Essentials from Germany

Discuss internationally-released DVDs and Blu-rays or other international DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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martin
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#76 Post by martin » Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:11 am

Anyone interested in German releases should also have a look at the thread Essentials from Germany (which sort of covers the same topic as this thread).

Schanelec is very good by the way (I've seen Marseille and Nachmittag). She's also mentioned in the Essentials thread. I'll put Maria Speth on my wishlist.

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Der Müde Tod
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:50 am

Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#77 Post by Der Müde Tod » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:47 pm

martin wrote:Anyone interested in German releases should also have a look at the thread Essentials from Germany (which sort of covers the same topic as this thread).

Schanelec is very good by the way (I've seen Marseille and Nachmittag). She's also mentioned in the Essentials thread. I'll put Maria Speth on my wishlist.

Indeed. But as we are here, we might as well continue -

Schanelec and Speth are available in the Filmgalerie 451
which has put out an impressive catalogue of films in the past years. All the DVDs I have sampled are good to excellent, many with
english subtitles. One of my favorites is Frank Castorf's version of Dostoyevski's Demons. No subtitles, unfortunately.

If one orders directly from them, there is a rebate of 20% if one buys at least 4DVDs. They ship outside the EU - send them an email for shipping costs.

sharunasbresson
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 4:43 am

Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#78 Post by sharunasbresson » Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:52 am

I'm curious about the frank castorf film. could you please telll me more about it?
Is Idiot another Dostoyevsky adaptation?


me right now i'm on the track of some Romuald Karmakar works (Totmacher and Himmler project should be available with english and french subtitles).
i was reminded of their existence watching his brilliant documentary about ricardo villalobos in Venice (I wrote about it in my recent post regarding the venice film festival).
Few years ago in Pesaro I was able to watch many of his works in a row and was impressed by what a talented and yet discontinuous filmmaker he was.
but as far as i can remember totmacher was really impressive.

bye, and thanks also for the filmgalerie link...

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Der Müde Tod
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#79 Post by Der Müde Tod » Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:51 am

sharunasbresson wrote:I'm curious about the frank castorf film. could you please telll me more about it?
Is Idiot another Dostoyevsky adaptation?
Yes, Idiot is a filmed version of Castorf's controversial production at the Volksbühne Berlin - his play would take place in the entire building simultaneously, projected to TV screens in the foyer, and the spectators would walk around and watch.

Demons is also using the Volksbühne ensemble and an earlier production, but uses a specially designed, minimalist but effective set. It's hard to describe what fascinated me about it. I'd say if Fassbinder would be still alive, he'd make something along these lines. Very often camp, but consistent and fascinating throughout.

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Ben Cheshire
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#80 Post by Ben Cheshire » Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:36 am

I can confirm that Dances with Wolves de blu is absolutely superb. PQ is superb, no DNR, and it has three major points over the recent UK release. 1) It is the director's cut, for those who like their Dances with Wolves to be as long as possible. 2) It has a commentary with lovely Kevin Costner and his friend and producer, who helps when Kevin gets too modest, which is all of the time! 3) Its jacket is so beautifully design, a mockup of Dunbar's journal, with a leather-bound look on the outside, and a yellowed pages look on the inside, with a Dunbar drawing and some writing like "I love Walks With a Fist" or whatever his love interest is called.

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stereo
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:06 pm

Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#81 Post by stereo » Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:22 am

the title I keep wondering about is Werner Schroeter's Abfallprodukte der Liebe. It looks interesting, but I can't get a sense of languages-- is it all opera singing (making Eng. subs. negligible?) --I'd love any info. on the DVD.

Also, just noticed the Kinski Christ monologue DVD is up apparently with Eng. subs.

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TMDaines
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#82 Post by TMDaines » Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:40 pm

Why are German DVDs, on the whole, seemingly ludicrously overpriced? It can't just be put down to the gains the Euro has made on the Dollar and Sterling, can it? The price for a DVD like standard single-disker like Jerichow is €17. The Edition Filmmuseum are at least €20 (usually €25-30). Der Untergang Blu-ray is around €18 also. I'm curious as to whether Germans find their DVDs to be expensive or whether it is just because of the strength of the Euro? Saying that I can get most releases I want from Italy (Raro, Minerva Classic, RHV, Cristaldi/Dolmen) for usually €10 a pop thanks to frequent sales.

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Ben Cheshire
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#83 Post by Ben Cheshire » Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:45 pm

TMDaines wrote:Why are German DVDs, on the whole, seemingly ludicrously overpriced? It can't just be put down to the gains the Euro has made on the Dollar and Sterling, can it? The price for a DVD like standard single-disker like Jerichow is €17. The Edition Filmmuseum are at least €20 (usually €25-30). Der Untergang Blu-ray is around €18 also. I'm curious as to whether Germans find their DVDs to be expensive or whether it is just because of the strength of the Euro? Saying that I can get most releases I want from Italy (Raro, Minerva Classic, RHV, Cristaldi/Dolmen) for usually €10 a pop thanks to frequent sales.
Who's your importer? I find shipping costs from Italy ludicrous. And beware Italy is reknowned for having a bad postal service, plagued with lost items, which is why everything gets registered, thus expensive post.

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TMDaines
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#84 Post by TMDaines » Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:51 pm

Who's your importer? I find shipping costs from Italy ludicrous. And beware Italy is reknowned for having a bad postal service, plagued with lost items, which is why everything gets registered, thus expensive post.
I've used Raro/Minerva directly and my order arrived the day after placing it! I've also got an order, which currently is waiting for an item to come back into stock, with dvd.it on hold. If you order in bulk - say at least 7 or 8 disks - the costs aren't so bad since they are often fixed. Only a little more expensive than postage from America but at least you don't have the threat of customs.

I was interested in German prices more out of curiosity for when I'm there in a couple of months time rather than placing an order.

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Tommaso
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#85 Post by Tommaso » Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:42 am

Yes, German prices are sometimes ridiculously overblown, even if you don't consider exchange rate. The problem is less the price but what you get for it: often German releases are inferior to their US counterparts (older transfers, less extras´etc.), and there are few labels that care for the over-all quality of editions the way CC or MoC do. Filmmuseum is the only real exception, and thus I value their effort very much despite of the price-point.
But otherwise, I normally shop for films in the UK or the US if a film I want is available there. However, if you want to see old German films (talkies, that is), they are normally only available in Germany, of course.

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Camera Obscura
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#86 Post by Camera Obscura » Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:46 pm

Indeed, German DVDs seem rather overpriced, even more so than a couple of years back, curiously enough. Since Amazon.de offers free shipping to The Netherlands for any order over EUR 20, though, I'm ordering a little more than I used to, but it's mainly the Filmmuseum, Kinowelt Arthaus and Koch Media DVDs (Spaghetti Westerns) I'm after.

They also seem to have fixed book prices for three, or even six months. Not sure how this works.
Take a look at this, the new revised edition (hardcover) of Der Terror führt Regie: Der Italienische Gangster- und Polizeifilm 1968 - 1982 (Gebundene Ausgabe), which is supposed to be the best book yet about Italian poliziotesschi, is offered 76 times (!) on Amazon.de Marketplace for exactly the same price, EUR 39,95. I'm sure it's worth every pfennig, but c'mon! 76 different sellers offering this damn book for the same price (it's 39,95 in other webshops as well, all the main players are active on Amazon Marketplace) just seems pre-90 Soviet style, they really need to pull that country into the 21th century.

http://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/3 ... dition=new" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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TMDaines
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#87 Post by TMDaines » Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:44 pm

Camera Obscura wrote:They also seem to have fixed book prices for three, or even six months. Not sure how this works.
Take a look at this, the new revised edition (hardcover) of Der Terror führt Regie: Der Italienische Gangster- und Polizeifilm 1968 - 1982 (Gebundene Ausgabe), which is supposed to be the best book yet about Italian poliziotesschi, is offered 76 times (!) on Amazon.de Marketplace for exactly the same price, EUR 39,95. I'm sure it's worth every pfennig, but c'mon! 76 different sellers offering this damn book for the same price (it's 39,95 in other webshops as well, all the main players are active on Amazon Marketplace) just seems pre-90 Soviet style, they really need to pull that country into the 21th century.
Here on book price fixing in Germany. It used to be the same in Britain but certain stores broke the agreement and started selling for cheap. It was never law in Britain I don't believe, just an agreement.

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Camera Obscura
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#88 Post by Camera Obscura » Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:17 pm

TMDaines wrote:
Camera Obscura wrote:They also seem to have fixed book prices for three, or even six months. Not sure how this works.
Take a look at this, the new revised edition (hardcover) of Der Terror führt Regie: Der Italienische Gangster- und Polizeifilm 1968 - 1982 (Gebundene Ausgabe), which is supposed to be the best book yet about Italian poliziotesschi, is offered 76 times (!) on Amazon.de Marketplace for exactly the same price, EUR 39,95. I'm sure it's worth every pfennig, but c'mon! 76 different sellers offering this damn book for the same price (it's 39,95 in other webshops as well, all the main players are active on Amazon Marketplace) just seems pre-90 Soviet style, they really need to pull that country into the 21th century.
Here on book price fixing in Germany. It used to be the same in Britain but certain stores broke the agreement and started selling for cheap. It was never law in Britain I don't believe, just an agreement.
I would have sworn Neelie Kroes put an end to these practices some years ago when she was Competition Commissioner in Europe. Apparently not. In The Netherlands it's law and there is a minimum book price (but sellers are free to sell ém at any price above this fixed minimum, unlike Germany), but this price can be adjusted after just six months and after a year shops are free to sell 'em at any price they want. Applies only to books in Dutch and Frisian language.

But in Germany even books over 5 years old must be offered at the same price. How do they get rid of overstock? Sell 'em as used while the books are brand new, I guess. 10-year old books I bought years ago in Germany are still sold by 60+ sellers at exactly the same rate. Absurd. And that NYT article seems to imply (comments are completely one-sided by the way) that fixed book prices protect small bookshops. Maybe in pre-internet days, but in the internet age these fixed prices must be crippling. A minimum price for German language books for up to 6 months is a compromise I can live with.

Kind of ironic that the Book Depository pops up in the google ads right next to the NYT article. I'll go there instead.
Last edited by Camera Obscura on Thu Feb 11, 2010 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Tommaso
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#89 Post by Tommaso » Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:58 pm

Camera Obscura wrote: How do they get rid of overstock? Sell 'em as used while the books are brand new, I guess.
No, they have to sell them as 'faulty' ('Mängelexemplar') and have to mark them in some way, usually with an ugly pen marking or a stamp mark at the bottom of the book pages. After that, they really are faulty.

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Camera Obscura
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#90 Post by Camera Obscura » Thu Feb 11, 2010 8:20 pm

What a brilliant solution. I guess they love books.

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TMDaines
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#91 Post by TMDaines » Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:02 pm

Tommaso wrote:
Camera Obscura wrote: How do they get rid of overstock? Sell 'em as used while the books are brand new, I guess.
No, they have to sell them as 'faulty' ('Mängelexemplar') and have to mark them in some way, usually with an ugly pen marking or a stamp mark at the bottom of the book pages. After that, they really are faulty.
The sheer absurdity of this...

zq333zq
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Madame Butterfly (1932) Cary Grant - German DVD

#92 Post by zq333zq » Sat Jun 12, 2010 12:46 pm

Madame Butterfly (1932) Cary Grant - German DVD

Never sweeter-looking.

jbaart
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Re: Madame Butterfly (1932) Cary Grant - German DVD

#93 Post by jbaart » Sun Jun 13, 2010 4:08 am

zq333zq wrote:Madame Butterfly (1932) Cary Grant - German DVD
As well as Ladies Should Listen by the same label. Wouldn't use sweet looking to describe them though ;)

Link

Here are screenshots of both (unfortunately among the few I did as JPG instead of PNG):

Image Image Image Image Image

Image Image Image Image Image

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Minkin
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#94 Post by Minkin » Sun Jun 13, 2010 4:25 am

Can anyone speak on the quality of this?

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ArchCarrier
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Re: Madame Butterfly (1932) Cary Grant - German DVD

#95 Post by ArchCarrier » Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:31 am

jbaart wrote:Here are screenshots of both (unfortunately among the few I did as JPG instead of PNG)
OT: You should always use JPEG for photographic images. PNG is better suited for graphics with large fields of the same color.

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Tommaso
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#96 Post by Tommaso » Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:50 am

Minkin wrote:Can anyone speak on the quality of this?
I only have two of them, "Ruf des Nordens" and "Der Rebell", but they are quite fine for films of that vintage. Nice, unmanipulated image and sound, though the prints are what they are (but I've seen worse in this respect, too). Many of the discs have some of Trenker's late short documentaries as bonus features. Recommended, I'd say, though late films like "Duell in den Bergen" and "Flucht in die Dolomiten" are rather forgettable. On the other hand, "Der verlorene Sohn" is one of the most astonishing German films from the 30s. No subs, though.

jbaart
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Re: Madame Butterfly (1932) Cary Grant - German DVD

#97 Post by jbaart » Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:23 am

ArchCarrier wrote:
jbaart wrote:Here are screenshots of both (unfortunately among the few I did as JPG instead of PNG)
OT: You should always use JPEG for photographic images. PNG is better suited for graphics with large fields of the same color.
PNG is lossless, I don't see how that can not be good for any kind of image...

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Minkin
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#98 Post by Minkin » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:58 am

Tommaso wrote:
Minkin wrote:"Der verlorene Sohn" is one of the most astonishing German films from the 30s. No subs, though.
Der verlorene Sohn is what started my Trenker craze! I'd also like to start moving in on the early German sound films as well (beyond Trenker). I can struggle my way without any English subs but does there happen to be any German subs? Any other great sets/films of the period I might be missing out on? (I'm sure there are :P )(other than Edition Filmmuseum)

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Tommaso
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#99 Post by Tommaso » Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:59 am

No German subs on the Trenker discs, unfortunately. And even more unfortunate is the situation of early German sound films on dvd in general. If you want to struggle without subs, you should definitely get those few important films that are available. First recommendations would be:

Das blaue Licht (Riefenstahl)
Tiefland (Riefenstahl)
Mädchen in Uniform (Sagan)
Der Kongress tanzt (Charell)
Der Schimmelreiter (Oertel/Deppe)
Die goldene Stadt (Harlan)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (Jutzi)

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TMDaines
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Re: Amazon.de: German discs worth buying

#100 Post by TMDaines » Mon Jun 21, 2010 11:21 pm

Das blaue licht can certainly be watched without subs. Very basic German and Italian in it and that's all. Arthaus disk is good.
Last edited by TMDaines on Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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