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Unlike the first movies made in America (made by commercial showmen) early cinema in Europe was the domain of the great artists of the time. With clever, innovative experimentation these Dada-ists and Surrealists rapidly took the new medium to a sophisticated level. When Orson Welles stunned American audiences with his "innovations" in CITIZEN KANE, he was simply copying the techniques of artful Europeans like Lang and Murnau. This collection takes us back to the very earliest European film work and you are frequently seeing something done for the very first time on Earth. In particular we see the obscure work of the hugely talented Dimitri Kirsanov, who died young and never fulfilled his great potential. In MENILMONTANT, he was the first to master the art of visual story telling without the irritating interruption of the full-screen title cards so prevalent in the silent era. While Dimitri's motion picture poem, BRUMES D'AUTOMNE, includes its original musical accompaniment, many of these silent films have newly composed and added music tracks. Most of them are appropriately conceived and really do add something. I do, however, think the music track for MENILMONTANT is too modern and overpowers this sensitive, delicate photoplay. I recommend viewing that film in its originally intended silence! All in all this disc is a wonderful accomplishment by Kino.
Arrived as advertised. Extra care was taken in packing the discs for shipment by adding a thin layer of bubble wrap to the inside of the case in the event the discs were dislodged in shipping. Much appreciated detail. Would not hesitate to buy from this seller again.
Pardon the references to 1960's psychedelic rock (Cream and Grateful Dead for those of you who don't know) but they seem perfectly appropriate for this mixed bag of short avant-garde films from the Raymond Rohauer Collection. As befits the title of the collection the vast majority of films offered here are French with a few American and German titles mixed in and even a film from the Netherlands. While these movies reflect Rohauer's personal taste they are also a good representation of what was going on in certain artistic circles at the time.
Of the 24 films offered my personal favorite is the 1926 LA COQUILLE ET LE CLERGYMAN (The Seashell and The Clergyman) from the set's only woman director, Germaine Dulac, which exhibits all the avant-garde tendencies and surreal imagery within a basic storyline that is as relevant today as it was back then. Many of the films are explorations in technique while a couple (Orson Welles' HEARTS OF AGE, EVEN-AS YOU AND I) poke fun at the genre.
Another favorite is the celebrated THE LIFE AND DEATH OF 9413 A HOLLYWOOD EXTRA which has cutting edge technique (though mostly shot on a kitchen table), loads of imagination, and a scathing look at the Hollywood system. I also enjoyed L'ETOILE DE MER (The Starfish) as the best of the 4 Man Ray offerings. Two German offerings stood out as well. They are UBERFALL (Assault) with it's haunted looking protagonist and VORMITTAGSSPUK (Ghosts Before Breakfast) for its imaginative effects and the rare opportunity to see composers Darius Milhaud and Paul Hindemith playing parts in a film.
Speaking of composers, the highest praise goes to the many musicians involved in scoring and performing the background music for this set. The music greatly enhances the viewing experience and in a few instances is better than the film it accompanies. This is a one-of-a-kind offering that all serious lovers of cinema (silent and sound) should obtain and decide for themselves which of the 24 titles they like best. There is much to be learned here and thanks to Kino Video and the Douris Corporation for giving us the opportunity to pursue that knowledge.
This is one of the best film collection ever put together. All the films are extremely interesting and most of them excellent. Ménilmontant alone justifies buying this collection, one of the best films ever made.
The New scores are great and the notes on the films are fairly good. The picture quality varies (from bad to good) and it would have been nice to have a little more extra material. But still, this collection is a must have for anyone interested in film. One of my favorite DVDs.
Film is an audio-visual medium. While the films in this collection are excellent and in acceptable quality, the choice of musical scores to accompany them is horrible. I can hardly believe that the curators of the collection thought it would be a good idea to have scores that use cheap MIDI samples, etc. Then there are the miserable historical errors: One of the the selections, Ballet mécanique, actually has a famous original score by George Antheil (an extremely interesting composer and historical figure), which the curators idiotically replaced with some recent hippy-dippy garbage. Same goes for Ivers' Regen which historically has a score by Eisler (and is a subject of Adorno & Eisler's Composing for the Films) -- again replaced by more bewilderingly bad amateur music. These ridiculous errors also make this DVD completely unacceptable for teaching use. It's so pathetic that a collection which goes so far to introduce audiences to the incredibly innovative and compelling film work from the early 20th century is so clueless about the musical selections (as if they didn't matter!!).
I would reccomend this DVD to any fans of experimental film and early 20th century art movements such as dada and surrealism. the price is value for money for the man ray classics alone which have been quietly influential on mainstream cinema and even television adverts. Other highlights include the excellent Hans richter, who also wrote a very good account of the dada movement. I wont bother to individually sing the praises of each item on this fine collection. If experimental film is your bag, then you will be very glad you purchased this set. My only criticism is that some of the music chosen to go with the films is somewhat inappropriate to my ears. This isnt a problem really as my TV is equipped with a mute button and as a musician I am working on scores for some of these myself as i claim I can do better :) Most people will be able to dig out some music they like if they find the music not to their taste. Strongly recomended.
Il ya une grosse spéculation sur ce produit et il n'est pas rare de le trouver à plus de 200€ Enfin j'ai pu avoir a prix assez raisonable cette édition DVD de film d'Avant Garde.. Envoi ultra rapide - de 2 jours. Il est arrivé en bon état.
![Avant Garde - Experimental Cinema of the 1920s & 1930s [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51OUt04YF1L._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
