Most helpful customer reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Painting with a Camera, May 12 2004
An old woman grouchily gets out of bed and attends to her master.Trying to attach his assets, she is secretly poisoning the master little-by-little. The housekeeper drives off his grandson, a fledging young theater actor. A story-within-a-story, "Tartuffe" then begins Moliere's famous comedy, set in 18th Century France,as a play for the grandfather to enjoy. "Tartuffe" is a religious fraud, a pompous hypocrite seeking financial gain from his friend's estate, and sexual favors from his lovely wife. His true intentions are neatly hidden under the black cape of a saintly fanatic....In 1926, German genius director F.W. Murnau squeezed in a quickly shot "Tartuffe" in 6 weeks, just before he and actor Emil Jannings began work on "Faust". Scripted by Carl Mayer, photographed by Karl Freund, "Tartuffe" is a model of economy. The pace never flags. The "Tartuffe" DVD is a masterful restoration by Kino Films and an Italian group.3 separate cinema sources are edited into a polished new transfer. The quality surely rivals any viewing since the film was first seen. The DVD offers a valuable 32-minute documentary on Murnau's life and work. The documentary journeys to Murnau's Westphalia hometown and the Carpathian mountains. It reviews his service in the dismal trenches of World War I, and the sudden killing of his soldier-best friend. These traumas perhaps form the basis for the visceral psychological dramas his movies would explore. "Camera angles help photograph thought" Murnau wrote. A lover of Classical Art, many of Murnau's films reflect rich tableaus lifted directly from the works of Rembrandt. The documentary includes clips from Murnau's early rare movies, such as "Phantom" and "Schloss Vogeloed(The Haunted Castle)". In 1927, William Fox lured Murnau to Hollywood. Here Murnau reached the zenith of his cinema art with his first American film. He called it "Sunrise".
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Tartuffe Played Silently, Jan 10 2004
Murnau's film Tartuffe is an adaptation of Molière's 17th century play about religious hypocrisy. It would appear to be a daunting task to adapt a classic play, consisting almost entirely of dialogue, to the medium of silent cinema where the focus must be on the visual and where dialogue can be conveyed only with title cards. Murnau's film succeeds because he takes Molière's play only as his point of departure. He does not try to reproduce the language of the play with a succession of long title cards. Rather he finds the essence of the story and reproduces it visually. In this way he remains both faithful to Molière and to the demands of silent cinema. Murnau presents Tartuffe as a film within a film. He uses, as a framing device, a modern story of an old man whose housekeeper is trying to get his money by turning him against his grandson. The grandson presents the film of Tartuffe to expose to the old man the housekeeper's hypocrisy. This modern story works well and parallels the story of Tartuffe in some interesting ways, but it takes up about a quarter of the running time of the whole film. Still Murnau is able, with the time remaining, to present a wonderful Tartuffe. This story involves a French nobleman Orgon who has come under the influence of an apparently pious, puritanical Saint, Tartuffe. Orgon dismisses the servants, throws out his luxurious furniture and even considers kissing his wife, Elmire, to be a sin. Naturally Elmire is upset about the change in her husband's behaviour. She sees through Tartuffe and sets out to expose him. The comic acting of the three principles, Lil Dagover, Werner Krauss and especially Emil Jannings as Tartuffe, is very good. Jannings, walking around with a pious expression and a religious text pressed up against his nose, is hilarious. The film shows that while great silent comedy was mostly in the style of Chaplin and Keaton, it was possible to produce a very funny comedy of manners. A fine piano score by Javier Pérez de Azpeitia helps the light mood of the film. The music suits the film's period setting and follows the action well. The tinted print on the Kino DVD has been restored and looks great. The print has hardly any visible damage, with only a few tiny blemishes. The image is sharp and clear and detailed. As an extra the DVD contains a half hour long documentary, The Way to Murnau. This film is interesting and provides a useful overview of Murnau's life and career and has a good number of clips from his films. This DVD is essential for anyone who likes Murnau's films. Tartuffe may not be one of his most famous films, but it is one of the most enjoyable.
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