Here’s some good news for Silent film buffs I chanced upon another Website:
http://www.mastersofcinema.com
“Eureka Video (UK) have exclusively revealed to MoC their forthcoming DVD releases for 2004. Titles and release dates are subject to change but the current schedule looks like this:
SUNRISE (Murnau, 1927) - January
DOCTOR MABUSE I & II (Lang, 1922) - February
THE TESTAMENT OF DR MABUSE (Lang, 1933) - March
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (Fanck, 1926) - March
THE LAST LAUGH (Murnau, 1924) - April
HERR TARTÜFF (Murnau, 1926) - May
DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (Pabst, 1929) - June
DIE NIBELUNGEN I & II (Lang, 1924) - June
MICHAEL [MIKÆL] (Dreyer, 1924) - September
All this comes after Eureka's exciting 2003 slate which contains DER GOLEM (Wegener, 1920) in September, and M (Lang, 1931) in October.”
The only thing is that most of these have already been released on Region 1 and their already limited marketability is thus rather lessened by this. In fact, I already have four of them myself (denoted by an asterisk) but I’ll jump at the R2 discs of the first two DR. MABUSE films - if Eureka manages to get hold of the full-length 297-minute print) - and THE LAST LAUGH - if some significant extras are included:
· DER GOLEM (Wegener, 1920) – Kino[*]
· M (Lang, 1931) – Criterion
· SUNRISE (Murnau, 1927) – Fox
· DOCTOR MABUSE I & II (Lang, 1922) – Image[*]
· THE TESTAMENT OF DR MABUSE (Lang, 1933) – All Day
· THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (Fanck, 1926) – Kino
· THE LAST LAUGH (Murnau, 1924) – Kino[*]
· HERR TARTÜFF (Murnau, 1926) – N/A
· DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (Pabst, 1929) – Kino
· DIE NIBELUNGEN I & II (Lang, 1924) – Kino[*]
· MICHAEL [MIKÆL] (Dreyer, 1924) – N/A
In any case, I’ll be getting at least four of these Eureka releases: M, THE TESTAMENT OF DR MABUSE (even though I still plan to get the All Day disc, if only for the 1962 remake and its Audio Commentary; I sincerely hope that Eureka find better elements to work with, and of the full-length German-language version at that!); HERR TARTÜFF and MICHAEL. For the record, M is the only one of these I’ve watched so far and, since Lang, Murnau and Dreyer are among my all-time favorite directors, I don’t suppose I’ll find the strength to wait until Eureka drops their prices (as they invariably do in time) but I’ll probably end up pre-ordering them!
As for SUNRISE, it’s a pity that the R2 DVD edition will (tentatively) be released in January 2004 since I was planning on rebuying(!) Fox’s first three “Studio Classics” discs – ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941) and GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT (1947) – which have now been repackaged as a 4-Disc Set with SUNRISE, which is by all accounts, an essential disc! I don’t suppose that Eureka will top Fox’s presentation, but who knows…?
P.S. On that same website, it is revealed that Victor Erice’s masterpiece THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (1973) will be released for the first time ever on DVD by Optimum Releasing on R2. I’ve heard a lot about this film which deals with a little girl who is hugely affected by her viewing of James Whale’s FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and mistakes an army deserter she meets for the Creature.
