4 Tartuffe

[Martha]

Tartuffe



F. W. Murnau made this film adaptation of Molière's satire for UFA early in 1925 and it was released the following year, shortly followed by Faust. By presenting the play as a film-within-a-film, Murnau takes the opportunity to place the material in a contemporary setting, sandwiched inside a morality lesson about greed and hypocrisy.

A devious housekeeper convinces her master to cut his worthy grandson out of his will and to leave the riches to her instead. The grandson, disguised as the projectionist of a travelling cinema show, flatters his way into the home to project a film of Tartuffe in an attempt to open his grandfather's eyes. Emil Jannings plays Tartuffe with creepy panache in a tour-de-force turn alongside Lil Dagover and Werner Krauss.

Unjustly neglected for decades, perhaps because of its low-key nature compared with Murnau's more grand masterpieces, this delightful curiosity is more than a mere trifle. Tartuffe affirms Murnau as a master of multifarious cinematic disciplines: from the set-based dreams of Faust and Sunrise, to the naturalist landscapes of Nosferatu, City Girl, and Tabu. In Tartuffe we find an intimate Murnau, relying on close-ups and the performances of his actors to create magic.

Tartuffe was first released in the UK in 1928. This DVD contains the only surviving version of the film, German intertitles, optional English subtitles, and is presented at the correct speed. Restored in 2002 by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, Berlin/Koblenz and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung of Wiesbaden, Germany.

Special Features

• Tartuffe – The Lost Film, a new 37-minute Luciano Berriatúa documentary
• 16-page booklet with a new essay by film historian R. Dixon Smith
• German intertitles (and optional English subtitles)
• New piano score by Javier Pérez de Azpeitia
• Gallery containing 58 rare production stills

[Martha]

Tooting my own horn... here's my take on Tartuffe.

[denti alligator]

Great film. Wonderful DVD. Excellent documentary. Highly recommended!

My question has more to do with the restoration work the Murnau Stiftung did. Why did they leave the extended and missing scenes available in the alternate prints off of their restoration? I mean, why did chosing the US print preclude the inclusion of these scenes from the other prints as well? At least they might have made them available in their entirety so that the folks at MoC could have put them on their DVD as extra scenes.

[peerpee]

The domestic print of TARTUFFE (which is lost) consisted of almost entirely different shots.

It would not have made any sense to edit into the American release print fragments that remain from the domestic version.

That would create a hybrid mess which wasn't historical faithful to any previous release.

[Lino]

Very competent review here:

The message of the film is perfectly clear and there is no hidden subtext at all here. It�s extremely anti-clerical in the central story, pointing out the hypocrisy of religion, its feeding on people�s fears and weaknesses to fill its coffers and impose its twisted morality and behavioural standards on people, while secretly indulging its own vices. The modern day framing device allows this message to be updated to apply to everyday hypocrisy in the people around us who act for their own gain, which is no great revelation and actually lessens the impact of the satire. Many critics, including R. Dixon Smith in his fine essay included in the accompanying booklet that comes with this DVD, have tried to restore Tartuffe�s reputation and place it as an important film in F. W. Murnau�s short list of existing films, even though the film wasn�t one he chose himself and was made only under a contractual obligation. There is no denying that it certainly is of interest as a rare work by one of the most important directors and filmmaking innovators from the silent era and there are certainly themes here that are personal to the director � as a homosexual Murnau would certainly have identified with the theme of religious and sexual repression � but it�s not that great a film and, based on a 1664 play by Moli�re, it is tied to a certain French satirical style that is not so much outdated in subject matter as in its rather heavy-handed presentation. This doesn�t translate so well to the screen, neither in its relatively straightforward presentation of the costume drama element, nor within the rather simple parallel modern-day framing device. Certainly the film has notable aspects � Karl Freund�s strong visual sense, Emil Janning�s unctuous portrayal of the hypocritical cleric � but even here they have less of the ingenuity or sympathy that they brought to Murnau�s previous film and simple morality play, the marvellous The Last Laugh, which managed to be much more subtle in its anti-militaristic subtext than Tartuffe handles its anti-clerical message.

[What A Disgrace]

I'd like to give MoC a hand for releasing the film as it is, and for the inclusion of the informative documentary, which is easily the most informative non-commentary DVD supplement I've seen this year.

Keep the silent films coming (some Lupu Pick, some Griffith, and Limite if you please!). One thing that home video has needed is a world-class DVD label that devotes a notable (at the very least) portion of its catalogue to silent films, with high quality transfers and supplements that delve into the historical and critical background of the film; not to mention their aesthetic nature. MoC, with its current catalogue, is already fulfilling that role nicely.

[HerrSchreck]

Keep the silent films coming (some Lupu Pick... One thing that home video has needed is a world-class DVD label that devotes a notable (at the very least) portion of its catalogue to silent films, with high quality transfers and supplements that delve into the historical and critical background of the film; not to mention their aesthetic nature. MoC, with its current catalogue, is already fulfilling that role nicely.

Let's hope that MoC keep stepping up to fill the hole left open by the CC who have a disheartening three spine numbers (only forgiveable due to their treatment of the rest of the collection) devoted to silent films. Kino is worrying me lately as they are consciously, deliberately choosing to create interlaced transfers, even on domestically created telecine (where there's no PAL-NTSC preconversion issue). And we know they will never, ever go back and re-present a title, as do Eureka and CC, when new elements become available on it. When this happanes and they refuse to re-release I feel they should lose their exclusive rights to the picture for their region. Why should Image have a lock on VAMPYR? Why should Kino have the lock on LAST LAUGH with their cruddy transfer vs. the Eureka? Same goes for FAUST. Why should they lock the region down being stuck with inferior elements? Of course a region free player solves everything, but the idea just annoys me to high hell.

Bravo WAD to the only other voice I've heard asking for Lupu Pick. Bringing out his works with Carl Mayer-- SHATTERED & SYLVESTER-- will establish for this generation the fact that it was Mayer who was responsible for the lack of intertitles in THE LAST LAUGH, which was not the first film to be so presented (as it is often thought). The LAST LAUGH was originally to be directed by Pick but wound up being assigned to Murnau in the end-- but the film was supposed to be the closing entry in the trilogy of moody, intimate kammerspiels Mayer & Pick created with the above two titles. Mayer in fact had been presenting films without intertitles for a few years before Murnau's film, at least as early as 1921's SHATTERED and BACKSTAIRS w Jessner & Paul Leni. Another (mostly) intertitle-free Mayer-penned film before Last Laugh was the legendary but little-seen THE STREET directed by Karl Grune in 23.

Here is a man who never wrote a book in his life yet is clearly one of the
most interesting, mind-bendingly unique & important writers ever to stalk the globe. His being forgotten is an absolute crime-- when you read his script for SUNRISE, for example, you can see how much of the film is there in the treatment, including camera movements and superimpositions in the camera. I implored Mulvaney to pass along the (completely hopeless) idea for a CC box of 2 or 3 discs celebrating this man. God knows a box with restored editions of THE STREET (a very important film which spawned a litany of "street" films in Germany including Pabsts JOYLESS STREET), the two Pick kammerspiels, HINTERTREPPE, along with perhaps VANINA or a progressive redo of BERLIN would constitute an orgasmic event in the world of silent film scholarship... and film in general. Mayer's importance cannot be overstated, and it's ongoing understatement is a crime.

Look at this man's resume, starting with Caligari:

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene)
Johannes Goth (1920, Karl Gerhardt)
Der Bucklige und die Tänzerin (1920, F.W. Murnau)
Genuine (1920, Robert Wiene)
Der Dummkopf (1921, Lupu Pick)
Danton (1921) ... aka All for a Woman
Der Gang in die Nacht (1921, F.W. Murnau)
Torgus (1921, Hanns Kobe)
Schloß Vogelöd (1921, F.W. Murnau)
Scherben (1921, Lupu Pick)
Grausige Nächte (1921, Lupu Pick)
Hintertreppe (1921, Leopold Jessner)
Vanina (1922, Arthur von Gerlach)
Erdgeist (1923, Leopold Jessner)
Straße, Die (1923) (treatment)... aka The Street
Der Puppenmacher von Kiang-Ning (1923, Robert Wiene)
Sylvester (1924, Lupu Pick)
Der letzte Mann (1925, F.W. Murnau)
Tartüff (1926, F.W. Murnau)
Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
Berlin, Die Sinfonie einer Großstadt (1927, Walther Ruttmann)
Four Devils (1928, F.W. Murnau)
Fräulein Else (1929, Paul Czinner)
Die letzte Kompagnie (1930, Kurt Bernhardt)
Stürme über dem Montblanc (1930, Arnold Fanck)
Der Mann, der den Mord beging (1931, Kurt Bernhardt)
Ariane (1931, Paul Czinner)
Emil und die Detektive (1931, Gerhard Lamprecht)
Das blaue Licht (1932, Leni Riefenstahl)
Der träumende Mund (1931, Paul Czinner)
As You Like It (1936, Paul Czinner)
Dreaming Lips (1937, Paul Czinner)
Pygmalion (1938, Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard)
The Fourth Estate (1940, Paul Rotha)
Major Barbara (1941, Gabriel Pascal)
World of Plenty (1943, Paul Rotha)

[addz]

I saw Tartuffe for the first time a few months ago. It had always been - for some reason that is unknown to me - a film that I had been wanting to see for ages but had never had the chance.

With this in mind, I blind bought the DVD.....and absolutely loved it!

The film is probably my favourite Murnau. Yes, it's a relatively "minor" work in his catalogue of work and has little in common with the grandiose happenings of Sunrise or Nosferatu. But that doesn't stop it from being an interesting film. There's always something in Murnau's work that is relavant today and in this regard they have an almost timeless quality.

The performances where all superb with Emil Jannings excelling as the slimy Herr Tartuffe. A tad theatrical in places, but I felt this only worked in the films favour.

The documentary, Tartuffe - The Lost Film is probably one of the best, if not the best DVD extras I have ever seen. Comprehensive in its nature the doc provided an in depth commentary on the film itself as well as discussing the different cuts and even showing the surviving fragments to provide a comparison. Surely this is the definitive documentary on Tartuffe.

The only thing that slightly dissapointed me was that the DVD menus were in a different style to the other MoC releases but this is forgivable as the DVD itself is a superior job well done.

[colinr0380]

Let's hope that MoC keep stepping up to fill the hole left open by the CC who have a disheartening three spine numbers (only forgiveable due to their treatment of the rest of the collection) devoted to silent films.

Four spine numbers are actually devoted to silent films: Nanook of the North, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Haxan, King Of Kings

Also if you consider other Criterion releases which include a silent film in the package there are more:

The Pool Sharks on W.C. Fields - 6 Short Films
Paris Qui Dort on Under The Roofs Of Paris
Entr'Acte on A Nous La Liberte
A Story Of Floating Weeds with Floating Weeds

Not to mention the By Brakhage set which add a huge number of silent films to the collection if they are counted individually.

I do agree with you about wanting a range of silent films available though, but I feel the same can be said about Czech, Polish, Russian, Iranian, Spanish, modern world and blockbuster cinema. I'd love more silent films from all around the world, accepted classics from the 'masters' as well as little known films. I think in this sense Criterion, Masters of Cinema and Second Run are doing a great job complementing each other and every release from these companies, as well as others such as Kino can only broaden our knowledge. I'm also impressed by the Treasures from American Archives series and the Unseen Cinema collections.

Re: the question about intertitles in original languages - I think this is where the Masters of Cinema discs have made a great leap in presenting silent films. I really like the method used for Asphalt where you can choose the subtitle stream that darkens the original intertitles but if you want you can turn the English titles off. I will most likely never look at the film without the English intertitles but the opportunity to see them is very much appreciated, not to mention knowing that the original version of the film's titles (their font, artwork etc) is presented.

I do feel that singling out Passion of Joan of Arc for criticism is a little unwarranted however. This was an early release and the excellent method used in Asphalt has only just been tried. Eureka could be criticised just as much for their release of Metropolis with the English title cards (that came out after Passion did), before it was superceded with the Moc version. Didn't Kino also use the English intertitle version in their release?

Without knowing for certain I would perhaps suggest that Eureka had more experience in working with and rights to classic silent films in their back catalogue which were natural choices to then become MoC releases, and that working on silent films present special challenges compared to working on modern films, which probably require a different kind of legwork to create the discs. I guess MoC probably have people who are experts in that particular area (probably the same in the area of the Japanese releases). Criterion probably has the same, which is why we see things like all the Altman films coming in a bunch, or a number of Peter Cowie commentaries etc, it probably comes down to logistics, as well as wanting to make releases come up to as high a standard of image as possible which must be difficult the older a film is.

[HerrSchreck]

Four spine numbers are actually devoted to silent films: Nanook of the North, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Haxan, King Of Kings

Also if you consider other Criterion releases which include a silent film in the package there are more:

The Pool Sharks on W.C. Fields - 6 Short Films
Paris Qui Dort on Under The Roofs Of Paris
Entr'Acte on A Nous La Liberte
A Story Of Floating Weeds with Floating Weeds

I do feel that singling out Passion of Joan of Arc for criticism is a little unwarranted however. This was an early release and the excellent method used in Asphalt has only just been tried. Eureka could be criticised just as much for their release of Metropolis with the English title cards (that came out after Passion did), before it was superceded with the Moc version. Didn't Kino also use the English intertitle version in their release?

Without knowing for certain I would perhaps suggest that Eureka had more experience in working with and rights to classic silent films in their back catalogue which were natural choices to then become MoC releases, and that working on silent films present special challenges compared to working on modern films, which probably require a different kind of legwork to create the discs. I guess MoC probably have people who are experts in that particular area (probably the same in the area of the Japanese releases). .

On the first part, I'd corrected myself in the addition of the other, bringing the three to four: don't worry, I have them all, and have from prior to each's streeting date. As for the silents-as-extras, I'm aware of those as well, which is why I always clarify "discs devoted to silent films", as there is a far greater risk involved in a solo silent shot than there is in chucking one on as an extra to a talkie which will attract a larger market.

On the PASSION JOAN thing, you may have misunderstood what I meant: In this instance I'm not talking about the style of subtitling, i e the means of delivering the english translation to the viewer. JOAN's original titles weren't jettisoned for the sake of delivering english titles: they were removed to make way for French intertitles, with some vague idea of recapturing the look "probably very close to the original", which is lunacy... we already have the freaking original-- it was found innna nuthouse closet... it wasn't French, true, but it was inna natural language of it's maker, and we only have one print of this thing. Let us at least see what the titles looked like. And this has nothing to do with where dvd-dom was at the time (viz your mention that it's an "early release" and so should be excused).

As for having the people on staff with silent film expertise: you yourself pointed out they've done even more than just four. Back in LD days they used to have more silents. We're talking JAnus films here, not Silly Sally's Tentative Wisconsin House of Nails & Occasional Nervous Video. They know every bit about producing silents as they do sound. Hunting elements up is Hunting Up Elements. Telecine is telecine. Compression & authoring is compression & authoring. You restore the film, run telecine, sub it if necc, then find somebody who writes really really really terrible music to record an inapporpriate score. They're just risk-averse, and profit-careful, because their discs have the highest production values in the bidniz.

[wiljan]

Currently for 7.99 pounds delivered at Play .

[fiddlesticks]

I received Tartuffe from CD-WOW today, and was surprised to discover that it seems to lack region coding. I determined this by popping it into my laptop's DVD player, which is locked to R1, and it played just fine, despite being labeled as R2. Now as you all know, this is far from uncommon, but in most cases I have found references in this forum or elsewhere on the web that confirm the "R0" status of such discs; I haven't found Tartuffe listed this way. Can anyone confirm for me whether all Tartuffes are uncoded, or if this is some sort of anomaly or error? TIA.

[colinr0380]

I've just checked my copy and found the same thing - it plays on the region 1 locked DVD of my computer.

[zedz]

Four spine numbers are actually devoted to silent films: Nanook of the North, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Haxan, King Of Kings

It's actually five: #371 is a silent double feature of Body and Soul / Borderline. Nevertheless, this is still a feeble record: the first thirty years of film history is represented by less than 2% of the label's output.

[Michael Kerpan]

Add one-half -- Ozu's silent "Story of Floating Weeds" shares a number with his later "Floating Weeds".

[jt]

Well, that would be 6 1/2 including Pandora's Box...
Doesn't really make any difference though, as they can't compare with MoC's output which is pushing 25%
As long as that rate continues, it should keep us silent geeks relatively happy...

(and back on topic, Tartuffe really is one of my favourite MoC's. everyone should own a copy, especially considering how easy it is to pick up a cheap copy)