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After having watched Ich möchte kein Mann sein, Die Puppe and Die Austernprinzessin I'm wondering if others had widely different experiences with each of them. I personally really enjoyed the first two but was a little cooler to the third. The foxtrot scene seemingly lasted an eternity and there were a couple of other scenes in there which didn't quite work either. I'd certainly say that in all three Ossi stole the show. Her performance in Die Puppe was especially brilliant.

I had pretty much the same reaction, though Die Austernprinzessin grew on me a little with reflection. Sadly, I didn't find the films got better from that point out -- Die Puppe is the high point as far as I'm concerned.

The Image Galleries on each film's Catalogue page went live tonight.

Has anyone compared the MoCs to the Kino set? I have the Kino and I'm trying to decide whether to sell it and get the MoC version.

triodelover wrote:Has anyone compared the MoCs to the Kino set? I have the Kino and I'm trying to decide whether to sell it and get the MoC version.

I made some brief comparisons with the Kinos I own (not all titles) and the MoCs looked much sharper, especially when I project them about 4ft wide. I assume this is mainly because the Kinos were in-house PAL to NTSC conversions. On Die Puppe (but no other titles I've noticed) this ironically brings a slight downside in that I can now see many "jaggies" (if I'm using the correct term) in the original FWMS transfer. They are much less obvious in the Kino because its softness obscures them.

Maybe Nick can shed some light on why Die Puppe suffers from jaggies but the others don't, but I'm sure it's not MoC's fault. Maybe this is the reason that film was omitted - if I remember correctly - from the original German box? Incidentally, unlike the members above, I've always found the highly satirical Die Austernprinzessin much more entertaining than Die Puppe.

The German lab scuffed it slightly on that one, and it wasn't cost-effective to get them to do it all over again.

Jonathan S wrote:

triodelover wrote:Has anyone compared the MoCs to the Kino set? I have the Kino and I'm trying to decide whether to sell it and get the MoC version.

I made some brief comparisons with the Kinos I own (not all titles) and the MoCs looked much sharper, especially when I project them about 4ft wide. I assume this is mainly because the Kinos were in-house PAL to NTSC conversions. On Die Puppe (but no other titles I've noticed) this ironically brings a slight downside in that I can now see many "jaggies" (if I'm using the correct term) in the original FWMS transfer. They are much less obvious in the Kino because its softness obscures them.

Maybe Nick can shed some light on why Die Puppe suffers from jaggies but the others don't, but I'm sure it's not MoC's fault. Maybe this is the reason that film was omitted - if I remember correctly - from the original German box? Incidentally, unlike the members above, I've always found the highly satirical Die Austernprinzessin much more entertaining than Die Puppe.

Thanks, Jonathan. I appreciate the input.

Just thought I'd mischievously flutter this red rag in the form of a DVD Times comment:

I for one dislike having only the option of German intertitles with English subs. Having two sets of writing on the screen is a bit of a strain for me at times, and it seems especially pointless when (as in Metropolis for example) the only differance between the German and English intertitles is the language, no exclusive artwork or anything.

MichaelB wrote:Just thought I'd mischievously flutter this red rag in the form of a DVD Times comment:

I for one dislike having only the option of German intertitles with English subs. Having two sets of writing on the screen is a bit of a strain for me at times, and it seems especially pointless when (as in Metropolis for example) the only differance between the German and English intertitles is the language, no exclusive artwork or anything.

I might take his plea for English more seriously if he could actually spell correctly in that language. [-X

MichaelB wrote:Just thought I'd mischievously flutter this red rag in the form of a DVD Times comment:

I for one dislike having only the option of German intertitles with English subs. Having two sets of writing on the screen is a bit of a strain for me at times, and it seems especially pointless when (as in Metropolis for example) the only differance between the German and English intertitles is the language, no exclusive artwork or anything.

I was just about to post that! He needs educating.

After having watched Ich möchte kein Mann sein (wich I really liked) 2 weeks ago, I watched Die Puppe today. I thought that it was even better. Funny and at times heart warming, I found it to be a great watch.
Loved every second of it. Hope the rest will be equally great.

"3. - 5. Juni 2010, Nürnberg:
Die Puppe, Stummfilm von Ernst Lubitsch (Deutschland 1919), Einspielung der Neukomposition von Martin Smolka; Ausführende: Ensemble Kontraste, Produktion: ZDF-arte"

Mh, a new score for Die Puppe? Shame it's not part of the MoC set then

jbaart wrote:"3. - 5. Juni 2010, Nürnberg:
Die Puppe, Stummfilm von Ernst Lubitsch (Deutschland 1919), Einspielung der Neukomposition von Martin Smolka; Ausführende: Ensemble Kontraste, Produktion: ZDF-arte"

Mh, a new score for Die Puppe? Shame it's not part of the MoC set then

You mean as an alternative in addition to the existing score (which is I understand is quite nice); otherwise, [-X

In any case, this is good news for all who have the Transit set and don't want to double-dip on the MoC. I already see a standalone disc of "Die Puppe" with German titles coming from divisa, or at least an arte broadcast.

Review at DVDBeaver:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRevie ... berlin.htm

I don't recall all that combing and those jaggies on the Transit set. Are these caps accurate?

Presumably combing is unavoidable with an interlaced transfer? Which is equally unavoidable given the framerate? But I'd guess it looks better in motion.

The only one with really bad jaggies is DIE PUPPE. I have a feeling that unforgiving settings have been used to make those grabs.

peerpee wrote:The only one with really bad jaggies is DIE PUPPE. I have a feeling that unforgiving settings have been used to make those grabs.

I figured. Is there a reason DIE PUPPE suffers from the jags? It's the title I would be getting the whole set for.

I discussed this in my Feb 17th post, in this thread.

In all honesty those screenshots don't do the transfers justice. The problem with taking screencaps of a silent film is that jaggies will often appear just due to the frame rate conversion. When played at normal speed and sitting at normal distance you do not notice them at all.

If you configure your DVD software to handle interlacing properly, you don't see any interlacing, and grabs don't have that combing.

peerpee wrote:If you configure your DVD software to handle interlacing properly, you don't see any interlacing, and grabs don't have that combing.

The video is progressive though, isn't it?

The video is interlaced because of the non-24fps nature of the films. So if your computer settings are set to "deinterlace", motion and stills present zero combing (the same is true of most modern standalone players/displays).

If your software is not set to "deinterlace" such material properly, stills and motion will be riddled with combing, which gives an unrepresentative picture.