BD 92 Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari

[FrauBlucher]

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari



One of the most iconic masterpieces in cinema history, Robert Wiene's Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari shook filmgoers worldwide and changed the direction of the art form. Now presented in a definitive restoration, the film's chilling, radically expressionist vision is set to grip viewers again.

At a local carnival in a small German town, hypnotist Dr. Caligari presents the somnambulist Cesare, who can purportedly predict the future of curious fairgoers. But at night, the doctor wakes Cesare from his sleep to enact his evil bidding...

Incalculably influential, the film's nightmarishly jagged sets, sinister atmospheric and psychological emphasis left an immediate impact in its wake (horror, film noir, and gothic cinema would all be shaped directly by it). But this diabolical tale nevertheless stands alone - now more mesmerising than ever in this new Dual-Format special edition.

DUAL FORMAT RELEASE INCLUDING BLU-RAY AND DVD VERSIONS OF THE FILM

• New high-definition presentation, from the extensive FWMS restoration
• Audio commentary by film historian David Kalat
• New video essay by film critic David Cairns
• Caligari: How Horror Came to the Cinema: a new 52 Minute documentary on the film.
• Re-release trailer
• PLUS: A 56-page booklet with new writing, reprints and rare archival imagery

[HerrSchreck]

Holy Cow, the original camera negative was used for the restoration!.....
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

I'm glad this incredible classic is finally being given the treatment it's been screaming out for for the longest time... but we knew this was coming and have been waiting patiently.

That out of the way, let's go on to other things about the projection of this restoration at the Berlinale:

" In his music Zorn combines different influences and styles, from new music, jazz and free jazz to noise and punk. "

In other words, as zedz said above, "Yackety Sax on a loop."

Once again, a musician (this time highly respected: I like Zorn, and I hope he bucks my suspicions and produces something supportive and sublime) is going to be playing to be noticed, rather than operate in total combination with the film . . . i e to NOT be noticed. I hope I'm just paranoid and jaded, but I can't imagine noise and punk operating in propert support of a silent film. Theoretically, with the right compositional attitude, any form of music should be able to do so, but the reality of its practice finds me in huge doubt.

[Props55]

Schrecko, I haven't cared for any CALIGARI scores that have come down the pike since the days of LD. I keep the prehistoric Image/Sheppard DVD to this day for the Timothy Brock* score despite the upper frame sutures and the lame commentary. Ditto the 2nd Image iteration of NOSFERATU for the moody organ score, the tolerable (actually quite good!) "avant garde" score (
The Silent Orchestra?) and the Nosferatour.** While I respect (more than actually like) Zorn I too have grave reservations about his suitability for this project. With any luck though perhaps they will also include a more "traditional avant garde" score!!!

* What has happened to Brock? I still keep those early Kinos of LAST LAUGH and FAUST just to hear his heartrendingly beautiful scores. And I don't think STORM OVER ASIA would be the same experience without him.

** You once wrote a short piece about the virtues of watching an old copy of NOSFERATU (and, by extension, other silent horrors), how the ancient, murky prints and transfers accentuated the wierdness and ghostly supernatural spectacle. Although I love these incredible new restorations that reveal the sharp details and intricate textures hidden beneath the patina of age, I too enjoy occasionally reentering the dank tomb of "old-time" silent horror!

[Ogre Kovacs]

I know I do not post very often and therefore no one will have a measure of my opinion or tastes, but I think Zorn has a great potential to create something pretty amazing. Of course I have the bias that John Zorn is my favorite living composer. He has a tendency to be pigeonholed as noisy and hardcore due to the notoriety he obtained with Naked City and Painkiller. In addition, the sheer quantity of his output makes him difficult to keep up with. I have been passionately following Zorn for 20 years and I cannot keep up with his 10+ albums a year output. So while I may extremely familiar with 130 albums, there are still 40 albums I have never heard or only quickly heard. Much of Zorn’s output from about 2003 on has been very melodic and less noisy. I would say a lot of it is closer to Vince Guaraldi than Napalm Death (granted he still has that side to him). My point to this is that I would take the statement in the linked article about being the free jazz punk with a grain of salt with regards to this upcoming score.

Zorn has written numerous scores for films (there are 25 volumes in his Filmworks series) and has been a lifelong film fanatic. I have seen probably 10 or so of the films he has scored and felt he had a very good sense of being able to score a film wonderfully. Two examples of subtle nuance for mood and atmosphere that jump out immediately would be his scores for Maria Beatty’s The Elegant Spanking and The Black Glove. Both of these are silent films and capture the moods to a T. The latter was scored strictly using the sounds of fire, wind, water, etc. Very evocative and suits the films perfectly.

The article mentions that the soundtrack will be scored for pipe organ. Over the last few years Zorn has had a renewed interest in the instrument and has released one volume of this music (with a second volume coming in January 2014). Perhaps this is will be the type of direction he chooses for Caligari. One can hear the first volume he recorded here (in fact whoever posted it used Caligari for the video). Granted, this is one of the 40 albums I have only heard in passing, so maybe it will only further people’s trepidations.

[HerrSchreck]

Schrecko, I haven't cared for any CALIGARI scores that have come down the pike since the days of LD. I keep the prehistoric Image/Sheppard DVD to this day for the Timothy Brock* score despite the upper frame sutures and the lame commentary. Ditto the 2nd Image iteration of NOSFERATU for the moody organ score, the tolerable (actually quite good!) "avant garde" score (
The Silent Orchestra?) and the Nosferatour.** While I respect (more than actually like) Zorn I too have grave reservations about his suitability for this project. With any luck though perhaps they will also include a more "traditional avant garde" score!!!

* What has happened to Brock? I still keep those early Kinos of LAST LAUGH and FAUST just to hear his heartrendingly beautiful scores. And I don't think STORM OVER ASIA would be the same experience without him.

** You once wrote a short piece about the virtues of watching an old copy of NOSFERATU (and, by extension, other silent horrors), how the ancient, murky prints and transfers accentuated the wierdness and ghostly supernatural spectacle. Although I love these incredible new restorations that reveal the sharp details and intricate textures hidden beneath the patina of age, I too enjoy occasionally reentering the dank tomb of "old-time" silent horror!

Well, his Latest News site section is sadly underutilized these days. I believe he is still heading the Olympia, and been keeping himself quite busy. Perusing his site, this little tidbit caught my eye:

Brock conducted from the original manuscript, by Ildebrand Pizzetti and Manilo Mazza, the entire three-and-a-half-hour score to the 1913 epic Cabiria during the Cultural Olympics festival at the site of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. In co-operation with the National Film Museum in Torino, he is now in the midst of restoring the original manuscript for publication in 2010.

One hopes that this signals something happening with the restoration of the Turin extant materials which bring this majestic epic far closer to it's original incarnation. The ancient Kino disc of mine is worn down to the fucking metal.

Without question, my favorite original Brock score is--and I've mentioned this about a thousand times already-- on the Image version of Berlin, Symphony of a Great City. I've rarely seen a modern composer show such fantastic understanding of the nuance and symbolic vocabulary of an old silent film, as Brock in Berlin. His score IS the film for me, it breathes the content through and through, the film and the score push each other forward, thrusting and resting and contemplating in total harmony . . . it's a fine interlocking lacework between score and image that I find incredibly rare. There is a remote, extremely obscure sadness running through the text of Berln that the score subtly brings out--and that Brock clearly understood--so that by the climax of the film, as the cabaret figure kicks back into gear and drives the film towards its end, I inevitably have a lump in my throat, and can never put my finger on why. I only know that the score has an awful lot to do with bringing out this moving, subtle poetry resident in the film.

Hre's the latest calendar info from Brock's site. The man is clearly keeping himself very busy:

:: December 8, (afternoon) Lyon, France/Orchestre National de Lyon
Film: Modern Times – Music: Chaplin (restored by TB, 2000)

:: December 18, Antwerp, Belgium/Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra
Film: Blackmail – Music: Neil Brand (orch. TB)

:: December 21, Brussels, Belgium/Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra
Film: Blackmail – Music: Neil Brand (orch. TB)

:: December 30, Madrid, Spain/Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga
Film: The Gold Rush - Music: Chaplin (restored by TB, 2007)

2014

:: January 3, Málaga, Spain/Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga
Film: City Lights - Music: Chaplin (restored by TB, 2005)

:: January 4, Málaga, Spain/Orquesta Filarmónica de Málaga
Film: The Gold Rush - Music: Chaplin (restored by TB, 2007)

:: January 27, Basel, Switzerland/Basel Sinfonietta
Concert: Strauss: Tod und Verklärung, Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death

:: January 31, Bristol, UK/Emerald Ensemble
Film: The Kid – Music: Chaplin (world premiere of chamber orchestra version by TB, 2013)

:: February 10, Riga, Latvia/Latvian National Symphony
Film: Carmen – Music: Hugo Reisenfeld/George Bizet
Film: Burlesque on Carmen – Music: Timothy Brock

:: February 15, Porto, Portugal/Orchestra Filharmonica di Porto
Film: New Babylon – Music: Shostakovich (restored by TB, 2001)

:: April 22, Madrid, Spain/Teatro de la Zarzuela
Film: The Circus – Music: Charles Chaplin (restored by TB, 2002)

EDIT: Nice little capsule of Brock's work on Berlin, and a short review:

Original Scores
Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (1929, score 1994)

Berlin, Symphony of a Great City
Original Title: Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt
Directed by: Walter Ruttman
Genre: avant-garde
Country: Germany
Running Time: 62 mins

Instrumentation List
Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (1994):

2 flutes (II dbl. picc.)
2 oboes (II dbl. E. horn)
2 clarinets
Alto saxophone
1 bassoon
-
2 horns
2 trumpets
1 trombone
1 tuba
-
timpani
percussion (2)
-
strings

Reviews:
Berlin, Symphony of a Great City

The title says it all: this is a visual symphony in five movements celebrating the Berlin of 1927: the people, the place, the everyday details of life on the streets. Director Walter Ruttman, an experimental filmmaker, approached cinema in similar ways to his Russian contemporary Dziga Vertoz, mixing documentary, abstract, and expressionist modes for a nonnarrative style that captured the life of his countrymen. But where Vertov mixed his observations with examples of the communist dream in action, Ruttman re-creates documentary as, in his own words, "a melody of pictures." Within the loose structure of a day in the life of the city (with a prologue that travels from the country into the city on a barreling train), the film takes us from dawn to dusk, observing the silent city as it awakens with a bustle of activity, then the action builds and calms until the city settles back into sleep. But the city is as much the architecture, the streets, and the machinery of industry as it is people, and Ruttman weaves all these elements together to create a portrait in montage, the poetic document of a great European city captured in action. Held together by rhythm, movement, and theme, Ruttman creates a documentary that is both involving and beautiful to behold. The original score by Timothy Brock is lyrical and dramatically involving, complementing the mood and movement marvelously. Also included is the avant-garde short Opus 1, an abstract study in animated shapes and movement.

Sean Axmaker

[Props55]

Hey, thanks for the update on the mysterious Mr. Brock. It seems he has been quite busy since I last lost track of him. I also seem to remember his conducting someone else's score for one of those Kino upgrades, possibly THE CAT AND THE CANARY or the Barrymore JEKYLL/HYDE, both of which now have about four choices of accompaniment.

Thanks also for reminding me of BERLIN and your admiration of his score. I'm going shopping for it immediately! One reason I guess I keep forgetting is that I saw all those 20's docs "back inna day" as you say completely silent so I don't miss the music. Ruttmann, Cavalcanti, Eisenstein, Clair and certainly NANOOK were all screened silent in my coursework. Of course I missed Dreyer's JOAN until the Criterion came out (no low-ballin' Lo Duca for me!) and am now going to have to go "cold turkey" with the only silent intended for silence when I crack open the MoC.

[FrauBlucher]

Some images from The cabinet of Dr Caligari that will be screening a restoration at the Berlinale Festival.

[FrauBlucher]

The resto for Dr Caligari looks amazing. Can't wait for the blu ray!!!!!

[Ged Parsons]

Stunning ...

http://youtu.be/5ApSsUDLEfA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More details here ...

http://diastor.ch/2014/01/27/six-videos ... ow-online/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tojoed]

I agree they are stunning and, I assume it will be coming from MoC in the near future.
This is the wrong thread though for "Caligari" material.

[FrauBlucher]

This is the wrong thread though for "Caligari" material.

I too posted these clips yesterday, but wasn't sure so I stuck them in the Silent Film Screening and the Silent films on DVD and Blu Ray sections.

[Ged Parsons]

Oh, the shame! ...

Sorry, guys - tojoed, and Fraublucher, and everyone else - I'd been on something of a Murnau binge*, and then saw the Wiene link, and just wasn't thinking.

Maybe, like Cesare, I should try and keep my eyes open.


(*UK slang, for 'a session of excessive indulgence, usually in food or drink')

[FrauBlucher]

This was tweeted from MoC...

Masters of Cinema ‏@mastersofcinema 3h
FWMS' jaw-dropping restoration of CALIGARI makes a case for it as one of the single most powerful films of all-time...

Masters of Cinema ‏@mastersofcinema 3h
..and John Zorn's score (performed by him live on the Philharmonie organ) is, for me, hands down, the greatest silent score I've ever heard.

[eerik]

This pretty much confirms what we already knew. \:D/ Yesterday they also tweeted: "Fantastic productive day at Berlin. Some exciting things on the way!" Can't wait to hear more news!

On the list of upcoming blu rays on Wikipedia, Muriel is announced. Did I miss this announcement or is Wikipedia pulling my leg?

It's been hinted at I believe, but there has not been an official confirmation. And it's been in the hinted-at pile for at least two years.

It was pretty much official. There was a "Coming soon in dual format" message on MoCs website for a long time and their 2011 catalogue also lists it as coming soon. I guess they changed their mind.

[swo17]

..and John Zorn's score (performed by him live on the Philharmonie organ) is, for me, hands down, the greatest silent score I've ever heard.

That may very well be the case, but the Timothy Brock score is up there as well, and I really hope that ends up also being an option.

[Props55]

Agreed on the Timothy Brock score for CALIGARI. It's the one reason I hang on to the old Shepard/Image disc despite the suture line top frame. I acutally prefer this to the Kino with the decomp damage and those two! lame-ass "avant garde" scores. I mean, has there ever been anything other than such for CALIGARI. Even the old, much pirated MoMA copy had a "click and bop" track from the 60's forward.

[zedz]

..and John Zorn's score (performed by him live on the Philharmonie organ) is, for me, hands down, the greatest silent score I've ever heard.

That may very well be the case, but the Timothy Brock score is up there as well, and I really hope that ends up also being an option.

If the restoration has done anything to the running time, it probably won't be an option - or at least, not a cheap one.

[Tommaso]

This was tweeted from MoC...

Masters of Cinema ‏@mastersofcinema 3h
FWMS' jaw-dropping restoration of CALIGARI makes a case for it as one of the single most powerful films of all-time...

Masters of Cinema ‏@mastersofcinema 3h
..and John Zorn's score (performed by him live on the Philharmonie organ) is, for me, hands down, the greatest silent score I've ever heard.

Yes, I've seen the arte transmission yesterday, and the resto (mostly from the original negative!) looks indeed stunning; especially the tintings look totally 'original' now. John Zorn's score has already caused some negative opinions in some quarters (and enthusiastic ones like this in others), but all in all I would say it works very well. Some of it is genuinely frightening and thus very appropriate to the film. It generally furthers the eerie nature of "Caligari", but perhaps 'flattens' the pacing a bit. Very good, but for such an important film there's an absolute need to include different soundtracks in order to bring out the multiple 'interpretations' that the music can create. There was a pretty good orchestral score on the French disc, for example, and please don't forget that there's an excellent score by In The Nursery, too!

Another thing I noticed, and which surprised me: in the end credits it's mentioned that the BFI apparently contributed to the new resto. So wouldn't that indicate that the release may come from them rather than from MoC? Not that it would matter much who did it, but still...

[Bürgermeister]

This was tweeted from MoC...

Masters of Cinema ‏@mastersofcinema 3h
FWMS' jaw-dropping restoration of CALIGARI makes a case for it as one of the single most powerful films of all-time...

Masters of Cinema ‏@mastersofcinema 3h
..and John Zorn's score (performed by him live on the Philharmonie organ) is, for me, hands down, the greatest silent score I've ever heard.

Yes, I've seen the arte transmission yesterday, and the resto (mostly from the original negative!) looks indeed stunning; especially the tintings look totally 'original' now. John Zorn's score has already caused some negative opinions in some quarters (and enthusiastic ones like this in others), but all in all I would say it works very well. Some of it is genuinely frightening and thus very appropriate to the film. It generally furthers the eerie nature of "Caligari", but perhaps 'flattens' the pacing a bit. Very good, but for such an important film there's an absolute need to include different soundtracks in order to bring out the multiple 'interpretations' that the music can create. There was a pretty good orchestral score on the French disc, for example, and please don't forget that there's an excellent score by In The Nursery, too!

Another thing I noticed, and which surprised me: in the end credits it's mentioned that the BFI apparently contributed to the new resto. So wouldn't that indicate that the release may come from them rather than from MoC? Not that it would matter much who did it, but still...

BFI always restore films and don't release them because they don't have the distribution rights. It's the same in this case.

Also since this is also a "random speculation" thread. Is Andrew Utterson gone from the MoC set up? I noticed an absence of his name in the last few booklets.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

This was tweeted from MoC...

Masters of Cinema ‏@mastersofcinema 3h
FWMS' jaw-dropping restoration of CALIGARI makes a case for it as one of the single most powerful films of all-time...

Masters of Cinema ‏@mastersofcinema 3h
..and John Zorn's score (performed by him live on the Philharmonie organ) is, for me, hands down, the greatest silent score I've ever heard.

Yes, I've seen the arte transmission yesterday, and the resto (mostly from the original negative!) looks indeed stunning; especially the tintings look totally 'original' now. John Zorn's score has already caused some negative opinions in some quarters (and enthusiastic ones like this in others), but all in all I would say it works very well. Some of it is genuinely frightening and thus very appropriate to the film. It generally furthers the eerie nature of "Caligari", but perhaps 'flattens' the pacing a bit. Very good, but for such an important film there's an absolute need to include different soundtracks in order to bring out the multiple 'interpretations' that the music can create. There was a pretty good orchestral score on the French disc, for example, and please don't forget that there's an excellent score by In The Nursery, too!

Another thing I noticed, and which surprised me: in the end credits it's mentioned that the BFI apparently contributed to the new resto. So wouldn't that indicate that the release may come from them rather than from MoC? Not that it would matter much who did it, but still...

Here's a link
http://john-zorn.blogspot.fr/2014/02/vi ... igari.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Roger Ryan]

Many thanks for the link! What an impressive restoration and I found Zorn's score to be quite appropriate and chilling. The clarity of the image helps one to appreciate the performances even more; certainly, the first awakening of Cesare is one of the most astonishing pieces of silent film acting I've seen.

[Orlac]

There is an 1920 score, hope that can be used too.

[FrauBlucher]

Murnau-Stiftung let the cat out of the bag? Cabinet of Dr Caligari

Translation: Wiesbaden (March 18) - At the Berlinale counted The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to the highlights. In June, the digitally restored version released on DVD and Blu-ray. Due to the quality 4K in the restoration Robert Wiene's expressionist experienced one masterpiece in stunning quality.

[Tommaso]

This is almost certainly a reference to a forthcoming German release on their own label. They've been unusually fast recently with releases of some of their new restos; probably they learned from past experiences where they certainly lost sales, as many people had already bought the international releases which often came out a year earlier than their German equivalents. Still, I'll definitely wait for MoC, as the booklets of the German releases usually can't hold a candle to what MoC does with a film like this.

[FrauBlucher]

Then, perhaps the MoC version will come in the fourth qtr of this year, when they usually release a huge silent title, as has been their way the last several years.