[LEN-E] "Bergfilm" documentary on arte TV and some other things

[Thomas Köhler]

Hi all,

I just want to tell you that arte TV are showing a new documentary on 
the history of the German mountain film on Thursday, December 4, at 11 
p.m. (23 o'clock). Should be available via satellite in most Central 
European countries. The description in my TV journal sounds interesting: 
they will show very rare documentary material from 1901, and of course 
Fanck, Trenker and Leni will feature prominently. It seems the reason 
for this documentary is a new mountain film called "Nordwand" about the 
first climbing of the Eiger.

Another thing that comes to my mind in this respect is a 1921 film by 
the great Erich von Stroheim called "Blind Husbands", which I watched 
recently. Though this is not strictly speaking a mountain climbing film 
in the Fanck sense, it is at least set in the Alps and prominently 
features a both sarcastic and melodramatic plot in which two men 
struggle for the same woman with a lot of plot points that actually 
reminded me VERY MUCH of  "The Holy Mountain". I wonder whether Arnold 
Fanck had seen this and got some inspiration out of it. In any case, 
it's visually striking and should be well worth seeing. There's a 
brilliant edition of the longer Austrian cut with German intertitles 
(optional English subs are available) from the fabulous Edition 
Filmmuseum. Look here: 
http://www.edition-filmmuseum.com/product_info.php/info/p11_Blind-Husbands--Die-Rache-der-Berge-.html

Also, coming back to Leni: I spotted some footage from "Triumph" in a 
not all too important British war effort film from 1939 called "The Lion 
has wings", directed however by (among others) Michael Powell, one of my 
all-time favourite directors. The film is interesting in any case for 
those interested in the art of the propaganda film, especially because 
that British wartime propaganda worked in a quite different way 
apparently than the German. The Leni footage appears at the beginning as 
an example about how a once peaceful people were transformed into a 
joyless and dangerous enemy (contrasted with the optimistic British here).
"The Lion has Wings" was recently released on DVD as a bonus film on the 
Criterion Collection's edition of Powell's "The Thief of Bagdad" (1940), 
and even if you don't care for the Lion, don't miss the Thief. It's one 
of the most charming and endlessly entertaining early Technicolor 
extravaganzas, starring amongst others Conrad Veidt as the evil Jaffar 
and the young Sabu as the thief, and has still some completely exciting 
special fx. I guess watching again will bring back fond childhood 
memories to many of you. More here: http://www.criterion.com/films/544

Finally, about that "Wege" release Luc mentioned: is that a dvd or a 
VHS, and is it an official release or some low-quality bootled? I don't 
recall having heard anything about it before.

Best
Thomas