Nosferatu

Discuss releases by the BFI and the films on them.

Moderator: MichaelB

Message
Author
User avatar
neilist
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:09 am
Location: Cambridge, UK

Nosferatu

#1 Post by neilist » Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:38 am

A couple of years after the Masters Of Cinema upgrade of 'Nosferatu' came out in the UK, BFI will also be upgrading their old DVD to Blu-ray according to Amazon, out 19 October 2015.

Extras still TBC at the moment, but it's listed as 'accompanied by James Bernard's acclaimed score, and extras include a selection of silent chillers'.

Orlac
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am

Re: Nosferatu

#2 Post by Orlac » Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:45 am

Hmm, sounds great! I love the Bernard score and prefer the option of English intertitles - plus the orchestration of the original score on the MOC was seriously off in a key scene - so an excellent compliment.

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Nosferatu

#3 Post by swo17 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:51 am

Image

User avatar
Drucker
Your Future our Drucker
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am

Re: Nosferatu

#4 Post by Drucker » Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:04 am

Do they have Hot Topic in the UK?

User avatar
manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: Nosferatu

#5 Post by manicsounds » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:35 am

With this and "Birth of a Nation" getting 2 different releases on Blu by 2 different companies in the UK, I wonder what BFI is thinking?

In the early days of DVDs many old public domain movies got multiple DVD releases by companies everywhere (Nosferatu has multiple versions including Eureka and BFI DVDs), but it seems the Blu-ray market is much smaller. With the people who already have the MoC Nosferatu Blu-ray in the UK, does BFI really think putting out their own copy is a good idea at this point?

User avatar
EddieLarkin
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am

Re: Nosferatu

#6 Post by EddieLarkin » Sat Aug 01, 2015 8:08 am

I own both of the MoC discs but I will almost certainly be picking up the BFI Birth of a Nation as I have good reason to believe it will have a superior visual presentation and a better score. Nosferatu I expect to be of lesser visual quality, but their "selection of silent chillers" that will be included as extras could easily make it a must have.

So I guess so.

User avatar
reaky
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:53 am
Location: Cambridge, England

Re: Nosferatu

#7 Post by reaky » Sat Aug 01, 2015 10:46 am

Wasn't there an issue with James Bernard's score not quite fitting the Murnau-Stiftung restoration? I'm interested, at any rate, but that godawful cover art isn't helping.
Last edited by reaky on Sat Aug 01, 2015 12:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Nosferatu

#8 Post by domino harvey » Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:36 am

manicsounds wrote:With this and "Birth of a Nation" getting 2 different releases on Blu by 2 different companies in the UK, I wonder what BFI is thinking?
My thoughts as well with these recent announcements of MoC titles-- surely this isn't going to foster good blood between the two labels, and the market is already pretty small that these labels don't need to start cannibalizing each other. I know all's fair in business but c'mon

User avatar
Feego
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:30 pm
Location: Texas

Re: Nosferatu

#9 Post by Feego » Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:46 am

If for no other reason, I may pick up the BFI just for the James Bernard score. I've only heard bits and pieces of the score on TCM (oddly they always show an older print of the film with this score rather than the recent restoration with Erdmann's), but I like what I've heard. It's always great to have multiple soundtrack options for silent films. And as others have noted, the bonus silent chillers sound promising. While I get what people are saying about the Blu-ray market being small, a title like Nosferatu has always been so pervasive in every previous home video format that it only seems natural for it to have more than one Blu release.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Nosferatu

#10 Post by MichaelB » Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:18 pm

domino harvey wrote:My thoughts as well with these recent announcements of MoC titles-- surely this isn't going to foster good blood between the two labels, and the market is already pretty small that these labels don't need to start cannibalizing each other. I know all's fair in business but c'mon
I know people love to create the impression that smaller labels are constantly at each other's throats, but the truth couldn't be more different.

Pretty much everyone at Arrow, BFI Video Publishing and Eureka gets on incredibly well - in fact, I've known Eureka's Jon Robertson for at least fifteen years and the BFI's Upekha Bandaranayake for thirteen, and quite a few of us - myself, David Mackenzie, James White - have worked for all three labels, sometimes on concurrent projects. Whenever I hear that Eureka's got a title I was chasing, my reaction isn't "Bastards! You're dead to me!", it's to give Jon a call and see if he needs any pointers or contacts - and he does the same for me.

More importantly, it's hardly been a secret that the BFI was working on The Birth of a Nation, as they revealed that they had the rights to the Photoplay version years ago. If anything, the MoC announcement was more of a surprise.

Orlac
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am

Re: Nosferatu

#11 Post by Orlac » Sun Aug 02, 2015 7:28 am

And the MOC releases of Birth and Nosferatu have been avaliable for two years now.

Orlac
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am

Re: Nosferatu

#12 Post by Orlac » Sun Aug 02, 2015 11:06 am

The Bernard score is magnificent, and I always enjoy the option to watch these films with English intertitles (I assume this will be the case?) The Erdmann score on the MOC is let down in places by some shoddy orchestration (an earlier Gillian Anderson arrangement was far superior).

Will the silents be shorts, or other features?

User avatar
L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Nosferatu

#13 Post by L.A. » Wed Sep 09, 2015 10:56 am

Special features listed at Amazon UK.
• Christopher Frayling on Nosferatu (Lynne Wake, 2002, 24 mins): a video essay on Murnau and the production of Nosferatu
• Le Vampire (Jean Painlevé, 1945, 9 mins): Painlevé's study of the South American vampire bat, an allegory of the Nazism
• The Mistletoe Bough (Percy Stow, 1904, 5 mins): the oldest film version of a classic Christmas ghost story recently restored by the BFI, featuring a new score by Saint Etienne's Pete Wiggs
• Stills Gallery, featuring some of Albin Grau's original production drawings

User avatar
Dr Amicus
Joined: Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:20 am
Location: Guernsey

Re: Nosferatu

#14 Post by Dr Amicus » Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:54 am

Well, I'd be hoping for more - I mean "a selection of silent chillers" would imply that there is more than one (I'm assuming the Painleve is not silent).

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Nosferatu

#15 Post by domino harvey » Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:57 am

Perhaps the single horror short contains multiple chills

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Nosferatu

#16 Post by swo17 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 12:17 pm

The Painlevé short is not silent, as can be seen on both the BFI and Criterion sets devoted to that director.

User avatar
What A Disgrace
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
Contact:

Re: Nosferatu

#17 Post by What A Disgrace » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:04 pm

I may have to re-think my quintuple dip on this.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Nosferatu

#18 Post by domino harvey » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:06 pm

I'm still not sure why I purchased three pallets' worth

User avatar
PfR73
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm

Re: Nosferatu

#19 Post by PfR73 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:39 pm

Dr Amicus wrote:Well, I'd be hoping for more - I mean "a selection of silent chillers" would imply that there is more than one (I'm assuming the Painleve is not silent).
Maybe it's the stills gallery that contains a selection of silent Chillers

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Nosferatu

#20 Post by MichaelB » Thu Oct 15, 2015 8:49 am

Full specs announced:
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors
A film by F W Murnau

F W Murnau's horror classic of 1922 was the first screen adaption of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Now newly remastered and accompanied by James Bernard’s acclaimed orchestral score, it will be released on Blu-ray by the BFI on 23 November 2015.

Special features include a video essay by Christopher Frayling and the short films Le Vampire by French filmmaker Jean Painlevé and The Mistletoe Bough by early film pioneer Percy Stow, which features a new score by Saint Etienne’s Pete Wiggs.

As potent and disturbing now as ever, Nosferatu paved the way for the future of gothic cinema. Max Schreck’s Count Orlok, bald, bat-eared and rabbit toothed, is at once terrifying and pitiable, his need for blood, for living warmth is palpable to the point of agony.

Featuring some of the most iconic images in cinema, Murnau's interpretation of this great vampire tale has been much imitated not least by Werner Herzog, whose Nosferatu the Vampyre is an admiring tribute.

Special features
• Newly restored and remastered, presented in High Definition
Christopher Frayling on Nosferatu (Lynne Wake, 2001, 24 mins): video essay on Nosferatu and F W Murnau and Albin Grau’s backgrounds and influences
Le Vampire (Jean Painlevé, 1945, 9 mins): Painlevé's study of the South American vampire bat, an allegory for the Nazism that was sweeping throughout Europe at the time
The Mistletoe Bough (Percy Stow, 1904, 8 mins): the oldest film version of a classic Christmas ghost story restored by the BFI, featuring a new score by Saint Etienne's Pete Wiggs
• Image Gallery, featuring some of Albin Grau's original production drawings, stills and designs for publicity materials
• Fully illustrated booklet featuring film credits, film notes by David Kalat and an essay on Albin Grau and Nosferatu’s occultist origins by Brian J Robb

Product details
RRP £19.99 / Cat no. BFIB1157 / Cert PG
Germany / 1922 / black and white and tinted / silent with English intertitles /
89 mins / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / 2.0 stereo PCM (48k/24-bit) and 5.1 DTS-HD master audio

User avatar
manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: Nosferatu

#21 Post by manicsounds » Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:02 am


User avatar
tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Nosferatu

#22 Post by tenia » Fri Oct 23, 2015 12:16 pm

What a weirdly different presentation. :-k

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Nosferatu

#23 Post by swo17 » Sat Dec 05, 2015 6:37 pm

domino harvey wrote:Perhaps the single horror short contains multiple chills
It literally contains only one, but all the same, I rather liked it. Very nicely scored too.

As for the film itself, I actually prefer both the mostly non-tinted look and the score present on this BFI release, though the MoC edition of course has a more purist presentation (the originally commissioned score, original intertitles, original artwork on the cover), not to mention the Murnau doc and Kalat commentary. I say they're both keepers.

User avatar
Feego
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:30 pm
Location: Texas

Re: Nosferatu

#24 Post by Feego » Sat Dec 05, 2015 8:14 pm

swo17 wrote:As for the film itself, I actually prefer both the mostly non-tinted look and the score present on this BFI release, though the MoC edition of course has a more purist presentation (the originally commissioned score, original intertitles, original artwork on the cover), not to mention the Murnau doc and Kalat commentary. I say they're both keepers.
Mine has shipped, and I'm eagerly awaiting it. Last time I watched the MoC edition, I did find it far more eerie when I turned down the color on my TV and watched it in pure black and white. And I was never overly fond of Erdmann's score, which is nice in places but feels utterly out of tune with the imagery in others. The BFI may turn out to be my go-to for viewing with the MoC for extras.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Nosferatu

#25 Post by MichaelB » Sun Dec 06, 2015 6:02 am

I'm very very happy with the BFI edition. There's no question which is the more scholarly one of the two (and which is clearly the best all-round package to go for if you're only in the market for one), but when actually viewing the film for pleasure, particularly in the company of my kids, there's a lot to be said for purely English intertitles. And there's not a lot wrong with the Photoplay restoration that the BFI used - it might not have the "official" imprimatur of the FWMS restoration, but it's pretty damn impressive in its own right.

Most importantly (and I suspect the major reason people will buy this), the James Bernard score absolutely wipes the floor with the Hans Erdmann one, regardless of the latter's greater claim to authenticity. Yes, Bernard is very much in full-on blood-and-thunder Hammer mode, and it probably wouldn't have had that kind of treatment in the 1920s, but it's one of the most rousing silent-film scores I can think of.

Post Reply