"Actor: Margaret Livingston"

• THE LAST WARNING (Masters of Cinema) Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (15/02/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Eureka Entertainment to release Paul Leni's THE LAST WARNING, the final film from one of German cinema's great filmmakers, presented on Blu-ray from a 4K restoration on home video for the first time in the UK as a part of The Masters of Cinema Series from 15 February 2021. The first print run of 2000 copies will feature a Limited-Edition O-card Slipcase. Adapted from Thomas F. Fallon's 1922 Broadway play of the same name, The Last Warning is based on the story The House of Fear by Wadsworth Camp and centres on an unsolved murder that occurs during a live Broadway performance. When the victim's body goes missing, the death remains unsolved and the theatre is condemned. That is, until years later when a suspicious new producer arrives to restage the play with the original cast and crew. The Last Warning was Paul Leni's final film before his untimely death, and a prime showcase for Universal's leading lady of the era, Laura La Plante (The Cat and the Canary, Skinner's Dress Suit). A visual artist at the peak of his career, Leni's camera never stops shifting, offering cutaways and trick shots involving nervous could-be culprits, a highly suspicious sleuth, and cast members who suddenly disappear in the darkened theatre. The result is a cinematic funhouse that restlessly cross-examines the suspense of the story's stage play against the real murder mystery saga, all unfolding amid the outstanding production design of Charles D. Hall. Part of Universal's ongoing silent restoration initiative, The Last Warning honours the studio's rich film history that has spanned more than a century. Universal's team of restoration experts conducted a worldwide search for The Last Warning's available elements, ultimately working with materials from the Cinémathèque française and the Packard Humanities Institute Collection in the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present the completed 4K restoration on Blu-ray, the first time the film has ever been available on home video in the UK. Special Edition Features: Limited Edition O-card Slipcase (First Print Run of 2000 Copies Only) | 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from Universal's 4K restoration, available for the first time ever on home video in the UK | Score by composer Arthur Barrow | Brand new audio commentary with horror and fantasy authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman | Paul Leni and The Last Warning video essay by film historian and author John Soister on Leni's final film | Rare stills gallery | PLUS: A Collector's Booklet featuring a new essay by Philip Kemp and a short essay by composer Arthur Barrow on his score for the film

• F.W. Murnau Horror Classics - Faust / Nosferatu | DVD | (22/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The pleasant and peaceful life of a nave country man (George O'Brien) is turned upside down when he falls for a cold-blooded yet seductive woman from the city (Margaret Livingston) who persuades him to drown his virtuous wife (Janet Gaynor) in order to be with her... F. W. Murnau - invited to America by William Fox the promise of complete artistic freedom and a blank cheque - made Sunrise on the cusp of two eras: it represents the silent film at the peak of its poetic sophistication and the sound film in its infancy. Fox told Murnau to take his time to make any film he wished and 'Sunrise' was completed without any studio interference - as though with a dying flourish in a medium which at that moment had achieved a startling richness of expression. It was the swan song of the era. Conceived by Murnau and written by Carl Mayer while they were both still in Germany Sunrise takes a simple situation - the marriage of a peasant couple (George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor) from a country hamlet invaded by a seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) - and elevates it to the realm of fable stripped of melodrama yet brimming with poetic impulses. George O'Brien becomes almost gothically depressed by his affair and plots a Dreiser-like boat accident for Gaynor his sweet wife. This doom hovers and flits like moonlight over the rest of the film which lithely tries to dodge it. Murnau captivated the Americans with his legendary ""invisible"" tracking shots and together with double exposures expressive lighting and distorted sets the viewer is immersed in the fate of these simple characters. Sunrise won three Oscars at the very first Academy Awards ceremony honouring the 1927-1928 season. Janet Gaynor won for Best Actress; Charles Rosher and Karl Struss for Best Cinematography; and the film itself won a special Oscar for ""Unique and Artistic Picture"" the only time this award has ever been given. This is a restored edition of what Cahiers du Cinema described as ""the single greatest masterwork in the history of the cinema"".

• Sunrise | DVD | (26/01/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In 1928 Sunrise won Oscars for Janet Gaynor as Best Actress and cinematography as a "Unique and Artistic Picture". In 1967 it was declared "the single greatest masterwork in the history of cinema" by key French new wave magazine Cahiers du Cinema. Released with a synchronised score and effects soundtrack but no dialogue, it is a cinematic landmark from the transition period between silent cinema and the talkies. Beginning as a prototype film noir in which a farmer (George O' Brien) plans the murder of his wife (Gaynor) with his vacationing lover from the city (Margaret Livingstone), the film develops from tense thriller into a story of reawakened love and redemption. Anticipating Orson Welles's artistic freedom on Citizen Kane (1941), German expressionist director FW Murnau was given carte blanche following the huge American success of The Last Laugh (1924). The result was this poetic fable making inventive use of every technical device then available, including in-camera multiple exposures and superimpositions, long elegant tracking shots, forced perspectives, complex miniatures and synchronised sound, as well as the largest single-street-scene set ever built. The result is a film that influenced everything from Hitchcock suspense to Titanic (1997) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Murnau summons powerful performances from his principal players--Gaynor would later headline A Star Is Born (1937) and O'Brien would take important roles in several classic John Ford westerns--while the transcendent finale evokes and reworks the ending of the director's earlier classic, Nosferatu (1922). Though now inevitably dated Sunrise remains essential for anyone seriously interested in the development of cinematic art. On the DVD:Sunrise is presented on an immaculately produced two-disc special edition. Though restored to full length and presented in the original 1.2:1 ratio with the complete music and effects soundtrack, the film has been taken from a print made in 1936, the original camera negative having been destroyed in a fire. As a result this is the best possible modern presentation of Sunrise, though the print, while perfectly acceptable, is very grainy, lined and flickery by contemporary standards. The mono sound has been superbly restored and is remarkably effective for its vintage; an alternative stereo musical track recorded for recent reissue sounds excellent. The film also boasts a commentary by John Bailey: apart from talking a little too much about how beautiful the lighting is, Bailey offers seriously in-depth knowledge about the film and about Murnau that really puts everything into historical context and explains the constant technical ingenuity. The second disc presents the useful A Song of Two Humans, a 12-minute visual essay by film historian R Dixon Smith, and almost 10 minutes of outtakes with optional commentary by John Bailey, as well as a trailer, stills gallery and notes explaining the nature of the restoration. There is also an excellent 40-minute documentary Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film, telling the story of the director's lost follow up to Sunrise. Microsoft Word and PDF files available via DVD-ROM present various incarnations of the screenplays for both Sunrise and 4 Devils. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Sunrise | DVD | (21/09/2009) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The culmination of one of the greatest careers in film history F. W. Murnau's Sunrise blends a story of fable-like simplicity with unparalleled visual imagination and technical ingenuity. Invited to Hollywood by William Fox and given total artistic freedom on any project he wished Murnau's tale of the idyllic marriage of a peasant couple (George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) created a milestone of film expressionism. Made in the twilight of the silent era it became both a swan song for a vanishing medium and one of the few films to instantly achieve legendary status. Winner of three Oscars for Best Actress (Gaynor) Cinematography and a never-repeated award for Unique and Artistic Picture its influence and stature has only grown with each passing year. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present a new 2-disc special edition of the film including an all-new alternate version recently discovered in a Czech archive of a higher visual quality than any other known source.

• Sunrise | Blu Ray | (21/09/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The culmination of one of the greatest careers in film history F. W. Murnau's Sunrise blends a story of fable-like simplicity with unparalleled visual imagination and technical ingenuity. Invited to Hollywood by William Fox and given total artistic freedom on any project he wished Murnau's tale of the idyllic marriage of a peasant couple (George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) created a milestone of film expressionism. Made in the twilight of the silent era it became both a swan song for a vanishing medium and one of the few films to instantly achieve legendary status. Winner of three Oscars for Best Actress (Gaynor) Cinematography and a never-repeated award for Unique and Artistic Picture its influence and stature has only grown with each passing year. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present a new 2-disc special edition of the film including an all-new alternate version recently discovered in a Czech archive of a higher visual quality than any other known source.