The Golem

KINO RELEASES ARCHIVAL PRESERVATIONS OF FOUR GERMAN CLASSIC HORROR FILMS

Kino on Video is proud to announce that on September 24th, 2002, it will present on VHS and DVD, a groundbreaking series with high-quality versions of four of the most influential works in the history of horror cinema. The GERMAN HORROR CLASSICS BOX SET brings for the first time to DVD and VHS, the landmark 1920 film THE GOLEM, based on a medieval Jewish legend of a Rabbi who infuses life into a statue made of clay, and Paul Leni's 1923 triptych of horror WAXWORKS. Both films were recently restored by the Cineteca di Bologna and each DVD features exclusive short films and special features.

Completing the deluxe box set, Kino on Video also presents on DVD and VHS, brand-new versions of the two greatest German horror classics: NOSFERATU (1922, F.W. Murnau) and THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARY (1919, Robert Wiene). By going back directly to the original German source material owned by the Murnau Foundations - trustee of all German classic films - Kino on Video is confident that these new restorations can at last offer American enthusiasts the definitive versions of these two seminal films.

Both of these titles also come on DVD with a wide variety of exclusive special features, like photo and art work galleries, different choices of music scores, short films and scene comparisons. Most notably, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI DVD brings a 43-minute excerpt of Robert Wiene's expressionist film GENUINE: THE TALE OF A VAMPIRE (1920). The entire DVD box set will be priced at $89.95 and each title can be bought separately on DVD and VHS for $24.95.

WAXWORKS (1923)-
Never before released on DVD or VHS, WAXWORKS was finally restored by the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna. In this rarely seen masterwork of the German Expressionist movement, three different horror stories, focusing on Jack the Ripper (Werner Krauss), Ivan the Terrible (Conrad Veidt) and Haroun Al-Raschid (Emil Jannings), are interconnected by wax figures of a carnival sideshow.
One of the most innovative stylists of the German silent cinema, director Paul Leni (THE CAT AND THE CANARY and THE MAN WHO LAUGHS) applied a wide variety of visual techniques and elements especially designed to suit the emotional turmoil of each story.
SPECIAL FEATURES (DVD):
Paul Leni's 1926 short REBUS FILM I
Excerpt from Douglas Fairbanks's THE THIEF OF BAGDAD

THE GOLEM (1920)-
Also restored by the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna, THE GOLEM: HOW HE CAME INTO THIS WORLD is finally available on DVD and VHS. Widely recognized as the source of the Frankenstein myth, the ancient Hebrew legend of the Golem provided actor/director Paul Wegener with the plot for one of the most influential films in the history of silent cinema.
Suffering under the tyrannical rule of Rudolph II in 16th-century Prague, a Talmudic rabbi (Albert Steinruck) creates a giant warrior (Paul Wegener) to protect the safety of his people. Sculpted of clay and animated by the secrets of the Kabbalah, The Golem is a seemingly indestructible juggernaut with paradoxical morale, capable of great heroism and dreadful violence. This film was one of the greatest achievements of the legendary UFA Studios, and a landmark in the evolution of horror film.
SPECIAL FEATURES (DVD):
Excerpt of Julien Duviver's 1936 film: LE GOLEM
Gallery of Photographs and artwork
SCENE COMPARISON: featuring excerpts of F.W. Murnau's FAUST (1926) and Chayim Bloch's book THE GOLEM (1925).
New and Improved English intertitles

NOSFERATU (1922)-
Slightly based on Bram Stoker's Dracula, NOSFERATU is the quintessential silent vampire film, crafted by legendary German director F.W. Murnau (SUNRISE). Rather than depicting Dracula as a shape-shifting monster or a charming gentleman, Murnau's Graf Orlok is depicted as a nightmarish, spidery creature of bulbous head and long claws. Restored by the Cineteca di Bologna and licensed by Transit Films / Murnau Foundation, NOSFERATU was an atypical expressionist film in that much of it was shot on location in the Carpathian Mountains. Murnau was thus able to infuse the story with the violence and mystery usually associated with nature. SPECIAL FEATURES (DVD):
Lengthy excerpts from other Murnau films: J0URNEY INTO THE NIGHT (1920), THE HANTED CASTLE (1921), PHANTOM (1922), THE LAST LAUGH (1924), FAUST (1926) and TABU (1931).
Two musical scores to choose from;
Photo Gallery;
Scene Comparison: Novel, Screenplay & Film

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) -
The most well known and audacious example of German Expressionism on film, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI is a groundbreaking hallucinatory plunge into the mind of a demented doctor and his carnival sleepwalker while they perpetrate a series of ghastly murders in a small community.
Director Robert Wiene crafted a nightmare world in which light, shadow and set design work with unprecedented integration in order to reflect its disturbing characters. This Kino on Video release has been mastered from a 35MM print restored by the Murnau Foundation (Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS), and it brings for the first time, the film's original color tinting and toning.
SPECIAL FEATURES (DVD):
A 43-minute condensation of Robert Wiene's GENUINE: THE TALE OF A VAMPIRE (1920) Behind-the-scene footage of Robert Wiene on the set of I.N.R.I.
Gallery of more than 40 photos, posters and production sketches
Two musical scores to choose from:
Music composed and performed by Donald Sosin
Contemporary orchestral score by Rainer Viertblock

For more information or purchase the boxed set, visit Kino International.