting items in this collection, but the production is nothing short of atrocious. Read more
Published on November 16, 2008 by J. Lane
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Like a box of chocolates..."
Watching this marvelous 3-disc set kept reminding me of the famous Forrest Gump quote: "Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. Read more
Published on October 26, 2008 by Barbara (Burkowsky) Underwood
5.0 out of 5 stars
History In Your Living Room
Absolutely fabulous and breath-taking. If you are into cinema history or photographic evolution at all, this is a MUST item. Read more
Published on September 9, 2008 by Sci-Fi Fan "Vince"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic collection of rare gems
After carefully reading the other very good reviews of this 3-DVD set, I finally gave in and purchased "Saved from the Flames. Read more
Published on March 29, 2008 by John Wykes
4.0 out of 5 stars
Saved from the Flammes
Precious early films which are part of the History of Film making. Being french myself the french movies included in this wonderful selection take an even greater interest. Read more
Published on March 4, 2008 by Annouchka Anderson
