100 Year Anniversary Warning Shadows : New 4K Restoration & Limited Blu-ray Synopsis During a dinner given by a wealthy count (Fritz Kortner), his beautiful wife (Ruth Weyher) and four of her suitors come together at the 19th-century German manor. A magician (Alexander Granach), rescues the count’s marriage by giving all the guests a vision of what might happen if the count cannot restrain his jealousy and the suitors continue to make advances towards his wife. The count challenges the man he perceives as his rival (Gustav von Wangenheim) to a duel. But did the terrible events that occurred at the party really happen, or was it all an illusion conjured up by the magician? 1923 German Expressionism masterpiece restored for the first time in 4K Warning Shadows will have the restoration it deserves. Troy Howarth writes “The film is fascinating primarily on a visual level. As an exercise in Expressionism, it fully deserves inclusion in the canon of great German horror films”, comparing Robison’s film to the best of F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. Siegfried Kracauer ranked it among the masterpieces of German cinema, but lamented that it came and went all but unnoticed by the general public. For its 100th anniversary, Warning Shadows gets a makeover. Thanks to the acquisition of a new 16 mm tinted print, a new 4K scan was possible. The reels have been digitized using a 4K scanner and a huge work of stabilization, calibration and restoration has begun. Be part of cinema history and help us save silent classics. Own the first 4K restoration of Arthur Robison’s masterpiece with a new classical soundtrack by Laurent Pigeolet, pre-order your limited blu-ray today. About the movie Warning Shadows is a film which attempts something novel and unique. Silent films are themselves a play of light and shadows, and here the art form appears to appropriately comment upon itself. Warning Shadows uses the characteristics of the German Expressionist movement as an interesting, and seemingly inevitable, tool for storytelling. Directed by American-born but German-raised Arthur Robison, the tale is about a flirtatious wife who adores the fawning attention she receives from four foppish dinner guests while her husband’s jealousy steadily brews. Into this mix an uninvited guest arrives, a disheveled and likely mad shadow-player who borrows the diners’ shadows to use with a kind of magic, revealing the tragic consequences that will come if they continue as they have been – a literal ‘foreshadow’. The shadow-player is performed by Alexander Granach, who played the memorable Renfield-type character in Nosferatu (1922) the year before, and again presents the screen with an eccentric, memorable performance. Warning Shadows is experimental in many ways and uses Expressionistic elements in its approach. The costumes and hairstyles are exaggerated in the stylistic manner of the times and shadows are employed throughout the film as a way to expose a truth which light, ironically, hides. These shadows are used cleverly and add to the dream-like quality of the film. – therevenantreview.com German expressionism at its best A jealous husband, a flirtatious wife, a quartet of lusty dinner guests and a shadow puppeteer… This is going to be an eventful evening. The film is a stylized marvel with plenty of the dark stuff we expect in German cinema. German-American director Arthur Robison is not as famous as Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau or Ernst Lubitsch but he has two genuine silent classics to his name: The Informer (released as both a silent and, less successfully, a part-talkie and later remade by John Ford) and Warning Shadows (or Schatten: Eine nächtliche Halluzination in German). This film should be of interest to silent movie fans for several reasons. First, it manages to tell an entirely visual story with no title cards included after the characters are introduced. Second, it’s ridiculously gorgeous. Third, we can get into all sorts of juicy discussions regarding the meaning of film, the universe and everything. – moviessilently.com New 4K restoration available on blu-ray and digital download It’s happening on Kickstarter. Backers will receive a region free Blu-ray. The number of copies will depend of the number of backers but be sure it will be a very limited run. All blu-rays will be produced and sent from Paris, France. It won’t be available elsewhere, it’s a Kickstarter exclusive. Secure your limited 100th Anniversary copy today, be part of the restoration and have your name in the ending credits! New soundtrack The piano score will be performed by Belgian composer Laurent Pigeolet. Pigeolet is a silent movie pianist but he’s also a composer known for his “extension” of Léos Janacek’s Sonata 1/X/1905. His project to rewrite and continue Janacek’s work has gone around the world. Pigeolet also composed the music for our restoration of The Magician in 2022. This new soundtrack will be recorded in Belgium. Listen to Laurent Pigeolet‘s work. Special feature : Danse Macabre (1922) This special edition of Warning Shadows will include 1922 short film by Dudley Murphy “Danse Macabre“. A movie that shares similarities with Warning Shadows. This master scanned by the Archive Python Library will also be restored in 4K. WATCH THE TRAILER