Die 60 Jahre DEFA-Film-Edition

[denti alligator]

Theseareheavily discounted at amazon.de, but what's the quality of the transfers (and in some cases, films)? There are many, many more in the series.

[tryavna]

I've purchased a couple of the DEFA films released by First Run in R1-land. Nearly all of them are PAL->NTSC ports of Icestorm's R2 releases. In terms of A/V quality, they're very, very pleasing. So I'd assume that the original PAL releases are even better (e.g., no ghosting).

You should definitely consider getting the Wolfgang Staudte set. Staudte was probably the major director in Germany during the immediate post-war era -- until the arrival of the New German Cinema. The Murderers Are Among Us is a small masterpiece.

[MichaelB]

Is it safe to assume that these don't have English subtitles?

I can't find any reference on the page, but neither can I find any indication that they don't (i.e. the word 'ohne')

[tryavna]

Actually, I believe some of the R2 discs do contain English subtitles -- for the British market, presumably. It's probably best to check with Icestorm's site first, though.

[MichaelB]

Thanks for that - this is what I discovered:

These sets are partly subtitled:

Erwin Geschonneck (2/4)
Sonnensucher (Konrad Wolf, 1958/1972, English subtitles)
Das kalte Herz (Paul Verhoeven, 1950, no subtitles) - sadly not a little-known early work from the Dutch schlockmeister: he was only in his early teens at the time!
Karbid und Sauerampfer (Frank Beyer, 1963, English subtitles)
Die Fahne von Kriwoj Rog (Kurt Maetzig; 1967, no subtitles)

Kurt Maetzig (2/4)
Die Buntkarierten (1949, no subtitles)
Der Rat der Götter (1950, English subtitles)
Vergesst mir meine Traudel nicht (1957, no subtitles)
Das Kaninchen bin ich (1965, English subtitles)

Armin Mueller-Stahl (2/4)
Königskinder (Frank Beyer, 1962, no subtitles)
Der Flucht (Roland Graf, 1977, no subtitles)
Der Dritte (Egon Günther, 1972, English subtitles)
Jakob der Lügner (Frank Beyer, 1974, English, French, Spanish and Hebrew subtitles)

Wolfgang Staudte (2/4)
Die Mörder sind unter uns (1946, no subtitles)
Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck (1953, optional English dub or Spanish and French voiceover)
Der Untertan (1951, no subtitles)
Rotation (1949, English subtitles)

Angelica Domröse (1/4)
Die Legende von Paul und Paula (Heiner Carow, 1973, English subtitles)
Unterm Birnbaum (Ralf Kirsten, 1973, no subtitles)
Verwirrung der Liebe (Slatan Dudow, 1959, no subtitles)
Ein Lord am Alexanderplatz (Günter Reisch, 1967, no subtitles)

Jutte Hoffmann (1/4)
Das Versteck (Frank Beyer, 1978, no subtitles)
Karla (Herrmann Zschoche, 1965/66, no subtitles)
Lotte in Weimar (Egon Günther, 1974, no subtitles)
Der Dritte (Egon Günther, 1972, English subtitles)

...while these have no subtitles:

Annekathrin Bürger
Der Baulöwe (Georgi Kissimov, 1980)
Königskinder (Frank Beyer, 1962)
Hostess (Rolf Römer, 1976)
Mit mir nicht, Madam! (Roland Oehme, 1969)

Rolf Hoppe
Die Hosen des Ritters von Bredow (Konrad Petzold; 1973)
Das Licht der Liebe (Gunther Scholz, 1991)
Ulzana (Gottfried Kolditz, 1974)
Hans Röckle und der Teufel (Hans Kratzert, 1974)

Rolf Ludwig
Der Hauptmann von Köln (Slatan Dudow, 1956)
Seine Hoheit, Genosse Prinz (Werner W. Wallroth, 1969)
Das Feuerzeug (Siegfried Hartmann, 1959)
Italienisches Capriccio (Glauco Pellegrini, 1961)

Frank Schöbel
Reise ins Ehebett (Joachim Hasler, 1966)
Heißer Sommer (Joachim Hasler, 1968)
Hochzeitsnacht im Regen (Horst Seemann, 1967)
Nicht schummeln, Liebling! (Joachim Hasler, 1973)

Needless to say, corrections are most welcome!

[Morandi]

right now these sets are quite cheap at amazon.de,
some are available for 17, some are 18 and some are 19 euros.

i bought the armin mueller-stahl edition some weeks ago,
i would highly recommend it. the image quality is good, nothing exceptional of course but you wont get 'em any better. i would say the quality is on a level like good second run dvds from the eastern european movies. the informations on subtitles for this set provided by MichaelB are correct.
from the mueller-stahl set, koenigskinder is a really beautiful movie, the cinematography is ravishing (alot of comparisons to ivans childhood were drawn, and i would sign that). there is only one problem, the colour scheme differs from time to time (from a greenish gray to a more blue-gray). if there is some interest i could post some screenshots.
die flucht is a brilliant thriller/drama, very atmospheric, great acting. jakob der lügner is quite known, it was remade with robin williams some years ago and it was the only DEFA movie nominated for the oscar.

anyway, i will order at least the staudte-set,
and probably the jutta hoffmann set (movies are not too convincing but i really enjoy watching her. to me she is the east german julie christie. she is very straightforward and she he has daring and energetic way of acting)
and/or the frank beyer box.