3 / BD 183 Michael

Discuss releases by Eureka and Masters of Cinema and the films on them.
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M
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:58 pm
Location: Upper Midwest, US

#26 Post by M » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:12 pm

davidhare wrote:I still swoon at the sheer matter of factness in the treatment of homosexuality - the manner in which Dreyer and his screenwriter have transformed what was obviously a highly effete piece of gay literature from a deracinated Weimar period "pre-gay" sensibility and invested the gay elements of the drama with outstanding and deeply felt dignity.

I also agree with the previous poster who praised Slezak's performance - he plays an enormous gamut of emotions, from petulant to deeply hurt, to transcendentally in love, and most difficult of all a male beauty metamorphosing from sexual ambivalence.
I very much agree. How vile, though typically American in its morbid and puerile obsession with sexuality, that US distributors at the time re-named the film 'The Invert' for release in the states. Eighty years later, Americans today casually refer to Brokeback Mountain as 'the gay cowboy movie'. Michael is realized by a perfectly mature understanding of sexuality, for today's world mind you, let alone the twenties.

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markhax
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#27 Post by markhax » Sat Feb 02, 2008 12:24 am

As for the restoration I mentioned earlier, here's something from the archives of the Berlinale:

"Jan 19, 06: Special Events of the Retrospective
In September 1924, a first showing of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Michael elicited thunderous applause from the audience in Berlin. 82 years later, on 11 February 2006, the Retrospective will premiere a newly restored version of the film at the Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz on occasion of the 56th Berlinale."

I can't find anything about whether a DVD is planned.

bollibasher
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:38 am

#28 Post by bollibasher » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:56 am

Here is a German article by Wim Wenders at the time of the restoration screening. The restored version is 90 minutes long. Here's the Berlinale press release .

Someone who speaks Danish might be able to find out more on the Danish Film Institute website as they were in charge of the restoration.

xx

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Tommaso
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:09 am

#29 Post by Tommaso » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:31 am

Not to be picky, but the article isn't by Wenders, but by his cameraman Robby Müller.
If the DFI was responsible for the new version, I guess we might have reason to look forward to a dvd release from them. Question in any case would be how much superior it is to the print released on disc 2 of the MoC.

bollibasher
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#30 Post by bollibasher » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:48 am

Sorry yeah, I'm at work, didn't have time to read it properly! I think this is the old DFI page though it may no-longer work. From their magazine FILM48, page 30.
DFI presents ‘Michael’ by Carl Theodor Dreyer

The Retrospective Programme of the 56th Berlin International Film Festival will screen a newly restored version of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Michael. The screening will be accompanied by music performed by the “ensembleKONTRASTE” under the direction of Pierre Oser.

by Thomas Christensen / DFI curator

The restoration of “Michael ”
The Danish Film Institute (DFI) has had particular interest in assuring optimal restoration of Michael. All the surviving elements of the film at the DFI, however, were of poor quality, including a 35mm duplicate negative deriving from the print received from Staatsliches Filmarchiv in 1958.

In the summer of 2004 the DFI received word that a negative at the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv was the camera negative. In August 2005 this negative was inspected by the DFI and found to be an original nitrate negative. The negative was re-edited by the Staatsliches Filmarchiv in the 1950s, at which point German intertitles, based on the censorship list, were inserted. The title-inserts are on safety stock, and unfortunately in Academy sound aperture, and not silent full frame.

It was decided to do a digital intermediate restoration with Digital Filmlab in Copenhagen in order to minimise generational loss. The negative was scanned at 2K (1920x1440) resolution on a Spirit datacine, centering the titles in the grading process. The film was subsequently ingested in an Inferno workstation, where it was first dust-busted using Resolve, and then large damages were painted out manually. The result is a new b/w negative, which closely resembles the original starting point, however, both original grading deficiencies, and subsequent damage, especially deriving from the previous restoration, have been eliminated.

The restoration was supervised by the DFI at Digital Filmlab in Copenhagen, and was a joint venture between the DFI, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung and Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv.

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Werdegast
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#31 Post by Werdegast » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:44 pm

accordingly to the "Danish film institute", Dreyers first german movie Die Gezeichneten has been restored and will be showed at the Berlin film festival.
Dont know if someone has mentioned that around here....

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Sloper
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 10:06 pm

#32 Post by Sloper » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:03 pm

The DVD cover looks nicer if you reverse the sleeve. This just made my day (one of the many joys of not getting out much) so I thought I'd share.

Alphonso

#33 Post by Alphonso » Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:41 pm

What a great film-- it's unfortunate that it's often pejoratively labeled an early work of Dreyer's, unlike The Passion of Joan of Arc. Sometimes the 'early' works are the most fascinating, they soar even higher than those that have been burdened with the baggage and schema that the artist later develops and is known for.

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feckless boy
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#34 Post by feckless boy » Wed Aug 06, 2008 12:52 pm

Simply loved it!
It has some superficial similarities to Ophuls Madame de...(probably mentioned in the extras that I haven't dug into yet).
The score for the European version reminded me of Morton Feldman's later piano works, around the time of Palais de Mari.

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HerrSchreck
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#35 Post by HerrSchreck » Wed Aug 06, 2008 2:26 pm

Alphonso wrote:What a great film-- it's unfortunate that it's often pejoratively labeled an early work of Dreyer's, unlike The Passion of Joan of Arc. Sometimes the 'early' works are the most fascinating, they soar even higher than those that have been burdened with the baggage and schema that the artist later develops and is known for.
I've rarely heard his early works "perjoratively" labeled. Many of these are quite fascinating exhibit an incisive mise en scene and a pictorial sensibility second to none-- to appreciate this one should strain to see the DFI's restored Leaves From Satans Book. Not to mention the wonderful casting of old bearded men for old bearded characters... no yak hair in Dreyer.

Of course when measured against works like Joan & Day of, and Ordet, anything seems secondary. But definitely not perjorative!

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TMDaines
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Re: 3 Michael

#36 Post by TMDaines » Mon Jan 11, 2010 1:02 pm

My copy of Michael arrived today and I'm pleased to let people know that VLC can handle the subtitling authoring error on the 2nd European Disk, so you can choose whether to display the subtitles or not. No need for me to burn a disk now!

peerpee
not perpee
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Re: 3 Michael

#37 Post by peerpee » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:09 pm

A sealed OOP MICHAEL being given away by me in an hour on Twitter @shittydeath

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jwd5275
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Re: 3 Michael

#38 Post by jwd5275 » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:19 pm

Damn! Of all the times to be stuck at work....

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matrixschmatrix
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm

Re: 3 Michael

#39 Post by matrixschmatrix » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:32 pm

Haha, awesome- I just gave away my copy as a birthday present last week.

cana7cl
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Re: 3 Michael

#40 Post by cana7cl » Sat Aug 11, 2012 3:56 pm

Back in print for a limited run.

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manicsounds
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Re: 3 Michael

#41 Post by manicsounds » Thu Aug 30, 2012 9:04 am

The new pressing has a 2012 copyright, so 'collectors' will still want the original.

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swo17
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Re: 3 Michael

#42 Post by swo17 » Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:38 am

MoC is constantly making subtle changes to things like spine color or title presentation from one pressing of a particular title to the next, usually without calling any attention to it. Are there people that collect all of these different variations?

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Drucker
Your Future our Drucker
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Re: 3 Michael

#43 Post by Drucker » Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:45 am

It's still going for 30 GPB on Amazon UK on EBAY, FWIW.

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Stephen
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:11 pm
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Re: 3 Michael

#44 Post by Stephen » Fri Aug 31, 2012 5:55 am

I am really pleased to finally receive this down here this morning. Having only recently become acquainted with Mr Dreyer’s work, it quickly became apparent that this film was a gaping hole in my collection and I hope many other supporters of MOC pick up this edition with the outcome it might incentivise Eureka to release one or two of their other OOP titles still under license.

And I don’t think that I’ve ever anticipated a Blu/DVD release more than MOC’s forthcoming ’The Passion of Joan of Arc’.

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Sloper
Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 10:06 pm

Re: 3 Michael

#45 Post by Sloper » Fri Aug 31, 2012 6:26 am

It's still my favourite Dreyer, and continues to get better every time I watch it. I can understand why Joan and Day of Wrath are his most celebrated films, but I think Michael is his richest, most moving and most deeply rewarding work (Gertrud, which has a lot in common with this film, comes in at a close second). Wonderful to have the two versions and two scores on MoC's edition, too.

JackTwist
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Re: 3 Michael

#46 Post by JackTwist » Fri Dec 21, 2012 9:00 pm

So I'm heavily debating. There are still copies available from Eureka much to my relief after thinking I had missed out on the brief re-release. The question is, this late in the game, what are the odds that I purchase the DVD copy and then a new restoration or blu-ray is announced?

The other thing, as someone new to a region-free player, I've yet to play PAL content, so how different is the PAL speed up on a film like this?

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Drucker
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Re: 3 Michael

#47 Post by Drucker » Sat Dec 22, 2012 9:16 am

JackTwist wrote:So I'm heavily debating. There are still copies available from Eureka much to my relief after thinking I had missed out on the brief re-release. The question is, this late in the game, what are the odds that I purchase the DVD copy and then a new restoration or blu-ray is announced?

The other thing, as someone new to a region-free player, I've yet to play PAL content, so how different is the PAL speed up on a film like this?
I can't answer the last question (I guess I just don't notice it) but this package is wonderful, sharp and worthwhile. Mikael isn't available via the DFI's site, and the Kino is available in the USA, so I don't think there's any reason to believe a new restoration is imminent.

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manicsounds
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Re: 3 Michael

#48 Post by manicsounds » Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:44 pm

JackTwist wrote:how different is the PAL speed up on a film like this?
If you've watched a silent movie at 24fps and then saw it at 25fps it is almost impossible to tell the difference without aural support.
Music on the other hand you can tell a slight pitch difference, especially if you know the songs or voices by heart.

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neilist
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Re: 3 Michael

#49 Post by neilist » Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:46 pm

JackTwist wrote:So I'm heavily debating. There are still copies available from Eureka much to my relief after thinking I had missed out on the brief re-release. The question is, this late in the game, what are the odds that I purchase the DVD copy and then a new restoration or blu-ray is announced?
As far as I'm aware, the reason why 'Michael' was OOP for so long is that it sold so poorly that it never warranted a repress. I guess it got a small repressing recently due to the fact original copies were going for so much and it made sense to do it at the same time that 'La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc' was getting a release. As to PAL speedup, as Drucker suggests above, I don't imagine you'd ever notice it.

I'd say buy it for definite, you'll be supporting MoC and, as great a film as it is, I very much doubt at all that anyone has plans for another restoration, until maybe the 100th anniversary in 2024!

JackTwist
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:53 pm

Re: 3 Michael

#50 Post by JackTwist » Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:30 pm

Thanks. I went ahead and bought it. Felt super happy that I was able to get it because I thought it was a sure-fire miss. Could've gone with the Kino edition instead but that edition is UGLY! Bought this and Passion of Joan of Arc on blu-ray. Beside Vampyr, this will be my first true introduction to Dreyer and for that I'm very excited.

Why is the film so unknown? It seems most feel it is a Dreyer masterpiece.

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