7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Together with Pandora's Box (1928), Diary confirmed Pabst's artistry as one of the great directors of the silent period and established Brooks as an "actress of brilliance, a luminescent personality and a beauty unparalleled in screen history" (Kevin Brownlow, The Parade's Gone By). Brooks, in a delicately restrained performance, plays the naïve daughter of a prosperous pharmacist.
Starring: Louise Brooks, Fritz Rasp, Franziska Kinz, André Roanne, Josef RovenskýForeign | 100% |
Drama | 59% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.28:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Music: LPCM 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Georg Wilhelm Pabst's "Tagebuch einer Verlorenen" a.k.a. "Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Video. The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society; Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle's short film "Windy Riley Goes Hollywood" (1931); and promotional trailer. With German intertitles and optional English subtitles. Region-A "locked".
The girl
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.28:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl arrives on Blu-ray courtesy Kino Video.
The release is sourced from the same 2K restoration of Diary of a Lost Girl which British distributors Eureka Entertainment accessed when they prepared their release of the film in 2014. Unfortunately, here the framing is problematic. Indeed, there is some unusual stretching that is present throughout the entire film. During close-ups, in particular, it is very easy to see that Louise Brooks' face does not look right. To see the effect, compare screencapture #10 and screencapture #9 from our review of the Region-B release. Another good example can also be seen in screencapture #15. I am unsure exactly how the stretching was introduced, but the basic framing also reveals a discrepancy (1.28:1 for the Kino release vs. 1.33:1 for the Region-B release). The other basic characteristics of the presentation are very good. Excluding the various inherited source limitations -- such as occasional density fluctuations, minor transition issues, and age-related imperfections -- the film looks as good as it can. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Music LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the German intertitles.
The same very beautiful piano score performed by Javier Perez de Azpeitia is included on this release (it also appears on the Region-B release). It includes fragments from classical pieces by Scriabin, Schumann, Chopin, and Ghlinka, amongst others. The quality of the audio is outstanding. Also, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.
Kino Video's upcoming Blu-ray release of Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl is sourced from the same 2K restoration of the film which was initially accessed by Eureka Entertainment in the United Kingdom for their local release. However, there is some unusual stretching that is present throughout the entire film. I am unsure exactly how the stretching was introduced, but during close-ups of Louise Brooks' face it is easy to see and quite distracting. At the moment, I don't know if the issue is present only on my disc.
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