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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka 'People on Sunday')
and
Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, and Fred Zinnemann
Germany 1930
Years before they became major players in Hollywood, a group of
young German filmmakers—including eventual noir masters Robert
Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer and future Oscar winners Billy Wilder and
Fred Zinnemann—worked together on the once-in-a-lifetime
collaboration People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag). This
effervescent, sunlit
Silent, about a handful of city dwellers (a
charming cast of nonprofessionals) enjoying a weekend outing, offers
a rare glimpse of Weimar-era Berlin. A unique hybrid of documentary
and fictional storytelling, People on Sunday was both an experiment
and a mainstream hit that would influence generations of film
artists around the world. ***
This light-hearted tale of five young Berliners - a taxi driver, a
traveling wine dealer, a record shop sales girl, a film extra and a
model - spending a typical summer Sunday, is considered to be one of
the most important works of the German film Avant-Garde of the 1920s. A trip to the countryside reveals the
flirtations, rivalries, jealousies, and petty irritations common to any group
outing, but all too soon it's the end of the day, and the prospect of Monday and
the return to the weekday routine looms. |
Theatrical Release: February 4th, 1930 - Germany
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Comparison:
BFI - Region 2 - PAL vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray
BFI - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. Criterion Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT
DVD Box Cover |
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Distribution | BFI Video - Region 2 - PAL | Criterion Collection, spine #569 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Runtime | 1:13:45 | 1:14:00.636 |
Video | 1.33:1
Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.48 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
1080i Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 42,470,726,466 bytes Feature: 23,019,460,608 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 34.95 Mbps |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate: Blu-ray |
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Audio | Silent with musical accompaniment by Elena Kats-Chernin (Dolby Digital 1.0) | LPCM Audio German
2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit LPCM Audio German 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit |
Subtitles | English, None | English, None |
Features |
Release Information: Edition Details: • This
Year - London - 1951 (25 min) short |
Release Information: 1080i Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 42,470,726,466 bytes Feature: 23,019,460,608 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 34.95 Mbps
Edition Details:
Blu-ray
Release Date: June 28th, 2011
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Comments: |
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. ADDITION: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - June 11': People on Sunday blew me away when I first saw it about 6-years ago and to have it now looking so rich and thick with grain and appearing, even more, film-like is a super treat. My expertise in areas of transfer does not include the frame-rate issue with many Silent films - the Criterion Blu-ray transfer is interlaced (1080i) and my assumption is that it relates to the frame-rate but that is far as I am willing to guess. The one point I will make is that, even under scrutiny, the 'combing phenomenon associated with a non-progressive transfer, seems less apparent via hi-def. However there is significant flickering. The Criterion is advertised as a 'New high-definition digital restoration, created in collaboration with the EYE Film Institute Netherlands .' In-motion the new format version of People on Sunday is quite entrancing. Criterion supply the option of two scores: a Silent-era-style score by the Mont Alto Orches�tra and a modern one by Elena Kats-Chernin, performed by the Czech Film Orchestra both presented in linear PCM stereo tracks at 2304 kbps. The modern score is, more resonant but I was also keen on the Silent-era-style score that captured a bit more of the vintage flavor sounding bouncy and fitting. There are optional subtitles and the Blu-ray disc is, as always from Criterion, coded for region 'A'. Extras consist of the 1/2 hour Weekend am Wannsee, Gerald Koll’s 2000 documentary about the film, featuring interviews with star Brigitte Borchert and writer Curt Siodmak and Ins Blaue hinein, a thirty-six-minute short from 1931 by People on Sunday cinematographer Eugen Sch�fftan. This is similar to People on Sunday in many ways. There is a liner notes booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Noah Isenberg and reprints by scriptwriter Billy Wilder and director Robert Siodmak. Very nice package - I have this fantasy about lending it to friends with more mainstream tastes in hopes of 'converting' them in some manner. But I suggest that anyone willing to open up their mind to experiencing People on Sunday will definitely benefit from it from a viewing. If I had ever actually taken a trip in a time machine - seeing this film is what I might compare it to. Absolutely recommended! ***
ON THE BFI DVD: I'm going to do some speculation here - occasionally because of frame rate conversion from older Silent films that are mastered in HD we can have 'trailing" as a process of the transfer of such an older film. I don't think though that this was transferred progressively (one frame at time) and can possibly be the same reason it shows limited 'combing' (see last capture). Regardless of that - the image looks marvelous - absolutely super. There was contrast flickering evident but it was often on the very last frame or 2 of certain scenes. I assume that the intertitles are new - and they look perfect as do the optional subtitles. There was minor dirt and scratches at times, but all 'flaws' of this image are more-or-less expected from a 75 year old film... but more - from a film virtually lost (original negative gone for good) and reconstructed. Amazing! BFI have brought us an important film from cinema history and we applaud them for it. I'll admit it - I was mesmerized while viewing. I feel like locking this DVD in the safe every night (if I had a safe). The liner notes extras are great for appreciation of the film. The "This Year -London" short featurette has some relational camp. I think People on Sunday was worthy of a commentary being that it is quite short, but I won't be a nitpicker. An ESSENTIAL DVD! out of
Kevin tells us:
I would like to let you know that, more or less parallel to the BFI
release of Menschen am Sonntag, the Dutch Film Museum itself also
released the film on DVD. 'While watching I can't check what the exact
length of the feature is, but the inlay says it's 76 minutes - so
supposedly three minutes longer than the BFI release. But I guess this
can't be right, since both releases are PAL editions of the same
Filmmuseum-restoration. However, compared to your screenshots the Dutch
version seems to be much brighter (not too bright though), less black
and revealing much more detail in the image. This DVD has the same
ghosting artefacts you noticed.
MORE:
I just read the review of PEOPLE ON
SUNDAY and the remarks by Kevin on the Filmmuseum Biennial screening of
the film. He states it was shown from DVD, this is actually not true. It
was projected from the 35mm print. It may have looked like it was shown
from the new DVD released by the Filmmuseum because before the screening
they projected the dvdmenu. But that was only to promote the DVD
release. Once the screening started, the film print was used.
Kind regards, |
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