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

[Ron Koster]

At 12:25 PM 3/1/2008 +0100, Thomas Köhler wrote:

> > I know! Things have really picked up here 

> since we stopped talking about Leni. ;)

>

>I'm not so sure whether we actually really stopped talking about Leni.


Oh, hey, I was just joking! ;)


>All these discussions about silent films I guess 

>are relevant. Hitherto we have tried to assess 

>her position with respect to politics, 

>propaganda, culture etc., but I have the strong 

>feeling that you can't really see the 

>specialness (and sometimes not so very 

>specialness) of both Leni's and Fanck's films if 

>you don't have a good knowledge of what was 

>going on in the world of cinema around the time.


Oh, I totally, totally agree! Indeed, I can 
honestly say that one of the things that's helped 
me to understand Leni's/Fanck's films is 
watching/learning about films by *other* 
directors! One might even go so far as to say 
that it's virtually a prerequisite to have at 
least some knowledge/awareness of other 
films/directors from that period in order to have 
any sort of accurate understanding of those two particular directors' work.


>if I look at major companies like Warner 

>Brothers: their US versions of many of their dvd 

>releases of old films (and I mean truly old, 

>like from the 30s or 40s) often are double-discs with loads of extras,


Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, etc... yeah, I can 
see that, but that might also be due (in however 
big or small a part) just to the sheer *volume* 
of films that have come out of the US 
(Hollywood), compared to virtually every other 
nation (if not every and all other nations put 
together!). And then add to that the rather 
blatant "personality trait" of US corporations 
towards self (US) promotion and stuff -- well, 
it's all about business, and money (one can 
charge more for a "bigger" DVD edition than a 
smaller, cheaper one), perhaps more than it is 
about education and art. As a Canadian myself, 
I'm only a hop away from the US (where much of 
our TV programming comes from, for example), so I 
may not be quite as objective about American 
culture as you Europeans are -- but still, Canada 
does have a far more "humble" culture (and 
self-perception) than the US does, so I can say 
the above with some level of objectivity.

Perhaps, in a psychological sense, that's part of 
the issue. Americans (i.e. the USA) have a really 
strong level of self-esteem, and certainly aren't 
afraid to show it -- that's not necessarily a bad 
thing, of course, but in comparison it might 
leave other nations/peoples *thinking* that 
they're own artistic productions just don't stand 
a chance in competing with "the great giant". Or, 
alternatively, from a completely opposite 
perspective, it could instead perhaps just be a 
reflection of humility (in a very positive way, I 
mean) of other nations, in comparison to the US egocentricity.

I don't know -- I'm just babbling, actually, just 
thinking out-loud. Don't mind me if that all 
sounds ridiculous, because I just made it all up 
just now, as I was writing this. ;)


>You might add the BFI to the list, but only for 

>their releases since about 2005 or so. In 

>Germany there is also now Edition Filmmuseum who 

>also put out rare silent films among other 

>stuff, but they are terribly slow in releasing them.


Oh, I haven't checked out their catalogues -- 
that's something I can do this morning (if I can find an idle moment).


>That Criterion released "Pandora" at all 

>surprised me, they have very few silent films in 

>their catalogue, and generally seem to shy back from them.


Oh, one other silent film that they do have, and 
that you have to -- just *have* to! -- check out 
(if you haven't seen it) is their edition of the 
1928 film, "The Passion of Joan of Arc"...

http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=62

I never even heard of this film until it aired on 
that Turner Classic Movies channel last summer, 
and I can honestly say that -- in my estimation, 
at least -- it's by far one of the greatest 
silent films ever made. And, on top of that, it 
has a modern musical score that was written 
specifically for it (also available separately on 
CD) which is equally as astounding and certainly 
stands up on its own (without the film). In fact, 
you can listen to a "sampling" of this score on the amazon site...

http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Einhorn-Henk-van-Heijnsbergen/dp/B0000029NX

Together, though -- this extraordinary film in 
combination with the beautiful score -- this 
edition of that film is truly a phenomenal experience.

Do check it out, if you haven't seen it (it's 
well worth the price, even with overseas 
shipping) -- and no, I don't work for Criterion, 
this is truly just my honest, personal opinion!

Ron ;)