Well, it's time for a break at Savant - no new reviews until New Year's Eve. I have a couple ready but like everyone else need to attend to a few family matters - and visiting kids and relatives aren't going to want to watch Bird with the Crystal Plumage or Naked Among Wolves as fun holiday fare. Many sites simply take two weeks off so Savant doesn't feel negligent about taking a couple of days!
I still have my eyeballs peeled for the Peckinpah box and will attack that first thing; last Fall was one long string of lengthy boxed sets (The Hammer Horror Series, The Bela Lugosi Collection, The Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection, The Val Lewton Collection) and I'll probably break the Peckinpah films into separate reviews.
Worthy announcements: Warners is putting out The Nun's Story and The Shoes of the Fisherman as part of a religious-oriented box a little later in '06; Mogambo and Three Godfathers are out now but only as Target exclusives. Warners also has a Laurel and Hardy box of odds 'n ends on the way. Besides End of August at the Hotel Ozone, Facets will be bringing out Rene Clement's Battle of the Rails in late January. It's a guerrilla-filmmaking account of the French resistance dogging the Nazis in the last days of the war, partially filmed in the last days of the war.
Writer Bruce Holecheck informs Savant that Criterion has announced that Viridiana has been delayed in order to incorporate new interviews with star Silvia Pinal. That's excellent news; the disc is expected in May of 2006.
This note from Aitam Bar-Sagi about a new version of Metropolis: "The new version of Metropolis is one made especially for DVD, and is called by its authors (Enno Patalas, Anna Bohn and Gunter Krüger): "A Study version." It will be prepared from the same source materials as the 2001 version, from a DigiBeta tape. Though one happily expects the same quality, one should also not expect new footage.
Differences from the 2001 restoration would be slightly different editing in few places as well as the insertion of many title cards explaining in fine detail all the missing scenes, as well of photos to illustrate these sections. The new version will be much longer, as the original version, and would rely mostly on Huppertz' music to determine the film's speed and tempo.
The DVD will contain the full Huppertz score, from beginning to end, including the parts of missing scenes. It will be performed from the conductor's notes on two pianos by Mark Pogolski and Aljoscha Zimmermann.
The first presentation of the DVD will be on February 24th 2006 at the Zeughauskino, Berlin. No information yet for its availability, but I will keep an eye open. -- Aitam Bar-Sagi"
Savant's enthusiasm for this new version will depend on its running speed - I'm tired of seeing the film accelerated to 24 or 26 frames per second, and no longer care to hear how it was premiered by ParUfaMet in 1926. The score being presented on piano raises hopes that the restoration will be shown as it was in initial 2001 museum screenings.
So take care, stay out of snowdrifts and stay reasonably sober ... Savant will check in in a few days! Thanks, Glenn Erickson
Posted by DVD Savant at December 28, 2005 12:51 PM