The Thomas Mann Collection

[patrick]

While out of Mann's works I'm sadly only familiar with Death In Venice, this blog posting by Tim Lucas has intrigued me. Are these worth the price? The films sound interesting but I kind of hate giving money to Koch considering what a generally terrible job they do.

[Der Müde Tod]

While out of Mann's works I'm sadly only familiar with Death In Venice, this blog posting by Tim Lucas has intrigued me. Are these worth the price? The films sound interesting but I kind of hate giving money to Koch considering what a generally terrible job they do.

It's been while that I have seen Doctor Faustus and The Magic Mountain. Both films are decent but not stellar. They don't do the novels any justice, which is pretty much impossible anyway: Pages and pages of philosophical dialogue don't have any filmish counterparts. Seitz' Doctor Faustus was the much better filmish experience, while The Magic Mountain is more a straightforward adaptation suffering under the limited skills of the director.

I only have a vague memory of the Buddenbrooks miniseries, so can't comment on that. It was supposedly a big success for the generation of viewers who all had read the novel and were familiar with the characters.

I would hope that Koch releases Doctor Faustus separately. Besides that, the books are one of the great reading experiences one can have. That also applies to the even longer Joseph trilogy where one has to chew ones' way through the first 100 pages before it really begins.

[Barmy]

Looks like the version of Magic Mountain on this is the film rather than longer TV version. A missed opportunity, if so.