Review by David Paul Hellings
@HellingsOnFilm
“One of the most influential and revered figures in all of cinema, Friedrich Wilheim Murnau came to prominence in the first half of the 1920s with a diverse string of productions ranging from buoyant satire to swirling psychological drama. Five key works are presented here: Schloß Vogelöd, Phantom, Die Finanzen des Großherzogs (The Grand Duke’s Finances), Der Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh) and Tartuffe.
In the sinister mystery Schloß Vogelöd, terrible secrets from the past threaten a group of aristocrats’ gathering at a country manor. In the delirious Phantom, an aspiring poet’s chance encounter with a beautiful woman leads into obsession and deception. The delightful Die Finanzen des Großherzogs sees a rakish-but-impoverished duke setting out to rebuild his fortune via blissfully comic high adventure on the Mediterranean coast. In Der Letzte Mann, one of the undisputed masterpieces of the silent era, Emil Jannings gives an overwhelming performance as a hotel porter with dreams of a higher station in life, and was a stylistic breakthrough for both Murnau and cinema in general. Finally, the slyly satiric Tartuffe features Jannings as Molière’s iconic creation in a morality tale film-within-a-film as only Murnau could conceive.
This collection features new high-definition transfers of all five films from the finest archival elements, all on Blu-ray for the first time in a special edition three-disc set”.
– via Eureka
Review:
Tragedy follows F.W. Murnau, even after life. Cheap melodrama attached to the cause of his death to create a would-be sex scandal that wasn’t true; in 2015 his skull stolen from his tomb to create an aura that devil worshippers had finally laid claim to the mind behind one of Germany’s greatest silent horrors: “Nosferatu”. His family, during his lifetime, had denied his homosexuality in fear of social embarrassment, yet the man himself went to America to find his desires repressed compared to his private freedom in Germany. Now, he is largely judged by either the 1921 shot “Nosferatu” or his last film in Germany: “Faust” from 1926, or his 1927 American “Sunrise”, despite the many moments within his work that link them all. By 1930, Murnau was dead, killed in a tragic automobile accident. He sought order and found chaos and a career without theme.
This box set of ‘early’ works (so many of the previous films now sadly lost) is a superb reminder as to why Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau has remained so respected because of the quality of the silent films he directed.
Schloß Vogelöd, (The Haunted Castle) is most likely, along with “Phantom”, to be of interest to fans of “Nosferatu”, with its sense of growing unease as to whether the truth will out, presented with well-mounted menace. Aristocrats in a stately home always made for fertile ground in terms of dark secrets and here is no different, with Murnau’s composition commanding. Moving away from the static Expressionism seen previously dominating German Theatre and Film, Murnau brought a sense of movement to his films and the performances of his actors often benefitted the most.
“Phantom” shows how easily Murnau could turn a character from ordinary to extraordinarily destructive and self-destructive, and again with its imaginative play raises the question as to whether, as a director largely avoiding visual trickery and abstaining from heavy symbolism, Murnau is sometimes considered less visually arresting than those such as Dreyer or Wiene, and less imaginative? Murnau is selected style, the tailored suit of the German film industry of the time. “Phantom” has that man with everything going mad with obsession (actually present also with Renfield in “Nosferatu” and the good doctor, himself, in “Faust”.
The fun “The Grand Duke’s Finances”; and the excellent Emil Jannings starrers “The Last Laugh” and “Tartuffe” round off this brilliant release, revealing Murnau’s love of comic and satirical material.
The road from “Nosferatu” to “Faust” was indeed littered with great work.
Beautiful prints and audio, plus excellent supporting materials make this a superb release and a must buy for Murnau fans.
Special Features:
- New high-definition presentations of all five films, created by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
- Uncompressed PCM audio on all five scores
- Original German-language intertitles with newly translated optional English-language subtitles on all films
- What Will You Be Tomorrow? A new video essay by filmmaker and critic David Cairns
- The Language of the Shadows: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and His Films, a 31-minute video piece by Luciano Berriatúa on the early works of Murnau
- Audio commentary by film scholar David Kalat on The Grand Duke’s Finances
- The Making of The Last Laugh, a 41-minute documentary by Murnau expert Luciano Berriatúa
- Tartuffe: The Lost Film, a 37-minute documentary by Berriatúa
- A 100-page book featuring writing by Charles Jameux, Lotte H. Eisner, Janet Bergstrom, Tony Rayns, and archival imagery
- Language: German
- Runtime: 433
- Aspect Ratio: 33:1
- Colour: Tinted
- Subtitles: English (optional)
