Carl Theodor Dreyer Special Edition Box Set (Day of Wrath, Ordet, Gertrud, and Carl Th. Dreyer - My Metier) - Criterion Collection
by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Torben Skj?dt Jensen
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Emil Hass Christensen, Henrik Malberg, Lisbeth Movin, Sigrid Neiiendam, Thorkild RooseDirector: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Torben Skj?dt Jensen
Brand: Image Entertainment
Writer: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Writer: Hans Wiers-Jenssens
Writer: Hjalmar S?derberg
Writer: Kaj Munk
Writer: Lars Bo Kimergaard
Writer: Mogens Skot-Hansen
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Danish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Box set, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 432 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-08-21
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Carl Theodor Dreyer Special Edition Box Set (Day of Wrath, Ordet, Gertrud, and Carl Th. Dreyer - My Metier) - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: SPELLBINDIING
Summary: 5 Stars
I mostly knew Dreyer as a silent film director, but this box set contains three of Dreyer's most powerful films, all talkies. Criterion has done an excellent job with the transfers, and the subtitles are excellent.
DAY OF WRATH. An old woman is accused of being a witch; what follows is harrowing. After she is tortured, just before being burned at the stake (in a truly disturbing scene that shocked me to the core), she implicates the wife of the very man who ordered her death. The movie is an unforgettable experience.
ORDET is about religious bigotry and the tragedy that results when two different interpretations of Christianity stand in the way of true love. The movie contains a very difficult scene in which a so-called partial birth abortion is performed. Watching this, I realized that the point of the procedure is not to kill the baby but to save the mother's life, and I have totally rethought my position on the issue based on this film. Ultimately, the movie is about the power of faith and divine love. The ending is miraculous.
GERTRUDE, an opera singer, is in a loveless marriage with a somewhat bland lawyer/politician. She's having an affair with a much younger man, a composer. She decides to leave her husband (who still wants to be with her) for her young lover, who Gertrude believes is completely devoted to her. But at a reception, she hears from a third party (an old flame of hers, no less) that the young man publicly (and vulgarly) bragged about several of his affairs, mentioning Gertrude by name as one of his several conquests. Meanwhile, her old flame still wants to recapture what they once had. Gertrude becomes weary of life and love--she must choose. There are three men in her life--which will she pick? Or will she choose none and instead strike a different course, on her own? The movie reminded me of the Strauss opera "Der Rosenkavalier."
Note: Dreyer's movies proceed at what might at first seem quite a slow pace. People move slowly and even speak slowly. There's no "action," and in fact there's barely any physical movement. Often, they just sit and talk. Characters don't exchange snappy dialog; instead, they often stare off to the side into space and exchange long reflections. At times, these movies can seem a bit static, but if you manage a little bit of patience they are amply rewarding. The box set also includes an interesting documentary on Dreyer's life and work that, I think, is not otherwise available. Highly recommended, but it's not Hollywood-style cinema.
More Carl Theodor Dreyer Special Edition Box Set (Day of Wrath, Ordet, Gertrud, and Carl Th. Dreyer - My Metier) - Criterion Collection reviews:
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Summary of Carl Theodor Dreyer Special Edition Box Set (Day of Wrath, Ordet, Gertrud, and Carl Th. Dreyer - My Metier) - Criterion Collection
Following the release of Carl Th. Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Criterion Collection renews its commitment to this major director with a Special Edition box set of his sound films, Day of Wrath, Ordet, and Gertrud. Each is an intense exploration of the clash between individual desire and social expectations, with Dreyer's famously perfectionist attention to detail shining throughout. With brand new digital transfers supervised by Gertrud director of photography Henning Bendtsen, the Criterion Collection is proud to present these Dreyer masterpieces on DVD for the first time. The fourth disc in the set presents the masterful 1995 documentary on Dreyer by Danish filmmaker Torben Sk?dt Jensen, Carl Th. Dreyer-My M?tier. Extensive interviews with collaborators and actors provide fresh insight into the life and work of one of cinema's great masters.When asked to describe his work, Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer said that film should present "truth filtered through an artist's mind, truth liberated from unnecessary detail." This collection of Dreyer's three major sound features demonstrates the director's rigorous commitment to that idea.
Day of Wrath (1943)--filmed during the Nazi occupation of Denmark--is set in a 17th-century village where the fear of witchcraft and the repression of human passions lead to tragedy. Ordet (1955) is considered by many to be Dreyer's masterpiece. This complex family drama is both moving and challenging, and the ending is one of cinema's greatest moments. Gertrud (1964) tells the story of a woman's search for fulfillment. Nina Pens Rode gives an extraordinary performance, heightened by Dreyer's peerless pacing and composition.
Accompanying the three films is a documentary by avant-garde filmmaker Torben Skjodt Jensen. Dreyer claimed to be surprised that anyone would want to make a film about him, but a greater understanding of the personality and the craft that went into the making of these films only enhances their impact. In spite of a career characterized by as many setbacks as successes, Dreyer's uncompromising commitment to his art (he once suspended filming because the clouds were moving in the wrong direction) resulted in work that continues to enthrall audiences and inspire filmmakers to this day.
Interviews with Dreyer's collaborators provide the backbone of My Metier, but it is Jensen's visual approach--building layered images from photographs, manuscripts, and film clips--that explores and responds to Dreyer's movies in subtle but powerful ways. Instead of a succession of talking heads and illustrative excerpts, Jensen offers an impressionistic portrait of Dreyer in a documentary that is often as beautiful as its subject's own work. --Simon Leake
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