NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (April 2022): Kino have transferred Robert Siodmak's Farewell to Blu-ray. It has had some restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung. There are, expected, inconsistencies in contrast due to the density shifts of the source. It is on a single-layered disc and modestly transferred but the elements dictate the image quality. It's actually quite appealing, a shade thin, with occasional vertical scratches and heavier damage (see samples below.)

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a linear PCM mono track (16-bit) in the original German language. As someone noted on IMDb: This is "The first sound film to be made by UFA - and they made the most of it including sounds from almost everything possible, vacuum cleaners, telephones, clocks, passing traffic etc." Farewell has some surprising effects when you consider the age of the film. They were made as prominent as they could. The music, piano and some singing, is credited to Erwin Bootz ('Musiker Erwin Bootz' in Farewell.) It likewise is impressive taking into account the early usage. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Anthony Slide (author of Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses.) He talks about how Farewell is the first film solely directed by Siodmak and the first film starring, the underrated, Brigitte Horney. He identifies that was also co-written by Emeric Pressburger! He has researched this well and tells us about the humor and sadness of the film as well as the alternate (added) ending thanking the Murnau-Stiftung for including it. I think this commentary was an important addition to the Blu-ray package. There are no other extras beyond that.

Robert Siodmak's Farewell is surprisingly technically refined and you would never suspect it was from 1930 as the production aspects are stronger than that would usually indicate - notably the audio. After the 'Ende' title-card appears, we are told that in 1931 the UFA studios added - without Siodmak's participation - a 'happy ending' and it goes on to be shown - it's about 4+-minutes long and has a lot of Bootz playing the piano. The cinematographer was Eugen Schüfftan - known for Jack Garfein's Something Wild, Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face and The Hustler (Paul Newman) among other films in a long career. Farewell has a dour, but realistic, tone and is set in a boardinghouse with a very informal, communal, feel. I enjoyed it although it may lean more to Siodmak completists and students of early German film. I'm appreciative that Kino have brought it to Blu-ray with the Slide commentary. Recommended to those keen.

Gary Tooze