Murnau and more
Team of silent filmmakers is appreciated on disc
Literary fans have it great. They can walk into bookstores and find comprehensive collections of hundreds, if not thousands, of authors.
That’s not true in the DVD world. Sure, there are many sets labeled “the films of,” but they are generally made for the casual fan, offering a nice collection of movies by a specific director or actor, put in a pretty box and packaged with a commentary and documentary.
“Murnau, Borzage and Fox” ($239.98, Fox, available now) is something different. You may not know the names, but this is by far the best DVD release of 2008 — and certainly one of the best ever. It contains the works of filmmakers F. W. Murnau and Frank Borzage when their paths crossed for three short years — 1927-1930 — while they were under contract for William Fox of the Fox Film Corp. (known today as 20th Century Fox).
These three men — the mogul (Fox), the artist (Murnau) and the romantic (Borzage) — changed the face of cinema. In fact, as detailed in the extremely well-done feature- length documentary “Murnau, Borzage and Fox,” without Fox there would have been no Hollywood.
It’s clear this set is geared toward a small audience that will enjoy this mini course in film history. And yes, these are mostly silent movies, but their influence is still felt today. Filmmakers including Tim Burton and David Lynch and such movies as “Sin City” and “Blade Runner” carry inspiration from German expressionism, the creative movement that included Murnau’s work as a filmmaker. (The play of shadows and odd shapes in Burton films like “Batman” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” are examples.)
The DVD set is elegantly packaged inside a large brown-linen hardshell case. Lift off the top and pull out a linen book that looks like a large photo album. The 12 discs slide into pockets on the large pages. Tucked inside the front and back sleeves are two exclusive coffee table books — each 128 pages and filled with breathtaking black-and-white images from the movies of this period. One book is on the three men; the other is devoted to Murnau’s famous lost film, “The 4 Devils.”
Eleven of the movies have never been released on DVD before. The 12th film, Murnau’s incomparable “Sunrise,” is included here remastered in both the European silent version and the Movietone version. “Sunrise” is not only called the greatest silent film, but this hauntingly poetic work is also considered one of the greatest films of any kind.
There is a wealth of bonus material, including new scores for “City Girl,” “Lucky Star” and “Lazybones”; a reconstruction of Borzage’s “The River” from surviving film fragments; commentaries; and still galleries. The “Sunrise” disc also contains restoration notes, a screenplay, outtakes and the original scenario by Carl Meyer with annotations by Murnau.
Also released
• Paramount premieres a few new Blu-ray titles this week, including “Event Horizon,” “The Truman Show,” “Ghost,” “Last Holiday” and “Days of Thunder.” They are sold for $39.99 each.
• A collection of more than 20 movies honoring Black History Month is being released on Tuesday by 20th Century Fox and MGM Home Entertainment. Priced at $14.98 each, these films celebrate “a history of determination, pride, entertainment and success.” Releases include dramas (“Hotel Rwanda,” “The Great White Hope,” “Man on Fire”), comedies (“Barbershop,” “The Salon,” “Bill Cosby: Himself,” “Cedric the Entertainer”), true-life stories (“AKA Cassius Clay,” “The Jackie Robinson Story,” “The Antwone Fisher Story”) and sci-fis (“I, Robot”).
Coming Tuesday
“The Alphabet Killer” (Anchor Bay), “Babylon
A. D.” (Fox), “Bangkok Dangerous” (Lionsgate), “Barney: Once Upon a Dino Tale” (Lionsgate/HIT), “Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.0” ( Universal), “Behind Enemy Lines” (WWE/Fox), “Bob the Builder: Race to the Finish” (Lionsgate/HIT), “Di - saster Movie” (Lionsgate), “The Films of Michael Powell” (Sony), “Ghost Writer” (Genius), “Pineapple Express” (Columbia), “Ping Pong Playa” (Image Entertainment), “Right e o u s Kill” (Overture), “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” (Lions - gate) and “The Wackness” (Sony).
Blu-ray: “Caligula” (Image Entertainment) and “Cyrano de Bergerac” ( Image).•
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments