Product Details

• Actors: Édith Jéhanne, Uno Henning, Fritz Rasp, Brigitte Helm, Adolf E. Licho
• Directors: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
• Writers: Ilja Ehrenburg, Ladislaus Vajda, Rudolf Leonhardt
• Format: Black & White, Original recording reissued, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: German
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kino Video
• VHS Release Date: June 5, 2001
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302936985
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #63,645 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #29 in	Video > Classics > Silent Films > International
  #56 in	Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > Germany > Drama
  #58 in	Video > Classics > Silent Films > Drama

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A young Frenchwoman (Edith Jehanne) weathers the Russian Revolution, the shooting of her father in the Crimea by Bolsheviks (among them her lover Uno Henning), and a desperate escape to Paris, where she seeks work at her eccentric uncle's detective agency. Her heart soars when her lover (he didn't actually, personally kill her father) comes to France to organize the sailors of Toulon. But he and she are soon caught up in feverish subplots involving a slimy Russian expatriate (the amazingly ratlike Fritz Rasp); a blond, blind girl pure of heart but dim of brain (Metropolis's Birgitte Helm); a missing diamond (case solved in a manner that must be seen to be disbelieved); and the same diamond going missing again--after a memorably grotesque murder.

No, the plot of The Love of Jeanne Ney doesn't bear scrutiny, but that only frees you to scrutinize G.W. Pabst's images instead. The director planned every shot with great particularity, composing the film on the principle of constant motion--of the actors and the action, but also the camera, which nervously seeks out visible clues to the characters' inner states (a previous Pabst film had been titled Secrets of a Soul). Pabst was fundamentally a realist, unlike his rivals Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau; consequently, his movies don't look nearly as "Germanic" as theirs--and except for his legendary collaborations with Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box (1929) and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), they haven't been seen much. Jeanne Ney marks a good opportunity to start reversing this neglect. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sophisticated and glorious love story, August 16, 2001

By	David Clapp "dfc-2" (TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Love of Jeanne Ney (DVD)

"The Love of Jeanne Ney" is a glorious complex love and suspense story that has murder, politics, one loved one responsible for the death of another, and a hateful scoundrel. Jeanne Ney is the daughter of a man stationed in Russia immediately prior to the Bolshevik revolution. Before he can effect their return to Paris, her young lover and a comrade confront him over a list of Bolshevik leaders and her Father is killed in a gunfight. There are many great characters, from the conman who sold the worthless set of names to her Father, to the kindly official who tries to ease her pain after her Father's death, and on to her mercenary uncle and blind cousin in Paris. The cinematography is gorgeous and inventive, the street scenes are magnificently detailed, and the screenplay by Ilya Ehrenberg is outstanding.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pabst's Masterpiece, April 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Love of Jeanne Ney (DVD)

The laserdisc version released by Image as part of the "Golden Age of German Cinema" box set was excellent, given the age of the film. I assume that this will be the same release. The new score by Timothy Brock performed by the Olympia Chamber Orchestra is also excellent. His scores for Faust, Sunrise, Nanook of the North and The Last Laugh are also worth checking out. Most of them are available on CD here at Amazon.

Now if they would only release Pabst's other masterpieces

on DVD (Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl)!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Pabst, July 14, 2007

By	L. J. Gray "STUDIOCAT" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Love of Jeanne Ney (DVD)

First, the important stuff..
sound and image are very good, although the restoration could have been better.
Still, a most satisfying visual and audio experience. I will enjoy watching this movie once a year along with other Pabst movies. I found the pace of the narrative most brisk and it nicely carries you along through the quality sets and visuals. I especially enjoyed the quick, succinct, and suspenseful, train compartment conclusion. I highly recommend this for the libary of all those who enjoy classic silent cinema that has very good visual and audio quality.