Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Good German

This is topic The Good German in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul Burt (Member # 3743) on 01-07-2007, 11:32 AM:

This film's been getting terrible reviews (except from Peter Travers in Rolling Stone), but I thought it was one of the best of the year. The ultimate WWII film noir, it's cynical and disturbing, sort of the anti-Casablanca. Good acting, great period cinematography in b&w (although occasionally washed-out, probably to match the look of the old 1945 footage used as background is some of the process shots). Really well written. No upbeat happy Hollywood ending, that's for sure. It clearly pissed off a lot of critics, not a bad sign. Go see it.

Posted by Richard P. May (Member # 3598) on 01-07-2007, 05:38 PM:

Having worked in film preservation for many years, I have to comment on the "1940s" look of this picture. Lenses, film stock, processing, etc. from that period and earlier were infinitely better than represented in THE GOOD GERMAN. This picture was made to look like a bad multi-generation print from a dupe negative.
If we were to deliver a print that looked like this to a customer, I doubt that we would get any repeat business.

RPM

Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 01-12-2007, 01:07 PM:

Richard, in what sense is the picture flawed? I didn't think that this movie looked bad at all. I don't have a trained eye, but it didn't seem any more multi-generational than any other movie that's released today. I don't think that was the intent, either. The one thing that bothered me about this movie stylistically is that the music, at least, seemed to be in stereo. That doesn't make much sense.

As for the movie on the whole, it was a really interesting experiment, which proves once again that Steven Soderbergh is one of the most versatile directors of all time. People keep referring to this as an R-rated CASABLANCA, and it is, almost to a fault. But the key difference is that CASABLANCA had a much better script. That's ultimately the problem with THE GOOD GERMAN, and why it disappoints.

Posted by Richard P. May (Member # 3598) on 01-15-2007, 10:07 AM:

Mike,
Not to get into a long diatribe about my opinion of the "look", I suggest you take a look at a good print of CASABLANCA, or almost any major studio B&W film of the period. You could even use the latest DVDs of that picture, or the 1938 MARIE ANTOINETTE for a good example.
The current master film material of MARIE A. was made a couple of years ago from the original 1938 camera negative. The quality of the image, in sharpness, proper contrast, etc. almost jumps off the screen.
THE GOOD GERMAN is soft and over-contrasty.
There of course can be differences of opinion, and I don't think either of us want to beat this one to death.

RPM

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-15-2007, 06:37 PM:

Not to mention that the fades and dissolves all looked wrong....

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the film, though it seems to have received generally poor reviews.