NEWSLETTER NO. 4, MAY 27, 2002
CONTENTS



EDITOR’S DIARY: METROPOLIS AT 75, MARLENE AT 100
TV: METROPOLIS
THEATRE: MORE CALIGARI
AUDIO BOOKS: FRITZ LANG
UPCOMING BOOK: CONRAD VEIDT
UPCOMING VIDEOS: CALIGARI, GOLEM, METROPOLIS, AND MORE

EDITOR’S DIARY METROPOLIS AT 75, MARLENE AT 100



More anniversaries! Sitting in a library on January 10th, reading contemporary reports about some of our favourite films, including Metropolis, slowly it dawned on us that on that very day it was exactly 75 years after Metropolis' Berlin premiere. Of course, in 2002 the film looks younger than ever, reconstructed anew, with Gottfried Huppertz' original music, and upcoming releases on tv, in the cinemas, on video, and dvd. Read the news, below. Then, there was Marlene's 100th birthday. There have been parties, screenings, newspaper headlines, and lots of new writings. Sad news of course is the passing of another great German/American star, director/writer Billy Wilder (1906-2002), who is leaving behind so many great works that it is hard to imagine the last century without his films.

Acclaimed newspaper reporter Uta Kneller from Syke wrote a little piece about us, with a damn big photo, where we predicted the Oscars. We got 4 out of 10 right; damn, Gandalf didn't make it, but Halle saved the day! It's in Sonntags-Tipp of March 24. Go get it, it may become a collector's item. (Dear, a lot of swear words in this paragraph. We're sorry for that. Damn sorry.)

In addition to the usual updates and new entries, we started optimizing the html code of the entire site for better performance on all browsers (To those of you not familiar with html coding: click on the right mouse button, then "view frame source" to see what a document like this really looks like). For best performance, we recommend the (free)   Mozilla browser. We are sorry for those using older Netscape versions like 4.x, those browsers are inferior.

Thanks to Thomas Konradt who gave us valuable hints on some information given below. Thanks also to CineGraph, Filmmuseum Berlin, Murnau-Stiftung, Transit-Film, and Kein & Aber Records for various kinds of support.thomasolaf

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TV METROPOLIS



Last year's fabulous new Metropolis reconstruction is now set for its tv premiere on German/French channel Arte (which by the way celebrates its 10th anniversary). Metropolis will be running on May 31, 23.30, with at least one repeat on June 08, 00.10, running time 148 mins. The transmissions will include the new music by Bernd Schultheis which has been used for the screenings at last year's Berlin film festival (Gottfried Huppertz' original music was not available due to a disagreement with the owners of the rights). A release on video and dvd is planned for later this year, including not Schultheis' new but in fact Huppertz' original score (see  videos). For an inside report on the reconstruction of Metropolis see Alpha-Omega's extensive coverage of their work on their   website.

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THEATRE MORE CALIGARI



Robert Wilson's Doktor Caligari, Deutsches Theater, BerlinCaligari remains interesting material for theatre producers. After at least three stage adaptations last year, now famous American director/writer/producer Robert Wilson adapted it for the Deutsches Theater, Berlin, Germany. Title of the play is Doktor Caligari, premiere was on March 26. Cast: Christian Grashof (Dr. Caligari), Bernd Stempel (Cesare), Peter Ehrlich (Cesare), Maximilian von Pufendorf (Franzis), Francesco Cordella (Franzis), Volkmar Kleinert (Medizinalrat Dr. Olfen), Ellen Schlootz (Jane), Regine Zimmermann (Jane), Andreas Bisowski (Alan), Michael Gerber (Kommissar), Ursula Staack (policeman, chicken), Michael Schweighöfer (Jakob Straat), Günter Falkenau, Barbara Schnitzler, Heidrun Perdelwitz, Jürgen Huth, Stefan Kurt (voice). Below, some reviews we read:

  1. Barbara Burckhardt: Im Kabinett des Doktor Wilson. Theater heute (Berlin) vol. 43, no. 5, May 2002, pp. 16-17.
  2. Beate Clausnitzer: Bei uns im Irrenhaus. Die Zeit (Hamburg) vol. 57, no. 15, 04 Apr 2002, p. 38.
  3. Christoph Funke: Suche nach dem Weltenschöpfer. Neue Züricher Zeitung (International edition) vol. 223, no. 73, 28 Mar 2002, p. 33.
  4. Peter Hans Göpfert: Jahrmarkt, Irrenhaus, Wahnsinn. Berliner Morgenpost no. 86, 28 Mar 2002, p. 15.
  5. Matthias Heine: Ich Monster, Du Jane. Die Welt (Berlin) no. 74, 28 Mar 2002, p. 27.
  6. Andreas Kilb: Zum Jahrmarkt! Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung no. 74, 28 Mar 2002, p. 49.
  7. Joachim Kronsbein: Katastrophe als Kopfgeburt. Der Spiegel (Hamburg) no. 13, 25 Mar 2002, p. 216.
  8. Kai Luehrs-Kaiser: Und dann und wann ein Urmel aus dem Eis. Weser-Kurier (Bremen) vol. 58, no. 74, 28/29 Mar 2002, p. 23.
  9. Rüdiger Schaper: Der verspielte Zauber. Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin) vol. 58, no. 17719, 28/29 Mar 2002, p. 27.
  10. Christopher Schmidt: Der fliegende Robert. Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich) vol. 58, no. 74, 28/29 Mar 2002, p. 19.
  11. Ulrich Seidler: Als Sehtest brauchbar. Berliner Zeitung vol. 58, no. 74, 28/29 Mar 2002, p. 9.
  12. Esther Slevogt: Wände reißen auf, Häuser fahren vorbei. taz, die tageszeitung (Berlin) vol. 24, no. 6712, 28/29 Mar 2002, p. 17.

Unfortunately, the Deutsches Theater didn't answer our enquiries, so we can't tell you whether there will be more performances coming up. We suggest consulting their  website. Also, we appreciate information about more reviews. If you know one we didn't mention, tell us.

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AUDIO BOOKS FRITZ LANG



Audio Book Fritz Lang -- Eleanor RoseTwo interesting audio cds have been published recently, with texts by/about Fritz Lang, read by actors.

The first is an audio book Fritz Lang -- Eleanor Rosé: excerpts from the correspondence between two lifelong friends, read by Udo Samel and Susanne Lothar (Kein & Aber Records, Zurich, ISBN 303691109X, EFA 232522, approx. 54 mins.)

Audio CD Fritz Lang -- Actors and colleaguesThe second is a follow-up publication of last year's Berlin film festival's Fritz Lang retrospective: Fritz Lang -- Actors and colleagues talk about the great director: Thirty short commentaries about working with Lang, in German and English language, including an excerpt from Bernd Schultheis' new Metropolis music (approx. 38 mins., available at the museum's shop of the Filmmuseum Berlin). For more information look at our  reviews section.

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UPCOMING BOOK CONRAD VEIDT



Conrad Veidt by John SoisterLater this year, coming from McFarland & Co. is a new book on Conrad Veidt, Conrad Veidt on Screen, A Comprehensive Illustrated Filmography by John T. Soister (ISBN 0786412895, 416 pp.).

John, a teacher from Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, who also did the books Of Gods and Monsters and Claude Rains (both published in 1999), did a very thorough research on Connie's films, with lots of photos, and a comprehensive filmography. We're eager to see it.

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UPCOMING VIDEOS CALIGARI, GOLEM, METROPOLIS, AND MORE



The Murnau Foundation (Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden) and its partner Transit-Film (Munich) will release a boxed set of German silent film classics on video within the next two months. The set comes along with a booklet by Hans Günther Pflaum and contains ten films (five of which directed by Fritz Lang):

  1. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene), music: Rainer Viertelböck
  2. Der Golem, Wie er in die Welt kam (1920, Paul Wegener), music: Aljoscha Zimmermann
  3. Nosferatu (1922, F.W. Murnau), music: Art Zoyd
  4. Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler 1 (1922, Fritz Lang), music: Aljoscha Zimmermann
  5. Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler 2 (1922, Fritz Lang), music: Aljoscha Zimmermann
  6. Die Nibelungen 1 (1924, Fritz Lang), music: Gottfried Huppertz
  7. Die Nibelungen 2 (1924, Fritz Lang), music: Gottfried Huppertz
  8. Faust (1926, F.W. Murnau), music: Art Zoyd
  9. Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang), music: Gottfried Huppertz
  10. Asphalt (1929, Joe May), music: Sasse

The set has been produced along last year's Berlin film festival and had only been available at the libraries of Goethe institutes so far. The films will also be offered separately, for the time being only on vhs. But, a later release on dvd is projected, with a wealth of bonus material, beginning with Metropolis at the end of this year.

Of course, all these will be the most recent restorations, never before released on video, e.g. the 1996 "Project Lumière" restored colour version of Caligari and the newest Metropolis reconstruction as presented on last year's Berlin film festival and transmitted on Arte in May/June 2002.

Metropolis will (in contrast to the Arte transmission) even feature the original music composed by Gottfried Huppertz, interpreted by the symphony orchestra of the Saarländischer Rundfunk, conducted by Berndt Heller. Finally, the Murnau foundation obtained the rights for Huppertz' original score (which was not used for the Berlin festival). The Huppertz soundtrack will not only be put on the vhs and dvd releases but also on the film's prints distributed for cinemas. A preview of this version can be seen at the Cinestar-Metropolis-Kino, Frankfurt/M., Germany, on July 04, 2002.

Look out for more information on the Murnau Foundation's  website.

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www.filmgeschichte.de, a source book for early german film edited by olaf brill & thomas schultke.

Last update (this page): 27 May 2002.

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