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City Girl



After the visual fireworks of Sunrise and the now-lost splendour of 4 Devils, F.W. Murnau turned his attention to this vivid, painterly study of an impulsive and fragile marriage among the wheatfields of Minnesota.

During a brief stay in Chicago, innocent farmer’s son Lem falls for and weds Kate, a hard-bitten but lonely waitress. Upon bringing her home at the start of harvest time, the honeymoon soon turns into a claustrophobic struggle as they contend with the bitter scorn of his father and the invasive, leering jealousy of the farm’s labouring community.

Tenderly romantic and tough-minded in equal measure, City Girl is one of cinema’s great pastorals, featuring some of the most delicate performances Murnau ever filmed and influencing directors such as Terrence Malick and Jean Vigo. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Murnau’s penultimate film in a glorious high-definition transfer.

Special Features

- Restored 1080p high-definition 20th Century Fox restoration of the silent version
- A new score, composed and arranged in 2008 by Christopher Caliendo
- Full-length audio commentary by film scholar David Kalat
- 28-page illustrated booklet with an essay by Adrian Danks

Matt wrote:Twitsclusive #2: CITY GIRL (Murnau), released in February. Blu-ray packshot: http://u.nu/6pek3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT: Oy vey, that was huge, better to link the image.

Sssshweet!

Is there a release date on this yet? Very much looking forward to this one.

I love this film. And the print and transfer from Fox is glorious. Thank you MoC for putting this out on Blu!

They a page up for this now at the MoC website, but I still can't find a release date anywhere! ](*,)

I'm pretty sure it's coming out sometime in February.

It says "February" at the Eureka site. Along with M.

We've almost finished it.

Hi So does anyone know why this is not coming out on DVD? Is it a licensing issue?
Thanks

Sorry I had not noticed the Blu thread in the rumours section. Blu only MOC is disappointing for me as I am way off from being able to upgrade. But on the other hand I guess it makes business sense for MOC. Perhaps they can offer free players shrinkwrapped up with every copy of City Girl? Oh well maybe not.

J.Maki wrote: Perhaps they can offer free players shrinkwrapped up with every copy of City Girl? Oh well maybe not.

An excellent idea. I can't see why no-one else has thought of it.

Well, if they undercut the price of the Fox box by a tenner or so, they might still be able to afford to throw in a player...

Thanks Ben, I presume I can expect an offer to work in MOC's marketing department any day now!
You have a point Michael it would probably cost the same...and I nearly brought the Fox box just before BFI announced their wonderful Borzage releases. I think this really is going to be the release that makes me upgrade.

What also needs upgrading is this thread title, now that #86 is the Sirk film. We'd probably have to indicate forthcoming Blu-only releases in a special way, something like 'Blu 8' in this case, as #8 of course is "Metropolis".

Tommaso wrote:What also needs upgrading is this thread title, now that #86 is the Sirk film. We'd probably have to indicate forthcoming Blu-only releases in a special way, something like 'Blu 8' in this case, as #8 of course is "Metropolis".

Yes — the numbering systems need revision here. Every time I look at a thread that reads "86/8" I hear a voice saying: "86-slash-88."

No, the spine number is 10.75.

I really like this film by the way, its better than Sunrise for me.

Some details from DVD Times: Features include:
■Restored high-definition transfer of the silent version by 20th Century Fox
■A new score, composed and arranged in 2008 by Christopher Caliendo
■Full-length audio commentary by film scholar David Kalat
■40-page illustrated booklet with new writing and reprints

Although I didn't expect it to happen, it would have been a treat if there had been a different score. I always found the hillbilly-tones of the Caliendo - which is also on the Fox disc- slightly inappropriate.

Tommaso wrote:Although I didn't expect it to happen, it would have been a treat if there had been a different score. I always found the hillbilly-tones of the Caliendo - which is also on the Fox disc- slightly inappropriate.

I guess every film can't be as popular as The General.

Or "Man with a Movie camera"...

I really love this film, and the new Fox transfers were a revelation. The scenes in Chicago, as well as the sled tracking with the ecstatic young lovers running and tripping and loving thru the wheatfield are among Murnau's-- and cinema's-- very finest work. Those who didn't spring for the MurBorz box should snatch this up with automaton-like obedience.

HerrSchreck wrote:Those who didn't spring for the MurBorz box should snatch this up with automaton-like obedience.

That is if you're Blu-rayed.

Isn't there an SD DVD option too?

I find it hard to imagine you missed that thread, but just in case:

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/vie ... 15&t=10219" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I know that thread, but I thought they had decided to do parallel releases (i e the dual numbers in the thread title).

Is the thread name / # wrong? Reading back over the thread it seems to hint at that... but I wasn't sure.

If this is Blu only, I think that's a bit hasty.....

The name of this thread needs to be changed. The SD version of City Girl has been pulled from their website and spine 86 has been reassigned to There's Always Tomorrow. City Girl is now listed as Blu-ray only.