American Silent Horror [1 DVD9 & 4 DVD5s]

In an effort to top the critical and financial success of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, studio head Carl Laemmle recruited two influential artists of the German Expressionist school: actor Conrad Veidt (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) and director Paul Leni (Waxworks). The shadowy exteriors, the carnival setting, the demonically misshapen "hero" made The Man Who Laughs something entirely new to American cinema – the foundation upon which the classic Universal horror films would be built.

Veidt stars as Gwynplaine, a nobleman's son who is kidnapped by a political enemy, and then is mutilated by a gypsy "surgeon" who carves a monstrous smile upon his face. Finding shelter in a traveling freakshow, he falls in love with a blind girl (The Phantom of the Opera's Mary Philbin), the one person who cannot be repulsed by his appearance. As years pass, the hand of fate draws Gwynplaine back into the world of politcal intrigue. He becomes the plaything of a jaded duchess (Freaks Olga Baclanova), and his enemies renew their efforts to control him.

Disc Features
* An original 20-minute documentary on the making of the film
* Candid home movie footage of Conrad Veidt and fellow European emigr�s Greta Garbo, Emil Jannings, and Camilla Horn.
* Extensive gallery of rare photographs and art.
* Booklet essay by John Soister, author of Conrad Veidt On Screen.
* Excerpt of the Italian release version, with unique hand-painted title cards.
* Excerpt from Victor Hugo's original novel.

Considered by many to be the first great American horror film, John S. Robertson's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde allowed stage legend John Barrymore to deliver his first virtuoso performance on film.

Blending historic charm with grim naturalism, this version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is one of the more faithful of the many screen adaptations of Stevenson's story, recounting a visionary scientist's ill-fated attempts to unleash the human mysteries that dwell beneath the shell of the civilized self.

Mastered from a 35mm negative and complemented with a wealth of supplemental material, this Kino on Video edition beautifully showcases the dramatic brilliance and gruesome thrills of this influential American classic.

Disc Features
* "The Transformation Scene" A Rare 1909 Audio Recording
* Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride: a 1925 one-reel parody starring Stan Laurel
* "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde": an excerpt of the rival 1920 version starring Sheldon Lewis
* "The Many Faces of Jekyll/Hyde": an illustrated essay on the story's origins and incarnations
* "About the Score" by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

A decaying mansion and a stormy night are the archetypal setting for mystery and chaos when a pack of greedy relatives gather for the reading of a twenty-year-old will. But before the West fortune can be handed down, the family must endure a night in the cavernous manor, unnerved by the news that an escaped lunatic is at large.

So clever and stylish that it would appear to be the wellspring of all �old dark house� mysteries, THE CAT AND THE CANARY was in 1927 already a theatrical chestnut among similar popular melodramas. Even so, THE CAT is a milestone of the American horror film, thanks to the ingenuity of its director, Paul Leni. One of the first film artists imported from Germany by Hollywood, Leni invigorated this stage-bound genre with expressionist flair, transforming conventional material into a visual feast.

In a role that established him as one of the most dynamically terrifying performers of the silent screen, Lon Chaney stars in The Penalty, a grotesque thriller from director Wallace Worsley (The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

When an incompetent doctor amputates the legs of a young boy, he has no idea that the youth will grow up to be the immoral and embittered Blizzard, a criminal mastermind who orchestrates a bizarre and heinous plot to avenge himself upon his malefactor. The Penalty teems with irony and sexual menace as Blizzard befriends the surgeon's daughter and serves as an artist's model for her sculptural rendition of Satan, waiting for his moment to show the depth of his demonic desires.

In playing the devious Blizzard, Chaney tightly harnessed his legs within a pair of leather stumps, flawlessly rendering the physical disfigurement that so profoundly echoes the misshapen mind that drives this sadistic character toward his violent destiny. As Chaney biographer Michael Blake says, "One has to wonder if the intensity Lon brought to this role might have been due in part to the pain produced by his harness."

As a formative work in the evolution of the horror film, The Penalty relied less on cinematic precedents than on the popular literary adventures of Fu Manchu (Sax Rohmer), the Phantom of the Opera (Gaston LeRoux), and Fantomas (Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain). These ingredients were then brought to a boil by Chaney's venomous performance, which set the pattern for the diabolical thrillers that followed in its wake.

Disc Features
# A Video Tour of Chaney's makeup case and the "double amputee" costume worn in The Penalty
# Essay by Chaney biographer Michel F. Blake
# Original theatrical trailers from Chaney's The Big City and While the City Sleeps
# Surviving Footage of Chaney's The Miracle Man
# Chaney's 1914 one-reel western By the Sun's Rays
# Essay: "The Penalty: Novel, Script to Screen"
# Scene comparison (Novel, Screenplay, Film)
# Production Budget Sheet from The Penalty
# Gallery of Photographs and Artwork

Narrated by Academy Award™ Winner Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night, On the Waterfront, The Loved One), KINGDOM OF SHADOWS is a haunting, sometimes shocking documentary that explores the evolution of horror in world cinema—a danse macabre of religion, science, carnivals, sex, nightmares, monstrosity and death.

More than fifty thrillers (the best-known as well as the most obscure) are surveyed, including Nosferatu, The Golem, Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, The Student of Prague, Electrocuting an Elephant, The Phantom of the Opera, Dante’s Inferno, The Bells, Waxworks, Warning Shadows, and Leaves from Satan’s

KINGDOM OF SHADOWS explores the sources of our fears and reveals the birth of the frightful conventions from which the modern-day horror movie has evolved, including the menacing shadows of the German Expressionists, the sympathetic monsters of Lon Chaney (“The Man of a Thousand Faces”) and the psychological terrors envisioned by Edgar Allan Poe. Essential viewing for every aficionado of silent movies or classic horrors, KINGDOM OF SHADOWS illuminates one of the most fascinating chapters of film history.

DVD:
DVD RELEASE: 2007
STUDIO: Kino
SYSTEM: NTSC
SCREENS: 1.33:1
COLOUR: Black & White/Tinted (Movies)
AUDIO: Musical Accompaniment in Dolby Digital 2.0 (Kingdom of Shadows - English)
INTERTITLES: English
SUBTITLES: None
RUNTIME (TOTAL): 426 mins

EXTRACTION:
ENGINE: DVD Decrypter
DVD: 1 Full Dual-Layer DVD and 4 Untouched Single-Layer DVDs
FILE EXTENSION: .ISO (Image)
FILE SIZE: 7.05/3.97/3.72/3.8/3.51GBs
SCANS FILE SIZE (400 DPI): 12MBs
TOTAL FILE SIZE: 22.06GBs

Scans:

http://www.filesonic.com/file/32502511/ASHor.Scs.rar

The Man Who Laughs

http://netfolder.in/cPn4fa0/ASH.MWL.Fixed

http://www.filesonic.com/folder/456071

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

http://netfolder.in/BIfRnc1/ASH.JAH

http://www.filesonic.com/folder/430261

The Cat and the Canary

http://netfolder.in/BKBva8p/ASH.CC

http://www.filesonic.com/folder/430249

The Penalty

http://netfolder.in/jT2t0Rm/ASH.TP

http://www.filesonic.com/folder/430233

Kingdom of Shadows

http://netfolder.in/8qMrOve/ASH.KOS

http://www.filesonic.com/folder/430265

All new links for The Man Who Laughs - these are error free