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Kino Lorber Gives You ‘Gold’ on June 14
Kino Lorber has announced the Blu-ray and DVD release of GOLD, a rare 1930s German science fiction film directed by Karl Hartl and starring Brigitte Helm (Metropolis), mastered in HD from archival elements preserved by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung. This futuristic thriller, filled with high-tech sets, depicts the struggle between scientific progress and corporate greed (re-visiting some of the themes that Fritz Lang had explored in Metropolis).
GOLD will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 14, 2016, with a SRP of $29.95 for the Blu-ray and $19.95 for the DVD. The film is of historical interest as an example of the cinema produced during the 1930s in National Socialist Germany. It utilizes some of the key talents of the German film industry of the silent era, including production designer Otto Hunte (who had designed Fritz Lang’s futuristic fantasies Metropolis and Woman in the Moon), and cinematographer Günther Rittau (who had photographed Lang’s Die Nibelungen and Metropolis and Sternberg’s The Blue Angel). GOLD is not only a handsomely-produced drama of corporate espionage, it also reveals the ways in which English and American culture was subtly condemned in films made under the Third Reich.
Hans Albers stars as Professor Holk, an idealistic scientist developing the process of atomic fracturing, constructing an enormous electrical device to transform common lead into gold. When the operation is sabotaged by corporate rivals, resulting in the death of Holk’s mentor (Friedrich Kayssler), Holk must accept the backing of a ruthless English businessman, John Wills (Michael Bohnen), whose interest in atomic fracturing is purely economic.
Though he makes a deal with the devil, in order to continue his research, Holk recognizes it as a golden opportunity-not for a paycheck, but for payback-and plots to destroy Wills’s titanic gold-making machinery. While Holk enacts his revenge, he captures the interest of the millionaire’s rebellious daughter (Brigitte Helm), who is enthralled by the scientist’s vision and integrity.
GOLD (1934)
Blu-ray and DVD Street Date: June 14, 2016
Blu-ray SRP: $29.95
DVD SRP: $19.95
Director: Karl Hartl Produced by Alfred Zeisler Photographed by Günter Rittau, Otto Baecker, Werner Bohne Music: Hans-Otto Borgmann Production Design: Otto Hunte With Hans Albers, Brigitte Helm, Michael Bohnen, Friedrich Kayssler
1934 | Germany | B&W | 117 min. | Not Rated | 1920x1080p (1.33:1)
German with optional English subtitles
After scaring up a strong theatrical run, Oddity director Damian McCarthy’s Hokum heads home to Digital this week.
Settle in for a spooky supernatural chiller as Hokum arrives on all Digital platforms to rent or own beginning June 2, followed by a Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD Combo and DVD release on August 11, 2026.
Adam Scott (“Severance”) stars in Hokum as reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman. When he retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, the staff’s tales of an ancient witch haunting the honeymoon suite take hold of his mind. Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance draw Ohm into a nightmarish confrontation with the darkest corners of his past.
Peter Coonan (“The Alienist: Angel of Darkness”), David Wilmot (“Station Eleven”), Florence Ordesh (“Departure”), Michael Patric (“Frontier”), Will O’Connell (“Game of Thrones”), Brendan Conroy (“Bodkin”), and Austin Amelio (“The Walking Dead”) also star.
Get a peek at the upcoming physical media release below, including a few special features.
Spooky Pictures’ Roy Lee (Weapons) & Steven Schneider (Insidious) produce alongside Image Nation’s Derek Dauchy (Late Night with the Devil), Tailored Film’s Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde, & Mairtín de Barra, and Cweature Features’ Ken Kao & Josh Rosenbaum.
I wrote in my review for Bloody Disgusting, “A quaint Irish hotel with a deeply haunted history awaits an American writer in McCarthy’s third outing, continuing his streak for folkloric tales of supernatural karma and spine-tingling terror with a dark sense of humor.”
What’s next from Damian McCarthy? He’s currently writing a haunted house movie, but recent comments suggest he may be moving into other genres beyond that upcoming project.
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