Dough and Dynamite

So, I'm kicking back, watching the Madacy (bleagh) dvd with Dough and Dynamite on it, and what a lovely transfer - too bright on one side, out of focus on the other.

I noticed that it's sourced from a Blackhawk print. Some questions...

1. Is there a better version of this out there, barring finding an original Blackhawk print?

2. The blackhawk print seems amazingly complete, including titles that may be original. Are the titles original?

3. Does the Blackhawk print actually look good? I can't tell from this crap-o transfer.

Thanks!

I have a really lovely 16mm print with original Keystone titles which I believe derives from the LOC paper print collection. I've presented it at a few 'Silent Clowns' programs in NYC.

Does it have the Blackhawk intro?

Mark

(Maybe I should add a couple of communist comments to get more replies. Sheesh.)

<< Does it have the Blackhawk intro? >>

Uhhhh.....no. Again - it's an LOC print

just wondering if Blackhawk used the LOC print for their release...

I wonder, though, if the LOC's print wasn't the source for the Blackhawk print. Quite a few of Blackhawk's Keystones came from LOC paper prints.

This sounds like a case for David Shepard!

Dear Fuzzy-thinking pinko friends,

Just happened by ...

Blackhawk's DOUGH AND DYNAMITE is taken from the LoC paper print. However, Blackhawk built its own printer to rephotograph the paper, which (in those days) it was able to borrow from the Library of Congress. Almost invariably Blackhawk achieved much better results than the Library got with their original paper print rephotography by Renovare Company (Kemp Niver).

All of DOUGH AND DYNAMITE (including the titles) is original.

Now the Library is rephotographing the paper prints all over again in 35mm. Those few I have seen look spectacular.

left-leaning David Shepard

Thanks for clearing that up, David.

By the way, in case some readers here don't know it, 'Dough and Dynamite' and 'Gentlemen Of Nerve' are the only two Chaplins preserved on paper prints in the LOC, enabling us to see those films exactly as they were released in 1914 (or, well, they WOULD enable us to see them if they were publically available!).

Well, it's good to know that at least these two exist. I wonder why the others don't? (Some hobbyist stole them? They were never dropped off?)

They were never there, Mark. This was past the point where submission of paper prints was necessary, but Sennett submitted a couple of the Chaplins anyway, presumably because prints were being pirated at the time.

I wonder why Blackhawk didn't put out 'Gentlemen of Nerve.' They put out plenty of the other Keystone paper prints (mostly non-Chaplin), and GoN is one of the better ones.