German Silent Classics Saved
Director Fritz Lang was dubbed ‘the master of darkness’ and now his legendary 1921 silent movie Der mude Tod (Destiny) has been digitally restored to its former glory. It will receive its premier at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival on 12 February.
The plot revolves around a young couple who decide to rest at a small rural hostelry. Tragedy strikes when the man is abducted by Death and his lover is given three chances to save him from his fate.
The screening will be accompanied by a brand new musical score composed by Cornelius Schwehr and performed by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under conductor Frank Strobel. The restored film will then be transmitted on ARTE Television on 15th February, with a DVD and Blu-ray release set to follow.
The impressive cast list includes legendary German performers such as Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen and Bernhard Goetzke. Fritz Lang would go on to direct the acclaimed futuristic film Metropolis in 1927 before heading to Hollywood where his credits included Rancho Notorious starring Marlene Dietrich, Moonfleet with Stewart Granger, American Guerrilla in the Philippines with Tyrone Power, and Clash by Night starring Marilyn Monroe.
Bertelsmann, a worldwide media group, were the main sponsor of the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundations digital restoration of Der mude Tod, and this follows on from their support of the award winning digital restoration of Robert Wiene’s 1920 silent classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari which is now available on DVD.
In the case of Der mude Tod no original copies of the film survived, and the prints made later lacked the original colour tinting which made the production so distinctive. The extensive restoration work began in 2014 and has involved sourcing footage and materials from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the NFA in Prague and the Munich Film Museum. Fans will be delighted to know that the original coloration can now be enjoyed once again.
Dr Thomas Rabe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bertelsmann said, “As a creative company with a long tradition of its own in film production, Bertelsmann is again mounting an effort to bring historically significant movies from the analogue in to the digital era. Our financial commitment is also meant as a signal: preserving cinematic heritage and carefully transferring it into the future is a long-term task for society as a whole. Foundations and archives should not be left alone with this task.”
If you’d like to book a ticket to see the restored version of Der mude Tod on 12th February in Berlin you can do so by heading to the website here.
It is a pity that we don’t have more organisations like Bertelsmann around the world as so many precious audio-visual archives are at risk. As I recently reported, the National Film & Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) is in a race against time to save Australia’s rich televisual heritage. Any tapes in their collection which are not digitised before 2025 will be lost forever and we will lose countless programmes which are loved the world over. If you’d like to make a donation to the NFSA to help save some of Australia’s most important television productions you can do so by heading to their website here.
Pictured top: Death (Bernhard Goetzke) pays an unwelcome visit. Photo copyright Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiffing (Wiesbaden)
Pictured Middle: Inset Left: Director Fritz Lang and Inset Right: actress Lil Dagover plays the young female lover. Photos copyright Deutsches Filminstitut- DIF.
