Anti-Nazi Classics (Gleiwitz
Case/I Was Nineteen/Murders Are Among Us/Naked Among Wolves/First Run DVD Set)
Picture: C (Wolves: C+) Sound: C+/C/C-/C+ Extras: C+/C/D/B- Films: B-/C/B/B-
First Run Features continues
their compilations of key titles from their catalog with Anti-Nazi Classics,
four enduring films from the DEFA catalog through Icestorm worth catching up
with. We have reviewed all but one of
them as follows…
Gerhard
Klein’s The Gleiwitz Case (1961) may
seem short at 70 minutes, but it delivers a surprisingly strong impact telling
its story of how the Nazis lied to launch WWII and the infamous invasion of
Poland by faking an attack by alleged “Polish nationalists” on a German radio
tower in the title location including busting up the place with a special force
and taking a Polish prisoner and making him up to be a sharpshooter they would
kill but say they killed him in the heat of battle.
Needless
to say the sinister plot worked, but crazy and obsessed with their plans as
they always were, they made sure everything conformed to their lies and went
out of their way to do this. We know
more about this kind of activity with them (as well as other sinister political
forces since) but this was shocking at the time, but it was the advanced way
this film was made that became a point of contention for the GDR.
With its
fancy editing, advanced ideas about montage and sound, it was considered both
too visually and cinematically radical, as well as making the Nazis look
good. Truffaut once said that film (not
HD, mind you) glorifies everything it captures, so there is some validity that
such an impression might be seen to some extent, but the makers were determined
to do the opposite and when you understand what happens here, Hitler would have
banned the film and had the makers executed had this been made in his time.
Maybe if
the film was longer this could have been sidestepped, but it stands as it is
and holds up very well, especially with all the international film trends going
on at the time including the French New Wave and Surrealism. This is definitely one to see for any serious
filmmaker or film fan.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image is an older DVD transfer form a nice film source
which is on the soft side here, but has some good shots. However, only Blu-ray and a new HD transfer
is going to do this film justice at this point.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is one of the better on the list as the
original 35mm magnetic master has survived nicely and sounds good. Extras include an original theatrical
trailer, picture gallery, text bio/filmographies on the writer, director &
three leads, The Editor Evelyn Carow
from the Film Professions series (17
minutes) and Case of The Gleiwitz Case
essay by the groundbreaking, innovative, underrated film scholar: Professor
Sabine Hake.
The
remaining films previously reviewed are as follows, including their links:
I Was Nineteen (1968)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6072/I+Was+Nineteen+(1968/DEFA/First+R
Murders Are Among Us (1946)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/37/Murderers+Are+Among+Us
Naked Among Wolves (1963)
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3118/Naked+Among+Wolves
- Nicholas Sheffo