Michael on DVD

A customer from Manchester, England , 26/05/2005

This is far from classic Dreyer but is interesting as an early work, for its melodramatic techniques and homosexual undertones. Do note though that DVD 1 of this set is the American version - with bland piano accompaniment and modern intertitles. DVD 2 - the European version - has a more complex, apparently improvised jazz score and the original intertitles. Personally, I wish I'd only ordered disc 2, which also has a radio interview with Dreyer (disc 1 has a commentary from some academic).

  8 out of 8 people found this review helpful

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A customer from Glasgow, Scotland , 26/07/2005

After reading the review of this film I chose to order both disc 1 and 2 of the package. I thouroughly enjoyed disc1 which turned out to be the English language version of this silent movie It includes an excellent commentary which enhances viewing. Disc 2 on the other hand is classed as the European version which includes the same movie but the Textboards are written in German with English subtitles. I've harshly rated this disc as 2 stars while disc 1 gets 4. this is because the majority of viewers won't need or want to see this disc. There are no interesting extra's on it either. In my view this was an unneccesary order.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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Savage from London, England [Highly rated reviewer] , 30/03/2006

Early Dreyer, but still some wonderful examples of his exquisite style, all limpid melancholia, precise framing and careful pools of silver light. And even at this early stage, you get the feeling that the actors are going through some very exactly choreographed motions - his films are among the least spontaneous of any great director (it's no coincidence that Kubrick was such a big fan).

And yet, as so often with this director's work (see also, for instance, 'Master of the house' or 'Gertrud'), we have to contend with the mediocrity of the material. Since every film he made was based on something from another medium (in this case a novel), we must presume it was deliberate on his part: he found something he thought could be manipulated to fit his vision and didn't really care about its more superficial flaws. Here, even with a screenplay co-written with Lang's collaborator (and wife), Thea von Harbou, there is a good deal of melodramatic, sentimental guff to wade through, centring on a most implausible 'great artist' (Benjamin Christensen, himself a director, who made the awesome 'Haxan') who conceives an amour fou for his model, Michael (Walter Slezak, in the pre-Hollywood days when he hadn't neglected his handsome lessons). Every time I watch a Dreyer I have to remind myself to watch the cinema, rather than wasting my time on the story. That certainly seems to have been Dreyer's view.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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Perry from Somerton , 24/09/2008

When I asked for this film I had no idea what to expect, except that it was by the legendary film maker Carl Dreyer. It is a silent movie, made in Germany by a Dane. The date it was made was 1924, although the setting is the period just before the first world war. It comes in two discs, the American version (which is the one I have seen, twice, straight through), and the continental version which I have not as yet seen.

The only word I can think for it is 'entrancing'. Other words which spring to mind are 'superb', 'extraordinarily sensitive', 'sad', and, above all 'beautiful'.

From the moment I started to watch it I sat bewitched, unable almost to breathe. OK, it is played as they did in the period. But what playing! It appears that the film has had a rough time of it, rejected as being outwardly homosexual, a view which was contested by most right minded intelligent people since there is not the slightest outward suggestion of homosexuality, and eventually lost. It only came to light years later and even now is little known although it surely should be in the pantheon of great films.

I am not a 'film buff' as such, I have not devoted my time to the study of film per se, but even I can recognise near perfection when I see it. Dreyer was nothing if not a perfectionist. The film takes place in the mansion of a 'great' painter, very successful, very wealthy (and Dreyer insists on every detail seen being totally genuine, the tables, the chairs, the hangings, the statuary) and his young beautiful protegee, Michael. The sexuality, which clearly lies beneath the text, is only within the being of the master and certainly there is no involvement with his young immature protegee who seems unable to recognise the torture he so clumsily and callously brings to his loving mentor. And that is only a small part of this highly complex, psychological drama. It is slow, there are only seven protagonists, each drawn impeccably (the casting was done with meticulousness; the actors were chosen for their personal characteristics as well as their ability to perform), and the plot, if you can call it that, is purely secondary to the deep psychological action between the main trio of characters, the master, the young man, and the young man's eventual paramour.

But the main quality of the film lies in the use Dreyer makes of the close-up and the unusual use of lighting. The subtlety with which the excellent ensemble interplay with each other is beyond reproach. The 'acting' might be taken as 'old-fashioned', but the truth which lies behind every expression is a wonder to behold. A wonder indeed.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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Savage from London, England [Highly rated reviewer] , 30/03/2006

Early Dreyer, but still some wonderful examples of his exquisite style, all limpid melancholia, precise framing and careful pools of silver light. And even at this early stage, you get the feeling that the actors are going through some very exactly choreographed motions - his films are among the least spontaneous of any great director (it's no coincidence that Kubrick was such a big fan).

And yet, as so often with this director's work (see also, for instance, 'Master of the house' or 'Gertrud'), we have to contend with the mediocrity of the material. Since every film he made was based on something from another medium (in this case a novel), we must presume it was deliberate on his part: he found something he thought could be manipulated to fit his vision and didn't really care about its more superficial flaws. Here, even with a screenplay co-written with Lang's collaborator (and wife), Thea von Harbou, there is a good deal of melodramatic, sentimental guff to wade through, centring on a most implausible 'great artist' (Benjamin Christensen, himself a director, who made the awesome 'Haxan') who conceives an amour fou for his model, Michael (Walter Slezak, in the pre-Hollywood days when he hadn't neglected his handsome lessons). Every time I watch a Dreyer I have to remind myself to watch the cinema, rather than wasting my time on the story. That certainly seems to have been Dreyer's view.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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A customer from Manchester, England , 26/05/2005

This is far from classic Dreyer but is interesting as an early work, for its melodramatic techniques and homosexual undertones. Do note though that DVD 1 of this set is the American version - with bland piano accompaniment and modern intertitles. DVD 2 - the European version - has a more complex, apparently improvised jazz score and the original intertitles. Personally, I wish I'd only ordered disc 2, which also has a radio interview with Dreyer (disc 1 has a commentary from some academic).

  8 out of 8 people found this review helpful

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