[LEN-E] Nosferatu (The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition)

[Ron Koster]

At 06:07 PM 2/28/2008 +0100, Thomas Köhler wrote:

>The Murnau Stiftung is doing a new "Nibelungen" 

>at the moment, and this new (tinted, and longer) 

>version will also come from MoC once it's finished.


I have the Kino version of that...

http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=563

...which I *thought* was the the "definitive" 
version. Are you saying that the Murnau Stiftung 
will be producing an even better (and longer -- eek!) version?


>I have little hope for "Der große Sprung". I 

>fear that nobody could release it because there 

>is no new music yet, and apart from us Leni fans 

>here, nobody seems to care all that much for it.


Helmut and I met with Matthias Fanck (Arnold's 
grandson) in Nuremberg a few years ago, and I 
remember Helmut asking him about Der grosse 
Sprung -- and Matthias, too, was completely 
bewildered as to why nobody was coming out with it!


>Talking of silents, something more Leni related: 

>I recently watched the dvd of  "Ruf des Nordens" 

>by Luis Trenker (directed by Nunzio Malasomma, 

>but very much a true Trenker project), made in 

>1929. This is not a great film, but it was 

>interesting to see that THIS seems to be the 

>first German Polar film, four years before "SOS Eisberg".


I have a feeling that there probably are at least 
a few more "polar films" out there (German or 
otherwise) -- about a year ago, I also saw an 
American film from about 1929 or 1930 that took 
place in that context. I can't remember the title 
off-hand now, though, although I do remember that 
that was approximately the year it was made, and 
that it surprised me in a similar way, too.

I suppose it makes sense, though, that there 
would be more films than just a couple or so. 
Those were, after all, still the early days of 
cinema, and one does often see "exotic" locales 
-- whether it's polar ones, or off in the South 
Pacific islands ("Tabu", or "White Shadows in the 
South Seas" -- which was just on the other day, 
actually), or Rudolph Valentino (et al.) off in 
the Middle East, or other far-away, mysterious 
(or mythical) lands/islands ("King Kong", "Lost Horizon", etc.).

It must have been truly fascinating and amazing 
for movie-goers back in those days -- our 
generation(s) only need to turn on the Disney 
channel or Nature channel (or whatever) and we've 
all pretty well grown up seeing these places (on 
TV), but back in the early part of the 20th 
century it must have been just astounding for the 
general public to really *see* these places (and 
"in motion", to boot), and not just merely grainy 
photographs or drawings in books and magazines.

I can only suppose that this also helps explain 
the fascination with the Bergfilm genre, if one 
can put oneself into that sort of mind-set.

Ron :)