…to anyone interested in film history and yet it’s not so academic that it can’t be appreciated by the casual moviegoer. There are two documentaries here one dealing with the development of sound, the other with the development of color. Both were made in France a few years back and are just now making their way here. Rather than use subtitles they utilize voiceovers when necessary which makes them more accessible to most people.
The remarkable thing about both documentaries is the wealth of rare material used in both. Even an experienced film buff is likely to find something here that they’ve never encountered before and the excellent condition of the clips is absolutely breathtaking. It’s also fascinating to see where most of these developments came about (France for sound and England for color) and just how many different experiments there were.
In addition to the docs there is a wealth of bonus material including 1908 recordings of Enrico Caruso mimed by an actor, the first true Technicolor short LA CUCARACHA from 1934, a 1927 interview with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and color footage of the Marx Brothers from 1930. The total running time for this set is 267 minutes so you more than get your money’s worth. Another winner from the folks at Flicker Alley.
The Capsule Critic 