Charles S. Cohen, Chairman and CEO of the Cohen Media Group, today announced the
arrival of the Cohen Film Collection, a world-renowned collection of rare cinematic gems,
which will be meticulously restored and enhanced for generations to come. The Cohen
Film Collection (formerly The Rohauer Library), will include more than 700 films – from
enduring Hollywood classics to foreign masterpieces and seminal avant-garde works –
which will undergo complete digital restoration so that the best possible versions of
these historic films are available across all platforms of delivery. Many of these films will
be theatrically re-released, while others will join the Collection on Blu-ray and DVD.
The first release from The Collection,
Tristana, is currently in theaters and will be
debuting on Blu-ray and DVD this March. Coming to Blu-ray and DVD on February 19,
2013, will be
The Thief of Bagdad, Douglas Fairbanks' 1924 fantasy epic that
marked a new peak for action cinema during the silent era. The Thief of Bagdad has
been digitally restored in 2k from two 35mm negatives incorporating color tints and
tones of the original release prints. Featuring state-of-the-art sound, the Carl Davis
orchestral score and accompanied by audio commentary and numerous extras,
The
Thief of Bagdad Blu-ray and DVD indicates the care Cohen will be taking with all
releases from this collection.
Many titles in the collection are rare; the collection has the only known materials for
some films. Exclusive licenses and contracts
bring to the Collection original nitrate
elements camera negatives, prints and other materials unavailable elsewhere, to assure
the best High Definitions transfers possible.
Highlights of The Cohen Film Collection include:
- The General (1926). The Collection has the original nitrate camera negative
of Buster Keaton's Civil War comic masterpiece and is creating, in partnership with The
Library of Congress, a 4K scan from a safety fine-grain positive master newly struck for
the restoration. The Collection also includes Keaton's Sherlock Jr., Our Hospitality,
The Navigator, Go West and dozens of his remarkable short films.
- Intolerance (1916). D.W. Griffith's awe-inspiring epic is receiving a 2K
restoration that will include an orchestral score by world renowned composer Carl Davis.
Other Griffith masterworks in the Collection include The Birth of a Nation (both
the 1915 original and the 1930 cut), Broken Blossoms, Way Down East, Orphans of
the Storm and many of the groundbreaking shorts directed by the "Father of Film."
- Sudden Fear (1952). David Miller's film noir, starring Joan Crawford and Jack
Palance, is receiving a 2K restoration.
- L'Etoile de Mer (1928). This and other experimental shorts by the avant-
garde photographer Man Ray will be released.
- Hangmen Also Die (1943). The Collection is working with Britain's Pinewood
Studios on a 2K restoration of this Fritz Lang film that will reinstate a short sequence not
in the version currently available here.
- Song of Freedom (1936). One of six films in the Collection starring the singer-
actor-activist Paul Robeson.
- Son of the Sheik (1926). Rudolph Valentino's last film is being restored from
nitrate material held at the Library of Congress. Valentino's Blood and Sand and The
Eagle are also in the Collection.
- Jamaica Inn (1939). The Collection will restore this period adventure, the last
film Alfred Hitchcock made in England before moving to Hollywood and his first
adaptation of a tale by Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca, The Birds).
- Fire Over England (1937). This historical drama marked the first screen
pairing of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier and is being restored to honor, in 2013, the
100th anniversary of Leigh's birth. It's one of four Leigh films in the Collection.
- The Strong Man (1926). Frank Capra's first feature film stars Harry Langdon,
generally regarded as one of the quartet of great silent-screen comics along with Charlie
Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd (all of whom are also represented in the
Collection). One of 14 Langdon films in the Collection.
- Douglas Fairbanks films. In addition to The Thief of Bagdad, the Collection
includes such early Fairbanks titles as The Lamb and Double Trouble, both
from 1915, as well as his later adventure classics The Mark of Zorro, The Three
Musketeers, Robin Hood and The Black Pirate. Among the dozens of other Fairbanks
titles in the Collection is The Taming of the Shrew, a screen pairing of Fairbanks
and his wife, "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford.