Film Projects

Director: Sergei M. Eisenstein, Music: Sergei Prokofiev, Reconstruction and arrangement: Frank Strobel
ALEXANDER NEVSKY, a Soviet agitation and propaganda film, was shot on the eve of the Second World War. The film recounts an episode set in the 13th century: in order to defend themselves against a plundering and murdering host of the Teutonic Knights, Russian farmers unite under the leadership of Count Alexander Nevsky and defeat the German aggressors in the legendary "battle on the ice". Sergei Prokofiev's film music, which is significantly more austere than the concert cantata of the same name, underlines the film's character with contrasting musical motives (folkloristic-charming choir passages for the Russian farmers; sharp, dissonant brass for the knights; absurd choral verses for the priests). In Eisenstein's work, this first cooperation with Prokofiev plays a special role since it marked the beginning of the theory of vertical montage. [...]
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Lewis Milestone's classic war film emerged in 1930, just at the end of the upheaval from silent to talking film. In order to present the movie at cinemas that hadn't yet made the transition to talkies, Universal produced a silent version that should by no means be understood as a byproduct. The silent version reveals aesthetic differences that mostly result from the technical standard of the time. The camera, relieved of the heavy apparatuses needed for talking film, floats fluidly through cinematic space. The silent version also includes scenes left out of the talking film. [...]
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Sergei Eisenstein's milestone in film history commemorates the mutiny on the Czar's battleship off Odessa in 1905. Eisenstein, who was 28 years old at the time, developed his innovative montage techniques in the context of this film. The editing, which was approached with previously unknown rhythm and dynamics, turned the film into a particularly haunting work that polemically contrasts the rulers and the ruled, engaging emotions with the aim of taking the audience to the point where political insight is gained.
The musical arrangement by Armin Brunner compiles symphonies No. 4 and 11 by Dmitri Shostakovich. The result is film music full of grace, power and demonic possession that posthumously brought together two notable artists who had wanted to work together as long as they lived but never actually fulfilled this desire. Shostakovich's music is full of vivid, pictorial gestures of grief, hesitancy and remembrance, gallant attacks, fear and faith in victory. [...]
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Director: Walter Ruttmann, Music: Original music by Edmund Meisel, Re-orchestration: Bernd Thewes (2007)
At the time of its premiere, BERLIN. SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY was viewed as a revolutionary, avant-garde film experiment. Today, this brilliantly edited silent film is considered to be a classic piece of cinema history. Illustrating one day in the metropolis, it captures the vivacious emotions of the roaring twenties and pursues the racing pulse of city life. The action, some of which was shot with hidden cameras, takes place from morning to night on a typical working day and was edited according to musical principles in the form of a 'symphony' in 5 acts with different tempi.
A novel aspect of the film is the crucial role of the music, which the film composer Edmund Meisel developed in close cooperation with the director. Meisel's music conveys the tempo of unfolding city life and designs a multi-layered sound picture of the city which is realised in distinctive, rhythmical leitmotivs. The music works with strong, at times monotonous rhythms and atonality, an approach that gives weight to the portrayal of Berlin and the New Objectivity. [...]
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Following the worldwide success of the Oscar-winning black-and-white movie THE ARTIST (2011), BLANCANIEVES returns to the film aesthetics of the 1920s. The classic fairy-tale of Snow White is taken by director Pablo Berger into the Andalusian torero world.
The young and beautiful Carmen (Macarena García) is being tormented by her cruel stepmother (Maribel Verdú). To escape her miserable childhood, she embarks on a journey and meets new friends: the Enanos Toreros, seven dwarfs who travel across the country and are always eager to participate in bullfights. When one of them is severely injured, Carmen steps in and becomes a famous matador. [...]
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The audience present at the premiere of Georges Bizet's new opera CARMEN in 1875 was rather taken aback by the female lead who, even by Parisian standards, was deemed too modern and unconventional. Thirty years earlier, the author of the Carmen novella, Prosper Mérimée, had not fared much better, with critics referring to his book as a scandal.
Today, both Mérimée's novella and Bizet's opera rank among the outstanding works of western cultural history, and the story has spawned numerous retellings and film versions. In the 1910s, both in Europe and the USA, a number of filmmakers adapted the theme, among them Raoul Walsh (1915), Charlie Chaplin (1915) and Ernst Lubitsch (1918). The film version by Cecil B. DeMille (1915) stands out as an early testimony the merging of two genres: music theatre and film. [...]
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Director: Robert Wiene, Music: Original music by Richard Strauss, Musical arrangement: Bernd Thewes, Adaption: Frank Strobel Film versions of operas were already popular in the silent film era; however, few other opera films of the time were as spectacular and of such a high musical quality as the ROSENKAVALIERwhich was created in 1925. The film stars a number of brilliant performers, among them Michael Bohnen, who was considered to be the incarnation of Ochs von Lerchenau par excellence.
The film is based on the music of the ROSENKAVALIER opera by Richard Strauss. It was arranged in an instrumental form to suit the film medium and was played by a repetiteur on set. Taking the opera's story line as its central theme, the result was a film comedy enlivened with attractive locations, including Schönbrunn castle and its extensive grounds. The 'people's film opera', as Richard Strauss liked to call it, was staged in an opulent scenography produced by Alfred Roller who had furnished the setting for the opera's premiere. The director was Robert Wiene, who had made a name for himself with THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920). In ROSENKAVALIER, he proved that he not only had impeccable taste when it came to creating the rococo ambience of the original but was also perceptively tuned into the ironic element which distinguishes ROSENKAVALIER as one of the major 20th century operas. [...]
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The expressive voice and beautiful articulation of Laurence Olivier made him one of the greatest Shakespeare actors of the 20th century, and he is foremost remembered as a man of the theater. Olivier (1907-1989) worked in film starting in 1930, winning success with his utterly British, even stiff manner in the Hollywood Classics WUTHERING HEIGHTS (after Emily Brontë, 1939), REBECCA (1940) and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1940). His most important contributions as actor and director are his three adaptations of Shakespeare: HENRY V (1944), which became the 'Song of Songs' to English patriotism during the Second World War; HAMLET (1948), performed as a pale spirit with a psyche oriented toward Sigmund Freud; and RICHARD III (1955), a mix of static stage drama and masterful color dramaturgy. [...]
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The only film score which survives from the scarce composed by Paul Hindemith in the twenties decade, corresponds to one of the first compositions expressly made for a specific picture. Composed in a unselfish way, only for the pleasure to do it, this very beautiful Hindemith's score for IM KAMPF MIT DEM BERGE, a mountain-and-snow adventure film directed by his friend Arnold Fanck in 1920, was only heared in conjunction with the movie, and as the composer and director liked, on its premiere in Berlin in 1921. [...]
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IVAN THE TERRIBLE - the second joint project of Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Prokofiev – is, much like ALEXANDER NEWSKI, a historical epic, portraying the rise and fall of the autocratic ruler Ivan IV in the 16th century. ALEXANDER NEWSKI and IVAN THE TERRIBLE count in terms of both film and music history as outstanding productions.
Out of the collaboration of two like-minded artists emerged works that would have an incalculable influence on international film and establish themselves in the world heritage of great art—a unique occurrence, for Prokofiev considered his contributions to cinematography forever over after Eisensteinʼs sudden death. [...]
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Cinema in the 4th dimension...
MATRIX LIVE. FILM IN CONCERT brings the winner of four Oscars to the concert hall. The live film concert combines visionary science fiction imagery with the sound of a large symphonic orchestra.
THE MATRIX is deemed to have played a groundbreaking role in the development of the science fiction genre, dealing with a subject of concern to millions of cinema goers at the turn of millennium: the border between reality and the virtual world. The film's content, narrative and technical realization (e.g. the so-called 'bullet time effect') helped open up and propagate a new dimension of film appreciation.
The story: Neo, a hacker, is contacted via the internet by a mysterious underground organisation. The leader of the group, the wanted terrorist Morpheus, lets him in on a terrible secret: reality as we know it is just an illusory world. In reality, people have long been controlled by a sinister virtual power – the Matrix, whose agents already have their sights on Neo. [...]
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It all started in Buenos Aires in 2008. The METROPOLIS restoration project, which attracted international attention, began with the surprise discovery of a long-forgotten unique version of the film, including scenes that were previously believed lost. It is these new parts that sets METROPOLIS apart from the earlier, substantially shorter 1988 and 2001 versions. Against the breath-taking science fiction background, the human element has been given a more prominent role, adding a different slant to the storyline.
The music plays a crucial role in the reconstructed montage of the premiere version, the primary source being the original score by Gottfried Huppertz.
Political and economic power in Metropolis centres on one person: From the 'New Tower of Babel', Joh Fredersen reigns like an absolute monarch over Upper Town and Lower Town. Perceiving himself as the 'brain', the ruler considers people as mere 'hands' in the machinery. The human aspect - love and friendship, rebellion and revenge - is still powerful enough to shake the foundations of the futuristic city's technological world. [...]
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THE NEW BABYLON is a parable of revolutionary fervor and the tyrannical efforts of the bourgeoisie to suppress it. Trauberg and Kosinzew used the tools of cinema in a lively and invigorating fashion that is still asthonishing.
Multiple storylines and locations are cut between with brisk fluidity; the camera is tossed, spun, raised lowered, and put in places you would never expect. The performances of the cast are quite eccentric, yet never out of place or out of keeping with the tone of the picture.
The film has all of the vigor and pure cinematic originality of Abel Gance's Napoleon without all the pretensions to greatness shouldered by that film. [...]
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Larger than life, built upon the Norse legends of the Middle Ages, and enhanced by the striking imagery of the German expressionist movement, SIEGFRIED is a monumental spectacle. In preparing the tale of Siegfried, Lang put to full use the cinematographic innovations and creative visions of the artists of Decla-Bioscop. The towering trees, treasure-filled caves, and seventy-foot dragon were constructed in full scale within the studio walls. The special effects artists devised innovative matte and mirror effects when the scope of action was too immense to be confined to an indoor set. [...]
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In a follow-up to his adventure epic SIEGFRIED, director Fritz Lang continues the tale of the 13th Century Norse legend, while delving into topics of deeper personal significance.
Lang heightened the story's dramatic tension by meticulously choreographing the actors' positioning within the huge, expressionistic sets constructed for the film, so that every shot works to subtly enhance the steadily intensifying conflict.
Riveting from start to finish, KRIEMHILD'S REVENGE is an unforgettable glimpse into the heart of darkness of the human soul that ranks alongside Lang's similar examinations of human bloodlust: M, FURY, and THE BIG HEAT.[...]
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Sergei Eisenstein's OCTOBER, created for the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917, set radical new aesthetic standards. With the help of "intellectual montage" the film presented historical events as an explosive process of liberation from long repression and, as such, fell under the notorious verdict of formalism by means of which nearly all films of the Soviet avant-garde were banned from cinemas.
The film was locked away until the 1960s, yet its authentic revolutionary images were in circulation and used as documentary material in the absence of original recordings. A thorough reconstruction took place at the State Film Archive Gosfilmofond in the mid-1960s. The Munich Film Museum's new digital HD restoration is based on this version, which Gosfilmofond acquired and photographically improved upon with material from the EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam and Berlin's Federal Archive. [...]
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THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC shows the uncompromising style of Carl Theodor Dreyer.
The trial, the condemnation and execution of Jeanne d'Arc - all this is reflected in facial expressions on camera. The whole work is a succession of expressions and glances. The faces of the intriguing judges are caught from below in a dialectical movement, whereas Jeanne's face is shown in fixed angles and in most cases from above. Dreyer changes the perspective erratically with fast cuts, which create contrast with the lack of outward action in the plot.
In this more or less cubistic montage, Jeanne's inner fight is visible on Maria Falconetti's unpainted face: from the distraction of her almost crazy wide-opened eyes, over doubts and hope to triumph. With Falconetti, Dreyer found his ideal cast. Her incomparable performance is considered an example of brilliant dramatic art to this day. [...]
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The film RICHARD WAGNER, made on the occasion of the composer's 100th birthday in 1913 when cinema was still in its infancy, brings us the first comprehensive portrait of the "great master".
At the time, Wagner's original compositions could not be used for the film for reasons of copyright. Giuseppe Becce, who played Wagner in the film owing to a strong physical resemblance, suggested composing music that would create a clear link to Richard Wagner's work while maintaining enough difference to prevent legal consequences. [...]
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The historic performance, an adaptation of the timeless Shakespeare story, is a version of Prokofiev's ballet specially choreographed and staged for filming by the famous Leonid Lavrovsky. It is presented by the Bolshoi Ballet. The world legendary dancers Galina Ulanova, the leading ballerina at the Bolshoi Theater for nearly two decades after World War II, and Yuri Zhdanov essay the title roles for an unforgettable ballet experience. [...]
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TABU is a famous silent-film melodrama and prominent director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's last film. It was filmed at the original set in Bora Bora granting it a poetic mixture of drama and ethnographic study. Murnau never experienced the premiere of his film, which took place after his death on March 11, 1930 in Santa Barbara, CA due to a car accident. Instead of the original silent-film, the producer Hugo Riesenfeld presented TABU as a sound motion picture at its premiere in 1931. [...]
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The Adventures Of Prince Achmed was the first feature-length animated film in cinematic history. This highly imaginative and poetic film portrays the battle between good and evil based on stories from 'Arabian Nights'. The perhaps best known element is found in 'Aladin and the Wonderful Lamp', motifs from which were included in the plot [...]
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THE LODGER became Alfred Hitchcock's first horror classic and his first great success. It also marks the start of Hitchcock's famous cameo appearances. The film is a typical Hitchcock thriller in which a serial killer murders blond women in London. After all, it wouldn't be a Hitchcock if it didn't include the usual ingredients of thrill and suspense!
A serial killer known as "The Avenger" is murdering women in London. Every Tuesday, the killer murders a blond woman, and every time the police find the victim, she is wearing the signature of The Avenger. A strange new lodger, Jonathan Drew, requests to rent a room at Mr. and Mrs. Bounting's residence in Bloomsbury. His odd habits, such as leaving the house late on foggy nights and keeping a picture of a blond girl in his room, cause suspicion. The Bounting's daughter, Daisy, is engaged to Joe, a detective. Daisy Bounting is a blond model that has a flirtatious relationship with the lodger. When another murder occurs close to the Bounting's residence, Joe and Mr. Bounting suspect Jonathan of being the avenger, and so the lodger is arrested. [...]
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THE TREASURE was G.W. Pabst's debut film as well as the last film of the German expressionist era. It illustrates a parable about the dialectic between the power of material and idealistic values. This is a theme that is as current today as it was in the 1920s. Musically, the original composition by Max Deutsch is a unique historic document, since it is the first composed film symphony in five acts. [...]
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