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

[Thomas Köhler]

Ouiii,  what a flurry of mails crossing:-) Hope I can sort it out somehow...

Yes, Murnau Stiftung are indeed doing a brand new restoration of 
"Nibelungen", it's been in the works for several years now, and 
apparently will be finished this year. As I said, they will restore the 
tintings, and they also found some more material not included in the 
older restoration. That's why they have to re-record the soundtrack as 
well, because the old recording wouldn't fit with the newly found scenes 
included. And yes, the Kino disc is the older restoration, and thus not 
the definitive one (I hope the new one will be...).


 >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.

Perhaps Robert Flaherty's "Nanook of the North"? That's the 
'grandfather' of all these films (made in 1922, and filmed even 
earlier). And yes, there are quite a few of these 'exotic' films, though 
I suppose not so many Arctic films for obvious reasons. And I guess 
you're right that the fascination for the viewers of that time must have 
been to actually SEE these places. Curiously, I find many of these films 
very fascinating even today! However, many of these films were made 
basically as documentaries, that's why I found the Trenker film quite 
interesting, because it is mostly interested in the narrative. "Nanook" 
has a narrative, too, of course, but the documentary bits are far more 
in the forefront, whereas with Trenker, well: Trenker is in the 
forefront :-)



 > As a typophile, I actually find it quite fascinating to see the 
original early typography and/or calligraphy used in these, and these 
new "re-done" versions hardly do justice to the original versions 
(Kino's "The Holy Mountain" and their "Caligari", for example).

Exactly my feeling! And it is very hard, if not impossible to translate 
the feeling of those old German intertexts into contemporary English. 
German has changed much more in the last 100 years than English did, and 
sometimes these old titles are not only typographically interesting, but 
also languagewise. So one of the reasons why I like silents so much in 
general is that they work like a time-machine into an older culture, and 
the older way of expressing things is a part of the fun.



 >"Weaker" in what sense? Do you mean the plastic that the discs are 
made out of?

No no, the plastic is the same. They are weaker in quality for money: 
often worse image, less extras etc. That doesn't go for all discs, but 
if you compare the Criterion Edition of Fellini's "La Strada" to the 
German disc of that same film, you'll see very quickly what I mean. Just 
one example out of my head.

And yes, "Shadow of the Vampire" is fun :-)

Best
Thomas




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