For Immediate Release
Kino Releases Four-DVD John BarrymoreCollection on DVD
New York, NY - April 23, 2009 - Kino International is proud to release a four-DVD box set with four epic productions of the silent era starring John Barrymore (1882 - 1942).
An American actor frequently called the greatest of his generation (nicknamed "The Great Profile"), Barrymore first gained fame on the stage playing Shakespearian heroes such as Hamlet and Richard III. His success continued beyond the theater, and Barrymore went on to deliver some of his most acclaimed performances in both silent and sound-era motion pictures.
A member of a multi-generation theatrical dynasty, John Sidney Blyth Barrymore was the brother of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore; he is also the paternal grandfather of Drew Barrymore.
Kino's four-DVD John Barrymore Collection prebooks on June 9, 2009, with a SRP of $59.95. The collection's street date is July 7.
Headlining Kino's John Barrymore Collection is the release (for the first time on either VHS or DVD) of Sherlock Holmes (1922), a feature-length adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous adventures. Sherlock Holmes was believed to be lost, surviving only in the form of a few stills, until a battered and incomplete print surfaced in the mid 1970s. However, it wasn't until recently that a viewable version was meticulously restored at the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department in Rochester, N.Y.
This Kino DVD was mastered from the Eastman House restoration and arrives with a new score by silent-film composer Ben Model performed on the Miditzer Virtual Theatre Organ.
Directed by Albert Parker, Sherlock Holmes was set up as a deluxe Goldwyn Pictures Corporation production featuring striking sets and even, with a number of scenes filmed on location in London - an unusual practice at the time. Also of note is that John Barrymore, in the same year of his acclaimed stage production of Hamlet, was in his absolute prime. Moreover, the film brings the screen debut of two notable actors, William Powel (The Thin Man) and Rolland Young (Topper), and a script written by Earle Browne and Marion Fairfax based on a play by William Gillette.
Completing Kino's John Barrymore Collection box set are the new Kino releases of the United Artists productions The Beloved Rogue (1927), also starring German silent master Conrad Veidt, and Tempest (1928), a lavishly produced romance set in Russia during the final days of the Tsarist autocracy. The fourth silent production in this set is the previously released Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde (1920), also headlined by John Barrymore.
The newly released DVDs (i.e. The Beloved Rogue, Tempest and Sherlock Holmes) can be purchased at $24.95 each, and the previously available Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde is now
priced at $19.95.
SHERLOCK HOLMES
From the collection of the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department.
When a young prince is accused of a crime that could embroil him in international scandal, debonair supersleuth Sherlock Holmes comes to his aid, and quickly discovers that behind the incident lurks a criminal mastermind eager to reduce Western civilization to anarchy.
U.S. 1922 B&W 85 Min.
Goldwyn Pictures Full-Frame (1.33:1)
Directed by Albert Parker
Screenplay by Earle Browne and Marion Fairfax
From the play by William Gillette and story by Arthur Conan Doyle
Photographed by J. Roy Hunt
With John Barrymore, Roland Young, Carol Dempster, Louis Wolheim, Gustav von Seyffertitz, William Powell
Music composed and performed by Ben Model
From the Collection of George Eastman House Motion Picture Department Restoration New Intertitles
© 2008 George Eastman House
THE BELOVED ROGUE
John Barrymore sought to out-swashbuckle Douglas Fairbanks in his breathless depiction of France's rapscallion poet, thief and vagabond: François Villon (1431-1463). To prove his mettle, he bounds over the snowy rooftops of Paris, scales a castle tower, and is hurled skyward by the royal catapult-but this is no mere stunt picture.
Barrymore wielded a simmering sexuality that Fairbanks lacked, endowing the film with an element of eroticism that perfectly suits Villon, who loved "France earnestly, Frenchwomen excessively, French wine exclusively."
A lavish spectacle boasting the set designs of William Cameron Menzies (The Thief of Bagdad), The Beloved Rogue is Hollywood myth-making at its most ambitious...and entertaining.
Beyond Barrymore, the cast is sprinkled with celebrated character actors. Fresh from a series of diabolical roles in the German silent cinema, Conrad Veidt (The Man Who Laughs) made his American film debut as the sinister King Louis XI. Appearing here as the scheming Thibault d'Aussigny and François's sidekick Beppo the Dwarf, Henry Victor and Angelo Rossitto would reunite five years later in Tod Browning's Freaks.
Special Feature:
Filmed Introduction by Orson Welles
U.S. 1927 Color Tinted 98 Min.
United Artists Full-Frame (1.33:1)
Directed by Alan Crosland / Screenplay by Paul Bern
Photographed by Joseph H. August / Art Direction: William Cameron Menzies
With John Barrymore, Conrad Veidt, Marceline Day, Henry Victor, Angelo Rossitto, Mack Swain
Piano score (1971) by William P. Perry
TEMPEST
An epic romance set in Russia during the final days of the Tsarist autocracy, Tempest stars John Barrymore as Sgt. Ivan Markov, a dedicated soldier who defies the rigid class system to receive an officer's commission.
But even as he rises through the ranks of military and society, he must contend with resentment from the aristocratic officers-including the monocled Ullrich Haupt, who delivers a sinister performance worthy of Erich von Stroheim, himself an uncredited screenwriter on the project.
Ignoring the warnings of a grim political prophet (Boris de Fast), Ivan continues his climb to power, and falls in love with a haughty princess (Faust's Camilla Horn), who spurns him and causes him to be stripped of rank. However, the tables are turned when the prophecy of a people's revolt is realized, upending the aristocracy and putting Ivan and Princess Tamara at the mercy of a sweeping tide of fate.
U.S. 1928 B&W 111 Min.
United Artists Full-Frame (1.33:1)
Directed by Sam Taylor
Screenplay by C. Gardner Sullivan / Story by V.I. Nemirovich-Dantchenko
Photographed by Charles Rosher / Art Direction: William Cameron Menzies
With John Barrymore, Camilla Horn, Louis Wolheim, Boris de Fast, George Fawcett, Ullrich Haupt
Piano score by William P. Perry
DR JEKYL AND MR. HYDE
Previously Available from Kino
Considered by many to be the first great American horror film, John S. Robertson's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde allowed stage legend John Barrymore to deliver his first virtuoso performance on film.
Blending historic charm with grim naturalism, this version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is one of the more faithful of the many screen adaptations of Stevenson's story, recounting a visionary scientist's ill-fated attempts to unleash the human mysteries that dwell beneath the shell of the civilized self.
Mastered from a 35mm negative and complemented with a wealth of supplemental material, this Kino edition beautifully showcases the dramatic brilliance and gruesome thrills of this influential American classic.
(Musical score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra)
Click the link below and check several of Kino's trailers:
www.Kino.com/trailers
About Kino International
Kino International recently entered its 32nd year as an independent distributor of classic and contemporary world cinema. Its most recent theatrical releases include Amos Gitaï's One Day You'll Understand, Azazel Jacobs' Momma's Man, Joseph Cedar's Oscar-nominated Beaufort, and Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy.
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