German Filmmuseum Edition

[L.A.]

"Algol" & "Schlagende Wetter" (Hans Werckmeister / Karl Grune, 1920/23)

Hopefully this one comes out soon.

[AlexHansen]

Another addition to the forthcoming list:
Oktober & Panzerkreuzer Potemkin Sergej Eisenstein & Edmund Meisel, 1928/1930

[TMDaines]

These films probably don't really need the EF treatment, although I'm unsure if Meisel's score for October is currently available on DVD.

[Tommaso]

No, the new resto of "October" is indeed not available anywhere, and it looked pretty great in the arte transmission last year, so that's a very welcome release. Forget about any earlier releases of the film. I just can't see the sense in pairing it with "Potemkin", given that the Transit release with the Meisel score is perfectly fine. Or perhaps we're in for a surprise here, of a kind that I just can't fathom at the moment.

In any case, I really want them to release "Algol", "Der Student von Prag" and that Barnet set first. These are the things the world really needs.

[knives]

I recognize I am late to the party here, but finally opened up Casting a Glance which cements Benning as the experimental filmmaker I most identify with. It's such a completely different journey from either film in the first set, yet retains the overwhelming emotional and intellectual power (though I suppose this sides closer to the emotional than intellectual comparatively). I'm not much of a vacationer and certainly don't stand in awe of mountains and the like, but this film gives an absolute sense of why people do. The bubbling away of the jetty as space makes time physical is a breath taking act of calm. Even without the knowledge that this was his 'death of film' movie the feature gives this comforting exposure to the thought of mortality within life and the arts. By the half way point where the tide eats everything it didn't matter if there was a jetty any longer or not. Just absolutely beautiful.

[bdlover]

Gotta say, I find Edition Filmmuseum to be one of the worst labels out there. Some of the titles in their catalogue are incredible, yet they treat them like the worst budget label on the shelf. The Benning California Trilogy is a case in point - important films that demand to be seen on blu-ray, instead we get shoddy SD transfers from the same beta SP source as the TV rips that have been circulating for years. Yet they give you a booklet and a spine number and act like they're Criterion, with prices to match. Extremely poor show.

[warren oates]

Unless you can prove that assertion -- the selfsame video source -- it's a little silly to make. Even though I get where you're coming from and appreciate the feelings behind your hyperbole. We'd all love to have these films mastered from the negatives on BD. But here's the thing: I've met Benning. And he doesn't really care all that much about preserving/archiving his films or presenting them on video. He's all about making the new work and the next thing. The Germans got his stuff because they asked nicely and first. Absent their interest, we'd have bootlegs and/or nothing for any of these films. And there are still many more to come. As far as I'm concerned these look not unfaithful to the 16mm images I've seen at screenings. Though his work is often stunningly beautiful, Benning's not into making pristine pretty pictures.

[knives]

Do you have any word on what they might be next working on? I'd love for the Boogie Woogie films to come next though I understand why they're focusing on the more recent works.

[warren oates]

I don't know what's next but I do think the Boogie Woogie films are coming. He told me he thought they would be mixing up the older and newer titles in the schedule. As I understand it, he's basically handed over everything to them. They are his archive and his distributor.

[Tommaso]

Gotta say, I find Edition Filmmuseum to be one of the worst labels out there. Some of the titles in their catalogue are incredible, yet they treat them like the worst budget label on the shelf. The Benning California Trilogy is a case in point.

Do you have any other 'cases in point'? I'm pretty sure you must have never seen any of their releases of silent films. Those Asta Nielsen films, the Ruttmanns, "Freudlose Gasse", "Wunder der Schöpfung", etc. These transfers wouldn't have been bettered by any label in the world. Not to speak of their scholarly approach with lots of original materials in pdf-form in many cases. The only real blunder they made was the non-inclusion of the original "Das dritte Geschlecht"-cut on their Veit Harlan disc in full form.

If the Bennings look less than ideal then it's surely because nothing better was available. So to use your kind of hyperbole: I'd rather call Criterion one of the worst labels in the world for constantly fiddling with the contrast and colours of Japanese films...

[bdlover]

Warren, the old TV broadcasts and the DVDs of the California Trilogy have identical problems - too much contrast, very soft, questionable color, whereas the theatrical prints are clean, bright and grainy. Also, look for white horizontal flecks speckling the image: these are signs of Beta SP degeneration, you wouldn't get these in a transfer less than 10 years old. Bottom line, if they can't afford to create new transfers then they should release them at a budget price ala. Second Run. These are budget discs in premium packaging, period. Whether or not the filmmaker is around to care about the image quality, it is the label who are responsible for the contents of the disc and the label who have lost me as a customer. Tommaso, as for the silent transfers - all would have been bettered by Criterion, Masters of Cinema, Twilight Time, Olive, Artificial Eye, etc, simply due to the fact of not being released on a standard definition mpeg2-compressed 15+ year old format.

[TMDaines]

... all would have been bettered by Criterion, Masters of Cinema, Twilight Time, Olive, Artificial Eye, etc, simply due to the fact of not being released on a standard definition mpeg2-compressed 15+ year old format.

All of them would look a hell of a lot better were they released on Blu-ray after having been given a $100,000 restoration... but neither proposal is ever going to happen. Your name kind of says it all: if you only care about the format and highly expensive restorations then look elsewhere. Edition Filmmuseum primarily work on delivering (largely) rare and unknown films that simply would never get a look in from any other label in the world. These films simply are never going to move great numbers and so a slightly higher price is expected, but, then again many of their two-discers are great value at €20. They usually deliver the films with excellent extras and their ROM sections are a constant treasure trove. Usually their releases are friendly for at least three languages and sometimes as many as seven or eight. I hate the fact they picturebox their releases too, but quite simply this may be the most stupid post in the near ten year history of this forum:

Gotta say, I find Edition Filmmuseum to be one of the worst labels out there. Some of the titles in their catalogue are incredible, yet they treat them like the worst budget label on the shelf. The Benning California Trilogy is a case in point - important films that demand to be seen on blu-ray, instead we get shoddy SD transfers from the same beta SP source as the TV rips that have been circulating for years. Yet they give you a booklet and a spine number and act like they're Criterion, with prices to match. Extremely poor show.

[swo17]

You must live a fairly charmed life if you've never encountered a label worse than Edition Filmmuseum.

[foggy eyes]

You must live a fairly charmed life if you've never encountered a label worse than Edition Filmmuseum.

lol. Not wanting to take sides in this, but iirc Benning did once say that he'd prefer to release his films on Blu if they were to be distributed on a format other than 16mm rentals (and one-off TV screenings). Presumably EF would have considered that approach to not be commercially viable within the commercial home video market that presently exists, and went for the only available option. fyi bdlover, Benning's email is jbenning [@] calarts.edu if you fancy dropping him a line about it.

[Gregory]

Gotta say, I find Edition Filmmuseum to be one of the worst labels out there. Some of the titles in their catalogue are incredible, yet they treat them like the worst budget label on the shelf. The Benning California Trilogy is a case in point.

Do you have any other 'cases in point'? I'm pretty sure you must have never seen any of their releases of silent films. Those Asta Nielsen films, the Ruttmanns, "Freudlose Gasse", "Wunder der Schöpfung", etc. These transfers wouldn't have been bettered by any label in the world.

Exactly. "Budget discs in premium packaging" as a description of Berlin die Sinfonie der Großstadt, Entuziazm, Blind Husbands, Klassenverhältnisse, etc. etc.? Please name the budget labels that are putting out anything like this kind of package so I can take advantage of such impossible bargains. With something like Klassenverhältnisse, for example, I'm sure they had to put in huge amounts of work developing the release, bringing all the extras together, and needed to use transfers approved by Jean-Marie Straub, pay (possibly very high) licensing costs, etc.

[knives]

Please name the budget labels that are putting out anything like this kind of package so I can take advantage of such impossible bargains. With something like Klassenverhältnisse, for example, I'm sure they had to put in huge amounts of work developing the release, bringing all the extras together, and needed to use transfers approved by Jean-Marie Straub, pay (possibly very high) licensing costs, etc.

Re:Voir?

[Gregory]

What?

[knives]

You asked if there was another label putting out consistently similar packages and I mentioned Re:Voir which I only discovered recently, but which has proven itself one of the best labels in the business similarly giving out multilingual releases of rare noncommercial films.

[Gregory]

You've missed my point. I was talking about the claim that the Filmmuseum releases are "budget discs in premium packaging" (in the part of my post left out of your quote). I was asking for examples of budget labels that produce anything as extensive and valuable as the Berlin die Sinfonie der Großstadt set, my implication being that there really are no budget labels that do that kind of work. Re:Voir's catalog is great but understandably priced similarly to Edition Filmmuseum's.

[knives]

I misunderstood then. I thought you meant budget compared to their relative worth (and I do find myself feeling more often then not that these two labels are a steal to purchase). I didn't know you meant Alpha type places.

[zedz]

Funnily enough, Re:Voir hasn't gone all-HD with brand-new restorations and transfers for their stuff either. "Worst label in the world" is thus officially a tie!

Idiot.

[Gregory]

This is semi-off-topic but Re:Voir actually had numerous HD masters ready to go and planned to launch a series of blu-rays, including some things they'd avoided releasing on DVD due to the problems introduced by MPEG-2 compression. They put these plans on hold for the duration of the format war, and then had trouble getting enough money together to do the blu-rays thanks to the far higher costs of producing blu-rays compared to DVDs. It's a sad situation.

[zedz]

That's the unfortunate commercial reality. I wonder if it would be worth their while to try a subscription kind of package where customers can prepay for a BluRay package of identified titles (through Kickstarter, maybe) if they can reach the magic number that will make pressing them feasible? I'd certainly be happy to blind buy a bunch of Blus given the label's track record.

[MichaelB]

Didn't Distribpix do just that with The Opening of Misty Beethoven, whose (stunning) Blu-ray edition was a last-minute surprise thanks to successful crowdfunding?

[bdlover]

All of them would look a hell of a lot better were they released on Blu-ray after having been given a $100,000 restoration...

I'm not expecting a restoration, I think Benning considers the imperfections of a film print to be part of the experience, but a decent new telecine released on blu-ray would be nice. And I think it bizarre that labels like Twilight Time and Olive get ripped to shreds on this forum, despite their commitment to blu-ray, yet Filmmuseum get a free pass releasing old beta transfers on DVD at similar prices. Their catalogue shows taste of course, but as with New Wave this isn't a good thing if it means important titles treated badly. Now if we travel back five years then of course, something like the Ruttman was a good release, but in the current market the closest comparison to Filmmuseum is Second Run. The crucial difference being that Second Run charge a budget price for their discs to compensate for the aging format, sometimes-wonky transfers and the blind-buy obscurity of much of their catalogue.

Idiot.

Yes, I'm an idiot, for spending €23 (€30 delivered) for 10+ year old one light transfers of the California Trilogy on barebones DVD.