Grapevine: Ladies of the German Cinema

[Erikht]

I got a newsletter about this http://grapevinevideo.com/sappho_backstairs.htm today. Will it be worth it? Personally I like good, rstored editions with loads of extras, but I am able to watch public domain flicks if that's all that is available. I shelled out for their "Growth of the soil" DVD, only to find that the Norwegian Film Institute came with a restored edition a year or so later. So I am wondering, does this herald a new dawns for these actresses from this time and place?

Anyway, will anybody else be going for this disc?

[Jonathan S]

A Filmmuseum edition of Sappho is "in preparation" but when it will actually be released is anyone's guess.

Grapevine's previous release of Backstairs/Hintertreppe was below-average even for them, so it will be interesting to see if their new edition really is "crisp" as promised. An American friend, whose judgement I trust, has already ordered this release and I'll report his comments as soon as I receive them.

[htdm]

Soon after receiving the email from Grapevine, I received a second email endorsing the release from a David Gasten "President of the Pola Negri Appreciate Site." That email said that this version of Sappho is the original European cut running at 82 minutes and "has been restored with its original tints and released on video for the first time ever, complete with a devastating orchestral score." Backstairs runs 50 minutes and supposedly comes from "a crisp new transfer."

I'm interested in Backstairs if it is indeed a newer transfer.

[HerrSchreck]

Grapevine's previous release of Backstairs/Hintertreppe was below-average even for them, so it will be interesting to see if their new edition really is "crisp" as promised.

I have the old Grapevine VHS of Backstairs and I think that's really off the mark... if anything it's the reverse-- Backstairs was an above-average release for them, especially compared to some of their other flagship German and Russian silents. Anyone who owns things like the Grapevine editions of Zvenigora, Secrets of a Soul, Variete, or Warning Shadows would immediately appreciate the fact that the source was at last a clear, unblemished 16mm reduction print, with detail and even a bit of grain fully visible, with no nitrate damage, extensive scratches or tramlines, and it was an actual telecine-sourced videotape... not a videotape of a wall projection a la Variete.

[Jonathan S]

Well, I admit I wasn't comparing it to Secrets of a Soul, Variete, or Warning Shadows (for which I never saw the Grapes as I was fortunate to own these in nice German TV copies). I no longer have the Grape of Backstairs so I can't really argue my case, though I would point out that in his own VHS catalogue, which I do still have, Jack Hardy gave it only a "neutral" face - the middle of his three quality ratings. About 90% of his titles (mainly the American stuff, but also including Variete) were awarded the top "smiley" rating, so he seemed to think it was below his average too. Of course, he may not be the best judge of his own work and maybe my memory is not the best either.

(Another possibility is that Backstairs might have been one of the many titles Grapevine upgraded even within the VHS era. Amazing to recall the upgrades were free - and in the UK we didn't even have to return the old copy!)

[Erikht]

Trying to pull my weight around here, I bought it. I will review it when I see it.

[Tommaso]

I hope your kevyip isn't too large, as I'm really tempted by this release but would want to be sure about the quality, and if possible, see some caps before I take the plunge.

[Jonathan S]

Yesterday I heard from my American friend who has now watched the disc. He says Sappho is "a beautiful, multi-tinted print" and Backstairs is "very bright" (which I think he means as a compliment) and looks better than the VHS editions he previously owned, but he would not call it "crisp". Both are "fairly sharp". I should point out that he has recently been reduced to watching everything on a normal-sized CRT TV and that he's not ultra-fussy about image quality as he buys most silents from Grapevine. However, he also buys just about every silent film released on DVD anywhere in the world, so he's fully aware of the difference between Grapevine and premium quality labels.

On this basis, I'm going to order it myself, though I confess to slight trepidation, having bought two of Grapevine's previous replicated releases and found them less good quality than most of their DVD-Rs I own. I think that is simply due to Jack Hardy selecting for replication the films he feels will sell best, though, which are not necessarily his best prints. Grapevine do still offer a no-quibble money back guarantee.

Today is the last day at the reduced price of $14.95 (it will be $19.95 from tomorrow).

[HerrSchreck]

Can't speak for Sappho, but Backstairs is a truly magnificent film, one of my favorite silents of all time. I'd strongly encourage those who never took the opportunity prior to see this film due to the difficulty of obtaining a copy, to grab this edition. It's such an excellent crystalization of Carl Mayer's mindset and aesthetic at this period of time, and that goes all round soaking every aspect of this great film-- visually, in terms of story, in terms of performance, and the way these all come together in terms of atmosphere.

It actually reminds me-- and this was a sense I had the very first time I watched the film-- an awful lot of Taxi Driver: a young man in his twenties or thirties is completely isolated from his neighbors as a result of his self-imposed seclusion, eventually relegating himself to spectator status. He eventually observes via his work (in this case a postman) a woman that he obsesses over... with unfortunate results.

I love the art direction in this film, which was executed by the great Paul Leni... the wildcard that trips up the drynamic duo of Lang and Murnau as the supposed two greatest German film directors of the silent era (exluding also of course von Gerlach... but then there's Lupu Pick... but then there's Piel Jutzi..). On top of that is the fabulous makeup and clothing/hairstyling, particularly of the nameless tenants and partygoers in the tenement, so exaggerated, so stylized. An extremely psychological melodrama (with no intertitles, btw, at least there shouldn't be any.. though in the US original theatrical a few cards were inserted to nudge the action forward for general audiences deemed unprepared for/unsuited to this conceit) punctuated by the same gothic stylization of a horror film: darkness, gloom, leaning & collapsing architecture. Simply fabulous. There was a period in there, running from 1920 up to (but not including) Murnau's Last Laugh, where these intimate Kammerspiels, which were just finding their way into the cinema, were shot with an overage of Expressionist stylings (Backstairs, Die Strasse, Sylvester, Warning Shadows, Scherben, etc)... but after the Murnau film the films began to lean more towards tour de force photography and general, pictorially beautiful realism-- the New Objectivity.

[Erikht]

I hope your kevyip isn't too large, as I'm really tempted by this release but would want to be sure about the quality, and if possible, see some caps before I take the plunge.

Approx. 80 films and 4 television resies, but it will jump the cue.

[Forrest Taft]

This company recently released Murnau´s Burning Soil. Anyone know what to expect of the quality? I´d love to see this, but I´m fairly skeptical of buying a DVD-R from a pd company I´m unfamiliar with. Any chance of a Moc edition in the near future?

[Erikht]

I have now seen Sappho, and I must say that I found the quality to be decent enough, though that can be because of the quality of the original.

Edit:

It looks like Sappho will be given a once over by Edition Filmmuseum. Well, well.

[Jonathan S]

This company recently released Murnau´s Burning Soil. Anyone know what to expect of the quality? I´d love to see this, but I´m fairly skeptical of buying a DVD-R from a pd company I´m unfamiliar with. Any chance of a Moc edition in the near future?

I haven't seen the Grapevine edition but there's now a review on the Silent Era website. I think the transfer almost certainly originates with the German TV broadcast (which I do have), to which English subs have been added, but if 79 minutes is correct then it must be speeded up as the review suggests. The TV broadcast ran about 20 minutes longer - and that's with PAL speed-up.