German Filmmuseum Edition

[HerrSchreck]

Has anyone else taken a look at Noa's Nathan? I scanned the whole topic and although the release is mentioned, I haven't heard anyone talk about watching the film.

I'm tried to get started with this film 3 times now, and each time I find myself flagging. Anyone else finding this narrative a bit scrambled? (Gorgeous production, though)

[Tommaso]

I'm not sure where, but I think I commented on it a long time ago when my memory of the film was fresher than now. Anyway, I completely agree with you. The film at its beginning is dragging like little else made at the time, and it only picks up in the last 45 minutes or so, in which it really becomes well worth seeing, with some nice visual effects, if I remember correctly. But nevertheless, I don't think it's more than a solid effort all in all, and rather didactic (like Lessing's poem on which it is based); and I'm sure they only unearthed it because it was apparently the first film that effectively was taken out of circulation because the then only fledgling Nazi party and other anti-semite groups didn't like it (obviously, from their point of view). More or less for completists, then; though I hear good things about Noa's "Helena", for instance.

EDIT: I just used the search function to see what I wrote earlier. Funny: in the Kino thread I described the film with more or less the same words that I just used above; then I found a small entry in this thread here in which I even recommended the film to someone who wanted to get some advice on which filmmuseum films are worth buying... If I think about it now, I'd say it IS worth seeing due to its historical interest and those last 45 minutes; but still, I stick to my words above and maintain it's a minor film. But it looks like I'm a bit unsure about what to make of it...

[Tommaso]

Forthcoming (well, sooner or later):

52 Der Bettler vom Kölner Dom, Rolf Randolf, 1927
53 Shestaya chast mira & Odinnadtsatyy, Dziga Vertov, 1926/28

Also known as "One sixth of the world" and "The eleventh year".

I LOVE THIS LABEL!

[htdm]

Thanks for that Tommaso - I've been waiting to see One sixth of the world for years. Of course there's no guarantee that this might not be released for a few years still, but I'm glad Filmmuseum is releasing this.

[Tommaso]

Well, if it's on the list of the next releases and has a spine number, I think we can safely say it will be out by the end of next year...

Does anyone know more about "The eleventh year"? Nothing to be found at imdb, for instance, apart from the entry itself. I'd also be curious to learn something about that Randolf film, of which I've only heard the title before.

[markhax]

Does anyone know more about "The eleventh year"? Nothing to be found at imdb, for instance, apart from the entry itself. I'd also be curious to learn something about that Randolf film, of which I've only heard the title before.

All I can tell you is taken from Vertov's own essay on the film, dating from 1928. Obviously the title refers to the eleventh year of the revolution. As he describes it it's very much in the vein of Kino-Eye, but represents one of several experiments in different modes of cinema. Vertov describes it as 'one model, one type of non-acted film.' It's evidently made with a minimal use of intertitles, in contrast wth "One-Sixth of the World," where they are apparently abundant. The latter is constructed, he writes, 'through the creation of a specific series of "word themes." The word theme has been abolished in "The Eleventh Year" and the significance of the titles reduced nearly to zero. The picture is constructed through the interweaving of film-phrases, without using titles. . . . I feel that both experiments--the creation of word themes and their abolition--are equally important and of very great significance for kino-eye and for all Soviet cinema.'

The two shots from the film, which accompany the essay, are double exposures, one showing a windmill superimposed on the ocean. The essay can be found in "Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov", published by California.

[Tommaso]

Thanks a lot, markhax, sounds absolutely fascinating, especially concerning "The Eleventh Year". I always wondered how Vertov made the transition from "Kino-Eye", which for me is still first and foremost documentary in nature, to the pure visual poetry of "Man with a Camera", where the documentary aspect is handled in a much more abstract way. From the descriptions you quote it seems that "The Eleventh Year" might be the missing stylistic link. Now I want to see these films even more urgently....

[denti alligator]

Man, this label rulz!

I could be happy with Edition Filmmuseum, BFI, and Masters of Cinema.

Now we just need Edition Filmmuseum to join the other two and start releasing Blu-rays!

[whaleallright]

The Eleventh Year is a great film. In fact, it's Soviet film scholar Yuri Tsivian's favorite Vertov. (See his notes in the Lines of Resistance book.) It's unashamedly propagandistic (its purpose was to celebrate the achievements of the USSR in the eleventh year after the Revolution), and probably less formally giddy as Man with a Movie Camera, but seen in the right spirit it's stirring and exciting.

One-Sixth of the World is also excellent. Its purpose was to showcase the geographic, ethnic, and other diversity of the vast Soviet territory.

It will be great to have these DVDs out, so that finally we can teach the evolution of Vertov's filmmaking, from the experiments with intertitles in Kino-Pravda all the way to the sound experiments of Enthusiasm, without major lacunae.

[tojoed]

"Joyless Street" has now been put back to October 9th. We'll have it someday.

[Tommaso]

Fabulous. At least we finally have a release date....

[tojoed]

[markhax]

For those who have grown tired of waiting, the restored 1920 "Hamlet" with Asta Nielsen, shown on Arte in 2007, has been uploaded to YouTube. Here's the first segment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aknv98_Jyo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. There are fourteen in all.

[tojoed]

The Joyless Street Euro 29.95 direct from edition Filmmuseum. Not up at Amazon.de yet.

[Knappen]

A bit stiff for a disc from Filmmuseum. But then this is a two-disc edition, so on second thought, a fair price.

[Tommaso]

But then, don't forget that they charge shipping costs on top of it, even if you live in Germany, and they charge those 4,25 Euro for every disc you order even if they send them together. They send free of shipping inside Germany when you order three or more discs, but if I remember correctly, they counted a 2-disc set as one dvd in the past.
Perhaps better wait for it to show up at jpc or (new) on ebay.

[Jonathan S]

These additions to Filmmuseum's "In Preparation" list are as surprising as they are welcome (to me anyway):
Max Davidson Comedies Leo McCarey, 1927-1928
Female Comedy Teams Hal Roach, 1929-1935

The Davidson films are seldom revived outside specialist festivals, being sometimes controversial for their pronounced Jewish humour (even in the titles, e.g. Jewish Prudence!) so I suppose the perceived need for contextualisation makes them appropriate for this label.

[whaleallright]

The Max Davidson short Pass the Gravy, directed by McCarey, is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

[tojoed]

Well, I went ahead and got Die Freudlose Gasse despite the Filmmuseum's extortionate shipping costs and it arrived today. I've only had a brief look but here are a couple of screen caps. ( I've never done them before, so I hope they're ok.)

[markhax]

So I gather that the release date for 'Freudlose Gasse' was indeed October 9? It hasn't shown up on Amazon.de yet.

[Tommaso]

These caps look beautiful, but I hope there are different tinted colours in other moments of the film.

Markhax, according to my experience it usually takes a little time for new filmmuseum discs to show up at other retailers, and normally they show up at jpc earlier than at amazon. jpc first listed "Wunder der Schöpfung" and "Ludwig II." about three weeks after they were available at the filmmuseum site. So for the moment, I tend to wait some more, but if "Gasse" doesn't show up there soon, I will probably also order this directly from filmmuseum (arrgh...).

[tojoed]

These caps look beautiful, but I hope there are different tinted colours in other moments of the film.

Yes, there are various tints throughout, it's just that I happened to select those two rather quickly. Really looking forward to watching both discs.

[shostakovich1]

I, too, took delivery of this last week and have now seen disc 1.

All I can say is that I was really impressed. Despite ca. 30 minutes still missing from the film, the restoration hangs together really well story-wise. I was struck by how "contemporary" the film seemed and it certainly pulled no punches in depicting the grim realities of the period. Another excellent effort by the German Film Museum and a treat in store for anyone who likes German silent films.

[Tommaso]

Two more on the 'in preparation' list:

Die Suffragette Urban Gad, 1913
Der Geisterzug Geza von Bolvary, 1927

The first one must be one of the earliest surviving silents from Germany, the latter I first thought would be the same as "The Wrecker" (forthcoming on an UK disc next month), but it isn't. So both good news, I think, should they actually manage to put them out. Filmmuseum's releases get better and better editionwise, but what was a trickle the last few years now is almost just individual drops. I think they only put out four or five discs this year so far.

[zedz]

But they did (finally!) put out the Kluge mega-set at the beginning of the year, and they probably collapsed in a heap for a few months after that.