Samuel LoveFounded in 2002 by Jeffery Masino, Flicker Alley – the affectionate nickname of Cecil Court in London, the hub of the British film industry during the silent film era – is a wonderful label with a real passion for film heritage through exhaustively researched and constructed releases. Earning critical acclaim for their physical and digital releases of some of the most important albeit hidden films in cinema history, Flicker Alley’s focus on unearthing pioneering films and giving them definitive releases has earned them 3 National Society of Film Critics Film Heritage Awards for publishing “rare early U.S. and foreign silent film” (in 2009, 2010, and 2011).
To try and pick some of Flicker Alley’s best releases – or indeed, a handful that are the most indicative of who they are – would be a fool’s errand. Over more than 20 years, their output has been an embarrassment of riches for film buffs. While you’re never going to find a big title like Citizen Kane in their catalogue, you’ll find hundreds of films you may never have even heard of that could rival it.
A recent release from the label is 1927’s The King of Kings, a biblical epic from the legendary Cecil B. DeMille. The film – the first to premiere at the noted Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles – is presented by Flicker Alley in a loaded 2-disc release featuring both the silent 1927 Roadshow version and the 1928 sound release reconstruction, along with a great wealth of special features. This highly influential film renowned for its technicolor segments, cutting-edge hand coloring process and synchronized sound effects is treated with enormous reverence in this release and is certainly a prime example of Flicker Alley’s passion for making these pioneering silent films more accessible to audiences and preserving them in beautifully constructed releases..
Flicker Alley’s Flicker Fusion line is also worthy of note, which aims to bring new projects, lesser known rarities, and archival restorations to light. “With a nod to the steady stream of images that motion pictures utilize in creating the magic of moving images, our Flicker Fusion series will be an ongoing way to offer high quality, pressed Blu-ray disc publications at an affordable price”. This line is currently made up of six releases;
- This is Francis X. Bushman
- The Whistle at Eaton Falls
- The Silent Enemy
- Cinematic Journeys: Two Films by Juleen Compton (Stranded and The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean)
- French Revelations: Fanfare d’amour and Mauvaise Graine
- Behind the Door / Below the Surface
Each of the six releases are also available with limited edition spot gloss slipcovers, available only through the Flicker Alley website and select indie retailers. These beautiful slipcovers – which I will showcase in this feature – are really gorgeous, and make these must-own releases even more enticing to collectors.
The most recent entry in the series pairs Irvin V. Willat’s Behind the Door (1919) with his Below the Surface (1920), both newly restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and available in their most complete versions. These beautifully restored editions are the most complete versions of these films ever made available, thanks to the collaboration between the SFSFF, the Library of Congress, and Gosfilmofond of Russia. Each film also features a brand-new musical score by Stephen Horne. This is another remarkable release that highlights the immense amount of work that Flicker Alley and their friends put into these incredible acts of film preservation. Each of these films can now be enjoyed and studied for the rest of time, safely protected for future generations.
While it may be their main output, Flicker Alley don’t only deal in cinematic rarities from the past. They’ve also dabbled in more contemporary work – Alex Barrett’s London Symphony (2017), for example, is one of their Manufactured-on-Demand [MOD] titles. This mesmerising city symphony offers a celebration of London’s culture, diversity and architectural history through four poetic movements. It is a magnificent film and a reminder that there are still filmmakers out there with an eye for silent beauty.
So, while Flicker Alley certainly look into the past with their focus on film heritage and celebration of golden age rarities, they also are looking at the present through their work with contemporary filmmakers, and indeed the future with their working on preservation. The passion on show in Flicker Alley’s output is quite unparalleled, and is incredibly deserving of the spotlight.
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You can see further unboxings here of French Revelations: Fanfare d’amour and Mauvaise Graine and Cinematic Journeys: Two Films by Juleen Compton (Stranded and The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean) complete with their limited edition slipcovers, and you can browse Flicker Alley’s entire catalogue and work here.
