CDs and DVDs

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s controversial, fifteen-hour-plus Berlin Alexanderplatz, based on Alfred Döblin’s great modernist novel, was the crowning achievement of a prolific director who, at age thirty-four, had already made forty films. Fassbinder’s immersive epic, restored in 2006 and now available on DVD in this country for the first time, follows the hulking, childlike ex-convict Franz Biberkopf (Günter Lamprecht) as he attempts to “become an honest soul” amid the corrosive urban landscape of Weimar-era Germany. With equal parts cynicism and humanity, Fassbinder details a mammoth portrait of a common man struggling to survive in a viciously uncommon time. SPECIAL EDITION SEVEN-DISC SET:-New high-definition digital transfer from the 2006 restoration by the Fassbinder Foundation and Bavaria Media, supervised and approved by director of photography Xaver Schwarzenberger-Two new documentaries by Fassbinder Foundation president Juliane Lorenz: one featuring interviews with the cast and crew, the other on the restoration-Hans-Dieter Hartl’s 1980 documentary Notes on the Making of “Berlin Alexanderplatz”-Phil Jutzi’s 1931, ninety-minute film of Alfred Döblin’s novel, from a screenplay co-written by Döblin himself-New video interview with Peter Jelavich, author of Berlin Alexanderplatz: Radio, Film, and the Death of Weimar Culture-New and improved English subtitle translation-PLUS: A book featuring an essay by filmmaker Tom Tykwer, reflections from Fassbinder, an interview with Schwarzenberger, and German author Thomas Steinfeld on the novel Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder1980940 MinutesColorRegion 1/NTSC Format Monaural in German with optional English subtitlesThe Criterion CollectionISBN B000VARC2S

Berlin Alexanderplatz [DVD]

At once an invaluable photographic record of life in Weimar Berlin and a timeless demonstration of the cinema's ability to enthrall on a purely visceral level, Berlin, Symphony of a Great City offers a kaleidoscopic view of a single day in the life of a bustling metropolis.Carl Mayer (The Last Laugh), influenced by the naturalistic Kammerspiel movement, envisioned "a melody of pictures" sprung from daily reality instead of the stylized artificiality of the studio-bound expressionist film. Following Mayer's rough outline, photographer Karl Freund deployed a team of cameramen to explore the avenues, alleyways and factories of Berlin and secure hidden-camera glimpses of the people and machinery that provide the city with its constant motion. The many hours of footage were then edited into a series of five acts, like movements of a symphony, by Walther Ruttmann as a continuation of his experiments with abstract motion.Berlin defined the formula of the "city symphony" film and according to John Grierson- the filmmaker/critic who coined the term "documentary" - "No film has been more influential, more imitated."Opus IA rare example of the German avant-garde cinema known as absoluter Film, Walther Ruttmann's hand-colored Opus I is an exploration of the geometry of movement within the frame and the sensory effect these abstract shapes evoke as they swell, streak and swim across the screen. Viewed alongside Berlin, Opus I seems a thumbnail sketch for the sweeping slice-of-life documentary, revealing the degree to which Ruttmann's 1923 film was more a spectacle of raw motion than a documentary portrait of Berlin's daily routines. Opus I is accompanied by Max Butting's 1922 score, adapted and conducted by Timothy Brock.Berlin, Symphony of a Great CityDirected by Walther RuttmanGermany 192762 MinutesBlack and WhiteSilentOpus IDirected by Walther RuttmannGermany 192210 MinutesColorSilent Flicker AlleyNTSC FormatISBN 889290092014Documentary, DVD

Berlin, Symphony of a Great City [DVD]

Erich von Stroheim's directorial debut is considered a masterpiece of silent cinema. This edition presents the film in its gorgeous tinted Austrian release version, featuring German language intertitles. Extras include additional materials on Stroheim and the film, including a printable copy of Jon Barnas' long-out-of-print German language book on the filmmaker (1966).90 minutesPAL formatDVD-ROM SilentISBN 4260100330032

Blind Husbands [DVD]

Edited by Michael Achenbach, Thomas Ballhausen, and Nikolaus Wostry Saturn was a Vienna-based company founded by Johann Schwarzer in 1906 that produced erotic films. Wildly popular all over Europe, the films earned Schwarzer the ire of the Hapsburg monarchy, and new censorship laws were written in an attempt to restrict them. In 1910, after a trial had declared his work was damaging to the image of the Hapsburg Empire abroad, Schwarzer was forced to close his lucrative enterprise. The Film Archiv Austria has gathered 22 of Schwarzer's films and released them in a sleek metal box with enclosed informational pamphlet. 90 minutesBlack and WhiteSilentPAL formatFilm Archiv AustriaISBN 9783902531681

Saturn Filme 1906-1910 [DVD]

In the 1920s, film studios around the world sought to capitalize on the public's curiosity about the newborn science of psychoanalysis. In 1925, Hans Neumann (of Ufa's Kulturfilm office) contacted members of Sigmund Freud's inner circle with a plan to make a dramatic film that explores the mystifying process of the interpretation of dreams. With the help of noted psychologists Karl Abraham and Hanns Sachs, and under the direction of G.W. Pabst (Pandora's Box), SECRETS OF A SOUL was completed. Werner Krauss, who had played the deranged Dr. Caligari six years earlier, stars as a scientist who is tormented by an irrational fear of knives and the irresistible compulsion to murder his wife. Driven to the brink of madness by fantastic nightmares (designed by Ernö Metzner and photographed by Guido Seeber in a brilliant mix of expressionism and surrealism), he encounters a psychoanalyst who offers to treat the perplexing malady. Directed by G.W. Pabst Germany 1926 75 minutes Black and White Silent Region 1Kino Video ISBN 9786311748633

Secrets of a Soul [DVD]

Widely recognized as the source of the Frankenstein myth, the ancient Hebrew legend of the Golem provided actor/director Paul Wegener with the substance for one of the most adventurous films of the German silent cinema. Suffering under the tyrannical rule of Rudolf II in 16th century Prague, a Talmudic rabbi (Albert Steinruck) creates a giant warrior (Paul Wegener) to protect the safety of his people. Sculpted of clay and animated by the mysterious secrets of the Cabala, the Golem is a seemingly indestructible juggernaut, performing acts of great heroism, yet equally capable of dreadful violence. When the rabbi’s assistant (Ernst Deutsch) takes control of the Golem and attempts to use him for selfish gain, the lumbering monster runs rampant, abducting the rabbi’s daughter (Lyda Salmonova) and setting fire to the ghetto. With its remarkable creation sequence (a dazzling blend of religion, sorcery and special effects) and the grand-scale destruction of its climax, The Golem was one of the greatest achievements of the legendary UFA Stuudios, and remains an undeniable landmark in the evolution of the horror film. Directed by Paul Wegener and Carl BoeseGermany 192086 minutesBlack and whiteSilentRegion 1/NTSC FormatKino VideoISBN 9786307261542

The Golem [DVD] (Restored Authorized edition)

Born in 1879 near Bern, Switzerland, Paul Klee was part poet and visionary, part disciplined craftsman and well-regarded bourgeois. The son of a music teacher, Klee learned to play the violin to near-professional standard. This early musical training would influence his artistic theories and practice for the rest of his career. Klee joined the Bauhaus in 1920, which was the perfect theatre to unfold his teaching methods; an art school devoted to re-uniting the fine and applied arts, and architecture, in a manner suitable for an industrial age. From 1933 until his death in 1940, a progressive simplification of his means accompanied a progressively more intense and powerful expression. The works of Klee have been of enormous importance in the development of modern art; at a time of uncertainty and loss of direction in art, he was a source of confidence and admiration. 50 minutesColorRegion 1/NTSCEnglish KulturISBN 9780769726632

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CDs and DVDs

Berlin Alexanderplatz [DVD]

Berlin, Symphony of a Great City [DVD]

Blind Husbands [DVD]

Saturn Filme 1906-1910 [DVD]

Secrets of a Soul [DVD]

The Golem [DVD] (Restored Authorized edition)

Paul Klee: Artists of the 20th Century [DVD]

Shop at Neue CDs and DVDs

Berlin Alexanderplatz [DVD]

Berlin, Symphony of a Great City [DVD]

Blind Husbands [DVD]

Saturn Filme 1906-1910 [DVD]

Secrets of a Soul [DVD]

The Golem [DVD] (Restored Authorized edition)

Paul Klee: Artists of the 20th Century [DVD]

Shop at Neue
CDs and DVDs