German Cinema on Video: Resources for Collection Development and Scholarship

German Cinema on DVD and Video:
Resources for Collection Development and Scholarship

Overviews and Metasites

Web Sites for Individual Directors

General Information on DVD Technologies

U.S. Vendors of German Film on Video and DVD

Vendors of German Film on Video and DVD Region 2 DVDs for sale outside of US

US Films on DVD with German Audio Tracks

German/German Director Films Currently Available in the US on DVD

Sources for DVD Reviews and for Finding Out About New DVD Releases

Overviews and Metasites

The German-Hollywood Connection
http://www.german-way.com/cinema/index.html
A superb resource that includes short essays, bibliographies filmographies, and other information regarding German film classics, German directors and other technical and artistic personnel (both in Germany and Hollywood), and German film stars. Abundant links to other sites.

Selected Bibliography of Readings on German Film in the UC Berkeley Library
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Germanfilmbib.html
Bibliography of books, articles, and reviews (mostly in English) in the UC Berkeley Library. Includes bibliographies for works on individual directors and individual films.

German Film and Related Topics (Bibliography) (University of Houston)
http://www.uh.edu/academics/de/frieden/germanfilmread.html
A general bibliography of books/articles in English related to German cinema and related topics.

German Women Filmmakers: A Selected Bibliography (Dr. Elaine Martin, University of Alabama)
http://bama.ua.edu/~emartin/gwf/bibliog.htm

Bibliography of DEFA Sources in English & German
http://www.umass.edu/defa/biblio.htm#English
An excellent, extremely useful bibliography of material related to the DEFA studio and East German cinema in general.

Sourcebook for Early German Film
http://www.filmgeschichte.de
A rather oddly arranged site that includes credits, abstracts, and other information concerning silent German film classics.

German Film: A Brief History
http://members.tripod.com/michaelfussell/index.html
A series of essays written and assembled by a Deutsche cinema fan. Longevity of this site, like all such fan and hobbyist sites, is questionable.

CineGraph (Hamburgisches Centrum für Filmforschung e.V.)
http://www.cinegraph.de/en/index.html
CineGraph is a professional research association based in Hamburg, Germany devoted to supporting the scholarly study of German and other cinemas. The research center is also the editorial office of CineGraph - Lexikon des deutschsprachigen Films. CineGraph has developed an exceptionally useful site (mostly in German), that includes Berliner Film-Ateliers - a small online lexicon of studios in and around Berlin throughout this Century. Extensive links to other German cinema and general film industry and film history sites.

German Film Links (via About.com)
http://worldfilm.about.com/movies/worldfilm/msub-ger.htm?once=true&]
Includes links to sites devoted to individual films, directors, actors/actresses,

Cinema in Weimar Germany (lecture notes, Prof. Walter Metz, Montana State University-Bozeman)
http://bloopy.kusm.montana.edu/metz/intlfilm/germanexpressionism.htm

Expressionist Film in the Weimar Republic
http://users.deltanet.com/users/lukelin/gerfilm.html

Expressionism and Caligarisme (student essay, University of Texas at Austin)
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/1689/expr_act.html

German Expressionist Cinema 1919 - 1933 (by Fabian Ziesing)
http://www.stud.uni-hannover.de/user/73853/gerexp.html
Site developed by a University of Hanover student. Good short essays on various film directors, genres, and eras.

Stichworte zur Geschichte des deutschen Films (Goethe Institute)
http://www.goethe.de/z/wwfilm/stichw/degesch.htm
Helpful overview (in German) of German film history

Kinoeye (via Central Europe Review web site)
http://www.ce-review.org/kinoeye/archive_intro.html
A site devoted to Central and East European cinema. Includes a separate site for Germany. Covered by this resource are both external sites and the archives for the regular Kinoeye column, which appears weekly in Central Europe Review. Includes information organized by theme, country, director, and individual films.

The Fall of the Bibliographic Wall: Libraries and Archives in Unified Germany, by Sem C. Sutter (UC San Diegeo)
http://gort.ucsd.edu/rsonn/fallwall.html

Sites Devoted to Specific Directors

Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang: Master of Darkness (British Film Institute)
http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/lang/

Critical study of Fritz Lang's films by Michael E. Grost, with links to other studies of Expressionist and noir films by the same writer.
http://members.aol.com/MG4273/lang.htm

Fritz Lang Biography (Dictionary of American Biography)
http://www.jscheuer.com/lang.htm

Fritz Lang Filmographies
http://www.nwlink.com/~erick/silentera/Lang/flang-f.html
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Lang,+Fritz (Internet Movie Database)

Fritz Lang Bibliography
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Germanfilmbib.html#Lang (UC Berkeley Library)

Metropolis: A Bibliography and Checklist of Resource
http://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/Metroa.html

Fritz Lang's Metropolis
http://www.persocom.com.br/brasilia/metropo.htm

Metropolis and Fritz Lang
http://www.persocom.com.br/brasilia/metropo.htm

Metropolis
http://www3.sympatico.ca/philippe.lemieux2/metropo.htm (in French)

M
http://www.cyberroach.com/m/m.htm

F.W. Murnau

Web of Murnau
http://home.earthlink.net/~jakre/murnau/

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Begrüßung http://www.fh-bielefeld.de/fb4/murnau/fwmframe.htm

Murnau Filmographies
http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/directors/murnaufw.html (via Progressive Silent Film List)

Murnau page (includes filmography, biography)
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/9384/directors/murnau.htm

Nosferatu
http://www.silentera.com/VHS/nosferatuVHS.html (via Silent Era web site) http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/nosferatu.html (Roger Ebert review) http://tlc.discovery.com/tlcpages/specialeffects/nosferatu.html (Discovery Channel) http://home.earthlink.net/~jakre/murnau/nosferat.htm (Web of Murnau) http://www3.sympatico.ca/philippe.lemieux2/nosferat.htm (in French) http://thesync.com/features/ (QuickTime version of the entire film)

Sunrise
http://www.robinsonresearch.com/MOVIES/MOVIES/Sunrise.htm (via Robinson Research World of Knowledge)

G.W. Pabst

Pabst Filmographies
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Pabst,+Georg+Wilhelm (Internet Movie Database)

Pandora's Box

http://www.filmunlimited.co.uk/Century_Of_Films/Story/0,4135,67427,00.html (Guardian Observer)

http://www.pandorasbox.com/ (Louise Brooks Society)

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/pandora_box.html (Roger Ebert review)

http://people.enternet.com.au/~speck/index.htm (Louise Brooks: An Appreciation)

Werner Herzog

Official Herzog Home Page
http://www.werner-herzog-film.com/index.htm

Biography from Baseline Encyclopedia of Film http://www.1worldfilms.com/werner_herzog.htm

Interviews
http://www.nsi-canada.ca/nsi/ssheet/herzog.html
http://spielfilm.de/special/1999/Wernerherzog/ (in German)

The Enigma of Werner Herzog (by Lyall Bush/MovieMaker Magazine)
http://www.moviemaker.com/issues/16/herzog/16_herzog.html

Filmography (Internet Movie Database) http://guardian.imdb.com/Name?Herzog,+Werner

Werner Herzog fan pages
http://vassun.vassar.edu/~cecurran/herzog.html (by Cecilia Curran)
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/6639/Herzog/ (by René Albert)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Fassbinder Chronology (films and plays)
http://www.hud.ac.uk/schools/music+humanities/m+h/theatre/staff/djbweb/rwfbio.htm

Fassbinder Filmography (Internet Movie Database)
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Fassbinder,+Rainer+Werner

Fassbinder biography (with links, filmographies)
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/9384/directors/fassbinder.htm

Biography from Baseline's Encyclopedia of Film
http://www.1worldfilms.com/rainer_werner_fassbinder.htm

"Beware a Holy Whore: Remembering Fassbinder
http://www.jimtushinski.com/fassbinder.html

Fassbinder Page (including essays, interviews, filmographies)
http://castle.uvic.ca/german/439/fassbinder.html (via University of Victoria)

Fassbinder Fan pages:
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Fassbinder,+Rainer+Werner

Leni Riefenstahl

Riefenstahl page via German-Hollywood Connection site) (includes excellent biographical info; links to other sites)
http://www.german-way.com/cinema/rief.html

Riefenstahl Internet Links
http://www.websteruniv.edu/~barrettb/riefenstahl2.htm

The Trials and Triumphs of Leni Riefenstahl by David Arduini
http://www.uscolo.edu/ebersole/426/leni.html

Volker Schlöndorff

Schlöndorff Fact Sheet (via E!Online)
http://eonline.com/Facts/People/Bio/0,128,41825,00.html

Schlöndorff Credits (via Internet Movie Database
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Schl%F6ndorff,+Volker

Von Sternberg/ Dietrich Films (via American Film Institute)
http://www.afionline.org/nft/aug96/nft.d.html

Macao and Last Command (essay)
http://member.aol.com/MG4273/sternb.htm

Life and Career of Marlene
http://www.ivnet.co.at/streif/biograph.htm --Dietrich and Sternberg: The Fallen Angels (by Adrian Martin; from ejournal Senses of Cinema)
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/7/cteq/angels.html

Robert Weine

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
http://thesync.com/features/ (QuickTime version of the entire film) http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/7624/Caligari.html (The Incompleat Complete Films of Conrad Veidt by Barbara Peterson)
http://members.aol.com/CVSociety/Caligari.html (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari--a review by Robert Klepper; includes links to credits, other reviews)
http://www.german-way.com/cinema/cveidt1.html (Conrad Veidt page via German-Hollywood Connection site)

Wim Wenders

Wenders site (via German-Hollywood Connection)
http://www.german-way.com/cinema/wenders.html

Wenders site on Italw@y (in large part in Italian)
http://www.italway.it/spettacolo/wenders/index1eng.html

Wenders site (via University of Victoria)
http://castle.uvic.ca/german/439/wenders.html

Unofficial Wenders Web Site (in Italian)
http://www.greenteam.it/wenders/default.htm

Questions & Answers with Wim Wenders (via Roughcut Magazine)
http://www.roughcut.com/main/drive1_97sep4.html

Short Video Clips of Wenders Interviews
http://www.filmscouts.com/people/wim-wen.asp

General Information on DVD Technologies

DVD Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.dvda.org/
http://www.videodiscovery.com/vdyweb/dvd/dvdfaq.html
More than you'll ever want to know about the technology.

DVD 101 (via DVD.com)
http://www.dvd.com/stories/scoop/feature/story_285.asp
An excellent general introduction to the technology. Also includes good basic discussion of aspect ratios.

Earl's Famous DVD Technology Exposition Web Page Extravaganza Supreme Deluxe
http://lonestar.texas.net/~bdub/earl/dvd.htm
Sort of the Beverly Hillbillies meets High Tech. Amusing and generally useful basic information.

DVD Region Map
http://www.unik.no/~robert/hifi/dvd/world.html
A map of world DVD regions (DVD hardware is region-specific; a DVD released in Germany will not play on most US players )

U.S. Vendors of German Film on Video and DVD

Sources for Videos in German (via About.com)
http://www.about.com/education/german/library/blvideo.htm?once=true&

Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com
Mainstream videos and DVDs, including most available popular foreign feature film titles.

FACETS
http://www.facets.org
The single best source for international cinema on video and DVD. The FACETS catalog includes both feature films and documentary works.

IceStorm International (The DEFA Film Library Cinema of East Germany)
http://www-nss.oit.umass.edu/defa/
DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft), the state-owned studio of the former German Democratic Republic, produced over 750 feature films and countless documentaries and shorts, as well as numerous children's films, between 1946 and 1992. DEFA makes up a significant segment of German film history, as the former UFA studios of Babelsberg aspired to the status of a national cinema in their own right. The successes and the failures of this enterprise include works by such major directors as Slatan Dudow, Wolfgang Staudte, Kurt Maetzig, Frank Beyer and Konrad Wolf. Spanning the periods from expressionism and film noir to postmodernism, with battles over new wave modernism, neo-realism and socialist realism in between, the history of DEFA is also a unique and refreshing window to everyday life in "really existing socialism" in East Germany. [from DEFA web site] (See: Foreman, Liza. "Film treasures from former DEFA are ripe for reviving." Variety v375, n4 (June 7, 1999):S10.

Ken Crane Laser Discs
http://www.kencranes.com
Carries most of the DVDs available in the US

Kino International
http://www.kino.com
A small but important collection of international cinema, including seminal works of Weimar film. Excellent print reproductions; many restored versions. Kino titles are also available through most of general video distributors.

German Embassy
Feature Films from Germany
http://www.wgcn.com/feature.htm

Video Sources:

German Language Video Center
Indianapolis, IN 46226-5298
(317) 547-1247
Fax: (317) 547-1263
Historic German films, including WWII documentaries, newsreels, and propaganda. A good collection of older German pop culture (musicals, soaps, etc.)

International Historic Films
3533 South Archer
Chicago, IL 60609
773-927-9091
Fax: 773 927-9211
info@ihffilm.com
http://www.historicvideo.com/
Political & military history videos, WWI through WWII, including Nazi and Communist propaganda films; military battles; WWII Holocaust videos; Hitler, Goebbels speeches. Weimar films on video; DEFA films on video; other historic German documentaries. Print quality varies greatly, particularly for feature films.

Inter Nationes
Division Educational Media and Film / B12
Kennedyallee 91 - 103; D-53175 Bonn, Germany
film@inter-nationes.de
http://www2.inter-nationes.de/d/film-e.html
Inter Nationes offers a wide range of 16mm films and videos: feature films from 100 years of German film history, to current titles and documentary films reporting on cultural life in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Vedette Visuals
http://www.vedettevisuals.com/
Foreign language feature films without subtitles. The Vedette catalog features mostly French and Spanish language films, but also includes a small list of untitled German films and a larger list of German films with titles.

Vendors of German Film on Video and DVD (Region 2 DVDs for sale outside of US)

Film.de
http://www.film.de/
A commercial site (in German) that also offers information about new video and DVD releases (i.e. mostly US films released in Germany), locations (in Germany) of film showings, reviews of current films, trivia, gossip, industry information and more. Of course, there's also the FilmShop.de, where you can spend your hard-earned DM on Region 2 DVDs.

Universe of Entertainment (Switzerland)
http://www.uoe.ch/UE%20Pages/DVDzone2all.htm
German language DVDs and German-titled English language films.

VideoCity (Great Britain)
http://www.videocity.co.uk/index.html

DVDs with German Subtitles or German Audio Tracks (all are outside of Region 1 [US])
http://guardian.imdb.com/Sections/DVDs/Subtitles/German/ (via FilmUnltd.)

US Films on DVD with German Audio Tracks

See: http://www.assk.com/affiliates/products/dvd/german-dvds-01.htm

In addition to the above list:

Funny Games (1998)
She Killed in Ecstasy (1970)
Vampire Happening (1971)

German/German Director Films Currently Available in the US on DVD(as of June 2000)

Frank Beyer
--Jacob the Liar

Carl Dreyer (a Dane, but this film is in German--go figure!)
--Vampyr (audio tracks: German; English subtitled) (Includes The Mascot made in 1934 by Ladislas Starewicz for Gelma-Film, Paris. Starewicz, a Pole, animated his first film in 1909 for the Czar of Russia's offspring)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder
--Whity (Includes commentary by actor-producer Ulli Lommel and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus)

Michael Haneke
--Funny Games (1998) (Includes theatrical trailers)

Werner Herzog
--Aguirre, The Wrath of God (due October 2000)
--Cobra Verde
--Even Dwarfs Started Small (Includes commentary by director Werner Herzog, actor Crispin Glover & Norman Hill)
--Fitzcarraldo (audio tracks include dubbed and subtitled English; commentary by director Werner Herzog, producer Lucki Stipetic and Norman Hill)
--My Best Friend
--Nosferatu the Vampyre (Includes both the German language version of the film with optional English subtitles and the alternate full-length English language of the film (shorter by about 10 minutes; commentary by director Werner Herzog interviewed by Norman Hill) Review of DVD version at: http://www.thecinemalaser.com/dvd_reviews/nosferatu-dvd.htm
--Tannhauser (Opera performance)

Fritz Lang
--M (Criterion)
--Metropolis (silent with English titles)
--Spiders (silent with English titles)
--Spies (silent with English titles)
--The Blue Gardenia (USA, 1953)
--Hangmen Also Die (USA, 1943)
--1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (USA, 1960)

Ulli Lommel (starring R. W. Fassbinder)
--Tenderness of the Wolves (includes commentary by director Ulli Lommel; theatrical trailers)

F.W. Murnau
--Nosferatu (also available as part of Masterworks of German Horror) (silent, with English titles; commentary by German silent film historian Lokke Heiss)

Max Pecas
--Daniella By Night (1961) (French with German audio track; English subtitles)

Wolfgang Petersen
--Das Boot (director's cut) (audio tracks include dubbed and subtitled English; commentary by director Wolfgang Petersen; making-of documentary; behind-the-scenes footage) Review of DVD version at: http://www.dvdmg.com/dasboot.html

Leni Riefenstahl
--Short 8 (compilation of short films). Includes Riefenstahl's Tag der Freiheit (1935, 30 mins.), a film of the German army in a performance intended to show off their readiness and will. This was Riefenstahl's follow-up to Triumph of the Will. Monika Treut
--Erotique (USA) (short films by various directors)

Tom Tykwer
--Run Lola Run (audio tracks include dubbed and subtitled English)

Joseph Vilsmaier
--Stalingrad (audio tracks include dubbed and subtitled English) (includes theatrical trailers, TV spots)

Katja von Garnier
--Bandits (1999)

Walter Ruttmann
--Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (silent, w/English titles)

Volker Schlondorff
--The Ogre (audio tracks include dubbed and subtitled English)
--Palmetto (USA) (includes 3 theatrical trailers)
--The Tin Drum (Supplemental video section containing behind-the-scenes photos, storyboards and more. Review of DVD version at: http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue08/reviews/tindrum/text.htm

Josef Von Sternberg
--The Shanghai Gesture (USA)

Robert Wiene
--Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (silent with English titles; commentary by film scholar Mike Budd and an excerpt from Genuine (1920) aka "Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire")

Wim Wenders
--Buena Vista Social Club
--End of Violence (USA) (Includes theatrical trailers)
--Lumiere and Co. (compilation of short films by various directors)

Paul Weneger
--The Golem (only available as part of Masterworks of German Horror)

Bettina Wilhelm
--All of Me

Collections:

--Masterworks of German Horror Collection
Includes: F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922, 84 mins.); Paul Weneger and Carl Boese's The Golem (1920, 85 mins.); and Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919, 90 mins.). In addition to all three features, this DVD package includes extensive liner notes, photo still galleries, original poster art, lobby cards and more.

Documentaries:

--The Architecture of Doom (features never-before-seen film footage of Hitler and the Nazi regime)
--The Last Days (Includes theatrical trailers; photo gallery; Shoah Foundation featurette; outtakes; additional footage)
--Louise Brooks Looking for Lulu
--Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (audio tracks include dubbed and subtitled English)

Sources for DVD Reviews and for Finding Out About New DVD Releases

DV Insider, daily Free to all interested subscribers. http://www.dvdinsider.com/
Geared to DV professionals, DV Insider is a mailing list (DVD Spotlight) and web site that provide useful information about new DVD releases and DV software and hardware industry developments. Includes reviews of current DVD releases.

DVD Journal http://www.dvdjournal.com/
A useful, free e-journal that provides "DVD news, reviews, commentary, and stuff like that." Includes information on DVD (and other media) hardware, software, and commerce, as well as amusing reviews of current releases.

DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter, mo. $35 yr.
Doug Pratt's chatty, amusing, and informative reviews of new DVD and laserdisc releases. Pratt has put an index to the newsletter and many past reviews on his web site: http://www.DVDLaser.com/ (Pratt, a man definitely given to hyperbole, claims that his site is the largest DVD review database on the web)

DVD Review http://www.dvdreview.com/
Contains news, reviews, release dates, miscellaneous information about DVD technology, downloadable clips, links to related sites.

Copyright (C) 1996 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley. All rights reserved.
Document maintained on server: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ by
Gary Handman, Head, Media Resources Center.
Last update 5/7/01 (gh)

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German Cinema on DVD and Video: Resources for Collection Development and Scholarship