ASPHALT (1929) on Blu-ray

[Jason Holt]

In 2016, Murnau Stiftung released a Blu-ray set of 6 films, three silent and three sound. Among these was the late silent "Asphalt", a Weimar-era gem that had just underwent a 2k restoration. So I bought the Jubiläumsedition from amazon.de to see how it compared with the 2005 Eureka MoC DVD of "Asphalt". I watched it Wednesday night and was very impressed. Right after that, I looked at scenes from the old DVD. The Blu-ray image is sharper and brighter and looks far better in motion. It's much more film-like, without the compression noticeable in the old DVD. The DVD has a slight greenish tint that I hadn't noticed before, whereas the Blu-ray has clean shades of gray and black. They did an incredible job on the restoration.

There was one issue that I knew in advance: no English subtitles. I played a version with subtitles simultaneously on my phone, glancing over to look at it when a title appeared on the big screen. It worked pretty well, although the version on my phone was about 1 fps faster, so I had to occasionally pause it and allow the Blu-ray to overtake it. A small distraction, but it was worth it. This is one of my favorite films.

The other films in the set are: "Zapatas Gange" (1914, starring Asta Nielsen), "When I was Dead" (1915, directed by and starring Ernst Lubitsch), "Viktor and Viktoria" (1933, Reinhold Schünzel), "Romance in Moll" (1943, Helmut Käutners) and "Madeleine and the Legionnaire" (1957, Wolfgang Staudte).

[Claus Harding]

Jason,

Thank you for the recommendation; I just ordered the box set along with "Opfergang" (1944) from amazon.de.
I am not German, but I can speak it reasonably well, so lack of subs is no problem.

Claus.

[Jason Holt]

Claus, you're very welcome. "Opfergang" is not a film I've watched, but it would be interesting to see a German film in color from that time.
By the way, there is one site with screen grabs from the Blu-ray. You can compare them with the DVD Beaver review of the Eureka MoC DVD. There's an overhead street shot on both sites that shows the improved contrast on the Blu-ray.
http://worldscinema.org/2017/02/joe-may-asphalt-1929/
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews10/asphalt_.htm

[moviepas]

Opfergang I have had this film for some time and the color & audio have been restored with great care.

[Connoisseur]

Opfergang has a very impressing restoration, but the mood of the film is more interesting in the old tape version, in which you could not see everything as crystal clear....