I very much agree. How vile, though typically American in its morbid and puerile obsession with sexuality, that US distributors at the time re-named the film 'The Invert' for release in the states. Eighty years later, Americans today casually refer to Brokeback Mountain as 'the gay cowboy movie'. Michael is realized by a perfectly mature understanding of sexuality, for today's world mind you, let alone the twenties.davidhare wrote:I still swoon at the sheer matter of factness in the treatment of homosexuality - the manner in which Dreyer and his screenwriter have transformed what was obviously a highly effete piece of gay literature from a deracinated Weimar period "pre-gay" sensibility and invested the gay elements of the drama with outstanding and deeply felt dignity.
I also agree with the previous poster who praised Slezak's performance - he plays an enormous gamut of emotions, from petulant to deeply hurt, to transcendentally in love, and most difficult of all a male beauty metamorphosing from sexual ambivalence.
3 / BD 183 Michael
- M
- Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:58 pm
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- markhax
- Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:42 pm
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As for the restoration I mentioned earlier, here's something from the archives of the Berlinale:
"Jan 19, 06: Special Events of the Retrospective
In September 1924, a first showing of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Michael elicited thunderous applause from the audience in Berlin. 82 years later, on 11 February 2006, the Retrospective will premiere a newly restored version of the film at the Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz on occasion of the 56th Berlinale."
I can't find anything about whether a DVD is planned.
"Jan 19, 06: Special Events of the Retrospective
In September 1924, a first showing of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Michael elicited thunderous applause from the audience in Berlin. 82 years later, on 11 February 2006, the Retrospective will premiere a newly restored version of the film at the Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz on occasion of the 56th Berlinale."
I can't find anything about whether a DVD is planned.
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- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:38 am
Here is a German article by Wim Wenders at the time of the restoration screening. The restored version is 90 minutes long. Here's the Berlinale press release .
Someone who speaks Danish might be able to find out more on the Danish Film Institute website as they were in charge of the restoration.
xx
Someone who speaks Danish might be able to find out more on the Danish Film Institute website as they were in charge of the restoration.
xx
- Tommaso
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:09 am
Not to be picky, but the article isn't by Wenders, but by his cameraman Robby Müller.
If the DFI was responsible for the new version, I guess we might have reason to look forward to a dvd release from them. Question in any case would be how much superior it is to the print released on disc 2 of the MoC.
If the DFI was responsible for the new version, I guess we might have reason to look forward to a dvd release from them. Question in any case would be how much superior it is to the print released on disc 2 of the MoC.
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- Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:38 am
Sorry yeah, I'm at work, didn't have time to read it properly! I think this is the old DFI page though it may no-longer work. From their magazine FILM48, page 30.
DFI presents ‘Michael’ by Carl Theodor Dreyer
The Retrospective Programme of the 56th Berlin International Film Festival will screen a newly restored version of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Michael. The screening will be accompanied by music performed by the “ensembleKONTRASTE” under the direction of Pierre Oser.
by Thomas Christensen / DFI curator
The restoration of “Michael ”
The Danish Film Institute (DFI) has had particular interest in assuring optimal restoration of Michael. All the surviving elements of the film at the DFI, however, were of poor quality, including a 35mm duplicate negative deriving from the print received from Staatsliches Filmarchiv in 1958.
In the summer of 2004 the DFI received word that a negative at the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv was the camera negative. In August 2005 this negative was inspected by the DFI and found to be an original nitrate negative. The negative was re-edited by the Staatsliches Filmarchiv in the 1950s, at which point German intertitles, based on the censorship list, were inserted. The title-inserts are on safety stock, and unfortunately in Academy sound aperture, and not silent full frame.
It was decided to do a digital intermediate restoration with Digital Filmlab in Copenhagen in order to minimise generational loss. The negative was scanned at 2K (1920x1440) resolution on a Spirit datacine, centering the titles in the grading process. The film was subsequently ingested in an Inferno workstation, where it was first dust-busted using Resolve, and then large damages were painted out manually. The result is a new b/w negative, which closely resembles the original starting point, however, both original grading deficiencies, and subsequent damage, especially deriving from the previous restoration, have been eliminated.
The restoration was supervised by the DFI at Digital Filmlab in Copenhagen, and was a joint venture between the DFI, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung and Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv.
- Werdegast
- Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:36 pm
- Location: Finland
accordingly to the "Danish film institute", Dreyers first german movie Die Gezeichneten has been restored and will be showed at the Berlin film festival.
Dont know if someone has mentioned that around here....
Dont know if someone has mentioned that around here....
What a great film-- it's unfortunate that it's often pejoratively labeled an early work of Dreyer's, unlike The Passion of Joan of Arc. Sometimes the 'early' works are the most fascinating, they soar even higher than those that have been burdened with the baggage and schema that the artist later develops and is known for.
- feckless boy
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- Location: Stockholm
- HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am
I've rarely heard his early works "perjoratively" labeled. Many of these are quite fascinating exhibit an incisive mise en scene and a pictorial sensibility second to none-- to appreciate this one should strain to see the DFI's restored Leaves From Satans Book. Not to mention the wonderful casting of old bearded men for old bearded characters... no yak hair in Dreyer.Alphonso wrote:What a great film-- it's unfortunate that it's often pejoratively labeled an early work of Dreyer's, unlike The Passion of Joan of Arc. Sometimes the 'early' works are the most fascinating, they soar even higher than those that have been burdened with the baggage and schema that the artist later develops and is known for.
Of course when measured against works like Joan & Day of, and Ordet, anything seems secondary. But definitely not perjorative!
- TMDaines
- Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
- Location: Stretford, Manchester
Re: 3 Michael
My copy of Michael arrived today and I'm pleased to let people know that VLC can handle the subtitling authoring error on the 2nd European Disk, so you can choose whether to display the subtitles or not. No need for me to burn a disk now!
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- not perpee
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm
Re: 3 Michael
A sealed OOP MICHAEL being given away by me in an hour on Twitter @shittydeath
- jwd5275
- Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:26 pm
- Location: SF, CA
Re: 3 Michael
Damn! Of all the times to be stuck at work....
- matrixschmatrix
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm
Re: 3 Michael
Haha, awesome- I just gave away my copy as a birthday present last week.
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Re: 3 Michael
Back in print for a limited run.
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: 3 Michael
The new pressing has a 2012 copyright, so 'collectors' will still want the original.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
Re: 3 Michael
MoC is constantly making subtle changes to things like spine color or title presentation from one pressing of a particular title to the next, usually without calling any attention to it. Are there people that collect all of these different variations?
- Drucker
- Your Future our Drucker
- Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am
Re: 3 Michael
It's still going for 30 GPB on Amazon UK on EBAY, FWIW.
- Stephen
- Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:11 pm
- Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Re: 3 Michael
I am really pleased to finally receive this down here this morning. Having only recently become acquainted with Mr Dreyer’s work, it quickly became apparent that this film was a gaping hole in my collection and I hope many other supporters of MOC pick up this edition with the outcome it might incentivise Eureka to release one or two of their other OOP titles still under license.
And I don’t think that I’ve ever anticipated a Blu/DVD release more than MOC’s forthcoming ’The Passion of Joan of Arc’.
And I don’t think that I’ve ever anticipated a Blu/DVD release more than MOC’s forthcoming ’The Passion of Joan of Arc’.
- Sloper
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 10:06 pm
Re: 3 Michael
It's still my favourite Dreyer, and continues to get better every time I watch it. I can understand why Joan and Day of Wrath are his most celebrated films, but I think Michael is his richest, most moving and most deeply rewarding work (Gertrud, which has a lot in common with this film, comes in at a close second). Wonderful to have the two versions and two scores on MoC's edition, too.
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- Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:53 pm
Re: 3 Michael
So I'm heavily debating. There are still copies available from Eureka much to my relief after thinking I had missed out on the brief re-release. The question is, this late in the game, what are the odds that I purchase the DVD copy and then a new restoration or blu-ray is announced?
The other thing, as someone new to a region-free player, I've yet to play PAL content, so how different is the PAL speed up on a film like this?
The other thing, as someone new to a region-free player, I've yet to play PAL content, so how different is the PAL speed up on a film like this?
- Drucker
- Your Future our Drucker
- Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am
Re: 3 Michael
I can't answer the last question (I guess I just don't notice it) but this package is wonderful, sharp and worthwhile. Mikael isn't available via the DFI's site, and the Kino is available in the USA, so I don't think there's any reason to believe a new restoration is imminent.JackTwist wrote:So I'm heavily debating. There are still copies available from Eureka much to my relief after thinking I had missed out on the brief re-release. The question is, this late in the game, what are the odds that I purchase the DVD copy and then a new restoration or blu-ray is announced?
The other thing, as someone new to a region-free player, I've yet to play PAL content, so how different is the PAL speed up on a film like this?
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: 3 Michael
If you've watched a silent movie at 24fps and then saw it at 25fps it is almost impossible to tell the difference without aural support.JackTwist wrote:how different is the PAL speed up on a film like this?
Music on the other hand you can tell a slight pitch difference, especially if you know the songs or voices by heart.
- neilist
- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:09 am
- Location: Cambridge, UK
Re: 3 Michael
As far as I'm aware, the reason why 'Michael' was OOP for so long is that it sold so poorly that it never warranted a repress. I guess it got a small repressing recently due to the fact original copies were going for so much and it made sense to do it at the same time that 'La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc' was getting a release. As to PAL speedup, as Drucker suggests above, I don't imagine you'd ever notice it.JackTwist wrote:So I'm heavily debating. There are still copies available from Eureka much to my relief after thinking I had missed out on the brief re-release. The question is, this late in the game, what are the odds that I purchase the DVD copy and then a new restoration or blu-ray is announced?
I'd say buy it for definite, you'll be supporting MoC and, as great a film as it is, I very much doubt at all that anyone has plans for another restoration, until maybe the 100th anniversary in 2024!
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- Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:53 pm
Re: 3 Michael
Thanks. I went ahead and bought it. Felt super happy that I was able to get it because I thought it was a sure-fire miss. Could've gone with the Kino edition instead but that edition is UGLY! Bought this and Passion of Joan of Arc on blu-ray. Beside Vampyr, this will be my first true introduction to Dreyer and for that I'm very excited.
Why is the film so unknown? It seems most feel it is a Dreyer masterpiece.
Why is the film so unknown? It seems most feel it is a Dreyer masterpiece.