Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Kameradschaft Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 21, 2018

G.W. Pabst's "Kameradschaft" a.k.a. "Comradeship" (1931) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include new video interviews with German film scholar Hermann Barth and Jan-Christopher Horak from UCLA Film & Television Archive, as well as an archival interview with editor Jean Oser. The release also arrives with a 24-page illustrated booklet featuring writings on the film and technical credits. In German and French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The rescue team

I can’t even begin to imagine what it feels like if you know that you are trapped in a ‘pocket’ thousands of meters underground. As you are slowly running out of oxygen, you probably begin to wonder if this is how your life was meant to end. You try to stay calm and believe that someone will figure out your location and then pull you out, but deep inside you also fear that the inevitable rescue mission can easily fail. You wonder how much time you have left -- a few hours, minutes, or just a few more seconds. Your entire life probably flashes before your eyes and you begin to wonder if you could have made wiser choices to extend it. You probably begin to pray that God gives you one more chance, and then promise to Him that if you get out alive you will do better.

I am speculating, of course, because I don’t understand the courage that it takes to be a miner. I’ve never had it. All I know is that it is a special kind of courage and you need a lot of it to go deep underground and then do it again and again without thinking that something awful might happen and you could die alone in total darkness. As a miner you have to be really tough, physically and mentally, and know how to look death straight in the eyes and reject it with a smile.

G.W. Pabst’s film Kameradschaft, which was inspired by a true event, the Courrieres mining disaster, is about a group of French and German miners with that kind of special courage. The event occurred on March 10, 1906, in a big coal mine whose ground floor collapsed after a powerful gas explosion. The fire instantly killed hundreds of French miners and left many more trapped in scattered ‘pockets’ with a limited amount of oxygen. Rescue teams were immediately dispatched to locate and save the survivors, but in the days that followed well over 1,200 miners lost their lives. (The Courrieres disaster remains the deadliest mining disaster to occur in Europe).

In the film some major details of the disaster are intentionally altered so that Pabst can end it with a political message, but the intensity of the chaos that reportedly followed the explosion feels incredibly authentic. The most dramatic footage emerges after a large team of German miners volunteer to help and different units then enter the mine to look for survivors. The bulk of the rescue operation actually looks like it was extracted from a vintage TV program that uses plenty of archival footage that was captured by someone that was present at the mine. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Kameradshaft was apparently screened in two different versions, German and French, which incorporated different footage. Because the original negative for the German version no longer exists, the recent 2K restoration of the film that was completed by Deutsche Kinemathek uses some bits of footage from the French version, which means that the current presentation is a new reconstruction. (Towards the end, however, there are still a few seconds where a newspaper announcement was apparently used to describe the tragedy for which even in the new reconstruction there is only a text description). The original French title for the film was La tragedie de la mine.

Kameradschaft Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.19:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, G.W. Pabst's Kameradschaft arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This 2014 digital restoration by Deutsche Kinemathek was undertaken from a transfer created in 2K resolution on a C-Reality film scanner primarily from a 35mm duplicate positive of the German version of the film held bu the BFI, with the ending coming from a 35mm nitrate original camera negative of the French version held by CNC, Centre national du cinema et de l'image animee. The monaural soundtrack was remastered from the same elements.

Restoration supervisor: Martin Koerber/Deutsche Kinemathek.
Restoration technician: Julia Wallmuller/Deutsche Kinemathek.
Transfer supervisor and colorist: Thomas Bakels/Alpha-Omega digital GmbH, Munich.
Image processing and restoration: Marie Bendl/Alpha-Omega digital GmbH."

Because the original negative for the German version no longer exists, the current presentation incorporates footage from different sources, and time has obviously treated them differently. So what this means is that in addition the native source limitations there are different traces of of age-related imperfections. For example, sometimes there are minor drops in terms of density, and elsewhere there are some natural traces of fading that can not be reversed even with modern digital tools. The important thing that I wish to make clear here is it is very easy to see that proper work was done to retain as much of the native organic qualities of the existing elements as possible. When you view the reconstruction this becomes quite obvious, even in areas where the existing elements have suffered the most. Something else that I would like to mention is that the film has a very stable overall appearance, so your viewing experience will be a pleasant one. (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).

Kameradschaft Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: German LPCM 1.0 (with small portions of French). Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Considering the fact that the current presentation of the film is actually a reconstruction, the quality of the audio is actually surprisingly good. Obviously, dynamic intensity is limited, but clarity, balance, and especially overall stability are very, very good. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in our review.

Kameradschaft Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Hermann Bath - in this new video interview, German film scholar Hermann Barth, editor of a critical edition of Kameradschaft's screenplay, discusses the socio-political environment in Germany at the time when G.W. Pabst conceived the film, some of the political overtones in it, and its production history. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2017. In German, with optional English subtitles. (31 min, 1080p).

• Jean Oser - presented here is a collection of answers that Jean Oser, the editor of Kameradschaft, recorded after Hermann Barth sent him a series of questions addressing the film's production history and his professional relationship with G.W. Pabst. Also included are scenes from the French version of the film. The answers were recorded in 1988. In German, with optional English subtitles. (13 min, 1080p).

• Jan-Christopher Horak - in this video interview, Jan-Christopher Horak, director of UCLA Film & Television Archive, discusses G.W. Pabst's career and the important role that Kameradschaft occupies in his body of work. The interview was conducted in 2016 for Fiction Factory. In English, not subtitled. (15 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - 24-page illustrated booklet featuring Luc Sante's essay "War is Over (If You Want It)", an archival statement by writer and socialist activist Karl Otten, and technical credits.

Kameradschaft Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The carefully planted political statements and especially the big speech at the end hurt the film's authenticity, but the manner in which the chaos inside and around the mine is recreated is quite impressive. In fact, knowing that the film was shot with what by modern standards would be considered primitive equipment, some of the footage from the collapsed mine looks absolutely breathtaking. Criterion's recent Blu-ray release is sourced from a very good 2K reconstruction completed by Deutsche Kinemathek that incorporates footage from the original German and French versions of the film. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.