A story of two humans

[my_daroga]

So in the past two days, I've watched F.W. Murnau's Sunrise twice. I've been hearing about it since school, but sort of half-avoiding it because I had heard so much about how "beautiful" it was with a sense of "don't really bother about the story." A lot of the time, that doesn't work for me. I'm not very visually-oriented, though it's more

Comments

[filmnoir6]

She's pretty hot in The Scarlet Empress too, even though the film is just okay.

Von Sternberg's story is a bit interesting too, Ms. D, particularly his method of direction.

[my_daroga]

I actually don't know much about von Sternberg, I need to read up on him.

[inlaterdays]

Ooh, I've got to see those two Murnau films; I've only seen scenes from them. I was mildly obsessed with him for awhile this summer, mainly with respect to Nosferatu.

...I have no Nos icons here, what the heck.

[my_daroga]

I like Nosferatu but I've always had trouble really evaluating it because of the picture quality. It's difficult for me to watch. But yes! You should see them. Though there are no vampires. A vamp, though.

[my_daroga]

Well sure, but it's all connected I think. That is to say, I hope that people thinking of producing HD formats are thinking about the opportunity they have, because the fact remains a lot of stuff on DVD is done terribly. And even when it's done well, it's not going to come close to what it could be.

I think my point is that if they're going to spend the money to put out a new edition, I hope they do it right. As happened, for instance, when Dog Day Afternoon was released on blu-ray--the difference is absurdly noticeable even without a side-by-side comparison.

[my_daroga]

DVD does not have as high a resolution as film, and never can. I mean, there's that technical factor, if nothing else. So while I agree that a lot of what we see is slap-dash make-a-buck distributors at work, I have hope that the expense of making a new blu-ray edition will at least have someone thinking about it. The Sunrise disc is lovely and from what I've read didn't fall into the "too smooth" trap as some recent releases have done. But it looks pristine, and I wonder how much of that is the cinematography and how much is the job on the disc.

That's obviously not solely a blu-ray issue but I feel like there's an opportunity there. Why not go for the best we have? I'm not saying I'm going to not see something because it's not on blu-ray, or whatever, but given the choice, and with new stuff coming out, I'm hopeful that it can look this good. I can barely watch Nosferatu because of the blurry low-contrast prints I've seen of it, and I've seen about ten different versions and I have no idea (as yet) what is the film itself and what

[confusedkayt]

Argh, I was thinking about you today because the Museum of Modern Art is screening a print of Treasure Island where Orson Welles plays Long John Silver... I am fairly sure it's just been restored and is not available elsewhere and you'd get such a kick out of it, too. SIgh.

[my_daroga]

Oh, that's awesome. I haven't actually seen that. But oh well--I do get a fair chance at things in Seattle. Thanks for thinking of me!

[femmenerd]

Thank you for reminding me that I am supposed to watch this movie for my chapter on "Screenwriting/Writing on Screen." Also, hello you blessed nerdy girl. :)

[my_daroga]

Hi hi! How are you?

I hope you enjoy it.