SYNOPSIS
By the mid-1960s, Westerns had become extremely popular in West Germany due to a series of films adapted from the novels of Karl May. In response, DEFA – the state-operated studio of East Germany or the GDR – made its own film set in the Old West. But The Sons of Great Bear wasn’t just designed to compete with West German genre films – it was also intended as a pointed corrective to the American frontier myth, pitting its Native American protagonists against violent white settlers in a battle for survival.
Adapted from Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich’s book series of the same name, The Sons of Great Bear stars Gojko Mitić as Tokei-Ihto, a Native American warrior belonging to a Dakota tribe. As a young man, Tokei-Ihto witnesses his father’s murder at the hands of Jim Fred Clark (Jiří Vršťala), alias “Red Fox,” a scout who suspects there is gold to be found on the Dakota lands. Later, Tokei-Ihto is forced to defend his people from Red Fox as he tries to take possession of the gold by any means necessary.
Followed by the likes of Trail of the Falcon, Ulzana, Blood Brothers and Severino, The Sons of Great Bear made a star of Gojko Mitić and launched an entire series of Westerns at DEFA, known in East Germany as Indianerfilme and historically nicknamed “Red Westerns” due to their socialist politics. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present The Sons of Great Bear on Blu-ray for the first time ever in the UK from an astonishing 2K restoration by the DEFA Foundation.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited Edition [2000 copies]
Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Colin Murdoch
Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on The Sons of Great Bear and DEFA’s approach to the Western by Mariana Ivanova, Academic Director of the DEFA Film Library
The Sons of Great Bear presented in 1080p HD from a 2K restoration of the original camera negative by the DEFA Foundation
Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
New audio commentary by Western scholar Jenny Barrett
World Wide West – new discussion of The Sons of Great Bear in a global context with Austin Fisher, author of Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western
Homelands – new video essay on the depiction of Native American life in The Sons of Great Bear by Lee Broughton, author of The Euro-Western
Eyewitness Report on The Sons of Great Bear – archival newsreel featuring a report on the making of DEFA’s first Western
New Masters of Cinema trailer
Original theatrical trailer
