The Ingenious Fritz Lang's DIE NIBELUNGEN To Get Masters Of Cinema Release

Renowned for its ingenious special visual effects and breathtaking set design, DIE NIBELUNGEN [THE NIBELUNGEN] is to be released in the UK on Blu-ray & DVD as part of Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA Series on 29 October 2012

Perhaps the most stately of Fritz Lang's two-part epics, the five-hour Die Nibelungen is a courageous and hallucinatory work. Its extraordinary set-pieces, archetypal themes, and unrestrained ambition have proved an inspiration for nearly every fantasy cycle that has emerged on-screen since – from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings.

In Part One, Siegfried, the film's eponymous hero acquires the power of invincibility after slaying a dragon and bathing in the creature's blood. Later, an alliance through marriage between the hero and the royal clan of the Nibelungen turns treacherous, with Siegfried's sole weakness exploited. In Part Two, Kriemhilds Rache [Kriemhild's Revenge], Siegfried's widow travels to the remote land of the Huns to wed the monstrous Attila, and thereby enlist his forces in an act of vengeance that culminates in massacre, conflagration, and, under the auspices of Lang, one of the most exhilarating and terrifying end-sequences in all of cinema.

Adapted from the myth that was also the basis for Wagner's Ring cycle of operas, Lang's epic offers its own startling expressionistic power – a summit of the director's artistry. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Die Nibelungen in a spectacular new HD restoration, released as a 2 x DVD set & a 2 x Blu-ray set in the UK on 29 October 2012. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Long-awaited expert HD restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Germany
• Immaculately presented in the film's original frame rates and aspect ratio, in 1080p on the Blu-ray
• Newly translated optional English subtitles for the original German intertitles
• An hour-long documentary: The Heritage of Die Nibelungen
• Illustrated booklet featuring the words of Lang, rare archival imagery, and more
• Further details to be announced nearer the release date! Pre-Order/Buy: DIE NIBELUNGEN (Masters of Cinema) BLU-RAY [1924]

LIVE EAST DIE YOUNG East London film nominated best UK picture at Raindance

Finnish Director Laura Hyppönen’s gritty East London debut film Live East Die Young has received a nomination for best UK feature film at this year’s Raindance Film Festival in London.

The film will hold its world premiere at the festival on the 4^th October, shortly followed by French premiere at the Dinard British Film Festival where the film has been nominated for the festival’s Grand Jury prize, the Golden Hitchcock.

Shot on a shoestring budget and featuring a distinctive soundtrack from the indie underground wave (featuring cult bands Bo Ningen, Feral AKA MC Kinky and many others), Live East Die Young is a raw look at the lives of model Emma and her best friend, hairdresser Max, as they descend ever-deeper into a destructive world of parties, lies, sex and drugs. Shot entirely at authentic East London locations, from artist warehouses to club basements, the film offers a voyeuristic, dogma-esque look into their substance-fuelled lifestyle. The film also stars newcomers Zoë Grisedale and James ‘Jeanette’ Main, best known for his involvement with notorious real-life East London party collective, Boombox.

Hyppönen, who has been living in the UK for 11 years, produced, wrote and directed the film. She says: “It’s great that an edgy independent no-budget film like Live East Die Young has been recognised among recent UK successes like ‘Ill Manors’ and ‘Shadow Dancer’. The project has been a labour of love, made without any support from film funds. We are really excited to see how the audience will respond!”

The film is sold internationally by Paris-based Reel Suspects. Matteo Lovadina, CEO, who handpicked the project from Cannes during the Marche du Film, says: “I am pleased to work as the international sales agent for Live East Die Young. The film’s roughness and documentary look made me feel immediately inside the story. It’s a crossover film that can fit equally well into niches and attract the general public. The Raindance world premiere and Dinard competition selection are a confirmation of the film’s potential.” 

Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra (Masters Of Cinema) DVD Review

★★★★☆

Cleopatra was a film made by legendary maverick film director Cecil B. DeMille in 1934. It also was later done again in 1963 infamously with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the roles of Cleopatra and Mark Antony respectively. In the 1934 version it stars Claudette Colbert (who was one of the biggest stars of the 1930s) and Henry Wilcoxon.

The film tells the story of the man hungry Cleopatra and her affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony partly out of love and partly for their power. She firsts meet Caesar because her brother Pothinos throws her in the desert to die because he gonna sign off Egypt over to Caesar. She sneaks back in a carpet and wins Caesar over with her body and they fall in love. She later kills Pothinos after she spots him trying to assassinate her.

Caesar and Cleo go back to Rome. The other Romans officials start distrust both of them and eventually assassinate Caesar. Marc Antony and Octavian are later named the co-rulers of Rome. Antony is “disdainful of women” but Cleopatra eventually wins him over much to disgust of Rome.

The film is considerably shorter than the more famous Liz/Burton version, over half the length shorter of that’s 4 HOURS!!! running time at a relatively brisk 101 minutes. It’s not a super fast paced film but very few from the 1930s were. It does however play along nicely.

It was made soon after the production code was introduced. It was the 80th film approved and because this it got away with a lot more than some films not a long afterwards got away with. It has very overt sexual undertones that in some cases DeMille just covers the act in progress. Which is very effective and a good and inventive way to get away with very risqué matter.

The film has lavish sets and design, which is expected from DeMille production. The sets are beautifully detailed with wonderful backdrops, dozens upon dozens of extras and beautifully choreographed. Some of the battle scenes however suffer from bad super imposed images but hell it’s the 1930s, technology has come a long way. The costume design by is also stunning and amazingly revealing for a film from 1934.

The performance from Claudette Colbert oozes sensuality, dominance, heroism and power. The male roles are all very mundane and weak compared to Cleopatra’s strength and dominance over them. Colbert did a best actress Academy award that but not for Cleopatra but for the proto-screwball comedy It Happened Here. It did however win a much-deserved award for cinematography and was nominated for Film, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR!!! (a category they no longer have), sound and editing.

Overall the film is a gloriously over the top film from one true pioneers of cinema Mr. DeMille who would later go on to make such films as The Ten Commandments and The Greatest Show On Earth.

Ian Schultz

Rating:PG
UK Re-release Date:24th September 2012
Directed By:Cecil B. DeMille
Cast:Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon, Joseph Schildkraut