Festival

Berlinale Classics 2019

7.–17.2.19

The Berlinale Classics bring digitally restored film classics and rediscoveries back to the big screen.

Destry Rides Again

USA, 1939, directed by George Marshall

A small western town is terrorized by an unscrupulous swindler and his gang. The new deputy sheriff in town seems useless – he carries no weapons and sticks strictly to the letter of the law. It is not until one of his closest allies is murdered that he has a change of heart … After making seven films with director Josef von Sternberg and a number of flops, Marlene Dietrich radically changed her image with this film. As a shady saloon singer, she doesn’t play on her ethereal beauty, but instead gives us a woman who knows how to assert herself – both in a catfight and in a clinch with deputy Tom Destry. Her appearance in the 1939 film served a just cause; ‘Destry Rides Again’ is more than just a style-setting western comedy. The film was released in theaters immediately following Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland, with an unvarnished message cautioning against US appeasement policy towards the Third Reich. In addition to Marlene Dietrich, prominent Jewish émigrés also worked on the production, including Felix Jackson (born Joachimson, screenplay), Friedrich Holländer (songs, music) and Joseph (Joe) Herman Pasternak (producer).

World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP

Die Sieger

(‘The Invincibles’, Director’s cut), GER, 1994, directed by Dominik Graf

Karl Simon is the leader of a police SWAT team in Düsseldorf. During a raid on a mafia stronghold, one suspect escapes. But Simon recognizes the fleeing man as his former colleague Heinz Schaefer. The latter was said to have committed suicide years earlier after killing his disabled child in an act of desperation. But the search for that “ghost” turns into a dangerous game for Simon and his crew. The people in charge will do whatever it takes to cover up a conspiracy involving politicians and organized crime … This German variation on the Italian Giallo films had its premiere 25 years ago. For this director’s cut, Dominik Graf has added three scenes to his brawny police thriller. The restoration crew at Bavaria Film took the scenes, which had not survived on 35mm, from a videotape of the rough cut, and incorporated them into the original theatrical release version. The challenge was to process the additional scenes to match the high-quality 4K digital material. The audio work required particular attention, since the additional scenes had never been mixed.

World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP

Jagko

(‘Pursuit of Death’), KOR, 1980, directed by Im Kwon-taek

Ill and indigent, ex-policeman Song is under lock and key in a rehab center. There he meets another human wreck whom he recognizes as his old adversary Jagko. When he was an officer with the South Korean forces during the Korean War, Song arrested the guerrilla fighter, but Jagko quickly escaped. Song was demoted for losing his prisoner, triggering his inexorable downward spiral and an obsessive 30-year search for the fugitive. But Jagko did not fare much better after his escape … Korean director Im Kwon-taek, who was awarded an Honorary Golden Bear at the 2005 Berlinale, uses flashbacks to tell the story of an obsessive relationship. The film’s (anti-)heroes reflect the tragedy of their divided country. With forays into action scenes and placid landscapes, the narrative of an unforgiving struggle between two men moves towards its deadly conclusion. Im Kwon-taek uses picture-in-picture images of the emerging détente between the USA and the USSR to strip bare the incongruity of the Korean conflict and with that, Korean cinema said farewell to the Cold War.

International premiere of the digitally restored version in 2K DCP

Ordet

(‘The Word’), DK, 1955, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

God-fearing farmer Morten Borgen has three sons. The oldest, Mikkel, is married to Inger, who is expecting their second child, and middle son Johannes believes he is Jesus Christ. Anders, the youngest, is intent on marrying the daughter of a sectarian tailor whose religious beliefs are at odds with those of the Borgen patriarch. Ultimately the conflict even leads to fisticuffs between the men. A more profound problem are complications with Inger’s pregnancy – to save the mother, the doctor must sacrifice the newborn. But a raging Johannes predicts that Inger will also die … Dreyer’s minimalistic late film is based on a 1925 stage drama set in Jutland. The film, shot in long takes against sparse, theatrical backdrops, is famed for its mobile cinematography and lighting that is reminiscent of “old master” painting. Reduced to its spiritual core – the triumph of faith over rationalism – ‘Ordet’s’ partisanship toward the preternatural can also be viewed as a profession of faith in the miraculous powers of cinema.

World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP

Örökbefogadás

(‘Adoption’), HUN, 1975, directed by Márta Mészáros

Kata works in a factory. A widow who is turning 43, she’s been having an affair with a married colleague for some time. Kata wants to have a child, but her lover, who already has two children, won’t hear of it. Then Kata meets 17-year-old Anna, who lives in a reformatory, and takes the young woman under her wing. She allows Anna to stay in her apartment so the younger woman can spend time with her boyfriend; the two women have long discussions, and the older woman stands up for Anna with the director of the home. Kata begins to uncouple emotionally from her lover. She goes to see Anna’s parents and urges them to allow Anna to fulfil her dream of marrying the boyfriend … In still images and long takes, Márta Mészáros tells the story of a lovely friendship between a lonely woman and her “trial run daughter”. The camera explores the bodies of the two protagonists with a tenderness equal to the sensitivity with which the film reveals their inner damage and their yearning for human warmth in a cold world. With ‘Örökbefogadás’ in 1975, Márta Mészáros became the first female director to win a Golden Bear at the Berlinale.

World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP

Ung Flukt

(‘Die jungen Sünder’), NOR, 1959, directed by Edith Carlmar

The illegitimate daughter of a single working mother, 17-year-old Gerd has fallen into delinquency. After she spends a brief stint in police custody, Gerd’s boyfriend, a student, disobeys his parents and takes her away to the country to protect her from bad influences. The young couple survive on fresh air and love in a remote cabin in the woods until a drifter turns up who is quite to Gerd’s liking … Unlike American teen films about juvenile delinquents, Edith Carlmar’s tenth feature is sympathetic to the plight of an adolescent who is as vivacious as she is fragile. Adding to the usual ingredients of the youthploitation genre – cola, jeans, and jazz, is the pin-up look of a 20-year-old Liv Ullmann in her first leading role. Not everyone found that a good thing. “Her face is lively and expressive, and she has sex. It is quite superfluous for Edith Carlmar to put so much emphasis on her breasts and thighs. Liv Ullmann is no Brigitte Bardot type. She has far more subtle and significant means at her disposal”, wrote Leif Borthen in the Oslo daily Verdens Gang.

World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP