BD 350-356 Adventure Calls! Karl May at CCC

[Finch]

SYNOPSIS
The writer Karl May is a household name in his native Germany, where he is associated with thrilling Western tales and sweeping adventure stories. Following earlier attempts to bring his novels to the screen, films adapted from May’s work found their greatest success in the 1960s. Seven of them were produced by Artur Brauner at CCC Film, all starring Lex Barker and directed by veteran filmmakers Robert Siodmak, Hugo Fregonese, Franz Josef Gottlieb and Harald Reinl.

Old Shatterhand and Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death both feature May’s most beloved characters: the frontiersman Old Shatterhand and the Apache chief Winnetou, who find themselves first caught up in a plot to start a war between Native Americans and white settlers and then a scheme to steal a gold shipment from the US Army. The Shoot, Through Wild Kurdistan and In the Kingdom of the Silver Lion all follow adventurer Kara Ben Nemsi as he travels through the Balkans and the Middle East, while The Treasure of the Aztecs and The Pyramid of the Sun God chart the exploits of Dr Karl Sternau as he seeks vast riches to fund political action in Mexico.

Wildly entertaining, shot in beautifully cinematic European locations and helmed by some of the most talented filmmakers working in Germany during the 1960s, these popular Karl May adaptations paved the way for the many Italian Westerns that would soon follow. The Masters of Cinema Series is honoured to present all seven of Artur Brauner’s Karl May adaptations for the first time ever on home video in the UK from brand new 4K restorations by CCC Film.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited Edition Hardbound Set [2000 copies]
Limited Edition 60-page collector’s book featuring new writing on Karl May on page and screen by German popular cinema experts Tim Bergfelder and Holger Haase, a profile of Lex Barker by Boris Brosowski and an essay on Old Shatterhand and Winnetou by Lee Broughton, author of The Euro-Western [2000 copies]
1080p HD presentations of all seven features from 4K restorations of the original camera negatives undertaken by CCC Film
Original German audio tracks
Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
New introductions to each film by Sir Christopher Frayling, author of Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone
New audio commentaries on Old Shatterhand and The Treasure of the Aztecs by film historian David Kalat
Karl May at CCC – new interview with producer Alice Brauner, managing director of CCC Film and daughter of CCC founder Artur Brauner
Prodigal Son – new interview with film historian Sheldon Hall on the late career of Robert Siodmak
Archival making of documentary on Old Shatterhand and Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death
Archival featurette on Daliah Lavi, star of Old Shatterhand
Archival interview with Bernhard Schmid, co-editor and contributor to Karl May Verlag
Archival featurette on the restoration of The Shoot, Through Wild Kurdistan and In the Kingdom of the Silver Lion
Archival news footage on The Shoot
Original theatrical trailers

[What A Disgrace]

Finally! Wonderful news.

The only black mark against the set is that it's restricted to the films produced at CCC, but the two most highly regarded films of the cycle were Rialto productions. I don't think Eureka! has dipped into the Rialto catalogue yet.

[domino harvey]

Silbersee (not included here, I believe it’s one of the Rialtos mentioned by What a Disgrace) is an incredible western that synthesizes enough plot for a dozen movies, how do these compare to it?

[rapta]

This must've been the Western set originally due sometime last year according to Eureka, but must've been pushed back. Glad it turned out to be a Karl May set, which became apparent when they started releasing classic German cinema. Curious to see these, especially as this week I finally got both The Sons of Great Bear and the now-OOP Strange New Worlds set.

[domino harvey]

This is US/UK btw (not sure if the 2000 copies is for each country it combined)

[TMDaines]

Anyone know when the BBFC will likely review these? I'd like to check they aren't going to be cut before ordering. Not seen the films, so I have no idea if they have horse falls or other "animal cruelty", but the other DEFA Western was cut.

Someone is already selling the checkdiscs on eBay (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236751975657), but I can see no records on the BBFC site yet.

[Paul Moran]

Anyone know when the BBFC will likely review these? I'd like to check they aren't going to be cut before ordering. Not seen the films, so I have no idea if they have horse falls or other "animal cruelty", but the other DEFA Western was cut.

Someone is already selling the checkdiscs on eBay (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236751975657), but I can see no records on the BBFC site yet.

My set arrived this morning from Eureka. The outer slipcase confirms that there are cuts for horsefalls: "Old Shutterhand, The Treasure of the Aztecs and The Pyramid of the Sun God have had some shots of horse falls censored at the request of the BBFC in accordance with the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937."

[EddieLarkin]

Since this is a US/UK release, there's a chance the machine readable sides of the discs are identical between territories, and that UK buyers with Region A capabilities will be able to access the uncut versions.

[Paul Moran]

Since this is a US/UK release, there's a chance the machine readable sides of the discs are identical between territories, and that UK buyers with Region A capabilities will be able to access the uncut versions.

Worth a shot! I'll try to remember to set "A" for playback.

[TMDaines]

Since this is a US/UK release, there's a chance the machine readable sides of the discs are identical between territories, and that UK buyers with Region A capabilities will be able to access the uncut versions.

Worth a shot! I'll try to remember to set "A" for playback.

Any luck? No reviews or anything yet.

Would be unbelievable if they took the US rights too and released a gimped product unnecessarily in the US.

[Paul Moran]

Since this is a US/UK release, there's a chance the machine readable sides of the discs are identical between territories, and that UK buyers with Region A capabilities will be able to access the uncut versions.

Worth a shot! I'll try to remember to set "A" for playback.

Any luck? No reviews or anything yet.

Would be unbelievable if they took the US rights too and released a gimped product unnecessarily in the US.

I have a large backlog - blame recent Rarewaves and Powerhouse sales - so it may be 2 weeks or so before I start on Adventure Calls!. I'm not even sure how I would determine that Zone A is uncut. Perhaps by noting what seem to be serious horse falls during Zone A playback, then checking whether they also survive in Zone B playback?

[TMDaines]

I asked on the blu-ray.com:

"[...] all films play uncut when my player is set to Region A. On Region B, the horse falls are masked with black screen rather than cut altogether. Presumably the discs have seamless branching."

[Paul Moran]

I asked on the blu-ray.com:

"[...] all films play uncut when my player is set to Region A. On Region B, the horse falls are masked with black screen rather than cut altogether. Presumably the discs have seamless branching."

Excellent news! I'm glad someone else has already done the identification work.

[therewillbeblus]

I went into Old Shatterhand with high hopes after loving Treasure of Silver Lake, but it's more or less a dud. It takes about an hour for any meaningful action to occur, and the time spent getting to know the people feels tiring and unnecessary. If this is the leading film of the box set, I'm not holding out much hope for the rest, but I'd love to hear from anyone who has dipped into it tell me I'm wrong