Murnau, Borzage and Fox Box Set

Twentieth Century Fox deserves the highest praise for the effort to make available in DVD not only the best known silent movies but also those ones consider lost or not seen in decades. They started with John Ford's and now it is the turn of those ones directed by the star- directors Murnau and Borzage.The strongest points of this edition are:1. "Lost film" "Lucky Star", a real gem is included completed in its silent version, in a pristine copy.2. "Sunrise", "Seventh Heaven" and "Street Angel" include its Movietone original soundtracks.3. "Lost film" "The River" is presented combined the surviving reels with still pictures.4. Reasonable quality of the copies in all the cases, and sometimes surprisingly good!5. Very interesting documentary about Fox, Murnau and BorzageThe weakest points:1. Definitively the music prepared for this edition for "City Girl", "Lucky Star" and "Lazybones" is not what you expect for silent movies. It seems very typical for the big companies as Fox or Warner to commissioned the music to professionals with not relation with the silent era and this fact damaged the final product, so good in the other aspects.2. The dullest film of the lot, "Song o' my Heart" includes silent and talkie versions. It would be more interesting to change it for another movie of these great artists.3. The package that was a problem for another rewievers, seems to improve in July '09. The DVD's now are properly kept but not the beautiful books included in the pack that still seems too loose.

This expansive and comprehensive package is a very risky proposition by its manufacturers. Containing a suite of films which bridge the coming of sound, they originate from Fox. At the time, Fox was a major studio but much of their product from this period has not survived due to a warehouse fire in 1937 when so many of the negatives were destroyed. For those interested in the history of the American film, the package is compulsory viewing. Such an audience may be prepared to pay a high price for the opportunity to own these titles but for a general audience, the package may have little attraction. Compounding the risk is that the package clearly hit the market with many faulty discs which must have hindered sales. A pity too because it may discourage the manufacturers from taking such a risk again, even if they only have themselves to blame. I am fortunate. My package arrived safely and the disks are perfect.The set can be divided a couple of ways - the films directed by F W Murneau versus those by Frank Borzage or the silents versus those with added sound or full talkies. Murneau was a very famous German director with a superb visual style and Borzage was an American who specialised in idyllic love stories. It also provides an excellent insight into the careers of a number of forgotten actors, particularly Charles Farrell, an actor who made the transition to talkies but soon faded from stardom.Let's start with Murneau's films."Sunrise" is probably the most famous film in the set. A visual masterpiece and a peak of lyrical silent screen movie making, every frame is an image to cherish. It is worth noting just how few inter-titles are used. The story is a simple one of good (Janet Gaynor) and evil (Margaret Livingston) and the man (George O'Brien), married to one but tempted by the other. The print has been restored and the movietone version is accompanied by the superb original score. The DVD comes with many extras, including rare alternate takes, on set stills, an excellent commentary and a complete silent version sourced from Chekoslavakia.The second Murneau film is the lost "4 Devils", recreated here via stills, sketches and the original script. Superbly constructed, it is as close to seeing the film as you could possible want."City Girl" was the third of Murneau's American films and there is a lot to enjoy here. Mary Duncan stars as the waitress in steamy Chicago who marries bucolic Charles Farrell, in town to sell the wheat crop. They return to the farm and Farrell's hostile father who rejects sincere Duncan. The predictable resolution to the drama unfolds while the crop is harvested to avoid destruction due to a pending hail storm. Whilst the film underwent changes not directed by Murneau when talkie sequences were added, we have here a pristine silent version without the tampering. The leads are excellent and there are some wonderful images to savour but the accompanying score is very dull.The first of the Borzage films is a 1926 silent "Lazybones", the earliest film in the set. A melodrama about a backwoods man who adopts his neigbour's daughter, it stars western star Buck Jones in a change of pace and he is very good. The story is Victorian melodrama, but touching and very well photographed. Unfortunately, the film is accompanied by an awful score which I eventually turned off, finding it completely uncomplimentary to the visuals and the drama in the very good print.Both "Seventh Heaven" and "Street Angel" are famous silent films which contributed to Janet Gaynor winning the first Best Actress Oscar. These are the films which cemented Borzage's reputation as the director of magical and eternal love stories. The former tells of the love of street urchin Gaynor to sewer rat Farrell who saves her from strangulation by her vicious sister. The film has many lyrical moments and Gaynor acts with her eyes which is perfect. The print is variable and the DVD comes with a reasonable commentary. "Street Angel" is a marginally more realistic tale with Gaynor cast as another urchin who escapes the police by joining a circus. Farrell plays the street artist who falls for her. The print is superior to "Seventh Heaven". The original soundtracks accompany both films and the music is vastly superior to the modern scores which have been attached to other silent films in the set. Farrell is a very handsome gentle hero in both and the films cemented the pair as America's sweethearts."The River", released in 1928, was a film thought to be lost but more than half of it has surfaced and the total film is reconstructed here using stills and the original script. What survives gives a great feeling for what is missing and this is a moody melodrama with a very good performance by Mary Duncan as the tough mistress of a convicted criminal who falls for youthful and innocent Charles Farrell. Once again, the lighting and sets overcome any weaknesses in the melodrama and there is plenty of symbolism in the nature of the river itself. The surviving reels vary in print quality."Lucky Star" is the third and last film of the Borzage/Farrell/Gaynor combination and may be the unexpected treasure of the whole set. Long lost, an almost pristine silent version is presented here which surfaced from Holland. A touching story of a woodlands girl and her relationship with a crippled war veteran, both the leads are perfect. Borzage's direction is exemplary and the backwoods sets are stunning. The only drawback is that this is another with a lousy musical accompaniment which interferes with the visual images and sensitive acting of the principals.Now we move into talkies.The earliest film is "They Had to see Paris", released in 1929 and the talkie debut of American folk hero Will Rogers. He plays a bucolic family man who strikes it rich and takes his family to Paris. The film follows their adventures in the big city. The print is good enough mostly but the sound is difficult. As a very early talkie, the position of the microphone is critical and the voices come and go. Rogers mumbles too and can not always be understood. The humour is basic and this is one film for which the fast forward button became useful. There is no doubt it has historic interest for those keen on Rogers but otherwise, it is a dud and an example of the comedown from the lyrical silent films which preceded it."Song of My Heart", filmed in 1929, stars famous Irish tenor John McCormack. This man was a giant in the entertainment industry in his day such that he was able to command an enormous salary for his appearance here. The film preserves his art and when he sings, his enormous talent is obvious. Unfortunately, the rest is turgid and awful. The story is sentimental Irish schmaltz and McCormack, who is no actor, smiles his role. The film was made partly in Ireland but you would never know. Maureen O'Sullivan appears as the ingénue. There is some dreadfully timed Irish humour from some of the supporting cast. The film comes in 2 versions, full and part talkie. I would suggest going for the part talkie because the titles are more bearable than actually hearing the dreadful dialogue."Liliom" is a very early talkie (1930) version of the Molnar play on which the more famous musical "Carousel" was based. It is another dreadful film, static and with dialogue delivered as if entirely in slow motion. The film is directed exactly as it might have been for the stage. Charles Farrell is miscast as the barker of the title name. The film was an attempt to give him a more rugged image and although Farrell swaggers and blusters, his high voice and slim physique betray him. The pluses are some interesting set design, H B Warner's warm performance as the emissary on the train to the beyond and above all, a spectacular print in incredible condition given the age and obscurity of the film."Bad Girl", released in 1931, was an Academy Award winner for Borzage as Best Director. The film is a revelation. With a first rate script, James Dunn stars as an earnest young man who marries cynical Sally Eilers and the film tracks their adjustments to married life. Minna Gombell plays Eiler's best friend and the relationship between she and Dunn is surprising as it moves through contempt to cynicism to respect. The film focuses on the clunky communication between the newlyweds and the dialogue is literate and mature. The acting of the principals is also first rate. The film makes an interesting comparison to the products of the other studios at this time: not as fast moving as the equivalent Warner Brother's product, but much more carefully directed and produced and far ahead of the pretentious product of the artificial Shearer/Crawford films from MGM. The only drawback is that the print, whilst restored from the best sources available, has continuity jumps mainly from splicing but possibly sometimes due to censorship. Incidentally, the title is misleading because Eilers is not a bad girl at all.Next comes "After Tomorrow", released in 1932. Charles Farrell plays a young man courting Marion Nixon. The film traces their trials and tribulations, financial and familial, to get to the altar. We hear a lot about pre-code Warners, MGM and Paramount, but very rarely pre-code Fox. In this one, we get adultery, a discussion about pre-marital sex and a suprisingly mature look at a woman, Minna Gombell, tied into an unhappy marriage to William Collier. She dumps him too and suffers no retribution, a refreshingly realistic outcome. The film is another revelation, superbly photographed by the famous James Wong Howe. All the actors are excellent, particularly Gombell and Collier. Josephine Hull, who you may recall from "Arsenic and Old Lace" many years later, plays Farrell's possessive and manipulative mother. There is some excellent dialogue and a great scene between Hull and Collier when he actually tells her to go to hell. The print is really good too. One spoiler moment though which must have occurred when the film was restored - Farrell and Nixon are courting in the park and a truck goes past blaring a song. Problem is the song is Alice Faye singing "Please pardon us, we're in love" from a 1937 musical "You Can't have Everything", released 5 years after this film. Whoops!One of the less interesting films in the set is "Young America". A melodrama about a misunderstood orphan, the film focuses on the competent youngsters with largely one dimensional roles for the adults. Spencer Tracy plays an unsympathetic role and it is indicative of the mediocre plotting that Tracy makes a switch to nice guy in the flash of a plot twist. The ending is contrived and corny. The print is OK with the exception of some splicing jumps.Most of the films contain extras such as on set stills, marketing material and some commentaries. Most importantly, there is a separate disk with a documentary about Murneau, Borzage and William Fox himself. If you wish to understand the context of the films then I would recommend viewing it first. There are also two substantial booklets. The first replicates the documentary as well as filling in the gaps on other Borzage films not included in the package. The other booklet follows the reconstruction of "4 Devils". While this might seem like overkill, in fact it is useful to be able to read about all the films instead of replaying the documentary. Concerning the controversial packaging, the disks are hard to remove from their sleeves and the box is a nuisance to store due to its size but I have been fortunate to obtain one without damaged disks and to preserve them, I have simply stored them in conventional DVD storage units.There is no doubt that this package is a "special event". It is a pity that its production has been less than smooth and one can only hope that it has been a commercial proposition in order to encourage further "special events". I recommend it highly.

This is the biggest, heaviest, most pretentious, and worst box set packaging I have ever seen. It leaves the DVDs exposed to abrasion and scratching. Virtually all of the discs came pre-scratched, smudged, and abraded. The set weighs in at about 7 pounds, out of which only 8 ounces accounts for the DVDs. The contents come in a huge faux-leather, two-piece slip-case, which contains an over-sized cloth-bound binder measuring approximately 12 by 13 by 2 3/4 inches. It contains two coffee-table sized paper-back books slipped into pockets on the inside of the front and back boards of the binder. In between are pages with cardboard backing and short cardboard pockets into which the discs are tightly jammed. The playing surface of the discs are directly against cardboard. Three of the discs are the dual-sided variety, leaving BOTH sides exposed and subject to abrasion. The pockets are half the size of the discs, leaving them half in, half out. The dual-sided discs have an abrasion line worn straight across the middle of the playing surface, due to the rough edge of the top of the pocket. The damages to the discs are not limited to abrasion. Some have multiple long parallel linear scratches, looking very much like a cat tried to sharpen its claws on the playing surface. My guess is that some of the disc damage may have been from mishandling even before they were inserted into the pockets, although the rough pocket edges or debris could also be the problem. There are also smudges on the playing surfaces, so these discs may have been hand inserted, rather than by automated machinery. The pocket design is totally inappropriate. I found it impossible to extract a disc without having to touch the playing surfaces. Also, I found it impossible to extract and re-insert discs without inflicting a little more abrasion damage, since the surface must be dragged against the cardboard when removed or replaced. I'm really surprised and disappointed at the poor packaging. The last Fox box set I got was the early John Ford films, and they housed all of those appropriately in the thin half-sized plastic keep-cases, and every disc was in perfect shape. Since the Fox Murnau/Borzage Box Set retails between $180 - $240, shouldn't they have housed the discs in appropriate protective packaging? Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a near-term solution at hand. For now, I'm going to send this set back to Amazon for a refund. I will be waiting and hoping that Fox will eventually re-release these DVDs with the discs appropriately housed in keep-cases, or perhaps they will put them out individually. Anyone who is interested in purchasing this set BEWARE! On the other hand, if you don't mind paying $180 - $240 for 12 DVDs which look like beat up rental discs, then go for it!

John McCormack's Song o' My Heart doesn't contain the full concert sequence - 2 songs missing, which is a shame. The remastering is well done, although I haven't had the chance to see the remainder as yet. Excellent set though for very early movie buffs.