Westfront 1918 (1930)

[Scottie]

G. W. Pabst brought the war movie into a new era with his first sound film, a mercilessly realistic depiction of the nightmare that scarred a generation, in the director’s native Germany and beyond. Digging into the trenches with four infantrymen stationed in France in the final months of World War I, Pabst illustrates the harrowing ordeals of battle with unprecedented naturalism, as the men are worn away in body and spirit by firefights, shelling, and the disillusion that greets them on the home front. Long unavailable, the newly restored Westfront 1918 is a visceral, sobering antiwar statement that is as urgent today as when it was made.

• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Hour-long French television broadcast of World War I veterans reacting to the film in 1969
• 2016 interview with film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak
• New restoration demonstration featuring Martin Koerber and Julia Wallmüller of the Deutsche Kinemathek
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by author and critic Luc Sante

[evilive]

Not too long ago I picked up the MoC release. I might pick this up later down the road once I a catch up with some other Criterion titles. Great film.

[Snicket]

This film really caught my interest. Not sure about a blind buy but I want to check it out.

[Goldash]

The last time I saw this was on VHS so I'm sure this will be a massive upgrade. Not sure if it was the full-length version, either, so I'm looking forward to just how much of an upgrade the picture/audio quality is as well.

As for the film itself, very powerful stuff and extremely obscure compared to something like All Quiet on the Western Front. It caused quite a bit of controversy in Weimar Germany from what I recall.

[evilive]

DVDBeaver has their review up. Criterion's a bit brighter than MoC.

[jlk5844]

I tend to prefer a more contrasty image with deeper black levels, but the MoC looks awful dark at times in those caps. It looks like they may have boosted the image, crushing the blacks. It's visible in other caps, like the lower right of the first comparison, but this is the most prominent example:

MoC:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...2_blu-ray_.jpg

Criterion:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...2_blu-ray_.jpg

Needless to say a lot of shadow detail is lost on the MoC. It still overall appears very watchable, maybe even preferable much of the time, but I feel the Criterion is likely more accurate. Criterion actually responded if you look at that page too defending their transfers of the two Pabst films. They're not always right (see their laughable defense of The Leopard), but here I believe they are. The Criterion editions also have more extras, and I prefer to have a Region A disc wherever possible unless the transfer is obviously inferior. It'll probably cost more to buy them separately, though.

[jlk5844]

Anyone have any thoughts on the two films? I looked into them today and they sound interesting. Never heard of them before Criterion's releases. I really liked All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).

[nissling]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

I tend to prefer a more contrasty image with deeper black levels, but the MoC looks awful dark at times in those caps. It looks like they may have boosted the image, crushing the blacks.

I've got the MoC and what's quoted from the e-mail in the Beaver review is true. The shadow details and highlights are present in BTB and WTW. If you correct that during playback, both releases look identical. A big flaw but also fully possible to fix on most setups.

I wouldn't watch Westfront 1918 and expect it to be anything like All Quiet on the Western Front. All Quiet is much more sentimental and Westfront 1918 certainly have more focus on the German society overall (not just the soldiers). They both have their strenghts, but they shouldn't really be compared imho. I'm a big fan of All Quiet as well. Wooden Crosses is also worth a watch.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by nissling

I've got the MoC and what's quoted from the e-mail in the Beaver review is true. The shadow details and highlights are present in BTB and WTW. If you correct that during playback, both releases look identical. A big flaw but also fully possible to fix on most setups.

That's good to know, wasn't sure if that was indeed possible but I'm glad Criterion acknowledged this in the email, kind've surprising from a competing label. Still, since I haven't bought them yet, I'll go with the superior all-around Criterion editions which are my region anyway. Don't have to mess around with settings.

[Alfred E. Neumann]

I'll get the german Atlas / ALIVE Mediabook but sadly it's a BD-25, not BD-50.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by nissling

I wouldn't watch Westfront 1918 and expect it to be anything like All Quiet on the Western Front. All Quiet is much more sentimental and Westfront 1918 certainly have more focus on the German society overall (not just the soldiers). They both have their strenghts, but they shouldn't really be compared imho. I'm a big fan of All Quiet as well. Wooden Crosses is also worth a watch.

Right, I didn't realize they were so dissimilar, was just throwing that in thinking that if I liked AQotWF I might like these. By the way, it should be noted that I've seen AQotWF once, and in its silent version (unbeknownst to me at the time that that wasn't the original version, wtf TCM?). Perhaps it comes off more sentimental in its sound iteration? Thanks for the comments and recommendation, and I'll check out Wooden Crosses (sucks that it appears to be relegated to an Eclipse DVD set). It's neat to these early war films about WWI that were made pre-WWII.

[nissling]

All Quiet on the Western Front was, from my understanding, produced as a silent film (thus the 1.33:1 AR) but made into a sound film in post-production. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Wooden Crosses is available on Blu-Ray from MoC.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by nissling

All Quiet on the Western Front was, from my understanding, produced as a silent film (thus the 1.33:1 AR) but made into a sound film in post-production. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Wooden Crosses is available on Blu-Ray from MoC.

Really? Wow. If that's the case then it's a shame Universal didn't restore the silent version for the Blu-ray, it's available in a mediocre SD presentation on there. FWIW, as I obviously still thought the movie was great, I do think the silent version works tremendously. In fact, from the quick research I just did it sounds like the dialogue in the talkie version is rather mannered, preachy, and dated. Need to buy this film...it's also annoying that Universal seemed to DNR the movie. What does the aspect ratio have to do with anything though?

And nice! Will add to the wishlist.

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

I tend to prefer a more contrasty image with deeper black levels, but the MoC looks awful dark at times in those caps. It looks like they may have boosted the image, crushing the blacks. It's visible in other caps, like the lower right of the first comparison, but this is the most prominent example:

MoC:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...2_blu-ray_.jpg

Criterion:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...2_blu-ray_.jpg

Needless to say a lot of shadow detail is lost on the MoC. It still overall appears very watchable, maybe even preferable much of the time, but I feel the Criterion is likely more accurate. Criterion actually responded if you look at that page too defending their transfers of the two Pabst films. They're not always right (see their laughable defense of The Leopard), but here I believe they are. The Criterion editions also have more extras, and I prefer to have a Region A disc wherever possible unless the transfer is obviously inferior. It'll probably cost more to buy them separately, though.

Both those links just go to the home page for me.

What's the story with The Leopard?

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by nissling

Wooden Crosses is also worth a watch.

I am so glad you mentioned this title; I had forgotten that I have it in my collection.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Both those links just go to the home page for me.

What's the story with The Leopard?

That's weird, they were working before.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...ft_blu-ray.htm

The third comparison with the soldier looking in from behind the window. Click on the images and switch between in different tabs.


As for The Leopard, Criterion chose to release it not long after the new restoration toured at Cannes, and they stuck with their ugly dated master instead of waiting and using the restoration supervised by Martin Scorsese and the film's DP. People asked them about this and this was their response:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...no#post3443643

Ridiculous. It doesn't even compare to the restoration. Check out cap-a-holic and compare the French release to the Criterion to see for yourself.

[popeflick]

Just watched his after blind buying on he last sale. Impressively elaborate set pieces. Terrific film all around.