Customer Reviews

German Expressionism Collection (The Hands of Orlac / The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari / Secrets of a Soul / Warning Shadows)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is quite the set of films. Considering most of the flicks in this set run $20+ by themselves, it's well worth the price.

Pefect for anyone who enjoys something outside the ordinary--and the soundtrack on The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is fantastic!

Four films from the golden age of German cinema. Only Cabinet of Dr Caligari [1920 ] would be familiar too most movie fans but the other three are no less absorbing and vital.Warning Shadows [ 1923 ] by the little known Arthur Robison predates The Last Laugh [ 1924 ] in its complete absence of intertitles and Hands of Orlac [ by Caligari director Robert Weine ]benefits from a brilliant central performance from Conrad Veidt as a concert pianist who loses his arms in a train crash and has a executed murderers arms replace them.However the best movie here in my view is G.W.Pabst's Secrets of a Soul[ 1926 ] in which the great Werner Krauss plays a scientist who has an intense fear of knives and a weird compulsion to stab his beautiful wife [ the gorgeous Ruth Weyher who also appears in Warning Shadows ]. Of the four films only Caligari has any extensive special features [ though sadly i wish Kino would include audio commentaries with more of their releases ] Hands of Orlac only has a couple of text related extras and a restoration comparison while with the other two movies you get zilch! The quality of transfers is generally good and probably represent the best extant prints of these films. Caligari has some noticeable decomposition especially in the early scenes but is superior to other versions ive seen on DVD. So in short this set is well worth acquiring and at the special price offered a real bargain!