Lubitsch in Berlin: The Masters of Cinema Series

Ernst Lubitsch is primarily known for his work in Hollywood as director of such classics as To Be or Not To Be, Heaven Can Wait and The Shop Around the Corner but, before he left Germany in 1923, he was an established actor and director. This collection brings together six of his German films, fully remastered and showing why he found such immediate success in America. Across five discs, the six films featured are:
 
ICH MöCHTE KEIN MANN SEIN [I Wouldn't Like to Be a Man] (1918)
One of the first collaborations between Lubitsch and the exuberant actress Ossi Oswalda, Ich möchte kein Mann sein is a concise sketch of society life in three acts. When Ossi's uncle goes away on a business trip, a new guardian steps in to tame the distractible niece. Ossi finds a way out of the house and into a grand ball... by way of a brazen cross-dressing scheme - and triggers what is perhaps Lubitsch's most twisted finale.
 
DIE PUPPE [The Doll] (1919)
"Four amusing acts from a toy-chest" so reads the opening title of this comic masterpiece adapted by Lubitsch and co-scenarist Hanns Kräly from a libretto by A. M. Wilner (based in turn on a tale from E. T. A. Hoffmann). Ossi Oswalda stars in a double-role as both the mischievous daughter, and automatonic creation, of a wildly coiffed "dollmaker". When a wealthy baron decides the time has come for his prudish nephew to take a wife, an uproariously ribald plot unwinds into what is perhaps the world's first-ever sex-doll comedy.
 

DIE AUSTERNPRINZESSIN [The Oyster Princess] (1919)
As Die Austernprinzessin, Ossi Oswalda makes another turn as a plutocrat's rambunctious daughter now the heiress of a global oyster empire, devoting her wiles once again to the service of manipulation. A comic high-point in the master's oeuvre, Die Austernprinzessin, showcases the trademarks of the "Lubitsch Touch" and its ten-fingered dexterity, resulting in a film that is simultaneously clever, concise, and risqué.
 
SUMURUN (1920)
By turns melodramatic and grotesquely comic, Sumurun brings together performances by star-players Paul Wegener (Der Golem), Pola Negri, Harry Liedtke, and Ernst Lubitsch himself (in the role of an ultra-pathetic hunchbacked minstrel) for this ensemble tale pulled from the milieu of The Arabian Nights.  Featuring hundreds of extras milling through open-air set-pieces and dusky harem-chambers alike, Sumurun demonstrates Lubitsch's ability to transfigure rote romance into vibrant pageant.
 
ANNA BOLEYN [Anne Boleyn] (1920)
 Emil Jannings plays King Henry VIII in the story of Anne Boleyn's movement from the outskirts of the court, to the royal boudoir, and off to the chopping-block. Suffused with an atmosphere of entrapment that would not be out of place in later films by Fritz Lang, and prefiguring the stately contretemps in John Ford's Mary of Scotland, Anna Boleyn proceeds with a deathward momentum unique in Lubitsch's oeuvre.
 
DIE BERGKATZE [The Mountain-Lion / The Wildcat] (1921)
Set in one of Lubitsch's hallmark mythical kingdoms, Die Bergkatze finds Lubitsch in exuberantly expressionistic mode, employing a host of optical masks to create perhaps the most visually audacious comic spectacle of his career. Pola Negri plays the daughter of a band of thieves; seduction of army commander (and audience) ensues. Lubitsch's personal favourite work of all his German films, Die Bergkatze represents a peak in both Lubitsch's silent oeuvre and the silent cinema as a whole.
 
This set includes a sixth disc with Robert Fischer's 2006 feature-length documentary Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin: From Schönhauser Allee to Hollywood.  This two hour film features contributions from several film historians, Lubitch's nieces and directors, including Tom Tykwer.
 
I wisely broke up watching this set into two days with a gap of a week in between as, no matter how good they could be, I think a marathon of silent films with German intertitles may have driven me slightly insane! The collection is split up well into comedies and epics, from the gender-bending screwball romance I Wouldn't Like to Be a Man to the heavier historical epics Sumurun and Anna Boleyn so well demonstrates Lubitsch's range and skill.
 
There isn't a bad film amongst these and they are all superbly made and a must for any cineaste.  You certainly get an idea of where and how Lubitsch learnt his craft and developed the famous 'Lubitsch Touch' (where the audience is left to guess at risqué moments not shown on screen) for which he is probably most famous and remembered.

The Disc

 
Extra Features
Aside from Fischer's superb documentary, the set boasts a new and exclusive concertina score for Die Puppe and new liner notes for each film by film writers David Cairns, Anna Thorngate and Ignasty Vishnevetsky.
 
The Picture
Though they have all been remastered, the quality varies from film to film and even within individual pictures. The image quality is generally excellent and it's pleasing to see the colour tints from the original negatives restored.
 
Lubitsch's style changes through the films with some obvious art decoration and set designs, such as the kitchen in Die Puppe which is clearly painted on the wall as the whole film is designed as a puppet show to the more extravagant films like Anna Boleyn and Sumurun which have hundreds of extras and expansive wide shots.
 
The intertitles are replicated from the German releases and very well translated (not always literally) making the films easy to follow.
 
The Sound
The scores are all perfectly written for their film, emphasising the comedy/romance/drama/tragedy and are beautifully presented with a very clear Dolby Digital mono track.
 
Final Thoughts
This is a magnificent set of some films of which I was completely unaware from one of cinemas great masters.  The restoration process makes the 90 year old films look tremendous and the sound is much clearer than I expected.  Lubitsch in Berlin would have been a welcome release with just the six films so Robert Fischer's illuminating documentary is the icing on the cake on what is a fantastic set which is worth a place in any film lover's collection.