German Filmmuseum Edition

[Tommaso]

Wow, Sir Karl, I didn't even know that there was already info on "Gasse" on the filmmuseum site. Seems one can only get it via their search function. I may have misremembered the running time, or the 185 min. result from a slower speed. Anyway, great to see it's finally coming.

Specs:
* Die freudlose Gasse 1925, 148'
* Musikbegleitung von Aljoscha Zimmermann
* Kapitelwahl
* Presse-, Aushangs- und Arbeitsfotos
* Der andere Blick 1991, 130'
* Pabst wieder sehen 1997, 20'
* ROM-Bereich mit Drehbuchentwürfen und Dokumenten zum Film
* Booklet mit Essays zum Film von Jan-Christopher Horak und Werner Sudendorf

Coming May 2009.

There's also info on the upcoming Raffé and Dieterle disc.

Specs:
* Das Schweigen am Starnberger See 1920, 80'
* Kapitelwahl
* Musikbegleitung von Günter A. Buchwald
* Ludwig der Zweite, König von Bayern 1930, 120'
* Kapitelwahl
* Musikbegleitung von Joachim Bärenz
* Im Ozean der Sehnsucht 1986, 107'
* Plakate, Standfotos und Werbeanzeigen für den Film
* Booklet mit einem Essay von Ulrich Kurowski

Coming February 2009. Looks like a great double discer!

Oh, and the Ruttmann disc is finally OUT TODAY!
Man, this label is easily going to be my favourite in 2009, considering these films and the Kornblum and perhaps also "Das Mädchen Sumiko" and the Buchowetzki are coming. Yip!

[shostakovich1]

Yesterday I took delivery of the Ruttmann Berlin set. It is stunning and well worth the wait!

So far, I've only managed to see disc 1, but apart from the "Berlin, die Sinfonie der Großstadt" film, the shorts and adverts. are extremely interesting.

I think I agree with a previous poster that in "Berlin, dSdG" there are some extra scenes which are not present in the previous version I had on DVD.

Another marvellous issue from the German Filmmuseum.

P.S. slightly off topic, but also received the new BFI Lotte Reiniger Fairy Tales set... What a great end to the year for German silent film fans!

[Tommaso]

Let me add to the praise for the new Ruttmann set, which really has all the right ingredients to blow any lover of silent and/or experimental film away.
I think I gave my comments on the new "Berlin" resto with the original Meisel score earlier in this thread, so let me move on straight to the other films. The first big surprise already comes with this new version of "Opus 1": they restored the original colours here, and if you've only ever seen the film in its earlier dvd incarnations, the impact is just striking. The colours now are vivid, eye-popping, and have an almost psychedelic effect. The impression is underlined by the original string quintet score by Max Butting, a great composition in the vein of early Schönberg which gives the film a strong emotional quality and almost makes it appear that the dance of the various abstract forms tell some sort of story which one however cannot quite pin down and narrate. It's fascinating to see the development of Ruttmann through the four "Opus" films, with formal concentration and abstraction developing from film to film to the pure geometrical and architectural forms of "Opus 4".
Almost as interesting and relevant are the six films Ruttmann made as industry commercials at the same time, using the same abstract styles and combining them with animation to striking effect. A good reminder that the avantgarde and a wider audience were not mutually exclusive at the time.

The second disc contains three sound films. "Melodie der Welt", the longest of them, tries to give an overview of the similarities in human behaviour all over the world in various fields of activity, basically using editing to match 'analogous' activity ; for instance, Ruttmann cuts from Japanese wrestlers to European boxing and somebody fighting a kangaroo in a box ring (weird!) and so on with all sorts of examples. This is fascinating, though perhaps a little too obvious and easy for modern tastes; in any case, the film never reaches the quality of "Berlin", but it has wonderful footage all around and is well worth seeing. "In der Nacht" is a brief visual interpretation of a Schumann piano piece, and somewhat reminded me of Eisenstein's "Romance sentimentale" in some moments. The most interesting piece, however, is "Weekend", a film without images or actually a sort of experimental radio play made using the optical sound track of the film material. The result is something like the early musique concrète of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, but Ruttmann made this 20 years earlier! Amazing, though whether you call it a film or a piece of acoustic art remains a question. It was transmitted on the radio at the time, but was also shown by Ruttmann in the cinema.

So, this set contains everything that still exists of Ruttmann's work prior to 1933, and the films alone should be worth the price of it alone, easily (re-)establishing Ruttmann as one of the foremost and most innovative figures of the avantgarde at the time. And I almost forgot to add that all the transfers are absolutely impeccable: great greyscale and detail, no manipulations, no compression issues or any other abnormalities. The sound films appear in 1.19, which is much appreciated of course. The prints show their age, but that is hardly surprising.

But as always with filmmuseum, the goodies don't end here. There's a great booklet with statements by Ruttmann and two brief, but highly informative essays and restoration notes (sadly, they only translated the Ruttmann text and the resto notes into English, so the situation here is somewhat comparable to the booklet of the NFI's "Brudeferden" set). On-screen extras include a gallery of photos from the 'Congres du cinéma independent La Sarraz' from 1929 (with Eisenstein making some hilarious fun there), and a gallery with early paintings and drawings by Ruttmann. Furthermore, there is a huge ROM-part containing contemporary texts, documents and analyses in German, English, and French (though nothing here is translated, its just that these texts were originally written in these languages) which look extremely informative. The best extra, however, is an 86-minute radio essay called "Walter Ruttmann – Der Visionär bewegter Bilder" which centres on "Weekend" and gives a very fine and detailed analysis of it as a quasi-musical piece, but also covers Ruttmann's whole career and gives tremendous insight into his relation with other artists, his aesthetics, the reception of his work and so on. As this is audio only, there are no subs for this, and so you'd have to understand German to make use of it. But if you speak the language, don't miss this by any means! Perhaps the best dvd extra I encountered for a very long time.

Okay, so much for now. I guess I could just have written: RUN, DON'T WALK , AND GET THIS DISC! I had really high expectations for this set, but the result exceeded anything I ever expected. Disc of the year, no doubt about it (I know, Murnau Borzage, but let's be fair about this one....).

[zedz]

Further to my ongoing saga of amused frustration, the latest release date for the complete Kluge set (Jan 16) has passed without it becoming orderable, and the release date has now been altered on their website to "Very soon." Whether that's measured in calendar or geological time is anybody's guess.

[Cash Flagg]

DVD Talk on Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood Star

[denti alligator]

Further to my ongoing saga of amused frustration, the latest release date for the complete Kluge set (Jan 16) has passed without it becoming orderable, and the release date has now been altered on their website to "Very soon." Whether that's measured in calendar or geological time is anybody's guess.

I'm kinda selfishly relieved, since I've run out of dough. The thought of this beauty being avaliable and me not able to put my hands on it is painful.

[Cash Flagg]

DVD Talk on Berlin.

[accatone]

Just went to the ZweitausendEins store right around here and they said that the Kluge TV set is delayed and that they expect it to come out or in the store at 22th of February.

[Chris]

DVD Talk on Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood Star

DVD Talk on Berlin.

Thanks for your interest. A review of Lutz Dammbeck: Filme und Mediencollagen 1975-1986 is available here.

[gyorgys]

Further to my ongoing saga of amused frustration, the latest release date for the complete Kluge set (Jan 16) has passed without it becoming orderable, and the release date has now been altered on their website to "Very soon." Whether that's measured in calendar or geological time is anybody's guess.

The Alexander Kluge boxset of Filmmuseum Edition has been altered again on their website and announces as release date february 20 2009.
The reason given for the several delays is covered by the following explanation:

"ALEXANDER KLUGE: The release of the last Alexander Kluge DVD is delayed because it will contain the new book by Alexander Kluge "Seen sind fuer Fische Inseln" which is still in production. Unfortunately we depend on our partner Zweitausendeins who postpones the release of the book from week to week. Before the collection is completed, the recently released Kluge 2-disc DVD's will be on sale for Euro 14,95 as a special offer."

[Der Müde Tod]

The Kluge TV films are finally available at 2001 (on time for his 77th birtday, according to 2001):

2001 link

[gyorgys]

The Alexander Kluge 1960-2008 TV and Film box set (Edition Filmmuseum 20-34) has finally arrived and can be ordered now at a modest € 159,95.
Zedz (and others) waiting is over!

[zedz]

The Alexander Kluge 1960-2008 TV and Film box set (Edition Filmmuseum 20-34) has finally arrived and can be ordered now at a modest € 159,95.
Zedz (and others) waiting is over!

thjanklyou

i am tyopi ng rthis blind as i havr fal;en out of my chaor and can;t seem, to get up

[zedz]

The Alexander Kluge 1960-2008 TV and Film box set (Edition Filmmuseum 20-34) has finally arrived and can be ordered now at a modest € 159,95.

And I should also report that, when ordering from outside Germany, this comes down to a gratifying €134 - less than 5€ per disc. Realising this after I'd come to terms with the horrendous exchange rate made me very happy indeed!

[Jack Phillips]

Although the hefty shipping charge pretty much erases the discount. Oh, well, I needed something to spend my tax refund on.

I'm told my order shipped today.

[zedz]

Comparing notes, it appears that Filmmuseum charge a flat fee of 13.88 EUR for shipping internationally, regardless of the number of titles you order, so it might pay to soak up some of their other delights at the same time. You can also order several Danish Film Institut titles from them (e.g. three early Dreyers, the indispensible Christensen twofer, some of the Jorgen Leth collections).

[gyorgys]

Dear fellow members,

A little problem with the shipment of my Alexander Kluge box set send by Edition Filmmuseum:

(Quote e-mail)

"Dear costumer,

Kindly pardon that due to logistic reason your order of ALEXANDER KLUGE FILMS & TELEVISION WORKS had been sent without box and booklet (italics mine).
We will ship these two items separately and you should receive them till mid march .

Sorry for the inconvenience,

Kind regards"

Just to let you know.

[accatone]

I am still wondering if the zweitausendeins BOX I (Sämtliche Kinofilme) and BOX II (Seen sind für Fische Inseln) is indeed the same thing as the complete Alexander Kluge - Das filmische Werk from the Edition Filmmuseum? The BOXs cost 99€ each - so 200€ for the complete thing whereas the Edition Filmmuseum is only 159€…strange, as far as zweitausendeins claimed to be the cheaper choice…

[der_Artur]

…strange, as far as zweitausendeins claimed to be the cheaper choice…

They claim to be the cheaper choice to buing the DVDs seperately. The first zweitausendeins box (movies for cinema) was the same as the Edition Filmmuseum releases, so I'm really sure that the new box is the same as the Edition Filmmuseum DVDs, too. The smaller boxes from zweitausendeins are great for people like me, who are only interrested in the movies for cinema.

[accatone]

They claim to be the cheaper choice to buing the DVDs seperately. The first zweitausendeins box (movies for cinema) was the same as the Edition Filmmuseum releases, so I'm really sure that the new box is the same as the Edition Filmmuseum DVDs, too. The smaller boxes from zweitausendeins are great for people like me, who are only interrested in the movies for cinema.

I am with you here in regards to being only interested in the cinema work. Having seen countless episodes of the TV work i must say that they are important in many ways but do not make me blind buy this second box (in fact i think these episodes are indeed very "tv-ish" in a positiv way thus don't make me feel to re-watch.) Talking about the importance of these TV works is another story but i do not expect a discussion popping up around here regarding this topic, but who knows?

[Jack Phillips]

Dear fellow members,

A little problem with the shipment of my Alexander Kluge box set send by Edition Filmmuseum:

(Quote e-mail)

"Dear costumer,

Kindly pardon that due to logistic reason your order of ALEXANDER KLUGE FILMS & TELEVISION WORKS had been sent without box and booklet (italics mine).
We will ship these two items separately and you should receive them till mid march .

Sorry for the inconvenience,

Kind regards"

Got the same message. This doesn't bother me provided they're as good as their word. And given that the book was what was delaying the release to begin with, I'm not really surprised.

[Jack Phillips]

The 15 double-DVD sets that make up ALEXANDER KLUGE FILMS & TELEVISION WORKS arrived today. Needless to say, it will be some time before I can process all this material.

[gyorgys]

The 15 double-DVD sets that make up ALEXANDER KLUGE FILMS & TELEVISION WORKS arrived today. Needless to say, it will be some time before I can process all this material.

Mine too. \:D/ =D> Fascinating stuff!

[tojoed]

From the EF website, here's a list of forthcoming releases and works in preparation.
Next releases

37 Hamlet Svend Gade, 1920
45 Zwischen gestern und morgen Harald Braun, 1947 & München 1945 Willy Cronauer, 1945
46 Ludwig der Zweite Wilhelm Dieterle, 1930 & Das Schweigen vom Starnberger See Rolf Raffé, 1920
47 Die Parallelstraße Ferdinand Khittl, 1962
48 Die freudlose Gasse Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1925
49 Wundkanal Thomas Harlan, 1984 & Notre Nazi Robert Kramer, 1984

In preparation

Frankfurt im Film 1900-1945
Karl Valentin und das Kino 1912-1930
The Unknown Orson Welles 1965-1985
Der Hund von Baskerville Rudolf Meinert, 1914
Sein eigner Mörder Max Mack, 1914
Von morgens bis Mitternacht Karl Heinz Martin, 1920
Sappho Dimitri Buchowetzki, 1921
Der Bettler vom Kölner Dom Rolf Randolf, 1927
Abwege Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1928
Das Mädchen Sumiko Shigeyoshi Suzuki, 1929
Waterloo Karl Grune, 1929
Eika Katappa Werner Schroeter, 1969
Torre Bela Thomas Harlan, 1975
Die Widerständigen Katrin Seybold, 2008

[HerrSchreck]

Oh YES oh ho ho yes yes YES!!! Motherfuck me, man... that's a good list.