DVD
Häxan : witchcraft through the ages
Languages
Silent film with Swedish intertitles; optional English subtitles; English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (1968 version).
Performers
1968 version narrated by William S. Burroughs.
Publication Information
[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2001]
Physical Description
1 videodisc (104 min.) : sd., col. (restored tinting) ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded booklet ([8] p. : ill. ; 19 cm.)
Audience
Not rated.
Summary
Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that witches of the middle ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious--instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous. This Criterion Collection edition includes two versions of this genre-defying "documentary."
Notes
Title from container.
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1922.
Contains a new digital, speed-corrected transfer of the Swedish Film Institute's tinted restoration of Häxan as well as Witchcraft through the ages, the 1968, 76-minute version of the film, narrated by William S. Burroughs, with a soundtrack featuring Jean-Luc Ponty.
Special features: music from the original Danish premiere, arranged by film music specialist Gillian Anderson and performed by the Czech Film Orchestra ; commentary by Danish silent film scholar Casper Tybjerg ; Benjamin Christensen's introduction to the 1941 re-release ; a short selection of outtakes ; "Bibliothèque Diabolique," a photographic exploration of Christensen's historical sources ; stills gallery ; Witchcraft through the ages, the 1968, 76-minute version of the film, narrated by William S. Burroughs, with a soundtrack featuring Jean-Luc Ponty.
Contents
- Häxan Witchcraft through the ages