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THREE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS OF GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM
KINO ON VIDEO TO RELEASE THREE ESSENTIAL GERMAN THRILLERS, INCLUDING THE RESTORED AUTHORIZED VERSION OF FRITZ LANG'S DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER.
Kino on Video is proud to release on DVD three German masterworks of silent cinema: Fritz Lang's DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER, Joe May's ASPHALT and Arthur Robinson's WARNING SHADOWS. This unprecedented series, Kino's PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS OF GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM, brings the definitive version of Lang's DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER, restored in 2000 by Germany's F. W. Murnau Foundation. Previously unavailable in the U.S., this Murnau/Kino version runs approximately 40 minutes longer than the 229-minute cut currently available to U.S. custumers, and it brings more than 25 minutes of additional footage as well a significant re-arrangement of the film's structure.
The other two DVDs in this series, Joe May's ASPHALT and Arthur Robinson's WARNING SHADOWS, also bring all-new transfers made from recent restorations commissioned by the Murnau Foundation. All three DVDs in this series will prebook on June 20, 2006 with a street date of July 18.
Running at a mammoth 270 minutes, Lang's DR. MABUSE comes in a two-disc set also containing a plethora of special features, such as three behind-the-scenes featurettes totaling over 50 minutes of video material - one section focuses on the film's music, another on Norbert Jacques, the literary inventor of Dr. Mabuse, and the final section tackles the film itself. DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER streets with a SRP of $39.95, while Joe May's ASPHALT and Arthur Robinson's WARNING SHADOWS will be available at $29.95 each.
Reconstructed from two camera negatives - one found in Germany and another owned by a foreign distributor - DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER was carefully re-assembled to its original glory and is finally available in a high-quality transfer; with sharper visuals and more pristine, black and white images.
New intertitles were taken from the original negatives; missing, faulty or non-usable titles were completed, corrected or restored using censorship records. Restoration and reconstruction took place in 2000 as a cooperation between the film archive of the German Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv), Berlin, the Filmmuseum Munchen, and the Fredrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden.
Among the never-before-seen scenes available in this new version, some depict Mabuse's manipulation of characters and events. Others, showcase State Attorney Von Wenk's attempts to unravel the mysteries surrounding the villain. Basically, the story makes more sense in the longer version: for instance, we see Dr. Mabuse putting on make-up before his acts of psychological terrorism, whereas the abridged version, assumes that Mabuse's identity is always clear and easy to identify. Kino/Murnau's version also includes title cards that help the spectator navigate through what is otherwise a fairly complicated plot.
The 213-minute version of DR. MABUSE made available on DVD in 2001, is believed to be from a transfer made from print material re-edited in the 1960s by Erwin Leiser, with the concurrence of Fritz Lang who was alive at the time.
Fritz Lang's DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER
Restoration of the film (2000) by Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv Berlin, Filmmuseum im Stadtmuseum Munchen and Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
A truly legendary silent film by director Fritz Lang, Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler (aka Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler) had a major impact on the development of the crime thriller, building upon the work of the pioneering French film serialist Louis Feuillade (Les Vampires, Judex) and firmly establishing it as a significant film genre. This epic two-part tale was originally released simultaneously as two separate films, respectively subtitled The Great Gambler and Inferno, and that format is reproduced here.
The plot revolves around the pursuit of arch fiend Dr. Mabuse; gambler, psychoanalyst, hypnotist, master of disguises and all-around criminal mastermind. Mabuse was the prototype for the sort of evil genius super-villains that would later become commonplace in movies, whether in the James Bond pictures or in comic book adaptations like Superman and Batman. Appropriately, the film is dominated by the presence of Rudolf Klein-Rogge as Mabuse. A top German actor of the silent era, he is best known today for his performance as the mad scientist Rotwang in Lang's Metropolis.
Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler contains many of the elements that were expected from the crime genre at the time, including characters who slip in and out of disguise, mind control, gambling clubs, automobiles with rotating license plates, exotic women, brutal henchmen and unexpected plot twists. Lang's directorial ability to handle such pulp material in a masterful fashion, while also using it as a way to examine the decadence of Germany in the 1920s, reaffirms his status as one of the true greats of the silent era.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Three "Behind-the-Scenes" Featurettes
--The Music of Dr. Mabuse
-- Norbert Jacques, the literary inventor of Dr. Mabuse
-- The motives and themes of Dr. Mabuse
- Stills Gallery
- Biographies / Filmographies
ASPHALT
A Film by Joe May
From the 35mm Restoration by the F.W. Murnau Foundation
From its elaborate and stylish opening scenes, Asphalt immediately establishes itself as a startling achievement. This unforgettable film is in many ways the perfect summation of German filmmaking in the silent era: a dazzling visual style, a psychological approach to its characters, and the ability to take a simple and essentially melodramatic story and turn it into something more complex and inherently cinematic. Although influenced by such classics as The Last Laugh and Berlin: Symphony of a City, Asphalt is a unique look at urban life and a classic in its own right.
Gustav Fröhlich, best known as the young protagonist of Metropolis, stars as Holk, a strait-laced traffic cop who has the simple task of escorting a diamond thief to the police station. However, the thief is the exotic and beautiful Else (played by Betty Amann), which makes the task far from simple. The stage is thus set for a scandalous turn of events, and the drama is made all the more exciting thanks to the dynamic photography of Günther Rittau (The Blue Angel) and the equally impressive sets of Erich Kettelhut (Metropolis).
Asphalt is directed by Joe May, a leading German filmmaker of the 1910s and 1920s who is also known for the two-part epic The Indian Tomb. In addition, he helped to launch the career of Fritz Lang.
Like Lang, May later relocated to Hollywood, where he directed several classic B-films, most notably The Invisible Man Returns. But Asphalt remains perhaps his most famous, and some say, greatest work.
The Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation and Transit Film present
ASPHALT
Germany 1929 93 min. B&W 1.33:1
Directed by Joe May
Written by Fred Majo, Hans Székely and Rolf Vanloo
Cinematography by Günther Rittau
Arthur Robison's WARNING SHADOWS
From the 35mm Restoration by the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna, the Cinémathèque Française and the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung
German expressionist cinema was at its height in the 1920s, and few films embodied the movement as much as Warning Shadows. Directed by Arthur Robison, this classic tale of psychological horror remains his best known work, celebrated for its outrageous visual style and notorious for its attempt to make a purely visual feature film - in other words, a film with no intertitles (except, of course, the opening credits).
A mysterious traveler and illusionist who performs shadow puppetry arrives to provide some entertainment at an otherwise routine dinner party. The host of the party is already mad with jealousy over the presence of his wife's four suitors, but when the puppet show begins, passions overtake reason and reality is not what it appears to be.
Shadows, reflections and silhouettes are the dominant imagery, and the film boasts the extraordinary camerawork of Fritz Arno Wagner, the German cinematographer who is renowned for his work with Fritz Lang (Spies, M) and F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu).
Although this marks the first time the film has been released on DVD in the United States, Warning Shadows has long been considered a landmark work by champions of the German cinema.
Lotte Eisner, in her book "The Haunted Screen," declared that director Robison "handles phantoms with the same mastery as his strange illusionist," while Siegfried Kracauer, in "From Caligari to Hitler," simply stated that Warning Shadows "belongs among the masterpieces of the German screen."
WARNING SHADOWS: A Nocturnal Hallucination
(SCHATTEN: Eine Nächtliche Halluzination)
Germany 1923 85 Min. Color Tinted 1.33:1
Directed by Arthur Robison
Concept and Design by Albin Grau
Edited by Rudolf Schneider and Arthur Robison
Cinematography by Fritz Arno Wagner
With Fritz Kortner, Ruth Weyher, Gustav von Wangenheim
Music composed and performed by Donald Sosin
Restoration and Preservation: L'Immagine Ritrovata
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