MoC Forthcoming, Wishlist, and Random Speculation

[jurples]

A detail from the new MoC printed Catalogue:

Our boxset will be 6 x discs (the first two films will be on DISC 1).

so, is this right?
disc 1: i don't want to be a man & the doll
disc 2: the oyster princess
disc 3: sumurun
disc 4: anna boleyn
disc 5: the wildcat

if that's the case, is it safe to assume that disc 6 will be extras? if so, any word on what those will be?

[peerpee]

ERNST LUBITSCH IN BERLIN (Robert Fischer, 2006) - 110 minutes

[denti alligator]

Great news for fans of silents. These films are fantastic!

It's also nice to have Die Puppe collected with the films from the Transit box. I'll be very tempted to get this even though I have the Transit set, just for that film and for MoC's book.

Peerpee, you should look into Sabine Hake's early work on (the early) Lubitsch, which would be nice to have as part of the book.

[perkizitore]

Any chances of releasing Kim Ki Young's 'The Housemaid'? [-o<

[lubitsch]

It's also nice to have Die Puppe collected with the films from the Transit box. I'll be very tempted to get this even though I have the Transit set, just for that film and for MoC's book.

Or to put it the other way round, why not give DIE PUPPE a stand alone release? Does this require a special financial effort? The Lubitsch box (without PUPPE) was such a disastrous and costly flop that they never released the film in Germany, so you might have a selling point here. I won't buy the set again because of one film, but would jump for a single release. Add two more sold copies for the university libraries I'm buying things for ...

[zedz]

I won't buy the set again because of one film, but would jump for a single release.

Then jump, already.

Is it just politeness that's preventing anybody remarking that MoC's box will be identical to Kino's? Plus a superb book, naturally.

[denti alligator]

Is it just politeness that's preventing anybody remarking that MoC's box will be identical to Kino's? Plus a superb book, naturally.

Do the Kinos keep the original German intertitles? That would be one major difference.

[zedz]

Is it just politeness that's preventing anybody remarking that MoC's box will be identical to Kino's? Plus a superb book, naturally.

Do the Kinos keep the original German intertitles? That would be one major difference.

Good point. I can't remember, but I'm assuming not.

[cana7cl]

And the #100 Masters Of Cinema DVD is ...(make your guess).... ???

[Fierias]

hopefully the epstein

[domino harvey]

Monsoon Wedding

[fiddlesticks]

Is it just politeness that's preventing anybody remarking that MoC's box will be identical to Kino's? Plus a superb book, naturally.

Do the Kinos keep the original German intertitles? That would be one major difference.

I just spot-checked The Oyster Princess, and the titles are in English.

[Tommaso]

Yes, I'll not double dip on the Lubitsch set, too, and would second Lubitsch's (our forum member, that is) proposal for a standalone "Die Puppe". The Kino is no alternative for me, especially as the intertitles often tend to use the specific Berlin dialect, the effect of which I believe is very difficult to match in English (okay, if you don't speak German you couldn't care less, of course). The sad thing is that all these films are available on their own with German titles from divisared in Spain, all of them apart from "Die Puppe". Divisa only duplicated the contents of the Transit set, then, and I have little hope that they will release that one film as a sort of appendix some day. Which only leaves the mild hope that arte TV will show it some time.

[Michael Kerpan]

I'm glad I just kept waiting for MOC to come through.

[HerrSchreck]

That's definitely the ideal position to be in-- having held off entirely (But of course that means being deprived of these great films for quite a time.. always a tough scale to weigh out).

I wish someone would get out Madame DuBarry aka Passion. Arte broadcast the restoration not long ago, which looks as flawless as could be imagined for a film that's ninety years old.

[lubitsch]

Is it just politeness that's preventing anybody remarking that MoC's box will be identical to Kino's? Plus a superb book, naturally.

Do the Kinos keep the original German intertitles? That would be one major difference.

Good point. I can't remember, but I'm assuming not.

That's the point I should have made clear. I know Kino's intertitle replacement and for a native speaker it's naturally unacceptable. At the moment I have an old GDR (!!!) TV recording with German intertitles but not so stellar picture quality. Just for a bit of an improvement of picture quality I won't buy the whole box again.
I guess Murnau Stiftung planned two Lubitsch boxes and wanted to keep DUBARRY and PUPPE as attractions for the second round, but the first box' selling performance effectively doomed all silent releases in Germany from Transit/Murnau who are anyway run by people who don't give a s*** about DVD releases as I know from well informed sources.

[peerpee]

Maybe if they sold more copies they'd give more of a shit about DVD releases?

I've worked with FWMS and Transit for the last five years and never had a complaint - always very accommodating, and very nice people.

If you think they could be better why don't you get in touch with them and suggest what you think they should be doing? That's what I did, and that's how the MoC Series started.

[HerrSchreck]

What I wouldn't give to see a premium DVD release of the 2005 restoration of von Gerlach's masterpiece Zur Chronik von Greishuus. I have a vhs of the German version (also a shitty private telecine-on-disc of Vanina, his only other extant film), and christalmighty, it's just agony waiting for this to be 1) broadcast, 2) toured in US cinemas, or 3) put out on DVD. Jeff Massino from Flicker A was dying to put this resto out on dvd, but I think fear of the lack of recognition of both the title and the director is ruling this out. Which is such a shame, especially Greishuus, which was made at the same time/place as Lang's Nibelungen (with which it shares a lot in common), and is just a majesterial evocation of the hazy bygone age of feudal Germany lost in the fog of myth. Gerlach's technique is incredible in this film, as is FA WAgner's camerawork-- and the art direction is as nice as you'll see for the period: perfect blending of the expressionist impulse and historical fidelity.

Had Gerlach not died so young he would have easily stood toe to toe with Lang and Murnau. Whomever exposes this man and his two masterpieces to the world will be cinematic hero numero uno. But I fear it may never happen... in which case-- why the costly restoration at the Stiftung?

[lubitsch]

Maybe if they sold more copies they'd give more of a shit about DVD releases?
I've worked with FWMS and Transit for the last five years and never had a complaint - always very accommodating, and very nice people.
If you think they could be better why don't you get in touch with them and suggest what you think they should be doing? That's what I did, and that's how the MoC Series started.

DER GOLEM
NOSFERATU
DR.MABUSE
DER LETZTE MANN
TARTÜFF
METROPOLIS
SPIONE
FRAU IM MOND
and the Lubitsch box, that's all silents Murnau Stiftung ever released in Germany. No CALIGARI, no MÜDE TOD, no SCHATTEN, no NIBELUNGEN, no MICHAEL, no WACHSFIGURENKABINETT, no VARIETE (how about that one for MoC?), no FAUST, no GEHEIMNISSE EINER SEELE, no HEILIGE BERG, no LIEBE DER JEANNE NEY, no ASPHALT, no BÜCHSE DER PANDORA, no TAGEBUCH EINER VERLORENEN. Not to speak of all the interesting silents which are still without any release anywhere. You can buy triple the amount of german silents in Spain, France or Great Britain (naturally USA too) than you can in Germany. Our Danish neighbors published more silent DVDs than Murnau/Transit did.
I know very well that in Germany the film consciousness is low and selling silents not too easy, but they build a new film house in Wiesbaden for 7 millions. While I don't doubt that they were friendly to you, Murnau Stiftung is a living nightmare to all students of german film, keeping effectively the German film heritage from the public. If you work for an university and want a film for study reasons you have to pay 25 Euro per video tape with a time code covering a third of the picture and sign a contract that you won't make copies which is punishable by death penalty (well more or less). Most people I know are completely horrified by their policy and I'm in the process of preparing an aggressive article about their way of handling their stuff which amounts to a very considerable part of the German film history up to 1945.
To give you a simple example, the first release was METROPOLIS in April 2003. Then they licensed SPIONE to you and you released it April 2005 in a very nice edition with German intertitles meaning that every collector picked that up. And then they released a Fritz Lang Box in May 2007 with both films and FRAU IM MOND with FRAU being available only in the box!!! Which bloody idiot is supposed to buy this box??? And to double up on METROPOLIS and most likely on SPIONE??? Especially since in January 2008 you followed up with FRAU IM MOND.

I have some inside information I won't and can't post here, but I can surely tell that Murnau/Transit look for film fans and students in germany like thieves who stole the German film heritage and locked it up.

Good luck with NIBELUNGEN which will surely be ready in 2020 after a restoration whose costs have run out of control and in a lovely new orange color!!! After turning METROPOLIS in a high speed affair and restoring and releasing the export version of TARTUFF, this will be a new nadir ...

[Peacock]

!!! but lubitsch that's like saying MoC don't give a shit about film because they were/are unsure about releasing a second Naruse boxset - those bastards!!! Their keeping classic works of cinema away from the public out of spite!

[perkizitore]

!!! but lubitsch that's like saying MoC don't give a shit about film because they were/are unsure about releasing a second Naruse boxset - those bastards!!! Their keeping classic works of cinema away from the public out of spite!

First of all, the Murnau Foundation is supposed to preserve AND release the German classics in the best way possible. It's very different compared to MoC whose releases are made with great care. Besides, Naruse for the general public is far more obscure than Lang and Murnau. Finally, i can understand lubitsch being emotional for not having a second set of his favourite director =P~

[HerrSchreck]

and restoring and releasing the export version of TARTUFF, this will be a new nadir

I was given to understand that the US release print nitrate that was originally held by the US Library of Congress was the only copy of Tartuffe (or at least the only complete, watchable copy) that existed. Why is releasing this element a strike against the FWMS if this is the only element that was in reasonable condition?

[CorstenoftheFunk]

Commentaries for the Lubitsch boxset please.

[MichaelB]

While I don't doubt that they were friendly to you, Murnau Stiftung is a living nightmare to all students of german film, keeping effectively the German film heritage from the public. If you work for an university and want a film for study reasons you have to pay 25 Euro per video tape with a time code covering a third of the picture and sign a contract that you won't make copies which is punishable by death penalty (well more or less).

Actually, that's common practice in film archives, and for good reason - in many cases (I can't speak for FWMS) they don't have the rights to the material for any purpose other than facilitating private study to legitimate scholars. Which is why security tends to be draconian, and the material tends to have some kind of permanent mark on it (and timecode serves a useful purpose in that it allows pinpoint precision of clip start and end points - I wouldn't be able to do my job without it), so that any piracy can be traced and dealt with in double-quick time.

And the reason for this isn't to piss off film scholars, it's because archives are hugely reliant on maintaining good relationships with rightsholders - without that goodwill, they simply wouldn't be able to function, and if a major rightsholder got annoyed, this could have very serious long-term repercussions.

[lubitsch]

First of all, the Murnau Foundation is supposed to preserve AND release the German classics in the best way possible.

Indeed. That's what they were created for and this list of releases doesn't exactly match the goal, does it?

While I don't doubt that they were friendly to you, Murnau Stiftung is a living nightmare to all students of german film, keeping effectively the German film heritage from the public. If you work for an university and want a film for study reasons you have to pay 25 Euro per video tape with a time code covering a third of the picture and sign a contract that you won't make copies which is punishable by death penalty (well more or less).

Actually, that's common practice in film archives, and for good reason - in many cases (I can't speak for FWMS) they don't have the rights to the material for any purpose other than facilitating private study to legitimate scholars. Which is why security tends to be draconian, and the material tends to have some kind of permanent mark on it (and timecode serves a useful purpose in that it allows pinpoint precision of clip start and end points - I wouldn't be able to do my job without it), so that any piracy can be traced and dealt with in double-quick time.
And the reason for this isn't to piss off film scholars, it's because archives are hugely reliant on maintaining good relationships with rightsholders - without that goodwill, they simply wouldn't be able to function, and if a major rightsholder got annoyed, this could have very serious long-term repercussions.

Oh in fact it's even worse with film museums and others in Germany because they don't make you even copies out of fear. But FWMS owns these films and guards them into the grave until they are forgotten. Schreck pointed out a nice example, the two films by Arthur von Gerlach. Commercial potential being zero, I guess even MoC wouldn't touch them though they are both superior to these second class Murnaus they are releasing. They don't run on TV, they don't come out on DVD, they'd die a slow death weren't it for some books mentioning them and some bootlegs floating around. No need for FWMS to exist if they can only release the commercially viable stuff.

and restoring and releasing the export version of TARTUFF, this will be a new nadir

I was given to understand that the US release print nitrate that was originally held by the US Library of Congress was the only copy of Tartuffe (or at least the only complete, watchable copy) that existed. Why is releasing this element a strike against the FWMS if this is the only element that was in reasonable condition?

Because they could have at least presented an incomplete domestic version as alternative instead of burying it forever especially since the US version was as usual a more prudish one. I have a TV transmission which actually mixes both versions and shows that there is enough stuff to release it in a seperate version. If they can put out METROPOLIS flooded with info cards what's missing, they could at least try to save for today's viewers what can be saved from the domestic version.