Independent U.S. distributors Synapse Films will add three new titles to their Blu-ray catalog: Curt McDowell's
Thundercrack! (1975), Leni Riefenstahl's
Triumph of the Will (1935), and
Stalingrad (2003 Mini-series)
Stalingrad
The Eastern Front experienced the viciousness of war on a scale of unimaginable horror and brutality. The bloodiest and most savage fighting took place in Stalingrad between August 1942 and February 1943. Stalin's city on the Volga had military significance for Hitler. It carried the name of his enemy and therefore had to be destroyed. The ensuing battle sealed the fates of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians and marked the turning point of World War II. It was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. In their three-part, 16:9 HDTV documentary, internationally recognized, award-winning, documentary filmmakers Sebastian Dehnhardt, Christian Deick and Jorg Mullner reveal new historical facts while touching the emotions of their audience with new, moving eyewitness accounts and confessions from some of the last survivors.
Filmed from both the German and Russian perspective, the series contains footage shot by soldiers during the siege. The Russian archives opened their doors to the filmmakers, granting them exclusive access to previously unreleased material. The series also contains digitally restored archive film as well as 3-D animation to recreate the city of Stalingrad and plot the course of its destruction.
Originally broadcast in both German and Russia in slightly truncated editions, this Special Edition DVD contains all three STALINGRAD documentaries including THE ATTACK (54 min.), THE KESSEL (56 min.) and THE DOOM (55 min.) in their original uncut forms and a wealth of extra supplementary materials.
Special Features:
- High-definition presentation of the original three-part 2003 mini-series
- English language dubbed version featuring footage not seen in the original broadcast
- Deleted interview segments
- Video interview with Dr. Guido Knopp (Professor and Historian)
- Stalingrad Today Views of the City of Volgograd
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 8.
Triumph of the Will
Leni Riefenstahl's classic piece of historical filmmaking, filmed during the 1934 Nazi Party Rally in Nuremberg, Germany, is considered by many to be one of the most important and controversial films ever made.
The film, realized by Paul Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, was created to influence all of Germany to support the "power" of the Nazi Party. All during World War II in every theatre in Germany, either part or all of Triumph Of The Will was shown.
Funded entirely by the N.S.D.A.P. (the Nazi Party), Hitler hired the young actress/director Leni Riefenstahl to direct. Money was unlimited, so Riefenstahl was eating and sleeping in the editing room with hundreds of thousands of feet of film for several months. All of the shots in Triumph are carefully constructed. Sets were specially built to accommodate cameras and Hitler was filmed separately from the crowds so Riefenstahl could edit together a film that would manipulate imagery and seduce the mind.
An historically significant and, at times, horrifying manipulative exercise in propaganda for the Nazi regime, Triumph of The Will continues to be controversial over sixty years after its original release. This historical document has been unavailable in Germany for many decades and Leni Riefenstahl has since come under fire for her personal relationship with Adolph Hitler, spending her life in the shadow of collaborating with the Nazi Party.
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 8.
Thundercrack!
Directed, photographed and edited by Curt McDowell and scripted by George Kuchar, both heroes of the independent film scene, 1975's
Thundercrack! is described as "the world's only underground kinky art adult horror film, complete with four men, three women and rampaging circus animals. With the initial setup of an atmospheric gothic tale—a dark and stormy night breakdown featuring a creepy old house on the hill—it quickly turns into an eerie orgy of graphic humor, horror and sex." Synapse has restored the movie in high definition for its first official North American home video release December 8 on region-free Blu-ray and DVD, presented in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Both editions will include rare archival interview segments with McDowell on a second audio commentary track, and the two-disc Blu-ray release will also include IT CAME FROM KUCHAR, Jennifer Kroot's definitive 87-minute documentary on George and his filmmaking twin brother Mike, plus a bonus DVD featuring:
-
Rare archival interview segments with director Curt McDowell presented as audio commentary
- BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE Bonus Feature - IT CAME FROM KUCHAR (87 minutes): Directed by Jennifer Kroot
- Documentary about the twin underground filmmakers George and Mike Kuchar
- BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE: An additional BONUS DVD loaded with fun additional extras! Rare interviews, short films, THUNDERCRACK! audition footage, outtakes and MORE!