Product Description
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A Five-Volume Boxed Set. The Great Train Robbery And Other
Primary Works. The genesis of the motion picture medium is
vividly recreated in this unprecedented collection of the
cinema's formative works. More than crucial historical artifacts,
these films reveal the foundation from which the styles and
stories of the contemporary cinema would later arise. The
European Pioneers. While some may consider the cinema a
distinctly American invention, the most influential figures
during it's infancy were two brothers in France: Auguste and
Louis Lumiere. In the beginning, they dominated world film
production and distribution. Through the magic of cinema, such
ordinary s as the demolition of a wall, the arrival of a
train, a family enjoying breakfast or workers exiting a factory
were transformed into mystifying spectacles of light and motion,
having their premiere on December 28, 1895. Experimentation And
Discovery. More than any other decade, the first ten years of the
moving picture saw the greatest a of experimentation and
development. Ranging from the ingeniously creative to the
audacious, the films represented in this volume offer a sampling
of the primitive masterworks that allowed the technical novelty
of the cinema to so quickly flourish into an artistically
expressive medium. The Magic of Melies. Decades before the term
"special effects" was coined, audiences of the newborn cinema
were witnessing spectacular screen illusions, courtesy of the
medium's first master magician: George Melies. The films
collected on this disc offer an unparalleled view of Melies's
career, introducing the viewer to the rich body of work that lies
beyond a Trip to the Moon (1902), which is featured in Volume One
of the Movies Begin. Comedy, Spectacle And New Horizons. By 1907
the cinema's initial growing pains had subsided and fairly
distinct generic categories of production were established. This
volume of the Movies Begin examines some of these integral works
that begin to reflect the modern day cinema - punctuated with
authentic hand-tinted lantern slides used during early theatrical
exhibition.
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The home-video revolution has yielded a wealth of valuable
compilations, but few are as miraculously definitive as The
Movies Begin. Equally suited to home or classroom viewing, this
authoritative five-volume set is a vital document of film
history, providing a one-stop destination for anyone wishing to
witness the first two decades of motion pictures. That
period--from 1894 to 1913--saw movies develop at a breakneck
pace, from the earliest "actualities" of the Lumière brothers in
France to D.W. Griffith's audacious development of dramatic
action in the Biograph shorts of the early 1910s. Sensibly
organized into pivotal stages of technical and creative progress,
each of these volumes represents the priceless value of film
preservation; all 133 films in the set are presented in the
finest condition available, from archival prints to complete
restorations, and accompanied by music that perfectly captures
the spirit of each film and the time of their creation.
Under the expert guidance of film historian David Shepard, this
collection is uniquely comprehensive, with fact, fiction, and
fantasy represented in equal measure. All major figures are
included; it's fitting that one volume is devoted to astonishing
shorts by movie magician Georges Méliès, while other volumes
serve as "greatest hits" compilations of movie innovations by
Edwin S. Porter, Cecil Hepworth, Max Linder, Alice Guy Blanche,
and many others. The breathtaking growth of movies is fully
apparent by volume 5 ("Comedy, Spectacle, and New Horizons");
most viewers will find this the most entertaining, but each
volume is a revelation, offering films that haven't been widely
seen since they were first produced. To understand and appreciate
the foundation upon which modern filmmaking is built, The Movies
Begin is truly essential. --Jeff Shannon
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Set Contains:
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Each DVD of The Movies Begin includes concise, authoritative
onscreen program notes by film historian Charles Musser, offering
illuminating details about nearly every film in the set. Volumes
2 and 3 are further enhanced by Barry Salt's historical
commentary, defining the cultural contexts and creative advances
of the films under discussion. Together, these valuable
supplements serve as further proof that The Movies Begin was
produced with the utmost concern for serious students of
motion-picture history. --Jeff Shannon
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