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February 2003, Week 2

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Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 7 Feb 2003 09:30:39 +1100
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> In a message dated 2/6/03 12:11:23 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> >
> > > >Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock, 1929)
> > >
> > > Already on a Laserlight DVD.
> >
> > Are Laserlight DVDs any good?  Their CDs tend to be well produced, even if
> > the content is nothing special.

The following item is from 'News briefs' on the News & Comment (Home) page of
the Alfred Hitchcock Scholars/'MacGuffin' website
(http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~muffin/news-home_c.html).  As you can see, the
item itself originally appeared on the Usenet newsgroup <alt.movies.silent>:

• German DVD release of silent & sound versions of Blackmail.  The following
report by David Shepard comes from <alt.movies.silent>.  'A DVD containing both
the talking and silent versions of Hitchcock's Blackmail has been released by
Kinowelt Home Entertainment on their "Art Haus" label.  It's Region 2 PAL, so of
course one would need multi-standard equipment to view it in North America.  I
think it could easily be ordered through amazon.com (Germany).  The German title
is Erpressung.  The silent version is IMHO one of the truly great "high silent"
films. Hitch (who of course spoke German and had worked at UFA) really knew his
Lang and Murnau and, if possible, went them one better.  The image quality of
both versions is breathtaking.  It makes the Criterion laserdisc (for which I
was once most grateful) look like garbage. The sound on the talking version is
absolutely free of optical hiss, thumps etc.  The silent version has a (digital)
piano score which is obviously inspired by the music used on the silent
sequences of the talkie, but is musically much better. [...] The viewer can call
up the material in original English or add optional subtitles in German,
Spanish, Italian or Portuguese.'

- Ken Mogg
(author, 'The Alfred Hitchcock Story' - the uncut, un-simplified UK edition).

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