NitrateVille.com

http://www.americancinemathequecalendar ... -pharaoh-0" target="_blank

Lost Film Digitally Restored! Live Orchestra!


THE LOVES OF PHARAOH
Don't miss this exciting Los Angeles premiere, appropriately gracing the screen of the Egyptian Theatre! The film screening will be accompanied by a live 16-piece orchestra conducted by Robert Israel. Join us prior to the film in the Egyptian lobby at 6:30 PM for celebratory cake in honor of the American Cinematheque’s 30th birthday and the Egyptian Theatre’s 89th birthday.

Free to Cinematheque Members and a guest, with regular pricing for non-Members.
THE LOVES OF PHARAOH
1922, 100 min, Germany, Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Featuring thousands of extras and spectacularly grandiose production design on Berlin backlots, THE LOVES OF PHARAOH rivals METROPOLIS as the most ambitious German production of the silent era, and was director Ernst Lubitsch's (THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, TROUBLE IN PARADISE) last lavish German film before he left to work in Hollywood. Emil Jannings, international star and winner of the first "Best Actor" Oscar, plays Egyptian pharaoh Amenes, who must marry the daughter of the Ethiopian king (Paul Wegener, best known as director-star of THE GOLEM) to prevent war. Things get complicated when the pharaoh's adviser Ramphis (Harry Liedtke) sets his eye on the object of Amenes' affection, Theonis (silent era icon Dagny Servaes). For decades available only in fragments all over the European continent, this landmark film has been beautifully digitally restored and will be accompanied by the original symphonic orchestral score of acclaimed opera composer Eduard Kunneke.

Bruce,

I just received a E-mail from Robert concerning this momentous event!

I have just finished the orchestra's first set of rehearsal sessions for the Tuesday evening presentation: it is a tremendously challenging work, but highly rewarding. And, it is a constant reminder to me (after being immersed in a project for lengthy periods of time) of just how much my appreciation for someone's artwork increases with the time invested.

I understand that the general method of enjoying a film is to view it once and rely upon our own instinctive reaction based upon that single viewing. (There is no doubt that, in my opinion, there are plenty of film experiences not worth a single viewing). But in my case, I am often having to study films and scores which means going over minute details repeatedly. In the finest examples of films and scores there are often brilliant details that may go unnoticed by casual viewers, and this is not either good or bad. I believe it was Claude Debussy who said, "If you do not like a piece of music, then listen to it again. If you still do not like it, listen to it again and again until you do." Simply, it takes time and effort to appreciate art.

Eduard Künneke's work is worth every moment of the experience in preparing it, and the intelligence and artistry with which he composed his score is something that I continue to appreciate more and more. There are symbols and meanings in the musical language, and music is not just about melody and harmony. Künneke knew what he was doing and was able to derive some of this mysterious language and imbue his score with brilliant details–more on that another time. At any rate, when an individual can "break the code" and begin to understand more subtle meanings in these texts, the experience becomes much more affecting and enriching.

And let me not fail to sing the praises of the truly great director Ernst Lubitsch: he was one of the giants. The film is not only an artistic expression, but highly entertaining as well. And, the running time is just over an hour and one half. True, the original ran around two hours (there are still some missing sequences), but the film is extremely well paced and beautifully acted. Lubitsch's technique is nonpareil. DAS WEIB DES PHARAO is a majestic and brilliant production and this restoration is no less than astonishing.

Robert Israel

Robert,

Thank you for your fascinating impressions of this film, and the scoring. You always provide such depth and detail in your analysis. Again, I only wish I could attend the event. Hope that it is a tremendous success.

An 89 year old film glorifying Egypt helped celebrate the 89th anniversary of Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre. Tonight's screening of THE LOVES OF PHARAOH was an entertaining evening, aided by the fine 16 piece orchestra playing the original score, orchestrated and arranged by Robert Israel to fit the shortened running time. The German archive did a great job putting together all the pieces, scanning the various prints, and matching the tints to create the finished product. Elegant design work dramatically brought the era alive, both the larger than life sets, temples, and statues, and the elaborate costumes and jewelry. Beautiful lighting and framing created gorgeous and powerful images. It's a very entertaining film.

Sounds great! Sure wish I could have been there! I'm greatly looking forward to the upcoming Blu-ray release, and hope it and the DVD sell well.

Dear Lubitsch fans,

The release of the DVD and BluRay edition has been postponed from the fall of 2011 to early 2012. The reason for this is that we are confronted with extraordinarily high production costs. This is partly due to the complexity of the project and partly due to the established production methods and distribution channels, which make an independent release in limited edition difficult to finance and hardly profitable. Nevertheless, we don’t want to make concessions and relinquish planned content or the high-quality packaging design. We look forward to the release of the BluRay and DVD edition in the New Year and we’ll keep you posted.

Upon release the DVD and BluRay can be purchased on the ALPHA-OMEGA website:
http://www.alpha-omega.de" target="_blank

Your ALPHA-OMEGA digital team wishes you a wonderful holiday and a great start into the New Year.

Has anybody heard anything about when this Blu ray will be released?

Ooh, but the link I see above says the film will screen this July at the SF Silent Film Fest, squee! That and the restored Wings are in the line up.

I wrote to Alpa-Omega about a release date for the blu ray and received the following reply:

Hello Mitch,

the very late hour I'm sending this reply is best proof for how hard we're working to finish the product. We're in the final
steps, checking master disks and rooting out the last tiny mistakes. The plan is to have the product by the end of this
month, so please be patient just a little bit more. It's gonna be worth it.

All the best and thanks for appreciating the film.

Thomas Bakels

Dear Forum Members,

We are excited to announce the release of the DVD and BluRay of „The Loves of Pharaoh“ on 30th June 2012.

The production of the DVD and BluRay edition took longer than expected due to the complexity of the project and extraordinarily high production costs. The established production methods and distribution channels make an independent release in limited edition difficult to finance and hardly profitable. Despite the difficult and long journey we are proud to present a high-quality collectors edition with exciting content and packaging.

DVD UND BLURAY EDITION SPECIFICATIONS:
This digital restoration recreates the original color tinting scheme in accordance to the only surviving projection print fragments. This release makes the original orchestral score available for the first time ever on recorded media.

Special features:
- Digibox packaging
- Booklet: 20. pages, color. Texts and images relating to the film and the restoration: Introduction by Thomas Bakels, personal message to the fans from Ms Nicola Lubitsch, Essay by Kristin Thompson, Interview with Frank Strobel, Text by Egyptology expert Bernt Müller- Trailer: English, German- Production documentation: location shots, photos of missing scenes, programme booklet - Filmkurier Berlin 1922 (BluRay disc only)
- The Return of Lubitsch’s Pharaoh: A documentary about the restoration of The Loves of Pharaoh, depicting the complex restoration project in pictures and narration about the making of the film, interviews with contributors and scene comparisons. Information about color selection, technical procedures and source material is provided as well as a context to the new recording of the original music score. (35mins)
- Film concert: A high-class program in its own right is this HD recording of WDR Rundfunkorchester performing the music score in Cologne, Germany, on 14th and 15th September 2011. This program was produced by ALPHA-OMEGA digital especially for this release. Assembled using footage from 16 cameras strategically placed within the orchestra, the music takes center stage and the film becomes the supporting act. The outstanding performance of the orchestra under the direction of Frank Strobel finally completes the film and can be experienced in full length and from close-up with this first ever recording of Künneke’s score. (100 mins)

Language Versions:
German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, ArabicThe film is presented in 10 selectable language versions. The title cards are re-created as full screen intertitles as was common practice for foreign releases in the silent film era. The titles were translated by colleagues and friends who came to the project with a profound subject expertise. For the German, English, French and Italian versions the original type face could be used. The Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Arabic versions exhibit a different appearance due to their unique characteristics.

Technical Specifications:
DVD Edition: 1*DVD9 + 1*DVD9
BluRay Edition: 1*BluRay50
Duration: Main Feature: approx. 100min, Additional Material: approx. 144min
Frame Rate: 20 f/s
Resolution: PAL, 720×576 (DVD) | NTSC, 720×480 (DVD) | HD 1920×1080 (BD)
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 (1,33:1) (main feature)
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 (DVD) | PCM 2.0 Stereo (DVD & BluRay)| DTS-HD 5.1 (BluRay)
Source Material: Original Russian and Italian nitrate release prints

You can place the order on the Alpha-Omega digital online shop:
http://www.alpha-omega.de/doku.php?id=e ... pharao_dvd" target="_blank

We hope you enjoy the restored version of this long lost Lubitsch spectacle!

Your ALPHA-OMEGA digital Team