This is the key point. This film was shot through smoke and gauze to -- it seems -- obscure the imagery to some extent.

Removing damage from the film restoration of VAMPYR is incredibly difficult if you want to maintain other aspects of the image's texture. It's Brakhage-like in places.

Herrschreck, you're going to get the full 'Decasia' version from MoC (ie. same as the MK2, but in 1.19:1). I like your "seasonings" approach to the problem.

I agree with this, especially concerning VAMPYR as I've also heard what Nick said that the imagery seems to be intentionally obscured. I would say that the most important thing in a DVD transfer quality is that it looks natural and film-like. A transfer that looks old but natural (no digital image problems) can look absolutely beautiful.

Thanks to MoC for bringing this out! I'll surely pre-order this one.

Well yes there was a point during early shooting where Dreyer & Mate discovered there was a light leak between the lens and the camera proper. But Dreyer liked the effect so much (the man really was trying to shoot the moody netherworld between dreams and waking life, and somewhat contribute to the impressionist movement that was so incredibly vibrant in France over the preceding years... Epstein, Kirsanoff and his bud Gremillon, Marcel L'Herbier, etc) that he instructed Mate to do all he could to maintain the effect (i e not repair the unit).

The combination of music and image (and one of the coolest tracking shots in history) here in this Dance of the Shadows sequence is about as good as it gets.

I've had the pleasure of seeing this on the silver screen in our local cinema (where I'm a volunteer) a few months ago. Absolutely loved it, and the print was also quite good (I'm waiting eagerly for the Nosferatu restoration we're screening this sunday ).. Will certainly pick this one up

Oh man, it's 12 o'clock in the morning over here but I still feel like opening a big bottle of champagne! HOORAY! Forget CC and their release schedule, MoC is the real thing!
Many, many thanks, Nick, for finally being convinced that this film is worth to be released with whatever little print damage still remains, and getting this out to us.

Woohoo! Can't wait for this release. I've been eagerly awaiting it for some time.

Wow--glad I asked! Great news!!

I'm assuming you've already got this covered, but please do include a note on all the technical oddities of the film (and its elements) and your approach to digital restoration in the DVD booklet. I think it would be an opportunity to educate folks about the "mutability" of film images.

I was thinking the same thing would be helpful to tamp down in advance any techsquealing that may arise whenever CC get their own edition (which will make it look like Carl shot it about 5 minutes ago in HD) out.

As for extras, I think some detailed notes on the film's production history and background would be interesting. That's something I've only seen vaguely covered elsewhere. Martin Koerber and/or Casper Tybjerg would be some great choices for contribution of background information.

Great, great news, Nick! Throw in a meaty book, and no will care for when the CC release comes out.

Great news that this is going ahead. In the meantime, does anyone have any images of the various posters for Vampyr? I've spent a long time searching various places but so far only come up with the following:


French poster

NB. Presumably the font from this poster is what Nick refers to as the Raymond Gid original poster font that is on the current MoC DVD cover design for Vampyr...


???



This is a video cover, but presumably the right-hand side is from a long thin poster...



This is listed on a German vintage poster website as being of Vampyr though i'm not so sure... be interesting if it is!

not actually a poster, but from a Danish film programme of 1933

Apparently vampires can be killed by typography as well as wooden stakes.

I've gotten paper cuts from some of the almost serrated edges on certain 'Baskerville' characters.

It almost certainly has nothing to do with Vampyr. The scenario depicted has nothing to do with the film (guy hanging in a line) and I don't think it ever played as "Vampir" in Germany. The look and text of the poster is very silent era-ish.

Yea that old german poster looks an awful lot like something from between 1919-1924, a la Albin Grau's work for Decla Bioskop & Ufa.

I actually like this a lot

A bit of trivia: Sabine Schmitz, who plays the older daughter and is shown on the poster, is the actress whose life was the primary inspiration for Fassbinder's Veronika Voss.

And she can drive a mean BMW.

More trivia :

Her name was Sybille, not Sabine. She started out right at the ass end of the German silent era in Diary of a Lost Girl (she's the first maid who poppas been doinking, got preggo, and boots-- whereby she throws herself off a bridge where her wet body is brought back in to be viewed w horror by Thymian/Louise Brooks.) She also was in UBERFALL by Erno Metzner visible on Kino's Avant Garde 1 where she's hanging out in a whorehouse and appears to be her first screen appearance. She also did Vampyr as mentioned, and eventually went on from these bit "nothing" parts to becoming one of the Nazi eras biggest leading female stars... duly got hooked on narcotics, fell from favor and nixed herself. Her "dance with death" was well celebrated by RWF in Voss, and there's a fantastic documentary on her life & death included in the CC RWF BRD Trilogy box.

She also stars as the title character in the wonderful Frank Wisbar directed fantasy/horror/mystery movie Fährmann Maria, which he later remade as Strangler of the Swamp (not starring Schmitz) in USA.

Schmitz was also in a curious , but highly successful film by Karl Hartl called "F.P.1 antwortet nicht" (1932), starring Hans Albers in the German version and I believe Conrad Veidt in the English one, with a cast that also includes Paul Hartmann and Peter Lorre. The film is best remembered because it featured the famous Albers song "Flieger grüß mir die Sonne"(although he doesn't even sing it himself in the film). It's based on a science fiction novel by Curt Siodmak and the story revolves around the building of a huge platform in the middle of the Atlantic which is destined to make travel from Europe to the US easier. And of course there are parties that don't like it. Schmitz plays the daughter of the owner of that project and is the centre of a love triangle between Hartmann and Albers. The film looks a little like late silent pulpy Lang (somewhat a la "Spione" with a little bit of "Frau im Mond" technical nerdiness thrown in), but isn't really engaging nowadays. But as far as I can see, this was the film that made Schmitz a star even before she became that highly successful actress during the Nazi period.

We'll be issuing this in July or August, using the same HD telecine source of the Koerber/Cineteca di Bologna film restoration that Criterion will be using.

We've been working on this for years, and we were planning for a September or October release -- but we'll be bringing it forward now...

Buy local, save the planet!

Can you tell us anything about extras, peerpee? I know the Criterion is loaded, but I'm sureyou guys can make it very appealing to those of us who'd like to double-dip. I promised I would either way, so I'll be buying it, if anything, as a "thank you" for listening to your fans.