Sep 12
Press-Release zum Murnau, Borzage and Fox Set
DVD • RC-1 | USA ••• Trackback: Link

Das hier bereits angekündigte DVD-Set mit Filmen von Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau und Frank Borzage wird nun unter dem Titel “Murnau, Borzage and Fox” in den Handel gelangen. Anders als bisher angenommen wird das Set von 20th Century Fox nicht am 2. Dezember, sondern erst am 9. Dezember 2008 erscheinen.

Enthalten sind diese Filme:

- “Sonnenaufgang / Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” [USA 1927, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau]
- “Unser täglich Brot – Die Frau aus Chicago / City Girl” [USA 1930, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau]
- “Der Faulpelz / Lazybones” [USA 1925, Frank Borzage]
- “Im siebenten Himmel / Sevent Heaven” [USA 1927, Frank Borzage]
- “Engel der Straße / Street Angel” [USA 1928, Frank Borzage]
- “Lucky Star” [USA 1929, Frank Borzage]
- “They Had to See Paris” [USA 1929, Frank Borzage]
- “Liliom” [USA 1930, Frank Borzage]
- “Song ‘o My Heart” [USA 1930, Frank Borzage]
- “Bad Girl” [USA 1931, Frank Borzage]
- “After Tomorrow” [USA 1932, Frank Borzage]
- “Young America” [USA 1932, Frank Borzage]

Hinzu kommen der Rekonstruktions-Versuch von Murnaus verschollenem “Vier Teufel / 4 Devils” [USA 1928] und das Fragment von Borzages “Die erste Frau im Leben / The River” [USA 1929]. Letzteres ist in Deutschland bereits innerhalb der Edition Filmmuseum erschienen.

Neben den Extras zu den einzelnen Filmen bietet das Set außerdem die Dokumentation “Murnau, Borzage and Fox” [USA 2008, John Cork].

Es folgt der Press-Release:

CENTURY CITY, Calif. – At the very first Academy Awards in May, 1929, two directors cemented their place in cinematic history as F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise took home the prize for Unique and Artistic Picture and Frank Borzage garnered Best Director for 7th Heaven. At the time, both men were under contract with William Fox, owner of Fox Film Corporation, who had invested heavily on making sure that movie directors were the stars of his films, gambling that audiences would gravitate to strong stories told by brilliant filmmakers. These awards validated Fox’s vision for movies as an art form and these two director’s craft.

Now, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment presents a collection saluting F. W. Murnau and Frank Borzage whose daring camera movements and visually extravagant styles were integral in the development of modern movies and the studio that allowed them to flourish with MURNAU, BORZAGE AND FOX, available December 9, 2008. Celebrating their collected works, their influence on director’s to follow and their collaborations with William Fox in the late 1920s and early 1930s, MURNAU, BORZAGE AND FOX features 12 films from the Hollywood legends including newly remastered versions of Murnau’s Sunrise and Borzage’s 7th Heaven, as well as an all-new feature length documentary from filmmaker John Cork looking at William Fox’s patronage and Murnau and Borzage’s effect on the film industry. Additionally, the set features two exclusive hard-cover books showcasing rare, unpublished photos from the careers of both filmmakers, one of which focuses solely on Murnau’s 4 Devils, the lost film considered by those that saw it to be the greatest movie ever made, pushing the boundaries of what Hollywood movies were at the time.

While his career was cut short due to a fatal auto accident in 1931 at the age of 42, the impact of F.W. Murnau on the film community can still be felt to this day. Heralded by his contemporaries such as John Ford, Allan Dwan, William Wellman, Howard Hawks and Raoul Walsh during his time at the studio, William Fox brought the expressionist director from Germany to Hollywood after he saw his 1924 film The Last Laugh. This premiere collection includes two surviving works that Murnau made with Fox from 1927-1930 including the beautifully filmed, three-time Oscar winner Sunrise (1927) starring Janet Gaynor and George O’Brien and the country set, marital crisis City Girl (1930). Murnau’s lost, and perhaps most famous work 4 Devils (1928) is also paid tribute with a featurette and all-new book focused on the film as well as a look at the screenplay and more. Also included is the rarely seen European silent alternate version of Sunrise, restored by the Nardoni Filmovy Archiv.

Frank Borzage’s career at Fox lasted only seven years, but it would be the silent films he helmed at the studio that would come to define his career as he won the first Best Director Oscar for 7th Heaven and again in 1931 for Bad Girl. Ten of Borzage’s surviving films are featured in the collection including the melodramatic love story 7th Heaven (1927), another triple-Oscar winner at the inaugural ceremony also starring Janet Gaynor. Borzage would go on to collaborate with Gaynor two more times at Fox; as a spirited young woman who joins a traveling carnival in Street Angel (1928) and as a young farm girl who falls in love with a soldier during World War I in Lucky Star (1929). Other featured Borzage works include Lazybones (1925), They Had To See Paris (1929), two versions of Song O’ My Heart (1930), Liliom (1930), Bad Girl (1931), After Tomorrow (1932), Young America (1932) and a reconstruction of the lost film The River (1929).

Lastly, Murnau, Borzage & Fox (2008) is a feature length documentary by filmmaker John Cork examining the early history of Fox films and studio head William Fox and his patronage of German expressionist F.W. Murnau. In turn, Murnau’s cinematic styles would influence Fox’s stable of directors including Frank Borzage, John Ford and Raoul Walsh.
 
Lazybones (1925) – Frank Borzage
Steve Tuttle (Charles Jones), the titular lazybones, takes on the responsibility of raising a fatherless girl, causing a scandal in his small town. Many years later, having returned from World War I, he discovers that he loves the grown-up girl.

- Feature film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- Newly created score composed by Tim Curran
- Still gallery
 
Street Angel (1928) – Frank Borzage
First-ever ACADEMY AWARD-Winning actress Janet Gaynor plays Angela, in “a simple, but pathetically beautiful love tale” (Film Daily) that unfolds in the picturesque landscape of Naples, Italy.

- Feature film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- Still gallery
 
7th Heaven (1927) – Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage’s inspiring romantic tale of love and courage is a true cinematic masterpiece. Starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Director.

- Feature film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- Commentary by film historians Robert Birchard and Anthony Slide
- Still gallery
- The River reconstruction featurette
- The River Still gallery
 
Sunrise (1927) – F.W. Murnau
In this fable-morality silent film masterpiece (which is subtitled “A Song of Two Humans”), an evil temptress (Margaret Livingston) bewitches a farmer (George O’Brien) and convinces him to murder his neglected wife (Janet Gaynor). After he comes to his senses – before he is about to kill his wife – the married couple renew their love in the city.

- Movietone version of feature film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- European silent version of feature film (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
- Original Movietone score
- Olympia Chamber Orchestra score composed and conducted by Timothy Brock
- Commentary by ASC Cinematographer John Bailey
- Outtakes with commentary by John Bailey
- Outtakes with text cards
- Original scenario by Carl Meyer with annotations by F. W. Murnau
- Theatrical trailer
- Still gallery
- Sunrise screenplay
- Restoration notes
 
Lucky Star (1929) – Frank Borzage
Mary (Janet Gaynor), a poor farm girl, meets Tim (Charles Farrell) just as word comes that war has been declared. Tim enlists in the army and goes to the battlefields of Europe, where he is wounded and loses the use of his legs. Home again, Tim is visited by Mary and they are powerfully attracted to each other; but his physical handicap prevents him from declaring his love for her. Deeper complications set in when Martin (Guinn Williams), Tim’s former sergeant and a bully, takes a shine to Mary.

- Feature film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- Newly created score composed and conducted by Christopher Caliendo
- Still gallery
 
They Had To See Paris (1929) – Frank Borzage
Oklahoma mechanic Pike Peters finds himself part owner of an oil field. His wife Idy, hitherto content, decides the family must go to Paris to get culture and meet the right kind of people. Pike and his grown son and daughter soon have flirtatious French admirers; Idy rents a chateau from an impoverished aristocrat while Pike responds to each new development with homespun wit. In the inevitable clash, will pretentiousness and sophistication or common sense triumph?

- Feature film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- Newly created score composed and conducted by Christopher Caliendo
- Still gallery
 
City Girl (1930) – F.W. Murnau
Lem goes to Chicago to sell the wheat his family has grown on their farm in Minnesota. There he meets the waitress Kate. They fall in love and get married before going back to the farm. Kate is accepted by Lem’s mother and kid sister but is rejected by his father, who believes she married for the money. The reapers arrive and quickly make things even more complicated by making their move on Kate. Lem misunderstands the situation and believes Kate is actually interested. In despair Kate leaves the farm and Lem goes looking for her.

- Feature film (1.19:1 aspect ratio)
- Still gallery
- Murnau’s 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film – a film by Janet Bergstrom
- 4 Devils screenplay
- 4 Devils treatment
- 4 Devils Still gallery
 
Liliom (1930) – Frank Borzage
This gorgeously mounted story — later remade as the musical Carousel — follows Liliom, a poor, but cocky man who turns to thieving to support his new family. But when a holdup turns disastrous and Liliom loses his life, he is allowed to return to Earth years later in an attempt to set things right.

- Feature film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- Still gallery
 
After Tomorrow (1932) – Frank Borzage
No matter how responsible they are, a young couple’s pending marriage plans are destroyed by their self-serving families.

- Feature film (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
- Still gallery
 
Young America (1932) – Frank Borzage
Already in trouble with the law, Arthur and his friend Nutty break into a drugstore to get medicine for Nutty’s grandmother. The druggist’s wife, Mrs. Doray, asks for custody. When he hears them arguing over him, Arthur runs away. When he returns Mr. Doray is being robbed by bandits at the drugstore.

- Feature film (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
- Still gallery
 
Song O’ My Heart (1930) – Frank Borzage (Full sound version, and music and effects version)
In this “flawlessly” (The New York Times) recorded feature loosely based on his own life, “John McCormack’s famous tenor voice is reproduced so naturally and so pleasingly” (Film Daily).

- Feature sound version of the film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- Music and Effects version of the film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
- Still gallery
 
Bad Girl (1931) – Frank Borzage
In this Winner of two Oscars (Best Director for Borzage and Best Writing/Adaptation) — a touching drama set during the depression — a poor young couple must marry when she becomes pregnant.

- Feature film (1.20:1 aspect ratio)
 
Murnau, Borzage and Fox
- Feature Length Documentary

Christian Liemke

11 Kommentare

  1. Pingback #1
    17. September, 2008
    08:09 Uhr
    DVDuell.de » Artwork des Murnau, Borzage and Fox-Sets

    [...] Fox hat ein Bild der “Murnau, Borzage and Fox“-Box (siehe News vom 27. August und 12. September) veröffentlicht. Das Design des Sets, das am 2. Dezember 2008 in den Handel gelangt, [...]

  2. Kommentar #2
    3. November, 2008
    00:08 Uhr
    Christian Liemke

    The centerpiece of Fox’s new DVD collection is John Cork’s new documentary, ‘Murnau, Borzage & Fox.’ Featuring rare and unseen footage from the era, the documentary examines the brief moment in Hollywood history during which art flourished free of the constraints of commercial interests – and the three men who were at the center of that great experiment in filmmaking.

    On the evening of May 16, 1929 at the Roosevelt Hotel the very first Academy Awards were held, celebrating the 1927/8 movie season. Of the twelve Oscars presented that glamorous night, Fox’s studio would win half of them.

    Fox had invested heavily in making movie directors the stars of his films, gambling that audiences would gravitate to strong stories told well. On that evening two of his films, ’7th Heaven’ and ‘Sunrise’ captured the coveted golden statue known as ‘Oscar’ for ‘Drama Direction’ (Frank Borzage for 7th Heaven) and a special Oscar, ‘Unique and Artistic Picture’ (F.W. Murnau for Sunrise). – Fox’s star actress Janet Gaynor also won a statuette for her performances in both ‘Sunrise’ and ’7th Heaven.’ It was the ultimate validation of Fox’s vision for movies as an art form in their own right. – (Note: Paramount’s ‘Wings’ won the Oscar for ‘Outstanding Production’ – but today is credited as the first ‘Best Film’ – but ‘Sunrise’ could challenge that assumption).

    Fox had started in the business operating nickelodeons in New York and soon amassed a small fortune as he built a chain of theaters. He fought the monopoly of the movie distributors such as Edison, eventually becoming a vertically-integrated mogul in his own right, owning his own movie studio, distribution company and theater chain. – Fox’s first movie studio was located at the center of American filmmaking, Fort Lee, New Jersey – before moving operations in Hollywood in the early 1920s.

    When Fox saw F.W. Murnau’s ‘The Last Laugh’ and decided to bring the German expressionist director to Hollywood. Murnau was given carte blanche by Fox to make any movie he wished, free of financial constraint. Murnau did not disappoint his benefactor, as ‘Sunrise’ became one of the most celebrated movies of all-time. It was an epic production, with the studio back-lot turned into a rural town and a city – the contrasting settings of this melodrama – as well as expensive location shooting at Lake Arrowhead.

    Concurrently, Frank Borzage, already part of Fox’s stable of directors, was working on his own melodramatic love story set in Paris during the Great War, ’7th Heaven.’ Like Murnau, Borzage’s film was visually extravagant and lyrical. Both directors used daring camera movements that were new to audiences at the time. Both directors were daring, pushing the boundaries of what Hollywood movies were.

    Murnau’s arrival at Fox was heavily promoted as a signal of the artistic spirit of Fox movies. Murnau’s arrival at the studio also had a profound effect on the stable of directors already there. Not only was Borzage heavily influenced by Murnau, but so was John Ford, Alan Dwan and Raoul Walsh. Ford borrowed heavily from Murnau, especially for ‘Hangman’s House’ (part of the ‘Ford at Fox’ DVD collection and ‘John Ford: The Silent Epics’ DVD collection).

    Both Murnau and Borzage approached the subject of how love overcomes all adversities – but from very different perspectives. Murnau delved into the dark territory of lust and seduction, as his naïve protagonist is manipulated by a visting city girl to murder his wife in a fake boating accident, so they can live the nightlife of the big city.

    Borzage examined the spirituality of love, faith in God and the promise of miracles. Borzage’s closing shot of a priest raising his hand to God as he witnesses the miracle of the film’s lovers reunited remains overwhelmingly powerful.

    Despite the validation that the Oscars bestowed upon his movies, for the three protagonists in this story there would be no happy endings.

    ‘Sunrise’ was an unequivocal critical success, but it was not a huge box-office draw. Murnau had been given a free hand to spend liberally, and Fox was in deficit on the picture. For his next movie, Murnau agreed to a more modest production – this one set in a circus and following the loves of a trapeze act, known as the ’4 Devils.’

    Fate would prove unkind to ’4 Devils’ as sound was coming to motion pictures, and William Fox was in the middle of a format war between his Fox-Movietone sound-on-film system and the Warner Brothers synchronized record format, Vitaphone.

    ’4 Devils’ was completed and screened for test audiences. Largely positive in their response, Fox was less certain following the under-performance of ‘Sunrise.’

    After an initial release, the movie was taken back and a new section of ‘talkie’ sequences were filmed and added into a revised version of the movie. It was eventually released as a ‘sqwarkie’ – but technology had overtaken the silent film, and the hybrid silent-talkie was lost to the novelty of full, all-talking movies.

    Murnau, who once had a creative free-hand, now began to chafe at the studio’s interference. His third Fox film, ‘Our Daily Bread,’ was plagued by compromise that drove Murnau to terminate his contract with Fox – and the movie was finally released and retitled ‘City Girl.’ Murnau left Hollywood for Tahiti, where he made his independent movie ‘Tabu’ with Robert Flaherty. – His return to California would prove fatal. Just weeks before the premiere of ‘Tabu,’ Murnau was fatally injured when his car crashed in Santa Barbara. At the time, popular press reports suggested that Murnau had been cursed by the spirits of Tahiti for building a colonial house on a sacred burial ground.

    Borzage’s ’7th Heaven’ had been a huge success and his following films, ‘Street Angel,’ ‘Bad Girl’ and ‘The River’ continued the artistic and commercial streak -Borzage would win a second directing Oscar for ‘Bad Girl.’ But by 1931, William Fox had been ousted from his studio – and like Murnau, Borzage moved to Paramount where he would make his landmark adaptation of Hemingway’s ‘A Farewell to Arms.’ While Borzage would continue as a prominent director, it was for his silent movies at Fox that he would be best remembered, and for which he won his two Academy Awards.

    If 1927 represented an artistic peak for William Fox, it was also the beginning of his commercial downfall. Fox had enjoyed a long period of stratospheric growth in the previous 12 years since he started his Fox Film Corporation. That growth had been heavily leveraged, financially. But with the movies reaching 100-million admissions a week, the movies were a huge cash-cow.

    It was in 1927 that Marcus Loew, the head of Loews Corporation (that owned rival studio M-G-M) died suddenly, leaving his widow with the controlling stock for the company. – William Fox saw this as an opportunity to expand his output and purchase a major competitor. But it would prove a disastrous undertaking.

    Fox had borrowed some $50 million to acquire the MGM stock, as well as millions more to purchase a rival theater chain. When the Wall Street collapse of 1929 happened, on paper Fox should have been able to raise capital to make payments on his margin calls that he brokers and banks were calling in. – The MGM shares plumetted in value – as did the value of most of Fox’s holdings during the panic of ’29. But the margin calls were for real – and despite arranging last minute financing, it became clear that the financiers had the clout to prevent Fox making his obligations and take over the Fox holdings. Finally, William Fox forced to sell out everything.

    It was a harsh and bitter lesson for Fox. Even his once stalwart executives turned against him for the promise of better pay. – On the brink of the biggest success of his career, he found himself on the outside – never to return to filmmaking. Fox Films was placed in the hands of appointed managers and Fox himself was left on the sidelines. The company never quite regained its footing, the enormous cash surplus enjoyed under Fox’s regime became a thing of the past. From 1930 through to 1935 Fox Films struggled on and even had notable successes with the likes of Shirley Temple, Warner Baxter, and a thriving B-unit under the auspices of Fox production veteran Sol Wurtzel which produced the Charlie Chan series. In 1935, with fortunes cloudy, Fox Films merged with Twentieth Century (headed by Darryl Zanuck) to form Twentieth Century-Fox.

    Upton Sinclair, the noted socialist writer and biographer (his book ‘Oil’ was the inspiration for the movie, ‘There Will Be Blood’) published Fox’s own account of his downfall in ‘Presenting William Fox.’

    William Fox was ruined (although he managed to hold on to a sizeable personal fortune). But his downfall was not yet complete. In 1936, during his bankruptcy hearings, Fox was found to be bribing the Judge in his case – resulting in a prison sentence of one-year. Once the most important man in defining what Hollywood movies could be artistically had become a pariah. He died in 1952 at the age of 73. Hollywood overlooked his passing.

    But the legacy of William Fox lives on. Eventually, his sound-on-film process became the format of choice. His experiments with Fox Grandeur (a 70mm widescreen process used on ‘The Big Trail’ and ‘Song O’ My Heart’) would become a mainstream reality some 20-plus years later with the advent of epic 65mm, 70mm, CinemaScope and other wide film formats. William Fox pioneered a path of artistic and technical innovation as part of his grand ambition to be the biggest name in movie entertainment.

    20th Century Fox Studio Classics

  3. Kommentar #3
    4. Dezember, 2008
    23:07 Uhr
    Patrick Müller

    Die Dokumentation “Murnau, Borzage and Fox” [USA 2008, John Cork] ist übrigens auch auf der bei Edition Filmmuseum erschienenen “The River”-DVD enthalten.

  4. Kommentar #4
    5. Dezember, 2008
    08:11 Uhr
    Christian Liemke

    Sicher? Laut Edition Filmmuseum-WebSite heißt die Doku aber “Murnau and Borzage at Fox – The Expressionist Heritage / Murnau und Borzage im Fox-Studio – Das Vermächtnis des expressionistischen Films”, stammt aus dem Jahr 2007 und Regie führte Janet Bergstrom.

  5. Kommentar #5
    5. Dezember, 2008
    09:04 Uhr
    Patrick Müller

    Oh ja stimmt, da hatte ich “at” und “and” verwechselt. Die Titel klingen aber auch zum verwechseln ähnlich.

  6. Kommentar #6
    5. Dezember, 2008
    21:58 Uhr
    Christian Liemke

    Die Doku der Edition Filmmuseum-DVD hat eine Laufzeit von ca. 36 Minuten, die der RC1-Box läuft gar 106 Minuten. Oh man, was hätte ich das Set gerne … nur der Preis. :-( Bei DVDBeaver wurde es jetzt genauer unter die Lupe genommen.

  7. Kommentar #7
    8. Dezember, 2008
    12:29 Uhr
    Patrick Müller

    Immerhin ist ab dem 1.12.2008 die Zollfreigrenze auf 150,– € gehoben worden, da fällt wenigstens dieses lästige Übel weg. Weiß jemand, ob von der Box Einzelveröffentlichungen geplant sind?

  8. Kommentar #8
    8. Dezember, 2008
    13:26 Uhr
    Christian Liemke

    Bis zu einem Betrag von 150,- Euro fällt allerdings nur der Zollbetrag weg, die Umsatzeinfuhrsteuer von 19% bleibt jedoch.

    Von Einzelveröffentlichungen ist nichts bekannt. Die Titel der letztjährigen John Ford-Box sind bisher auch noch nicht einzeln erschienen.

  9. Kommentar #9
    8. Dezember, 2008
    19:23 Uhr
    Patrick Müller

    Als kleine Boxen sind sie sehr wohl erschienen. Diese sind handlich und bestehen aus einzelnen, schön aufgemachten Slim-Cases. Es gibt eine “John Ford’s Silent Epics”-(amazon.com), eine “John Ford’s American Comedies”- (amazon.com), und eine “The Essential John Ford Collection”- Box (amazon.com). So etwas hatte ich mit Einzelveröffentlichungen gemeint.

  10. Pingback #10
    29. Juli, 2009
    15:04 Uhr
    DVDuell.de » Friedrich Wilhelm Murnaus Sunrise im September 2009 bei Masters of Cinema auf DVD und Blu-ray

    [...] hat, enthalten. Die Export-Fassung wurde Ende 2008 erstmals innerhalb der amerikanischen “Murnau, Borzage and Fox“-DVD-Box von 20th Century Fox [...]

  11. Pingback #11
    8. Juli, 2010
    15:10 Uhr
    DVDuell.de » Fünf neue Blu-ray Discs von Carlotta Films bis Ende 2010

    [...] In den USA sind die drei Filme mit weiteren Werken von Murnau und Borzage innerhalb der “Murnau, Borzage and Fox“-Box im Dezember 2008 auf DVD veröffentlicht [...]

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