For Immediate Release
KINO ON VIDEO RELEASES THE BLUE BIRD (1918) AND LORNA DOONE
(1922), BOTH DIRECTED BY SILENT-ERA AUTEUR MAURICE TOURNEUR
Kino on Video is proud to announce the DVD release of two
silent films by the pioneering director Maurice Tourneur: THE BLUE BIRD (1918)
and LORNA DOONE (1922). Both titles will pre-book on August 9, 2005, each
with a SRP of $29.95. Their street date is September 6, 2005.
Maurice Tourneur (1876-1961) has long been recognized as one of
the major innovators of the silent era.
His films were renowned for their stunning imagery and he was hailed as
perhaps the cinema's first great visual stylist. Tourneur pushed the envelope on what was achievable on the
screen, from experimenting with special effects to finding more subtle visual
means to tell a story.
Born Maurice Thomas in Paris, he had a diverse career in the arts
before turning to films. In his early years he worked as an illustrator, designer, interior decorator and even
as an assistant to the sculptor Auguste Rodin. He eventually turned to the theatre, where he learned acting
under the guidance of the famed director Andre Antoine.
In 1911, Tourneur switched to the movies, joining the Éclair
studio as an assistant director. The following year he made his directorial debut and, in 1914, he was
sent to Fort Lee, New Jersey, to direct films for Éclair's American branch. Once in America, Tourneur quickly established himself as one of the more promising talents of a new generation of filmmakers. He moved from studio to studio before striking out on his own as an independent, and
within just a few years, he was widely recognized as one of the top directors
in the film industry.
His first major feature was THE WISHING RING (1914), a country
romance set in old England.
Beautifully shot on location, with New Jersey imaginatively substituting
for the English countryside, the film possesses a delicate, lyrical style that
captures the pace and flavor of rural life. It has been hailed as one of the great films of the period,
advanced in its approach to lighting and editing, with the historian William K.
Everson calling it "a more sophisticated film than any of the pre-THE BIRTH OF
A NATION features made by [D.W.] Griffith."
Tourneur's subsequent years were prolific and included two Mary
Pickford features, THE PRIDE OF THE CLAN (1917) and THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL
(1917), both of which contain Tourneur's trademark fanciful elements and are
often cited by fans of Pickford as being among her best films. Indeed, the latter was placed by the
Library of Congress on its National Film Registry for landmark American films,
the only one of Pickford's films to be so honored.
Other highlights of the period included ALIAS JIMMY VALENTINE
(1915), one of the earliest American gangster films; A GIRL'S FOLLY (1917), a
satire of the moviemaking business; PRUNELLA (1918), an elaborate fantasy film
starring Marguerite Clark; and WOMAN (1918), a multi-episode historical drama
inspired by Griffith's INTOLERANCE.
Maurice Tourneur's legacy to the movies extends to his son,
Jacques Tourneur (1904-1977; CAT PEOPLE and OUT OF THE PAST), a man who became
a major director in his own right.
THE BLUE BIRD (1918)
From the archives of George Eastman House
With music composed by Rodney Sauer
 Preserved and restored by the Motion Picture Department of the
George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, this beautiful color tinted film was
selected by the Library of Congress in 2004 for the National Registry and is
one of the earliest fantasy films ever produced. The George Eastman House
Motion Picture Department is one of the leading moving image preservation, education
and research archives in the world, and holds an internationally diverse
collection of films, photographs, manuscripts and other materials, dating from
the 1890s to the present. One of the most important missions of the George
Eastman House is educating motion picture curators and archivists, which is
does through The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation and a two-year
MA program in film and media preservation presented in cooperation with the
University of Rochester.
Based on the timeless tale by Maurice Maeterlinck, THE BLUE BIRD
tells the story of a young brother and sister who set off in search of the Blue
Bird of Happiness. Made a year before either BROKEN BLOSSOMS or THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, THE BLUE BIRD is
equally bold in its approach to its material. Tourneur employs a variety of startling effects, from
bringing to life animals and inanimate objects by having actors wear costumes
(predating similar methods in THE WIZARD OF OZ by more than twenty years) to
using impressionistic painted backdrops to visualize a fantastic world that
defies the boundaries of reality.
THE BLUE BIRD is possibly Tourneur's greatest achievement, and
certainly the pinnacle of his long collaboration with the celebrated art
director Ben Carré (who is perhaps best known for his work on the 1925 version
of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA).
Together these two artists use techniques that are normal today, but
were revolutionary in 1918. Most
importantly, however, is that THE BLUE BIRD remains, for viewers of all ages,
as enchanting as ever.
LORNA DOONE(1922)
With a score composed and arranged by Mari Lijima
 Richard D. Blackmore's classic story of romance and adventure has
been filmed many times, but has never looked more beautiful than it does in
this 1922 version. John Ridd, a humble farmer in 17th century England, is
determined to rescue his love, Lorna, from the Doones, a notorious band of
outlaws. He embarks on an adventure that culminates in an exciting, unpredictable finale. Madge Bellamy, who would later star in
John Ford's landmark Western THE IRON HORSE, gives one of her best performances
as Lorna Doone, while matinee idol John Bowers is equally memorable as the
heroic John Ridd.
Stunningly photographed by Henry Sharp, LORNA DOONE is further
evidence of Tourneur's unmatched visual style, including his masterful use of
locations for staging action sequences.
The New York Times declared that "Tourneur again comes to the front as a
maker of motion pictures," and LORNA DOONE became yet another notable success
in Tourneur's stellar career. This restoration was financed by Georgia
cinephile Jesse Pierce.
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