7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Misadventures of an effete young man who must get married in order to inherit a fortune. He opts to purchase a remarkably lifelike doll and marry it instead, not realizing that the doll is actually the puppet-makers daughter.
Starring: Max Kronert, Hermann Thimig, Victor Janson, Marga Köhler, Ossi OswaldaForeign | 100% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.36:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Music: LPCM 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (A, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available as part of
Lubitsch in Berlin 1918-1921.
Ernst Lubitsch’s vaunted “touch” made him something of a rarity in Golden Age Hollywood, namely a star director in a town which more
typically tended to be all
about "real" stars (as in the kind up there on the silver screen). But what’s interesting about Lubitsch’s Hollywood career is that while it lasted
decades and
offered scores of films, when you get right down to it, the so-called “Lubitsch touch” might be best remembered for only a veritable handful of
outings
like Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the
Corner and To Be or Not to Be. Now, it
perhaps goes without saying that with a handful like that, who really cares if not all of Lubitsch’s films have managed to penetrate into the
public consciousness, but for devoted cineastes with a taste in World Cinema, and in this case World Silent Cinema, this aggregation of
six silents Lubitsch made when he was still in Germany may be a bit revelatory, both in terms of subject matter but also in terms of what would
soon
enough become known as the “Lubitsch touch”.
Note: Eureka Entertainment provided check discs for the purposes of this review.
Die Puppe is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment's Masters of Cinema imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in
1.36:1. There are some introductory text cards detailing some history of this film and the transfer, including the fact that the documented length by the
censor board is somewhat longer than the only known nitrate copy. This remaster was evidently based on the internegative of that copy, which was
photochemically restored in 2000. The worst damage was digitally restored, according to these text cards. There is still some pretty significant
damage on display throughout this presentation, with manifold scratches, nicks and other signs of age related wear and tear regularly recurring. Some
brief moments show frame warping and there can occasionally be a bit of "jumpiness" between edits. Some scenes here are almost sepia toned, but
it's some of the green tinting that is most interesting. Some of the green intertitles show green specks in the supposed black part of the frame. Detail
levels are on the whole pretty good, all things considering, and the busy patterns in some of the costumes and sets look reasonably precise.
All of the films in this set feature LPCM 2.0 renderings of musical underscore. While I didn't see any credit in the end roll (which has the "modern" credits on all of these films), the accompanying press sheet states that this film has an "exclusive" concertina score by Bernard Wrigley. It adds a certain hurdy-gurdy, carnival-esque atmosphere to film and sounds fine throughout this presentation.
While there are no supplements tied to individual films included with this set, Disc Three offers the following comprehensive documentary, which does get into at least some of the films and this general era of Lubitsch's life:
Die Puppe is a strange hybrid indeed, but it has a rather captivating approach if it's simply accepted on its own supposed storybook terms. Video encounters some age related obstacles, but audio is fine. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
The Oyster Princess / Masters of Cinema
1919
I Don't Want to Be a Man / Masters of Cinema
1918
Birds of a Feather
1978
Die Bergkatze / Masters of Cinema
1921
1960
Masters of Cinema
1920
Klovn - The Movie
2010
För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor
1964
1985
タンポポ / Tanpopo
1985
Mon père avait raison
1936
Los amantes pasajeros
2013
The Jacques Tati Collection
1958
Die Finanzen des Großherzogs / Masters of Cinema
1924
Pidä huivista kiinni, Tatjana
1994
Mr. Hulot's Holiday / The Jacques Tati Collection
1953
Le nouveau testament
1936
1993
The Big Day / The Jacques Tati Collection
1949
Restored
1971