Before Ernst Lubitsch made his mark on Hollywood with comedies like TROUBLE IN PARADISE, NINOTCHKA, HEAVEN CAN WAIT, and THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, he had directed roughly forty shorts and feature in his native Germany encompassing everything from fairy tales to historical melodramas to truly daring and transgressive sex comedies. Muse Ossi Oswalda headlines I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAN as a tomboyish heiress who dresses up as a man for a night on the town only to discover that the grass is not always greener. In THE DOLL, Oswalda plays a girl who must pose as a love doll purchased by a timid young heir when his aristocratic uncle forces him to marry. In THE OYSTER PRINCESS, Oswalda is an American princess who wants to marry a prince and ends up with a valet. In the Arabian nights drama SUMURUN, the favored bride of a sheik's harem wants to fun off with a cloth merchant while a minstrel show's dancer is looking for material wealth. In ANNA BOLEYN, the second wife of Henry VIII divides a kingdom only to be herself betrayed when the king starts carrying on with her own lady in waiting Jane Seymour. In THE WILDCAT, Pola Negri is bandit's daughter Rischka who robs a dashing soldier and becomes smitten with him even as he sets out to capture her gang.
REVIEW LINK: Masters of Cinema #175-180/Eureka Video (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)
LUBITSCH IN BERLIN Blu-ray specs:
- Disc One:
- I Don't Want to Be A Man (1918):
- 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
- Music LPCM 2.0 Stereo
- German Intertitles with optional English subtitles
- The Doll (1919):
- 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
- Music LPCM 2.0 Stereo
- German Interitles with optional English subtitles
- The Oyster Princess (1919):
- 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
- Music LPCM 2.0 Stereo
- German Intertitles with optional English subtitles
- Disc Two:
- Sumurun (1920):
- 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
- Music LPCM 2.0 Stereo
- German Intertitles with optional English subtitles
- Anna Boleyn (1920):
- 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
- Music LPCM 2.0 Stereo
- German Intertitles with optional English subtitles
- Disc Three:
- The Wildcat (1921):
- 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
- Music LPCM 2.0 Stereo
- German Intertitles with optional English subtitles
- Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schonhauser to Hollywood - 2005 documentary by Robert Fischer (109 miutes)
- Essays on each film by David Cairns, Anna Thorngate, and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
No comments:
Post a Comment