Eureka Entertainment to release DER GOLEM; Paul Wegener and Carl Boese's classic silent horror, as part of The Masters of Cinema Series for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK from a brand new 4K restoration on 18 November 2019, presented with a Limited Edition Slipcase [First Print Run of 2000 copies only]. An iconic early horror masterpiece, Der Golem was Paul Wegener's third attempt at adapting the Golem character for the big screen. Starring and co-directing with Carl Boese, Wegener crafted one of silent cinema's most enduring masterpieces. In the Jewish ghetto in 16th century Prague, Rabbi Low (Albert Streinruck, Asphalt) creates a forbidding clay Golem (played by director Paul Wegener) to protect his people from the tyrannical Emperor Luhois (Otto Gebuhr). Brought to life with a demon spirit and an amulet placed in the center of the creature's chest, the Golem is a seemingly indestructible juggernaut, performing acts of great heroism. But when the Rabbi's assistant attempts to control the Golem for selfish gain, it becomes a terrifying force of destruction, rampaging through the ghetto leaving fire and death in its wake. A landmark film in the horror canon, influencing most notably James Whale's 1931 adaptation of Frankenstein, Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam is also a pre-eminent example of German Expressionism, and an important contribution to the golden age of Weimar Cinema. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the film in its UK debut on Blu-ray from a brand new 4K restoration. Blu-Ray Special Features: Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase (First 2000 copies) Presented in 1080p from a stunning 4K digital restoration of the original film negatives, completed by FWMS in 2017. Original German intertitles with optional English subtitles Option of THREE fantastic and unique scores, by composer Stephen Horne; acclaimed electronic music producer Wudec; and musician and film-score composer Admir Shkurtaj Brand new and exclusive audio commentary by Scott Harrison Brand new and exclusive video essay by critic David Cairns Brand new and exclusive video essay by filmmaker Jon Spira (Elstree 1976) The Golem [60 mins] The US version of the film, also fully restored, and featuring a score by Cordula Heth A video piece highlighting the differences between the domestic and export negatives of the film [22 mins] PLUS: A collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Scott Harrison; and reprints of illustrations from the original 1915 novel
A relic certainly, but a fascinating one, Der Golem is perhaps the screen's first great monster movie. Though it was actually the third time director-star Paul Wegener had played the eponymous creation, the earlier efforts (sadly lost) were rough drafts for this elaborate dramatisation of the Jewish legend. When the Emperor decrees that the Jews of mediaeval Prague should be evicted from the ghetto, a mystical rabbi creates a clay giant and summons the demon Astaroth who breathes out in smoky letters the magic word that will animate the golem. Intended as a protector and avenger, the golem is twisted by the machinations of a lovelorn assistant and, like many a monster to come, runs riot, terrorising guilty and innocent alike until a little girl innocently ends his rampage. Wegener's golem is an impressively solid figure, the Frankenstein monster with a slightly comical girly clay-wig. The wonderfully grotesque Prague sets and the alchemical atmosphere remain potent. On the DVD: Der Golem on disc has an imaginative menu involving the rabbi opening a book of spells that leads to alternate versions of the film with German or English inter-titles. The print is cobbled from several sources and tinted to the original specifications, with an especially impressive crimson glow as the ghetto burns. The extras are an audio essay, illustrated with clips, on Der Golem and German Expressionist cinema in general, plus a gallery of stills and other illustrations. --Kim Newman
Before he arrived in Hollywood to leave his indelible (and inimitable) mark on timeless comedies like Trouble in Paradise and The Shop Around The Corner, Ernst Lubitsch created an expansive body of work in Germany that proved to be as varied in tone as it was sophisticated in its measure of man and woman. This set collects six restored works from the silent phase of Lubitsch s career, and casts new light on the director both as a fully-formed comic master, and as a virtuoso of cinematographic technique. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present these six works by Ernst Lubitsch for the first time ever on Blu-ray. BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES: High-definition restored transfers of all six films Original German intertitles with optional English subtitles Robert Fischer s 2006 feature-length documentary Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood Exclusive concertina score for Die Puppe, by Bernard Wrigley PLUS: A booklet containing liner notes for all six features by film-writers David Cairns, Anna Thorngate, and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Before he arrived in Hollywood to leave his indelible (and inimitable) mark on timeless comedies like Trouble in Paradise and The Shop Around the Corner Ernst Lubitsch created an expansive body of work in Germany that proved to be as varied in its tone as it was sophisticated in its measure of man and woman. This set collects six recently restored works from the silent phase of Lubitsch's career and casts new light on the director both as a fully-formed comic master and as a virtuoso of cinematographic technique. Ich Möchte Kein Mann Sein (1918)One of the first collaborations between Lubitsch and the exuberant Ossi Oswalda Ich möchte kein Mann sein [I Wouldn't Like to Be a Man] is a concise sketch of society life in three acts. When Ossi's uncle goes away on a business trip a new guardian steps in to tame the distractable niece. But Ossi finds a way out of the house and into a grand ball... by way of a brazen cross-dressing scheme - and triggers what is perhaps Lubitsch's most twisted finale. Die Puppe (1919)Four amusing acts from a toy-chest - so reads the opening title of the comic masterpiece Die Puppe. [The Doll.] adapted by Lubitsch and co-scenarist Hanns Kräly from a libretto by A. M. Wilner (based in turn on a tale from E. T. A. Hoffmann). Ossi Oswalda stars in a double-role as both the mischievous daughter and automatonic creation of a wildly coiffed dollmaker. When a wealthy baron decides the time has come for his prudish nephew to take a wife an uproariously ribald plot unwinds into what is perhaps the world's first-ever sex-doll comedy. Die Austernprinzessin (1919)As Die Austernprinzessin. [The Oyster Princess.] Ossi Oswalda makes another turn as a plutocrat's rambunctious daughter - now the heiress of a global oyster empire devoting her wiles once again to the service of manipulation. A comic high-point in the master's oeuvre Die Austernprinzessin. showcases the trademarks of the Lubitsch Touch and its ten-fingered dexterity resulting in a film that is simultaneously clever concise and risqué. Sumurun (1920)By turns melodramatic and grotesquely comic Sumurun brings together performances by star-players Paul Wegener (Der Golem.) Pola Negri Harry Liedtke and Ernst Lubitsch himself (in the role of an ultra-pathetic hunchbacked minstrel) for this ensemble tale pulled from the milieu of The Arabian Nights. Featuring hundreds of extras milling through open-air set-pieces and dusky harem-chambers alike Sumurun demonstrates Lubitsch's ability to transfigure rote romance into vibrant pageant. Anna Boleyn (1920)Emil Jannings plays King Henry VIII in the story of Anne Boleyn's movement from the outskirts of the court to the royal boudoir and off to the chopping-block. Suffused with an atmosphere of entrapment that would not be out of place in later films by Fritz Lang and prefiguring the stately contretemps in John Ford's Mary of Scotland Anna Boleyn proceeds with a deathward momentum unique in Lubitsch's oeuvre. Die Bergkatze (1921)Set in one of Lubitsch's hallmark mythical kingdoms Die Bergkatze [The Mountain-Lion / The Wildcat] finds Lubitsch in exuberantly expressionistic mode employing a host of optical masks to create perhaps the most visually audacious comic spectacle of his career. Pola Negri plays the daughter of a band of thieves; seduction of army commander (and audience) ensues. Lubitsch's personal favourite work of all his German films Die Bergkatze represents a peak in both Lubitsch's silent oeuvre and the silent cinema as a whole. Special Features: Six Features Across Five Discs A Sixth Disc Containing Robert Fischer's 2006 Feature-Length Documentary Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood Exclusive Concertina Score for Die Puppe Liner Notes for all Six Features by Film-Writers David Cairns Anna Thorngate and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Perhaps no period of any national cinema extends its influence so powerfully into the present day of movies as that of the German cinema of the Weimar era. From the fraught angles that accompanied magisterial set-design to the dreamlike interplay of light and shadow German films of the pre-WWII era defined the famed ""expressionistic"" visual style even as they tested the boundaries of social and sexual taboos. This collection contains five films. Four are classic films emblematic of the legendary Weimar period and one is an historical curiosity commissioned under the Nazi regime. Paul Wegener's and Carl Boese's 1920 film Der Golem represents the second (and the only fully surviving) film treatment by Wegener of the Yiddish folktale based around a towering clay monster created by magic corrupted by evil and redeemed ultimately by the force of the human soul. From the same year comes Robert Wiene's nightmarish classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - a story of mesmerism sleepwalking and murder - a demented dreamscape that perhaps single-handedly galvanized the Expressionist movement of silent cinema. Nine years on Joe May's Asphalt opens a door to the sordid carnality lurking inside the Weimar heart of darkness - and gives audiences the gift of Betty Amann the greatest ""siren unsung"" of the early silver-screen. No lack of recognition would beset the besotted lead of Josef von Sternberg's 1930 masterpiece The Blue Angel - presented here in both its German- and English-language versions. Simply put this tale of a mild-mannered professor (Emil Jannings) sucked into the world of a licentious cabaret artiste introduced the public to an immortal: her name written among the stars would read ""Marlene Dietrich"". By 1943 a new era had dawned one in which Joseph Goebbels called the shots and it was Josef von Bky's Mnchhausen that epitomized the ""new German epic"" - a state-sanctioned Agfacolor melange of the picaresque and Aryan myth that nevertheless served to inspire Terry Gilliam's more benign modern fantasia The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Myth sex magick and the ""tall-tale"": Classics of German Cinema: 1920-1943 presents the viewer with a selection of masterpieces that tower not only over the awesome first phase of German movies but over the origins of world cinema as a whole. 1. Der Golem 2. Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari 3. Asphalt 4. The Blue Angel 5. Munchhausen
In this version of the golem legend the golem a clay statue brought to life by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague to save the Jews from the ongoing brutal persecution by the city's rulers is found in the rubble of an old synagogue in the 20th century. Brought to life by an antique dealer the golem is used as a menial servant. Eventually falling in love with the dealer's wife it goes on a murderous rampage when its love for her goes unanswered.
This 5 Disc Box set features 5 Classic horror films of the silent era. Der Golem (Dir. Paul Wegener 1920) Directed produced and starring Paul Wegener The Golem is a masterpiece of early cinema. The story centres on a Jewish community threatened with removal from the city under proclamation from the Emperor which the head Rabbi Rabbi Loew predicted in the stars. Constructing a clay man to stop this oppression and calling upon ancient powers in a magical amul
Before he arrived in Hollywood to leave his indelible (and inimitable) mark on timeless comedies like Trouble in Paradise and The Shop Around the Corner Ernst Lubitsch created an expansive body of work in Germany that proved to be as varied in its tone as it was sophisticated in its measure of man and woman. This box set collects six recently restored works from the silent phase of Lubitsch's career and casts new light on the director both as a fully-formed comic master and as a virtuoso of cinematographic technique. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present these six works by Ernst Lubitsch for the first time on DVD in the UK. ICH M''–CHTE KEIN MANN SEIN (1918) One of the first collaborations between Lubitsch and the exuberant Ossi Oswalda Ich m''chte kein Mann sein [I Wouldn't Like to Be a Man] is a concise sketch of society life in three acts. When Ossi's uncle goes away on a business trip a new guardian steps in to tame the distractable niece. But Ossi finds a way out of the house and into a grand ball... by way of a brazen cross-dressing scheme -- and triggers what is perhaps Lubitsch's most twisted finale. DIE PUPPE (1919) Four amusing acts from a toy-chest - so reads the opening title of the comic masterpiece Die Puppe. [The Doll.] adapted by Lubitsch and co-scenarist Hanns Kr''ly from a libretto by A. M. Wilner (based in turn on a tale from E. T. A. Hoffmann). Ossi Oswalda stars in a double-role as both the mischievous daughter and automatonic creation of a wildly coiffed dollmaker. When a wealthy baron decides the time has come for his prudish nephew to take a wife an uproariously ribald plot unwinds into what is perhaps the world's first-ever sex-doll comedy. DIE AUSTERNPRINZESSIN (1919) As Die Austernprinzessin. [The Oyster Princess.] Ossi Oswalda makes another turn as a plutocrat's rambunctious daughter - now the heiress of a global oyster empire devoting her wiles once again to the service of man-ipulation. A comic high-point in the master's oeuvre Die Austernprinzessin. showcases the trademarks of the Lubitsch Touch and its ten-fingered dexterity resulting in a film that is simultaneously clever concise and risqu''. SUMURUN (1920) By turns melodramatic and grotesquely comic Sumurun brings together performances by star-players Paul Wegener (Der Golem.) Pola Negri Harry Liedtke and Ernst Lubitsch himself (in the role of an ultra-pathetic hunchbacked minstrel) for this ensemble tale pulled from the milieu of The Arabian Nights. Featuring hundreds of extras milling through open-air set-pieces and dusky harem-chambers alike Sumurun demonstrates Lubitsch's ability to transfigure rote romance into vibrant pageant. ANNA BOLEYN (1920) Emil Jannings plays King Henry VIII in the story of Anne Boleyn's movement from the outskirts of the court to the royal boudoir and off to the chopping-block. Suffused with an atmosphere of entrapment that would not be out of place in later films by Fritz Lang and prefiguring the stately contretemps in John Ford's Mary of Scotland Anna Boleyn proceeds with a deathward momentum unique in Lubitsch's oeuvre. DIE BERGKATZE (1921) Set in one of Lubitsch's hallmark mythical kingdoms Die Bergkatze [The Mountain-Lion / The Wildcat] finds Lubitsch in exuberantly expressionistic mode employing a host of optical masks to create perhaps the most visually audacious comic spectacle of his career. Pola Negri plays the daughter of a band of thieves; seduction of army commander (and audience) ensues. Lubitsch's personal favourite work of all his German films Die Bergkatze represents a peak in both Lubitsch's silent oeuvre and the silent cinema as a whole.
The DVD of The Golem with the full score of the film written, performed and recorded by Black Francis. Often regarded as the height of German expressionism, the silent, black and white film The Golem was the last of a series of three films by director Paul Wegener and was released in 1920. Set in the 16th century, The Golem: How He Came Into The World tells the story of the persecution of the Jews of Prague. The highly expressionistic imagery seen in the film was captur...
Directed produced and starring Paul Wegener 'The Golem' is a masterpiece of early cinema. The story centres on a Jewish community threatened with removal from the city under proclamation from the Emperor which the head Rabbi Rabbi Loew predicted in the stars. Constructing a clay man to stop this oppression and calling upon ancient powers in a magical amulet the creature is brought to life to protect its people.
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