Early Murnau – Five Films (Schloß Vogelöd, Phantom, Der Letzte Mann, The Grand Duke’s Finances, Tartuffe) (Masters of Cinema) (Blu-ray) Blu Ray – Emil Jannings 

Collection of five silent films from German director F.W. Murnau. ‘Schloss Vogelöd’ (1921) takes place during an aristocratic weekend party at Vogelöd Castle where Count Johann Oestsch (Lothar Mehnert), long suspected of murdering his brother Peter (Paul Hartmann), turns up uninvited. In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence and clear his name, the Count begins an ethically questionable campaign to find the true killer. In ‘Phantom’ (1922) government clerk Lorenz Lubota (Alfred Abel)’s quiet, ordered life spins violently out of control when he becomes infatuated with a mysterious and beautiful woman who runs him over with her chariot. ‘Der Letzte Mann’ (1924) tells the tale of the humiliation, rejection and ultimate triumph of an elderly hotel doorman (Emil Jannings) whose world crumbles when he is demoted to washroom attendant. He gets the last laugh, however, when he inherits the fortune of a wealthy American who left his bundle to the last man who saw him alive. ‘Die Finanzen Des Grossherzogs’ (1924) follows the Grand Duke of Abacco (Harry Liedtke) as he embarks on some novel fundraising exercises after his rakish lifestyle finally dries up his noble coffers. ‘Tartuffe’ (1925), set in the 1920s, tells the story of a devious housekeeper who convinces her master to cut his worthy grandson out of his will and leave the riches to her instead. The grandson responds by disguising himself as the projectionist of a travelling cinema show, and flatters his way into his grandfather’s home, where he shows his film of ‘Tartuffe’ in an attempt to open his grandfather’s eyes to his housekeeper’s manipulations. The film depicts a man named Orgon (Werner Krauss) who falls under the spell of an evil fraudster named Tartuffe (Jannings). Orgon’s family, however, are not deceived and do their utmost to rid their house of Tartuffe and his lies.

One of the most influential and revered figures in all of cinema, Friedrich Wilheim Murnau came to prominence in the first half of the 1920’s with a diverse string of productions ranging from buoyant satire to swirling psychological drama. Five key works are presented here: Schloß Vogelöd, Phantom, Die Finanzen des Großherzogs (the Grand Duke’s Finances, Der Letzte Mann (The Last Laugh) and Tartuffe. In the sinister mystery Schloß Vogelöd, terrible secrets from the past threaten a group of aristocrats’ gathering at a country manor. In the delirious Phantom, an aspiring poet’s change encounter with a beautiful woman leads into obsession and deception. The delightful Die Finanzen des Großherzogs sees a rakish-but-impoverished duke setting out to rebuild his fortune via blissfully comic high adventure on the Mediterranean coast. In Der Letzte Mann, one of the undisputed masterpieces of the silent era, Emil Jannings gives an overwhelming performance as a hotel porter with dreams of a higher station in life, and was a stylistic breakthrough for both Murnau and cinema in general. Finally, the slyly satiric Tartuffe features Jannings as Moliere’s iconic creation in a morality tale film-within-a-film as only Murnau could conceive. This collection features new high-definition transfers of all five films from the finest archival elements, all on Blu-ray for the first time in a special edition three-disc set. Click Images to Enlarge