Quote:
Based on Herman Bang’s 1902 novel of the same name, Dreyer’s film is a fascinating fin-de-siècle study of a “decadent” elderly artist (Benjamin Christensen) driven to despair by his relationship with his young protégé and former model, Michael (Walter Slezak). With suffocatingly sumptuous production design by renowned architect Hugo Häring (his only film work), this Kammerspiel, or “intimate theatre”, foreshadows Dreyer’s magnificent final film Gertrud, by forty years with its “Now I may die content, for I have seen great love” epigraph.

Michael was scripted by Dreyer with Fritz Lang’s wife, Thea von Harbou (Metropolis, M, etc). It stars the director Benjamin Christensen (Häxan); Walter Slezak (Hitchcock’s Lifeboat); Nora Gregor (Renoir’s The Rules of the Game); Mady Christians (Ophüls’ Letter from an Unknown Woman); and Karl Freund (who also shot Metropolis) in his only ever appearance as an actor. Freund lensed most of Michael too, but left to work on Murnau’s The Last Laugh, and Rudolph Maté (The Passion of Joan of Arc) took over.

Extras (in English):
Audio commentary as a secondary audio track
Audio interview with Carl Dreyer
David Cairns’ Video Essay

1.93GB | 1h 34m | 766×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/535B6A8F2C6EB12/Michael.(Carl.Theodor.Dreyer.1924).BDRip.576p.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/323A7F06D115278/Audio_Interview_with_Carl_Dreyer.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/9ACB7539088F04C/David_Cairns_Video_Essay.mkv
or
https://fikper.com/qIs9U1IXmr/Michael.(Carl.Theodor.Dreyer.1924).BDRip.576p.mkv
https://fikper.com/6aQCh8zaV3/Audio_Interview_with_Carl_Dreyer.mkv
https://fikper.com/mbFB4zZBLR/David_Cairns_Video_Essay.mkv

Language(s):German intertitles
Subtitles:English

The post Carl Theodor Dreyer – Mikaël (1924) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen’s legendary 1922 silent film Häxan uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious; instead, it’s a witches’ brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.

In 1968, Antony Balch prepared an abbreviated 77-minute version of the film titled Witchcraft Through the Ages. Balch had previously worked with William S. Burroughs in making the films Towers Open Fire (1963) and The Cut-Ups (1967), and this version features Burroughs’ dramatic narration, delivered as an incantation in droning monotone. Daniel Humair’s chaotic jazz score for the ’68 release was played by a quintet that included Jean-Luc Ponty on violin and Humair on percussion.

1.71GB | 1h 16m | 768×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/0E713CED68B3B5B/Witchcraft.Through.the.Ages.William.S.Burroughs.version.1968.BDRip.576p.x264.AC3.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:None

The post Benjamin Christensen – Witchcraft Through the Ages AKA Häxan [William S. Burroughs version] (1968) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Fictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in modern Europe. Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen’s legendary silent film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages and early modern era suffered from the same ills as psychiatric patients diagnosed with hysteria in the film’s own time. Far from a dry dissertation on the topic, the film itself is a witches’ brew of the scary, the gross, and the darkly humorous. Christensen’s mix-and-match approach to genre anticipates gothic horror, documentary re-creation, and the essay film, making for an experience unlike anything else in the history of cinema.

2.05GB | 1 h 45 min | 776×576 | mkv

https://nitroflare.com/view/084CC51B4EFD2C5/Benjamin_Christensen_-_%281922%29_Haxan_Witchcraft_Through_the_Ages.part1.rar
https://nitroflare.com/view/18E73725DA6AAEB/Benjamin_Christensen_-_%281922%29_Haxan_Witchcraft_Through_the_Ages.part2.rar
https://nitroflare.com/view/995F252796B4D80/Benjamin_Christensen_-_%281922%29_Haxan_Witchcraft_Through_the_Ages.part3.rar

Language(s):Silent
Subtitles:English

The post Benjamin Christensen – Häxan AKA Häxan Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) first appeared on Cinema of the World.