Harold Lloyd on DVD

[Matt]

I wrote the sentences in question to show that I meant my post as an act of pure discography, not as a covert political statement. Yet all the replies have focussed, not on Lloyd's discography, but on Lloyd's politics. This, in my view, amply demonstrates the truth of my original observation. Lloyd is indeed a delicate subject!

Then why include the statement it all? It wasn't at all necessary, and I find it disingenuous that you're expressing surprise that people are reacting to your own provocative statement.

[Forgotten Goldfish]

I find it disingenuous that you're expressing surprise that people are reacting to your own provocative statement.

With respect, I think there's a tendency for some posters to reply without actually reading what I've written.

Nothing that I've written expresses any "surprise" at the posters' reactions. Quite the contrary. I said that Lloyd was a delicate subject -- so why should I be surprised to find that he is?

And, I must repeat: the posters' reactions show that my disclaimer was far from unnecessary. Indeed, my obvious mistake was that my original post said too little on the subject -- not too much.

[DDillaman]

Nothing that I've written expresses any "surprise" at the posters' reactions. Quite the contrary. I said that Lloyd was a delicate subject -- so why should I be surprised to find that he is?

Dude, every post has been not one of offended sensibilities but one of complete confusion at the notion that Lloyd was a delicate topic in the first place, and/or grasping at reasons that you might have made that statement. Oblique references to controversy unknown to most here, particularly with a Riefenstahl reference in tow, is obviously going to provoke question. If you had said nothing - particularly at the tail of a civil, politics-free multi-page Lloyd thread - I strongly doubt anyone would have made any response about politics whatsoever.

Which isn't to say that said politics aren't worthy of discussing. Just that this way of bringing them up is bizarre. Insert "don't throw me in the tar pit" reference here.

To the meat of your original point - I was under the mistaken impression that the Lloyd set had been fixed so I bought the R1 NL recently. D'oh.

[Forgotten Goldfish]

To the meat of your original point - I was under the mistaken impression that the Lloyd set had been fixed so I bought the R1 NL recently. D'oh.

Great to see the discussion back on topic at last.

Does anyone have any first-hand experience of the recent Studio Canal release? (It's explicitly marked "volume 1" -- so we can expect more from this source.) Given the documented problems with the New Line, and the unconfirmed initial reports of misgivings about the Optimum -- and given the reputation of SC in general -- it might possibly be the way to go, for anyone who hasn't yet invested in Lloyd and is willing to buy from any part of the world.

[MichaelB]

Does anyone have any first-hand experience of the recent Studio Canal release? (It's explicitly marked "volume 1" -- so we can expect more from this source.) Given the documented problems with the New Line, and the unconfirmed initial reports of misgivings about the Optimum -- and given the reputation of SC in general -- it might possibly be the way to go, for anyone who hasn't yet invested in Lloyd and is willing to buy from any part of the world.

The transfers will almost certainly be identical, unless Studio Canal redid them after supplying their masters to Optimum (all of whose Lloyd films begin with the Studio Canal logo). Which I suspect is a tad unlikely.

[DignanSWE]

I recently purchased the European Harold Lloyd-box. Most of the silents seem to be interlaced, and some movies are heavily window-boxed. Subtitles are forced, but not burned in (so they can be turned off in VLC). I guess the content is identical to Optimum's box (except for the subtitle options); Welcome Danger is included.

[perkizitore]

I recently ordered the Optimum box, let's see how this compares to the American discs.

[MichaelB]

The Studio Canal logo on the spines is a dead giveaway that these will be all but identical to the Optimum discs.

Incidentally, the silents should be interlaced - I'd be more concerned if they weren't, as a progressive transfer would suggest they were being run at the wrong speed.

[DignanSWE]

It's the Studio Canal transfers. For some reason the movies and extras are spread over ten discs instead of nine as in Optimums's box. I don't know the process of making an interlaced encode, but I got the impression it can be done in a way so it looks good and is hardly noticable (like MoC's Nosferatu). The combing is pretty bad here:


(Safety Last!)

I don't know how this compares to the R1-box.

[Jonathan S]

Even on my R1 set, Safety Last looks far softer than it should - my off-air VHS is sharper! I don't know for sure, but I suspect the problem could be primarily standards conversion merely compounded by interlacing. Safety Last uses Photoplay's Carl Davis score, first recorded for the UK Channel 4 broadcast, and I wonder if the R1 set producers converted a PAL master to NTSC (this definitely happened with Milestone's R1 DVD of Photoplay's Phantom of the Opera and I find the result there unwatchable). I've often wondered if the European Lloyd releases used a native PAL master for Safety Last - but it looks like they didn't - could it even be PAL-NTSC-PAL!?

The same R1 disc includes Girl Shy, which is beautifully sharp transfer, despite the interlacing. Is there a similar difference in definition between these titles on the UK or European sets? There's no reason for Safety Last to look so soft, as Lloyd preserved his silent features very well. Some other titles in the R1 set look soft too, but Safety Last is the biggest disappointment as it's his most famous film.

I did pick up one of the Optimum discs through a set-splitting dealer in order to get Welcome Danger, omitted from the R1 set. I can confirm (partly by the running time, which I compared with a NTSC broadcast) that is definitely a NTSC-PAL conversion (ironic, as it hasn't been released in NTSC!) where as Movie Crazy, on the same UK disc, appears to be a proper PAL transfer, with almost identical image quality to the R1 issue.

I don't see any combing on Girl Shy when I freeze-frame on motion but it's definitely there on Safety Last, even on my CRT.

[Calvin]

No word on a home video release yet but it looks like all of Lloyd's films have been restored under the supervision of Suzanne Lloyd and will be showing at Cannes. Carlotta have picked up the French rights and the UK rights have also been picked up - presumably by Park Circus themselves?

[manicsounds]

Park Circus is pleased to announce it has concluded a licensing agreement with French distributor Carlotta Films to allow the classic films of Harold Lloyd to be re-released in cinemas and on home entertainment formats.

So that's why the Optimum UK set is out of print. Glad I got it at the last minute.

[MichaelB]

It was going for something like £15 at one point - an unbelievable bargain that I'd certainly have snapped up if I hadn't already got a copy.

[John Edmond]

Less than that, I grabbed my copy for £8.99.

[MichaelB]

At the risk of echoing Groucho Marx saying "There's no ink in the pen anyhow", I didn't pay anything at all for my copy.

But I did have to write a full-page review, so I suspect you're still ahead.