For those of you who are fans of silent films and the great film historian Kevin Brownlow, there is some great news-if you have a region-free player or live in the R2.

BUSTER KEATON-A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW is now available on DVD, and HOLLYWOOD will be coming out in August. Both are available from UK Amazon at around 20 British pounds, which is actually dirt cheap for HOLLYWOOD, considering how long it is. I talked to Kevin over a year ago about these coming out and he told me that HOLLYWOOD would probably never come out due to all the copyright holders on the material and getting clearances. Well, something must have worked out, but I wonder if we will ever see an official US release-it will probably be more expensive.

With these two sets, UNKNOWN CHAPLIN and CINEMA EUROPE already available here, I just hope that the Harold Lloyd set will come out someday. According to Kevin, the D. W. Griffith series can never be shown again, which is a shame. Guess I'll have to keep my VHS of that.

Both sets are worth it just for Carl Davis' scores, and the versions of THE GENERAL & OUR HOSPITALITY that he composed for are also available on a Keaton box set available from the same people, and for considerably less than the Kino set, but only as an R2 set, and missing the shorts THE HIGH SIGN & HARD LUCK. I think it is worth it, and I found it at Amoeba Records in Hollywood, a great source for R2 discs.

What's the problem on the Griffith series, Jedbu?

The release date for Hollywood keeps on shifting: last week it was 19th June (just in time for my birthday), but now it's 7th August. Before that it was listed as February and then May. I'm just hoping they'll find a release date and stick to it, because it's a helluva show and the thing that got me interested in silent cinema.

Unkown Chaplin will be out next week in the UK, while Buster Keaton - A Hard Act to Follow is already discounted to about £9.75.

Lately Network have been doing some interesting things with the old Rank, Thames and Granada libraries. Whereas with Carlton you'd be lucky just to get a trailer, they've been digging in the archives for old interview and location material (their new version of The Quiller Memorandum apparently has 30 minutes of archive interviews), while their Ipcress File/i] special edition leaves the Anchor Bay one in the dust - they even got Michael Caine to do an interview, which is a first for DVD.

This is what Kevin told me: evidently some of the interviews were cleared strictly for transmission one time only, with no repeat broadcasts or home video release allowed. This might have also applied to some of the film footage-I do not know. All I know is that Kevin told me to take very good care of my tape: "It can never be shown again." I may see about transferring it to DVD just to be on the safe side.

That's interesting, because not only was the series released on video in the UK by the BFI's Connoisseur video label, but I taped it off the air on a repeat broadcast a few years ago (admittedly at three in the morning).

Guess I'll have to take care of my copy too...

It is possible that the rights simply ran out within the last few years, but if it was released on video (don't know if you are in the UK) was it on cassette or DVD?

It is also possible that the delay on HOLLYWOOD could be due to getting some details nailed down, or possibly Kevin might be doing a behind-the-scenes on the series and it might be taking longer to do. The one for UNKNOWN CHAPLIN is rather interesting-so much of the material was in negative form that it would have been too costly to print everything, so they had to look at everything as a negative, print sparingly then hope it looked alright (they didn't have the telecine's they have today that allow reversal of a negative image).

The only thing missing off the DVD of CHAPLIN is the intro that Geraldine made on the LD, which is a shame, because it was real sweet.

Jedbu wrote:It is possible that the rights simply ran out within the last few years, but if it was released on video (don't know if you are in the UK) was it on cassette or DVD?

It was on video. Of course, it is just possible that it was the video release that caused all the problems. as it was, it was a difficult release - it was supposed to come out the same time as Thames Silents versions of Intolerance and Birth of a Nation, but a cheap label beat them to the bunch on Intolerance and the UK censors held up Birth for a year (in the UK videos, DVDs or laserdiscs cannot be released without a BBFC rating) before eventually allowing it to be released as long as it was preceded by a warning and an apology.

I have the VHS copy of INTOLERANCE that I managed to find through the Columbia House video club for $5.99. Did their version come out on DVD as well-you mention someone beating them to the release, but did the Thames version ever come out? Is BIRTH out on DVD, as well?

The apology must seem wonderfully ironic on BIRTH, especially with Griffith's 1915 mea culpa at the beginning. . .

To the best of my knowledge, the Thames Silents Intolerance never came out: Eureka did release a good transfer on DVD of both that and Birth, which killed off the BFI's plans to release them on DVD. I do have a review copy of the much delayed BFI video of Birth, which I think got either a 15 or an 18 rating!

The Thames Silent restorations of The Big Parade, Greed, Flesh and the Devil and Ben Hur did come out through MGM/UA, but other than that none of the Thames or Channel 4 silents got released in the UK, sadly.

Very disturbing rumours. Word is that after changing the release date a dozen times already, the release of Hollywood has been cancelled 'for the foreseeable future.' Play.com has a release date of 1/1/07, but Amazon and other sites have stopped taking orders and are advising the title will not be available.

Please tell me it's not true...