"Germany Year Zero" Image Entertainment Region 1 NTSC vs Films sans Frontieres - Region 0

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Allemagne année zéro" or "Deutschland im Jahre Null" or "Germany Year Zero")

directed by Roberto Rossellini
Italy / Germany 1948

Released in 1947, Germania, Anno Zero was the third film of Roberto Rossellini's trilogy about the immediate aftermath of World War II. Roma, Città Aperta, filmed as the Nazis were retreating from Rome and released as The Open City was an international sensation; if Rossellini did not invent Italian neo-realism with that legendary film (Luchino Visconti coined the term in reference to his hard-boiled 1942 melodrama Ossessione), he was the first Italian director noticed in the English-speaking world. Paisan, the second film of the trilogy, is episodic, like The Open City, with segments from six Italian locales, moving north with the Allied invaders/liberators. Rossellini shot the third film in Berlin,using non-actors, within a year of Hitler's death. Rossellini found Edmund Moeschke, the twelve-year old who is in almost every scene, in a traveling circus in which his parents performed.

The film opens with a prolonged tracking shot of bombed buildings. Except for short reaction shot, the camera continues to move through the seventy-five minutes of this grim masterpiece. Though short, this is a very intense film. Before the Nazi defeat, Edmund was a Hitler Youth and to a considerable degree continues to be one as an increasingly feral child. Not even Bach and the Holy Mother Church can save him. A message at the beginning implores compassion for children like Edmund, but the script (by a group of writers including Rossellini, but, unlike the preceding two films, not Federico Fellini) and the way it is filmed provide none.

Excerpt from the Culture Dose .net review located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 1st, 1948 - Italy

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Recommended Books on Italian Cinema (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)


Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present by Peter E. Bondanella	Fellini on Fellini by Federico Fellini, Isabel Quigley	Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism by Millicent Marcus	Vittorio De Sica: Contemporary Perspectives (Toronto Italian Studies) by Howard Curle, Stephen Snyder	Italian Film (National Film Traditions) by Marcia Landy, David Desser	Italian Movie Goddesses: Over 80 of the Greatest Women in Italian Cinema by Stefano Masi, Enrico Lancia	Italian Cinema by Maggie Gunsberg	I, Fellini by Charlotte Chandler, Billy Wilder	Vittorio De Sica: Director, Actor, Screenwriter by Bert Cardullo

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DVD Comparison:

Image Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Films sans Frontieres - Region 0 - PAL

(Image Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Films sans Frontieres - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)

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Distribution	Image Entertainment Region 1 - NTSC	Films sans Frontieres Region 0 - PAL
Runtime	1:10:36	1:10:36 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.83 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.81 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Image Entertainment
Bitrate: Films sans Frontieres
Audio	DUB: Italian (Dolby 2.0 Stereo)	German (1.0 Mono)
Subtitles	English, and none	French, and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Image Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: October 8th, 2002 Keep Case Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Films sans Frontieres Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Rossellini Filmography DVD Release Date: ? Keep Case Chapters: 4
Comments:	Although neither DVD presentation is very worthy of the film, the Image Entertainment edition has superior picture quality, although it does show more damage. The Films sans Frontieres is overly brightness boosted and what little sharpness that was left on the print has been absorbed by the extensive contrast. It is very poor as well as being cropped badly on the left edge. Both editions have removable subtitles - the Image offers English while the FsF offers French. The audio on the FsF PAL version is the original German, but the Image is an Italian DUB. Neither disc boasts any Extras worth discussing. Both are quite a poor lot, but forced to choose the Image Entertainment is the way to go. One day, we hope an official and cleaned up edition will surface, hopefully from Criterion. - *Gary W. Tooze*

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(Image Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Films sans Frontieres - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)

Subtitle Sample