Essentials from Germany

[naersjoen]

Or Amazon.es

[TMDaines]

Die Frau, nach der man sich sehnt (1929) by Kurt Bernhardt, featuring Marlene Dietrich, seems to be upcoming on DVD and Blu-ray:

Zur Auszeichnung mit dem ECHO Jazz 2012 gratulieren wir Pascal Schumacher, dem wir uns besonders verbunden fühlen: Der gefragte Künstler hat für den Stummfilm DIE FRAU, NACH DER MAN SICH SEHNT (2012) eine neue Musik komponiert, die vom WDR-Rundfunkorchester unter dem Dirigat von Christian Schumann eingespielt wurde. Die restaurierte Fassung der Murnau-Stiftung feiert ihre TV-Premiere auf ARTE (Di 1. Mai, 23.30 Uhr) und erscheint im Herbst auf DVD/Blu-ray. Anlässlich des 20. Todestages von Marlene Dietrich zeigt das Murnau-Filmtheater den Film in zwei Vorstellungen (Mi 2. Mai, 20.15 Uhr / So 6. Mai, 15.30 Uhr). In ihrem letzten Stummfilm spielt Marlene Dietrich den Vamp, den sie kurz darauf mit Josef von Sternberg im BLAUEN ENGEL und später in Hollywood perfektionieren sollte.

[TMDaines]

Ergh... why is Germany seemingly the most backward country in the world when it comes to dealing with cash electronically. http://www.bpb.de/ only take payment by bank transfer it seems! Never known a country or its people who are so reluctant to use credit or debit cards.

[rohmerin]

Wir Wunderkinder is a masterpiece. Sadly I've watched a bad Argentinian TV rip print.
Is it a DVD with English, Spanish subs?
Smart, very fun, bitter, dark humor comedy, brilliant structure, très Brechtian. It's like a commedia all'italiana masterpiece. Monicelli could have perfectly made it.

[naersjoen]

Only German Heard-of-hearing subtitles on the Arthaus DVD I am afraid. It is also in non-anamorphic 1.66:1.

[TMDaines]

Sure seems like Arthaus is just becoming StudioCanal Germany. So much of their classic German stuff is going out of print it seems as it's no longer available through online retailers or listed on their website.

Would love to think their just re-releasing it all but I feel pretty safe assuming that they're just mostly releasing the same old shit now.

A lot of the Icestorm/DEFA stuff seems to be slipping out of print and becoming harder to get too, sadly.

[Tommaso]

Yes, you're right. It not only affects arthaus, but the whole of the 'Kinowelt' programme. Not a single German classic released since they were officially taken over by StudioCanal last autumn. Not even a continuation of their apparently not unpopular series of Hans Moser films, not to speak of such pleasant surprises like Forst's "Burgtheater" last year. Even Riefenstahl's "Das blaue Licht" is OOP now.

[TMDaines]

Yeah, I missed Tiefland and it's at crazy prices.

[TMDaines]

Ergh... why is Germany seemingly the most backward country in the world when it comes to dealing with cash electronically. http://www.bpb.de/ only take payment by bank transfer it seems! Never known a country or its people who are so reluctant to use credit or debit cards.

So I got my bpb.de order through and, provided that you have a decent level of German, it's such a bargain. I got the DEFA and the Brasch sets. Both seem to be utter bargains as they have the same disks as the retail versions and the Suhrkamp Brasch set on Amazon.de goes for well over double the price!

I also booked up the Spur der Filme DEFA book and I don't think 567 pages clocked at the time: it's bigger than even Bondanella's Italian cinema book, for example, and it only costs €7.00!

Speaking of Suhrkamp Edition, I think they're quickly becoming one of my favourite labels. Some seriously highbrow shit on the whole with a nice, meaty, wordy booklet in each. Their Brasch, Kühle Wampe and Der geteilte Himmel sets are all excellent. They also put out Lang's Hangmen Also Die! but I don't have that as I'm not sure if there's anything new over the old German one. The booklet is likely far more meaty, I imagine. I'm not sure how much of their stuff interests me but they're definitely churning out some excellent releases, as are absolut Medien on the whole.

[TMDaines]

Die Frau, nach der man sich sehnt (1929) by Kurt Bernhardt, featuring Marlene Dietrich, seems to be upcoming on DVD and Blu-ray:

Zur Auszeichnung mit dem ECHO Jazz 2012 gratulieren wir Pascal Schumacher, dem wir uns besonders verbunden fühlen: Der gefragte Künstler hat für den Stummfilm DIE FRAU, NACH DER MAN SICH SEHNT (2012) eine neue Musik komponiert, die vom WDR-Rundfunkorchester unter dem Dirigat von Christian Schumann eingespielt wurde. Die restaurierte Fassung der Murnau-Stiftung feiert ihre TV-Premiere auf ARTE (Di 1. Mai, 23.30 Uhr) und erscheint im Herbst auf DVD/Blu-ray. Anlässlich des 20. Todestages von Marlene Dietrich zeigt das Murnau-Filmtheater den Film in zwei Vorstellungen (Mi 2. Mai, 20.15 Uhr / So 6. Mai, 15.30 Uhr). In ihrem letzten Stummfilm spielt Marlene Dietrich den Vamp, den sie kurz darauf mit Josef von Sternberg im BLAUEN ENGEL und später in Hollywood perfektionieren sollte.

This is going to be released as part of new series in conjunction with the Süddeutschen Zeitung at least: Stummfilm Fan forum and Amazon.de.

It remains to be seen whether we get a Blu-ray release.

[Tommaso]

Somewhat curiously, this Süddeutsche Zeitung edition will also contain the first ever release of the new "Nibelungen", even before the 'official' releases from Transit and MoC. But seriously, everyone should wait for the regular releases with all the extras, of course. "Die Frau nach der man sich sehnt" will be a nice release, though. Not the greatest of all Weimar silents, but the new resto looks great; Marlene Dietrich fans will want to have it in any case.

[TMDaines]

Not seen this mentioned yet so I'd thought I'd share this interestingset of early German silent shorts from 1908-1919 coming out from absolut MEDIEN. Maybe some have been broadcast before as I know there is a rip of Der Perser from Arte TV floating about.

[Tommaso]

I heard that these were all broadcast about ten years or even longer ago on TV. It seems that this is simply a dvd edition of this series of broadcasts. Very nice release in any case, though.

[rohmerin]

Please, I am going to Berlin for several weeks.
Addresses for buying DVDs on physic places? Like an HMV... Danke

[Tommaso]

Try Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann in Friedrichstraße. Probably not the coolest and most deserving shop, but they basically have everything. Just like HMV.

[repeat]

Does anyone have this German release of Christoph Hochhäusler's excellent The City Below? It has English subs, I'm wondering if the audio commentary might be subbed as well (probably not!)

[repeat]

And, while on this topic (planning to put together an amazon.de order here), any experiences of this German edition of Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left For The East? English subs and according to the absolut MEDIEN site it's region free as well.

[L.A.]

Die goldene Gans / The Golden Goose (Siegfried Hartmann, 1964)

Not sure is this exactly an essential but sounds like fun. According to the back cover the DVD has English subtitles. Can someone confirm that is the information correct?

[TMDaines]

La resa dei conti / The Big Gundown coming out on Blu-ray in Germany in an English-friendly edition, with the "original" Italian option.

Die goldene Gans / The Golden Goose (Siegfried Hartmann, 1964)

Not sure is this exactly an essential but sounds like fun. According to the back cover the DVD has English subtitles. Can someone confirm that is the information correct?

The German database sites, like DVD-PALACE, list it as having an English dub, but not subtitles.

[htdm]

The back of the DVD does list both German subs for hard of hearing and English as well as a dub.

[L.A.]

La resa dei conti / The Big Gundown coming out on Blu-ray in Germany in an English-friendly edition, with the "original" Italian option.

DVDCompare

[Forrest Taft]

Time to replace the 'Franco Cleef' bootleg of this that I've had for years! Looking forward to seeing this again, and the Lee Van Cleef Trailer Reel should also be fun.

[TMDaines]

Interesting box set in Germany, which looks to be a series in fact, of titles that marked the end of UFA and the beginning of DEFA: Brüche und Kontinuitäten 01. A selection of six films from three directors (and a bonus seventh film). Whether the extras from the old standalone Icestorm releases made it across, I don't know.

[L.A.]

Die Mörder sind unter uns (1946) Blu-ray

I suppose no English subtitles though.

[TMDaines]

It's supposed to be underwhelming: here.