Murnau, Borzage and Fox.

"They formed the most unlikely of cinematic triumvirates, but for a few years in the waning days of the 1920s and the early 1930s, Hungarian-born movie mogul William Fox and directors Frank Borzage and FW Murnau pushed the language of moviemaking to a high art," writes Susan King in the Los Angeles Times. "This week, 20th Century Fox Studio Classics is releasing a lavish new DVD boxed set, Murnau, Borzage and Fox, which features 12 films made by the directors at the studio, a new feature-length documentary and two coffee-table books of photographs from the films in the collection."

Updated through 12/11.

"Turning from the grand, sweet allegory of Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), FW Murnau unknowingly had only three more films in him before his tragic, early death," writes Daniel Kasman in the Auteurs' Notebook. "Between that most excellent of films - perhaps the greatest ever made - and the director's partial collaboration with documentarian Robert Flaherty, Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931), Murnau's 1930 film City Girl tends to be lost. Much smaller than Murnau's first film in America, and much less dramatically esoteric and unexpected than his last film (and not inspiring the mystery of one of the most missed of missing films, 1928's 4 Devils), City Girl in such a context proves what should be an axiom for cinema: it is not what is being filmed but how one films it that is all that matters." Also, a series of stills, a run through the wheat.

"It's great to see Fox embracing its studio heritage with such scholarly dedication and serious financial commitment," writes Dave Kehr in the New York Times. "Only Warner Brothers has done anything comparable, and Fox has perhaps gone a bit further in releasing these sets [previously: Ford at Fox], comprehensive anthologies devoted not to genres or to stars but to major authors in the field of motion pictures.... Borzage's eternal theme - that romantic love transcends all physical circumstance, with a force like that of religion - is developed in 7th Heaven through elaborate camera movements that would probably not have been conceivable without Murnau's example.... Sunrise was a succès d'estime, but 7th Heaven was a major popular hit, thanks no doubt to Borzage's almost magical ability to spin an aura of warmth and spiritual exaltation around his lovers."

"Although, overall I am quite thrilled with the package as a whole - I do have some reservations." And Gary W Tooze lists them at DVD Beaver. Still, the ultimate verdict: "This is essential for cinema and DVD fans alike."

Earlier: Glenn Kenny.

Update: "What's seen and experienced in Borzage's numinous universe is often so ratcheted up in intensity, so pregnant with his stylized ideas of sin or salvation and stations in between, that your nerve-endings may start to sizzle." The Parallax View runs a piece Kathleen Murphy's written for an issue of Steadycam devoted to Borzage.

Updates, 12/10: "Howard Hawks, William Wellman and John Ford all learned from Murnau, but the Fox director arguably most affected by Murnau's presence on the lot was Frank Borzage, an already-excellent storyteller fascinated by human faces and transformative romance." Noel Murray at the AV Club: "Because Fox let Murnau define his studio's style, the first Academy Awards ceremony was largely dominated by three Fox films: Borzage's 7th Heaven and Street Angel, and Murnau's Sunrise."

"Lazybones is an exemplary Borzage picture - its solidity of construction matched by an almost breathtaking delicacy of feeling," writes Glenn Kenny in the Auteurs' Notebook. "Borzage was an actor himself, and every performance here is a small miracle."

Updates, 12/11: "Murnau's more famous name and scandalous death are linked to sell Borzage's more obscure reputation," asserts Armond White in the New York Press. "Borzage remains Hollywood's last great forgotten filmmaker."

"Not everything that Frank Borzage filmed was a masterpiece, but this lesser work is still very entertaining." Peter Nellhaus watches the pair on Disc 11, After Tomorrow and Young America.

Posted by dwhudson at December 9, 2008 1:32 AM