For Immediate Release
Kino Releases Six-DVD Box Set with Restored Editions of the German Films directed by F. W. Murnau (Nosferatu and Faust).
New York, NY - December 29, 2008 - Kino International is proud to release a new six-film, thinpak box set dedicated to the German films of legendary UFA director F. W. Murnau.
All six films included in the box set, The Haunted Castle (1921), Nosferatu (1922), The Last Laugh (1924), The Finances of the Grand Duke (1924), Tartuffe (1925), and Faust (1926) have been recently restored by the Murnau Foundation and Transit Films, Germany, and were mastered from 35mm archival materials.
Of these six films, three of them are new to DVD in the US: Faust, being presented in a restoration of the German release edit never seen in the US, as well as The Haunted Castle and The Finances of the Grand Duke, both being made available for the first time in the US.
Kino's all-new Murnau box set comes with a suggested retail price of $99.95, and a prebook date of February 17, 2009. Its street date is March 17.
Nosferatu, The Last Laugh and Faust are presented in the new Murnau box set on single discs, containing the latest 2007 and 2008 restorations, along with all the special features found in the double-disc sets. The deluxe versions of Nosferatu (Kino, 2007), The Last Laugh (Kino, 2008) and Faust (Kino, 2009) continue to be available as double-disc sets on DVD.
Born on December 28th, 1888, in Germany, Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe (F.W. Murnau) studied art history at the University of Heidelberg before dedicating himself to filmmaking. Greatly influenced by the work of Max Reinhardt's theatre company, Murnau inherited the expressionistic use of high-contrast lighting from Reinhardt's work. Also highly influenced by his art history background, Murnau's work has direct references to Rembrandt's paintings and other masterworks of European art.
Murnau's ability to create an uncanny combination between camera movement, choreographed action, and then-unseen lighting techniques, makes him one of the archetypes of the "artist filmmaker."
More than pushing cinema into new aesthetic grounds with his revolutionary use of multiple exposure and warped lenses, Murnau will always be remembered as a director who further developed the relationship between the moving image and its subject matter.
Here is a list of the special features, which come with each title in this box set:
FAUST
Disc #1 from 2-disc Deluxe set containing restored German release version, plus special features.
Inspired by the German legend and by Goethe's classic tale, Murnau's Faust tells the story of an alchemist (played by Gösta Ekman) who, struggling with his faith amidst a devastating plague, is offered the power to cure and the gift of youth ... in exchange for his soul. As the diabolical Mephisto, Emil Jannings (The Last Laugh) delivers a performance of operatic scale and intensity, by turns charming, comical, and horrific.
With this restoration, the spellbinding images produced in Faust, such as the classic shot of a horned, black-winged figure (Mephisto, played by Jannings) looming over a small town, now look more impressive and pristine than ever.
Faust DVD
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Language of Shadows: Faust, a 53-minute documentary on the making of Faust
New musical score by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra in 5.1 Stereo Surround or 2.0 Stereo
Additional piano score by Perez de Azpeitia, adapted from the original 1926 orchestral arrangement.
The lost screen test footage of Ernst Lubitsch's abandoned 1923 production Marguerite and Faust.
Image Gallery and essay by film historian Jan Christopher Horak
NOSFERATU
Disc #1 from 2-disc Ultimate set containing restored 2007 version with newly translated English Intertitles, plus special features.
A cornerstone of the horror film, F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu is triumphantly reborn in this breathtaking new restoration by the F.W. Murnau Foundation.
Backed by an orchestral performance of Hans Erdmann's 1922 score (recorded in 5.1 stereo surround), this Kino International edition is derived from a new high-definition transfer of Murnau's masterpiece, with unprecedented visual clarity and historical faithfulness to the original release version.
Accompanying the film is a 52-minute documentary by Luciano Berriatúa which provides a detailed account of the production and explores the filmmakers' involvement in the occult.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Hans Erdmann's original 1922 score, available in 5.1 Stereo Surround or 2.0 Stereo
The Language of Shadows: The Early Years and Nosferatu; a 52-minute documentary
Nosferatu: An Historic Film Meets Digital Restoration; a 3-minute documentary
Lengthy excerpts from other films by F.W. Murnau: Journey Into the Night (1920), The Haunted Castle (1921), Phantom (1922), The Finances of the Grand Duke (1924), The Last Laugh (1924), Tartuffe (1925), Faust (1926), and Tabu (1931)
Photo Gallery / Scene Comparison
THE LAST LAUGH:
Disc #1 from 2-disc Deluxe set containing restored German release version, plus special features.
One of the crowning achievements of the German expressionist movement, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's The Last Laugh stars Emil Jannings as an aging doorman whose happiness crumbles when he is relieved of the duties and uniform which had for years been the foundation of his happiness and pride.
Through Jannings¹s colossal performance, The Last Laugh becomes more than the plight of a single doorman, but a mournful dramatization of the frustration and anguish of the universal working class.
Restored in 2003 by Luciano Berriatúa and the Friedrich-Wilhelm- Murnau-Stiftung, this Kino edition is the definitive version of a silent masterwork, presented with unprecedented clarity and a new orchestral recording of the original 1924 score.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
New recording of the original score by Giuseppe Becce, available in 5.1 Stereo Surround or 2.0 Stereo
The Making of The Last Laugh, a 40-minute documentary
Original German title sequences / Image Gallery
THE HAUNTED CASTLE
Before plumbing the depths of horror and despair with such films as Faust and The Last Laugh, F. W. Murnau tested the waters with this moody drama of a storm-bound manor and the grim mystery that lurks within. A hunting party is interrupted by the arrival of a notorious Count (Lothar Mehnert), who is believed to have murdered his brother.
The uninvited guest sets in motion an elaborate plot to resurrect the ghosts of the past and bring to light the dark secret that lies at the center of his brother's death.
The foreboding atmosphere and psychological complexity inspired Murnau to delve deeper into the horror genre, which he did the following year, with the immortal vampire tale Nosferatu (1922).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Gallery of set design paintings by Robert Herlth
Excerpts of Rudolf Stratz's novel
THE FINANCES OF THE GRAND DUKE
In one of the most eclectic films of the German silent era, visual stylist F.W. Murnau (Faust, Sunrise) broke away from the dark, foreboding dramas for which he was known to explore the realm of light comedy. Working from a screenplay by Thea von Harbou (Spies, Metropolis), Murnau crafted a playful espionage thriller reminiscent of Ernst Lubitsch (who had recently left Germany for Hollywood).
Harry Liedtke stars as a "benevolent dictator" who must preserve the tiny nation of Abacco by fending off creditors, wooing a wealthy Russian princess (Mady Christians), and evading a band of demonic conspirators (including Nosferatu himself, Max Schreck).
SPECIAL FEATURE:
Audio Commentary by film historian David Kalat
TARTUFFE
In Tartuffe, F. W. Murnau revisits Moliére's fable of religious hypocrisy, in which a faithful wife (Lil Dagover) tries to convince her husband (Werner Krauss) that their morally superior guest, Tartuffe (Emil Jannings), is in fact a lecherous hypocrite with a taste for the grape. To endow the story with contemporary relevance, Murnau frames Moliére's tale with a modern-day plot concerning a housekeeper's stealthy efforts to poison her elderly master and take control of his estate.
Kino presents the 1925 American release version with its original titles and tinting, from a 35mm nitrate print preserved by the Library of Congress and restored in 2002 by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv Berlin/Koblenz and the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung of Wiesbaden.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Way to Murnau, a 35-minute documentary on the life and career of F. W. Murnau, directed by Alexander Bohr.
Booklet essay by film scholar Jan Christopher Horak
Click the link below for a trailer of Kino's restored Faust:
www.Kino.com/trailers
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