Il Cinema Ritrovato – Day 7

Just to keep you on your toes, breakfast was a little different this morning. It started with a few minutes with Mehelli Modi (owner of Second Run DVD), then he had to leave to catch a flight back to London. I was then joined by the threesome of Herve Dumont, Peter von Bagh and Jonathan Rosenbaum.

They all then left to catch early screenings of either a Freda or Feuillade film and Dave Kehr came over to join me. Dave is one of the nicest guys you could possibly ever hope to meet in the film world.

My first screening today was not til 10:15am at the Lumiere, a rare film that British director Maurice Elvey shot in the US entitled THE FOLLY OF VANITY (1924). The print was from the Czech Film Archive and had been restored along with colour tinting. Live piano score by Gabriel Thibaudeau. The film itself I found a little disappointing, but it was certainly a curio piece in the Elvey catalogue.

Next was the annual Il Cinema Ritrovato DVD Awards chaired by Festival Director, Peter von Bagh. The full press release of all the winners can be found here http://www.theartsshelf.com/2014/07/04/il-cinema-ritrovato-2014-dvd-awards/

The first and only film of the afternoon for me was a new restoration of Raymond Bernard’s LES CROIX DE BOIS (1932). This was stunning to say the least. Use of both tracking and hand held shots for the incredibly well choreographed battle scenes. The battle scene in the cemetery alone will stay with me for some time.

Dinner this evening is, perhaps appropriately for July 4th, an American affair with The Criterion Collection, Josh Siegel from MOMA and the guys from Sony Pictures.