knives wrote:Do I have to pay/ please link?
It's $9.99 to buy or $2.99 to rent. You have to purchase or rent it through the US iTunes store only.
I watched the first few minutes, and while I haven't seen the TCM broadcast for comparison sakes, the quality is quite good.
I would imagine this is the final word on a "release" of this film for a while given Feltenstein's recent comments regarding classic films. It boggles the mind they aren't licensing the film and extras (which surely by now are produced) out to the Criterion or Kino's of the world to handle, instead dumping the film in a very limited, digital only release. At least with the Archives, if someone around the world wanted the title, there was a way to get it, but to make it an iTunes US "exclusive" is pretty much a middle finger to everyone. If any silent director needs to be seen on fancy big screen televisions, it's Von Stroheim. To make it only available via iTunes is a further insult to the director who has probably turned ten times over in his grave by now. My guess is that WB would've released it through the Archives if they could have but given the running time, this was the next "best" option.
Does anyone here have a Kevin Brownlow connection? It would be nice to hear if his involvement with the development of silents at WB is still ongoing or a pipe dream at this point.
Of course, the most maddening thing about this is when the iTunes release doesn't sell or rent well, WB will cite that as further "evidence" that classics aren't doing well blah blah blah. I can't wait for WB's next brilliant idea which will probably be a streaming flash video of
The Magnificent Ambersons.
Calling HerrS to thread.....