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I have unbiased finished watching the current Criterion dvd of Haxan and I couldn’t be more elated! I have never seen this film, but view I would try it out, as I have always had a fascination with the grotesque, mysticism, and the occult. Haxan delivers in spades.
This 1922 Danish soundless film about dismal magic, witches, satanism, and the persecution of said subjects during the middle-ages, which attempts to create a connection between the musty phenomena and the novel look of hysteria (novel in 1922), has been wonderfully presented by The Criterion Collection in their recent dvd. This current Criterion dvd has the unique 104 min. version with a newly recorded 5.0 soundtrack orchestrated from archival documentation, and the 76 min. version released in 1967, which has narration by legendary counter-culture icon William S. Burroughs.
Watching the new version, I found it paunchy of substantial imagery and gorgeous peaceful acting. Emotions and actions are superbly conveyed by the actors, and the sets, costumes, lighting, and effects are all wonderfully done. I especially like the interrogation chamber and the Sabbath scenes, which exhibit lots of suited props and noteworthy deviltry with rather convincing special effects and make-up. The movie is structured in seven chapters, the first giving a historical fable of witchcraft’s origins in literature and illustrations. We then are presented with drama plays, having to do with the practice of witches, and the persecution, trying, and torturing of said witches. We are also presented with several instances of the devil manifesting and making demands on his minions. In the raze, Christensen attempts to obtain a correlation between the acts, mannerisms, and various disfigurements anciently attributed to witches and their craft, and the unusual affects of hysteria. This is apparently the most criticized piece of the film, as mentioned in the commentary, and while it certainly is not as strong as the period dramas, I judge it does a satisfactory job of raising worthy questions, and does work with the film quite well.
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As for the quality of the transfer… with the exception of element specs throughout, and unbiased a few scenes marred by scrapes, the print is very tidy and determined. I plan it looked spacious. Factual, the print could have been cleaned up a bit more as far as the specs go, but not every film Criterion does will collect the star treatment given Akira Kuroswa’s “Seven Samurai”. So long as inequity is kindly, and edges are well defined, I’m usually a glad camper, and this transfer delivers.
The unusual glean was arranged by film music specialist Gillian Anderson who attempted to recreate the music presented at the film’s Danish premiere as best as possible by referencing the list of musical cues printed in the theater’s weekly program notes. It includes works from Franz Schubert, Richard Wagner, Max Bruch, W.A. Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Christoph Gluck, and Ludwig Van Beethovan, as well as others. Anderson conducted the Czech Film Orchestra in June 2001. The glean does an astonishing job of accompanying the film, sounds fabulous, and is is presented in 5.0 Dolby Digital.
There is a knock-out commentary here. Narrated by Danish tranquil film scholar Caspar Tybjerg, the commentary centers on the director Benjamin Christensen’s life in film, the Danish tranquil film industry, origin of the documentary film genre, technical aspects of Haxan, the cast of Haxan, historical aspects of the seek of hysteria in psychology circles, the origins of the devil as a character in media, and of course, the phenomena of witchcraft and witch hunting. References are made to Nosferatu, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the German Expressionist movement, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Seventh Seal, Sigmund Freud… the list goes on and on. While there is an wonderful amount of information presented here, with bibliographic references even, Tybjerg does an salubrious job of tying it all together and presenting the relevance of the material to the film. This was a very challenging recognize at Christensen, his film, and the sociological atmosphere both during the middle-ages, and during the time of Haxan’s production.
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As for the 1967 version narrated by William S. Burroughs, “Witchcraft Through The Ages”… I must say that I have not sat through the whole thing. In fact, I unprejudiced watched the first two segments before finally succumbing to sleep (I have, gladly, spent a LOT of time with this dvd, but have to sleep sometime) . My first impression is, while Burroughs is always so interestingly droning yet intense in the same breath, the jazz acquire was impartial monotonous ridiculous, in the presentation of Haxan anyway. The producer aloof a jazz acquire for the film, which by itself, is some very hip music indeed, but it was objective terribly out of plot in the film. I’m determined the production was aiming to enhance drug trips rather than reveal the film itself. With Burroughs involvement, I don’t believe I’m too far of nefarious in this. I’ll have to give it another go when I’ve had some sleep, so I can stare the whole thing, but I doubt I’ll be changing my mind. The jazz gather is unbiased too out of site, and as Christensen has often said, dialogue would waste Haxan, as well as several peaceful films. After witnessing this 1967 version, I must agree with the director.
For avid students of special effects, I would earn an evening of it with Haxan, as well as Jean Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast”, and “Der Golum”, found on Elite’s “Masterworks of the German Dread Cinema” dvd state. Noteworthy mysticism, magic and enchantment abound in these films, and state-of-the-art at-the-time special effects to boot.
I am extremely blissful with this dvd, and highly recommend it to anyone who is into the peruse of classic film or anyone who is involved in the occult, whether solely for entertainment or as a ogle of sociological phenomena.
One of the most distinguished cult/horror films from the tranquil era, Benjamin Christensen’s “Häxan” is at its devilish best on this Respectable DVD release by the mammoth folks at the Criterion Collection. Say good-bye to those unlit, washed out video prints we’ve all had to assign up with, and say hello to a nearly flawless print of the film wonderfully transfered to the disc. The images are so crisp and definite, many of the scenes seek as if they could have been filmed yesterday. The clarity also allows for you to notice powerful more of the detail in each frame. Also lending to the delicate images is apt tinting and upright “projection” hasten. Also included is a terrific musical obtain which has been reconstructed from the staunch music that accompanied the modern 1922 release in Denmark.
Extras include movie outtakes, production stills, audio commentary, and the 1960′s version of the film with William S. Burroughs narrating.
The bottom line: this is far and away the best version of “Häxan” you will collect anywhere, and belongs in the collection of any mute film buff.