Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Die Puppe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 24, 2020

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”.

Die Puppe (The Doll) is a singular film by any stretch of the imagination, one which has a host of subtexts from its “meta” opening featuring Lubitsch himself setting up a “play set” that kind of becomes the movie, to almost Freudian elements with one man supposedly marrying what might be cheekily thought of as a mixture of one of The Stepford Wives with the “Doll on a Music Box” from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It’s all very odd and told within a kind of fairy tale framework, with another fun and energetic performance from Ossi Oswalda. The production design is really a delight in this film, and Lubitsch plays rather masterfully with both sets and costumes in an almost graphic illustration style.

Die Puppe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

Die Puppe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Die Puppe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

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:

• Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood (HD; 1:26:41) is a well done piece that includes some really sweet reminiscences from some Lubitsch relatives (including his daughter, Nicola), as well as copious footage of Lubitsch's childhood and young man haunts in Berlin. There's quite a bit of information and some appealing stills and archival video of his early work as an actor, including with Max Reinhardt, and a good overview of his early film career as a director. In both German (with English subtitles) and English, depending on the speaker.

Eureka Entertainment only provided check discs for purposes of this review, and so I can't authoritatively comment on non-disc swag, though their website mentions an insert booklet with essays.

Die Puppe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.