Will it ever end, this year of incredible releases?? Here's the next one (in September):
G.W.Pabst's expressionist tale "Der Schatz" from 1923 on 2 Arthaus DVDs, reconstructed and with newly recorded original soundtrack. No details yet, but a first look at the cover here.
I wanted to see that film for ages.... JOY!!
Der Schatz (G.W. Pabst, 1923)
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Subbuteo
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:10 am
- Location: Hampshire, UK
This is a Pabst not seen. Very curious as I've yet to be disappointed. Can't believe Schreck hasn't plastered this thread with jubilant noises of ecstasy.
Can you tell us more Tommaso?
Can you tell us more Tommaso?
Last edited by Subbuteo on Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Tommaso
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 2:09 pm
No, I can't, apart from having at the back of my mind that it's some medieval tale in the expressionist style, and also Pabst's very first film. So I suspect something along the lines of "Der Golem" or "Der müde Tod" perhaps. Kracauer calls it " a legend of love and greed clumsily unfolding with medieval décors" and a "dull and impersonal film", but one has every reason to distrust him regarding the rest of his book.
And I also hoped that Schreck would have told us more already, but he's been conspicuously absent from the forum for weeks, perhaps months now. I really start to worry (honestly!)... so, come on Schrecko, what's up?!
And I also hoped that Schreck would have told us more already, but he's been conspicuously absent from the forum for weeks, perhaps months now. I really start to worry (honestly!)... so, come on Schrecko, what's up?!
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denti alligator
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 1:36 am
- Location: "born in heaven, raised in hell"
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Tommaso
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 2:09 pm
Specs are up now at the arthaus site:
"„Die Schatzsucher“ – Dokumentation über die Rekonstruktion, Audiokommentar der Film- wissenschaftler Hermann Kappelhoff und Marek Bringezu, Interview mit dem Dirigenten Frank Strobel, Booklettext des Pabst-Experten Dr. Klaus Kreimeier, Biografien, Fotogalerie, Trailer."
Looks good, though I haven't been all too amazed by audio commentaries on German discs so far. Those on the Transit Lubitsch box are a pain to sit through.
I just wonder why this is a double-disc set, as the film itself is only 80 mins and the extras don't seem to be overly long (hope I'm wrong, though). Probably two DVD-5's again to make the whole thing look more impressive.
"„Die Schatzsucher“ – Dokumentation über die Rekonstruktion, Audiokommentar der Film- wissenschaftler Hermann Kappelhoff und Marek Bringezu, Interview mit dem Dirigenten Frank Strobel, Booklettext des Pabst-Experten Dr. Klaus Kreimeier, Biografien, Fotogalerie, Trailer."
Looks good, though I haven't been all too amazed by audio commentaries on German discs so far. Those on the Transit Lubitsch box are a pain to sit through.
I just wonder why this is a double-disc set, as the film itself is only 80 mins and the extras don't seem to be overly long (hope I'm wrong, though). Probably two DVD-5's again to make the whole thing look more impressive.
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Tommaso
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 2:09 pm
This must have been one of the very few discs I bought and watched on the day it was released, being over-curious about that mysterious first Pabst offering. So here's some thoughts, and please forgive the length of this post, I just felt like sorting out my somewhat conflicting thoughts about this film.....
The film isn't actually a medieval tale, but is set firmly in the 18th century, and would perhaps best be seen in the tradition of the German 'Kunstmärchen' (I don't think there's an English term for this, what I mean are those romantic folk tales written by Tieck etc.). The story concerns an old treasure hidden away in a medieval looking house (which is really the central 'character' of the film) and the search for it, which expectedly ends in catastrophe, with only the young lovers – who represent the 'new' world of reason as opposed to the more archaic world of the elders who are obsessed with that treasure – can escape from. Perhaps that's all I should tell about it for fear of spoilers.
This contrast between love and money, new and old can be seen as reflected in the visual style(s) of the film, and here is where the problems start. Pabst was never really a director with an easy to define 'personal style', but whatever style he followed, he at least was consistent with it throughout each of his later films that I was able to see. Here, however, Pabst clearly isn't sure about what he wants to do, and we get a wild hodge-podge of German Expressionism and much more naturalistic styles clearly influenced by the Scandinavians , and in my view it doesn't work too well. The film appears terrible derivative in places, especially in the main set design of that labyrinthine house, which, great and laden with symbolism as it is, looks exactly as if someone had dug out the sets for Wegener's "Golem" and remodelled them three years later. Same goes for Albert Steinrück in the role of the old bellmaker: he looks exactly like Rabbi Löw in "Der Golem", which of course he played himself in that film, and he doesn't really fit with the look of the other characters. This may be intentional or not, but I don't find it overly convincing. Werner Krauss as the evil guy is stunning as ever, but Pabst's direction for me is far too uneven, too slow-going in places and, let's face it, somewhat too unoriginal to make this a truly great film. For once, I very tentatively agree with Kracauer's (argh!) and Eisner's criticisms about this film. It's not a bad film and well worth seeing, but in my view it's not "The Last Great Work of German Expressionist Film" as the dvd sleeve wants us to believe, but rather an interesting, and partly also enchanting first film by a great director who wisely went on to direct completely different films afterwards. So, still a must have for anyone interested in German silents, but just don't expect a neglected masterpiece like "Warning Shadows".
About the dvd itself (and here's where things finally start to get GREAT): the film is reconstructed from the only surviving almost complete nitrate print (plus some scenes added from acetates of different origins), found in the Czech republic and restored by the Czechs together with ZDF/arte and the support of many other filmmuseums. FWMS/Transit did not have a hand in it, apparently, which explains why this comes from arthaus and not from Transit or any of the other usual outlets. Original titles are lost, but have been carefully recreated from the censorship cards in a font taken from original promotional material of the time, and they look great. The print itself is in rather bad condition, scratches, tramlines etc. all over the place, but still it's certainly the best that was possible. Very beautiful and not too colourful tintings, too. We also get the marvellous original music by Max Deutsch, which I'd rate as one of the best silent scores ever. Very much in the vein of late Mahler or Zemlinsky, it perfectly works to enhance the film but can also stand on its own (Deutsch called it a "Symphony in Five Acts", and that's what it is). Print issues aside, the transfer looks very, very good all around. Good contrast and sharpness mostly, lovely colours, no edge enhancement or compression artefacts I was aware of. They gave slightly more than 5 GB to the 80 min. film, so it's a DVD-9. Very good.
Extras: On disc one, an audio commentary by two German film academics, which is another one of those commentaries which only explains what we can see anyway and then starts to theorize and interpret things into the film which are clearly not in it (e.g. a totally unremarkable flashback scene to the Turkish war with a dead naked woman and a crying baby is given a totally over-the-top interpretation as standing for old forms of sexuality vs the new one as represented by the young couple). I couldn't stand this any longer than 15 min. and switched to disc two.
On the second disc, however, there are some fantastic extras: a 40-min. interview with Pabst's son Michael, who perfectly explains all the background, influences, meanings of the film that the other two guys fail to see, a highly interesting 30 min. docu on the resto, and a 20 min. interview with the conductor about the composer Max Deutsch (which also highlights a lot of interesting details about the practice of music in the silent era). Taken together, these extras are among the best and most insightful I ever came across on a silent film disc. As relevant and meaningful as the best of Criterion extras. They would almost be worth the price of this set alone!
And now for the letdown for most of you folks: NO ENGLISH SUBS (nor any other). But for those who understand German: definitely a great purchase not to be missed, and perhaps others might think the film to be more relevant than I do (those people who appear in the extras all seem to rate it fairly high). This, in any case, would be the perfect film for Kino to release.
The film isn't actually a medieval tale, but is set firmly in the 18th century, and would perhaps best be seen in the tradition of the German 'Kunstmärchen' (I don't think there's an English term for this, what I mean are those romantic folk tales written by Tieck etc.). The story concerns an old treasure hidden away in a medieval looking house (which is really the central 'character' of the film) and the search for it, which expectedly ends in catastrophe, with only the young lovers – who represent the 'new' world of reason as opposed to the more archaic world of the elders who are obsessed with that treasure – can escape from. Perhaps that's all I should tell about it for fear of spoilers.
This contrast between love and money, new and old can be seen as reflected in the visual style(s) of the film, and here is where the problems start. Pabst was never really a director with an easy to define 'personal style', but whatever style he followed, he at least was consistent with it throughout each of his later films that I was able to see. Here, however, Pabst clearly isn't sure about what he wants to do, and we get a wild hodge-podge of German Expressionism and much more naturalistic styles clearly influenced by the Scandinavians , and in my view it doesn't work too well. The film appears terrible derivative in places, especially in the main set design of that labyrinthine house, which, great and laden with symbolism as it is, looks exactly as if someone had dug out the sets for Wegener's "Golem" and remodelled them three years later. Same goes for Albert Steinrück in the role of the old bellmaker: he looks exactly like Rabbi Löw in "Der Golem", which of course he played himself in that film, and he doesn't really fit with the look of the other characters. This may be intentional or not, but I don't find it overly convincing. Werner Krauss as the evil guy is stunning as ever, but Pabst's direction for me is far too uneven, too slow-going in places and, let's face it, somewhat too unoriginal to make this a truly great film. For once, I very tentatively agree with Kracauer's (argh!) and Eisner's criticisms about this film. It's not a bad film and well worth seeing, but in my view it's not "The Last Great Work of German Expressionist Film" as the dvd sleeve wants us to believe, but rather an interesting, and partly also enchanting first film by a great director who wisely went on to direct completely different films afterwards. So, still a must have for anyone interested in German silents, but just don't expect a neglected masterpiece like "Warning Shadows".
About the dvd itself (and here's where things finally start to get GREAT): the film is reconstructed from the only surviving almost complete nitrate print (plus some scenes added from acetates of different origins), found in the Czech republic and restored by the Czechs together with ZDF/arte and the support of many other filmmuseums. FWMS/Transit did not have a hand in it, apparently, which explains why this comes from arthaus and not from Transit or any of the other usual outlets. Original titles are lost, but have been carefully recreated from the censorship cards in a font taken from original promotional material of the time, and they look great. The print itself is in rather bad condition, scratches, tramlines etc. all over the place, but still it's certainly the best that was possible. Very beautiful and not too colourful tintings, too. We also get the marvellous original music by Max Deutsch, which I'd rate as one of the best silent scores ever. Very much in the vein of late Mahler or Zemlinsky, it perfectly works to enhance the film but can also stand on its own (Deutsch called it a "Symphony in Five Acts", and that's what it is). Print issues aside, the transfer looks very, very good all around. Good contrast and sharpness mostly, lovely colours, no edge enhancement or compression artefacts I was aware of. They gave slightly more than 5 GB to the 80 min. film, so it's a DVD-9. Very good.
Extras: On disc one, an audio commentary by two German film academics, which is another one of those commentaries which only explains what we can see anyway and then starts to theorize and interpret things into the film which are clearly not in it (e.g. a totally unremarkable flashback scene to the Turkish war with a dead naked woman and a crying baby is given a totally over-the-top interpretation as standing for old forms of sexuality vs the new one as represented by the young couple). I couldn't stand this any longer than 15 min. and switched to disc two.
On the second disc, however, there are some fantastic extras: a 40-min. interview with Pabst's son Michael, who perfectly explains all the background, influences, meanings of the film that the other two guys fail to see, a highly interesting 30 min. docu on the resto, and a 20 min. interview with the conductor about the composer Max Deutsch (which also highlights a lot of interesting details about the practice of music in the silent era). Taken together, these extras are among the best and most insightful I ever came across on a silent film disc. As relevant and meaningful as the best of Criterion extras. They would almost be worth the price of this set alone!
And now for the letdown for most of you folks: NO ENGLISH SUBS (nor any other). But for those who understand German: definitely a great purchase not to be missed, and perhaps others might think the film to be more relevant than I do (those people who appear in the extras all seem to rate it fairly high). This, in any case, would be the perfect film for Kino to release.
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HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 3:46 pm
Huh! This passed me by while I was locked away recording. MotherFUCKER. I've alwasy wanted to see this thing.
Yeah, Pabst is a guy who can have real problems. He lacks a real driving thrust behind his mise en scene, and always struck me as a follower rather than an innovator. Most of his 20's films have problems-- he just was not the equal of Paul Leni, Murnau, Lang, Pick, Robison, Grune, etc, as many like to position him during those golden (socio-economically agonizing) years of German filmmaking 1918-1927. It was only as things wound down in Germany, and Murnau, Lang and Leni & DuPont left, that Pabst really found a voice by loosening his obsession with Murnau's visual style and allowing his love for other styles across the hemisphere to show. Just as those guys were splitting Germany he found his voice with NEY. He was not an astronomically brilliant and intuitive man like Lang or Murnau, where after one or two years of filmmaking he was blasting out unheralded strings of masterpieces for the ages one right after the other in superhuman fashion. Unlike these other emigre filmmakers who came to the US and picked right up where they left off and continued blazing, this guy made A MODERN HERO. I was just watching a bit of it last night and couldnt even finish. Not a happy marriage, and ended after that one pic. I think WB was happy to see him go.
But prior to going to the US, as Germany emptied out, he gained two things: his confidence, and Louise Brooks. Sadly his peak didnt last very long, and coming back to a Goebbelsized Germany was no fucking place to make films. Yet he had a little bit of a run there between NEY and LATALANTIDE, itself a so so pic.
Tell me Tom, how is the scenario rendered in visual terms-- can you get by without the subs do you think?
Yeah, Pabst is a guy who can have real problems. He lacks a real driving thrust behind his mise en scene, and always struck me as a follower rather than an innovator. Most of his 20's films have problems-- he just was not the equal of Paul Leni, Murnau, Lang, Pick, Robison, Grune, etc, as many like to position him during those golden (socio-economically agonizing) years of German filmmaking 1918-1927. It was only as things wound down in Germany, and Murnau, Lang and Leni & DuPont left, that Pabst really found a voice by loosening his obsession with Murnau's visual style and allowing his love for other styles across the hemisphere to show. Just as those guys were splitting Germany he found his voice with NEY. He was not an astronomically brilliant and intuitive man like Lang or Murnau, where after one or two years of filmmaking he was blasting out unheralded strings of masterpieces for the ages one right after the other in superhuman fashion. Unlike these other emigre filmmakers who came to the US and picked right up where they left off and continued blazing, this guy made A MODERN HERO. I was just watching a bit of it last night and couldnt even finish. Not a happy marriage, and ended after that one pic. I think WB was happy to see him go.
But prior to going to the US, as Germany emptied out, he gained two things: his confidence, and Louise Brooks. Sadly his peak didnt last very long, and coming back to a Goebbelsized Germany was no fucking place to make films. Yet he had a little bit of a run there between NEY and LATALANTIDE, itself a so so pic.
Tell me Tom, how is the scenario rendered in visual terms-- can you get by without the subs do you think?
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Tommaso
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 2:09 pm
Exactly, and I suppose it's a 'German thing'. People around here still believe in Kracauer's thesis about Weimar cinema prefiguring/paving the way for Hitler with its 'mysticist films', and good old Pabst could be seen as the good guy who made these socially relevant (the Brooks films) and politically correct ("Westfront", "Kameradschaft") dramas without indulging overmuch in either expressionist nightmares or embracing 'decadent' lifestyles a la "Varieté". These critics of course forget his involvement with Fanck's "Piz Palü" and have probably never seen "Abwege" (VERY stylish). And they of course tend to ignore Pabst's return to Germany in '39 and the films he made for the Third Reich.HerrSchreck wrote:he just was not the equal of Paul Leni, Murnau, Lang, Pick, Robison, Grune, etc, as many like to position him during those golden (socio-economically agonizing) years of German filmmaking 1918-1927.
I would definitely agree that the period between "Jeanne Ney" and "L'Atlantide" was Pabst's best, though I yet have to see "Geheimnisse einer Seele" (1926) which by all accounts is a quite stunning adaptation of Freud's theories. Another film that no-one seems to care about, and that's why I was surprised that they did release "Der Schatz" in the first place.
Curiously, the film stuck in my mind more than I thought after that first viewing. My criticisms are still the same, but there are some images from it that are still quite vivid. So, I'd say the main impact of the film is from the visual side, and as the whole thing is very 'archetypal' in the fairy-tale sense, I'd assume you would get the main points even without subs, as the story itself is pretty much standard and obvious stuff anyway. I'd say: give it a try.
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HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 3:46 pm
That's interesting, as I don't see VARIETE' as embracing a decadent lifestyle much.. it's pretty much standard love triangle fare, ending in the standard murder of the interloper by the cuckolded hubby, against the backdrop of the trapeze act. (Maybe it was Janning's fucking of Lya in front of the crew between shots? 
) What exalts it of course is DuPonts wonderfully moody direction, and Freunds mind-bending camera (this is the film Mate' got his great apprenticeship as operator prior to JOAN OF ARC w Dreyer). . I'd go so far to say that-- with his Sinless Whore cycle beginning w JOYLESS STREET and ending w TAGEBUCH-- PANDORAS BOX is one of the greatest celebrations across the whole of the Weimer German cinema of decadence. Pimps, whores, lesbos, white slavers, drugs, liquor, etc. Perhaps it's not deliberately exploitive as say OPIUM, or activistic as in DIF FROM OTHERS, or SEX IN CHAINS, but in it's portraying of hedonists in glamorous, glimmering, non-judgmental circumstances, with gorgeous actors and flattering photography turning them all into iconographic images against hugely monumental backdrops, PANDORA is quite the celebration of Weimar sexual freedom and liberation from Victorian mores generally.
SECRETS OF A SOUL-- I've read a bit of negative literature on it, and havent seen it beyond an old terrible Grapevine vhs transfer of a dsastrous 16mm (maybe even an 8) years ago. The verdict isn't unanimous from what I've read on it. Certainly the idea of creating a film based on the arty visualizations of metaphors standing for freudian psychological states, that was very unique at the time, but the film can be very slow and plodding. Painfully slow at times. I'd buy a restored version from 35mm on dvd inna heartbeat though... but I'm extreme: I'd stick a red hot soldering iron right into the brain of a beautiful & pink cooing newborn in swaddled in ribbons and bows for a so so transfer of just about any film on dvd so long as its German and from the silent era.
I consider Crock-hour's thesis on this supposed thru line of "anticipation" of Hitler in Weimar cinema to be the biggest howler in the history of not only film scholarship but in all modern art history in general... and the fact that it still carries dice in many minds explains many mysteries: Bush's second election, support for the war in Iraq, Adam Sandler's continued superstar status...
) What exalts it of course is DuPonts wonderfully moody direction, and Freunds mind-bending camera (this is the film Mate' got his great apprenticeship as operator prior to JOAN OF ARC w Dreyer). . I'd go so far to say that-- with his Sinless Whore cycle beginning w JOYLESS STREET and ending w TAGEBUCH-- PANDORAS BOX is one of the greatest celebrations across the whole of the Weimer German cinema of decadence. Pimps, whores, lesbos, white slavers, drugs, liquor, etc. Perhaps it's not deliberately exploitive as say OPIUM, or activistic as in DIF FROM OTHERS, or SEX IN CHAINS, but in it's portraying of hedonists in glamorous, glimmering, non-judgmental circumstances, with gorgeous actors and flattering photography turning them all into iconographic images against hugely monumental backdrops, PANDORA is quite the celebration of Weimar sexual freedom and liberation from Victorian mores generally.SECRETS OF A SOUL-- I've read a bit of negative literature on it, and havent seen it beyond an old terrible Grapevine vhs transfer of a dsastrous 16mm (maybe even an 8) years ago. The verdict isn't unanimous from what I've read on it. Certainly the idea of creating a film based on the arty visualizations of metaphors standing for freudian psychological states, that was very unique at the time, but the film can be very slow and plodding. Painfully slow at times. I'd buy a restored version from 35mm on dvd inna heartbeat though... but I'm extreme: I'd stick a red hot soldering iron right into the brain of a beautiful & pink cooing newborn in swaddled in ribbons and bows for a so so transfer of just about any film on dvd so long as its German and from the silent era.
I consider Crock-hour's thesis on this supposed thru line of "anticipation" of Hitler in Weimar cinema to be the biggest howler in the history of not only film scholarship but in all modern art history in general... and the fact that it still carries dice in many minds explains many mysteries: Bush's second election, support for the war in Iraq, Adam Sandler's continued superstar status...
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Tommaso
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 2:09 pm
You're right, of course. Actually I thought of mentioning "Piccadilly" instead at first, but then remembered that it wasn't a German film. The artistes' world in "Variete" isn't 'decadent', but it certainly stands for 'glamour', for 'the show' as opposed to the everyday problems of 'normal people'.HerrSchreck wrote: That's interesting, as I don't see VARIETE' as embracing a decadent lifestyle much.. it's pretty much standard love triangle fare, ending in the standard murder of the interloper by the cuckolded hubby, against the backdrop of the trapeze act..
I'm not sure what Pabst's stance is in "Pandora" (if he has any). Remember that the film - like the play - ends with the total downfall of the decadent lifestyle, at least for Lulu. It would at least be possible to see the film as criticizing the lifestyle it depicts as a world of lies, trickery, and ultimate fatality, with the sexual liberty only furthering the general decay. But if one watches the film today, it's most likely that one is attracted by this stylish world and see it as more celebratory than Pabst MIGHT have intended. Not least because of Louise, naturally.HerrSchreck wrote: PANDORAS BOX is one of the greatest celebrations across the whole of the Weimer German cinema of decadence. Pimps, whores, lesbos, white slavers, drugs, liquor, etc. Perhaps it's not deliberately exploitive as say OPIUM, or activistic as in DIF FROM OTHERS, or SEX IN CHAINS, but in it's portraying of hedonists in glamorous, glimmering, non-judgmental circumstances, with gorgeous actors and flattering photography turning them all into iconographic images against hugely monumental backdrops, PANDORA is quite the celebration of Weimar sexual freedom and liberation from Victorian mores generally.
WOW! That's almost Germanic determination! I tentatively share this view, but would still suggest that you watch "Häxan" a little less often....HerrSchreck wrote: but I'm extreme: I'd stick a red hot soldering iron right into the brain of a beautiful & pink cooing newborn in swaddled in ribbons and bows for a so so transfer of just about any film on dvd so long as its German and from the silent era.
But why is that so? Even Pabst's son in the extras (who otherwise only says highly informed things) comes up with it at one point, pointing out how - of course - "Der Schatz" is much more critical than your usual German expressionist film (rubbish, of course) and thus doesn't fit into Krac's scheme. In Germany, the ongoing popularity of Kracauer is at leastHerrSchreck wrote:I consider Crock-hour's thesis on this supposed thru line of "anticipation" of Hitler in Weimar cinema to be the biggest howler in the history of not only film scholarship but in all modern art history in general...
understandable for historic reasons, but I'd have assumed his thesis had been discarded for a long time in the rest of the world. But apparently it is not so.
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HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 3:46 pm
Holy crap.. is that last cap the great David Clayton Thomas of Blood Sweat & Tears in much earlier days.. or maybe his pop?
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zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 11:24 pm
Hey, I was thinking David Thomas of Pere Ubu fame, but whatever. One big happy family.HerrSchreck wrote:Holy crap.. is that last cap the great David Clayton Thomas of Blood Sweat & Tears in much earlier days.. or maybe his pop?
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HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 3:46 pm