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 husbandās jealousy steadily brews. Into this mix an uninvited guest arrives, a disheveled and likely mad shadow-player who borrows the dinersā shadows to use with a kind of magic, revealing the tragic consequences that will come if they continue as they have been ā a literal āforeshadowā. 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.
ā therevenantreview.com
German expressionism at its best
A jealous husband, a flirtatious wife, a quartet of lusty dinner guests and a shadow puppeteerā¦ 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 nƤchtliche 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, itās ridiculously gorgeous. Third, we can get into all sorts of juicy discussions regarding the meaning of film, the universe and everything.
ā moviessilently.com
New 4K restoration available on blu-ray and digital download
Itās 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 wonāt be available elsewhere, itās 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 heās also a composer known for his āextensionā of LĆ©os Janacekās Sonata 1/X/1905. His project to rewrite and continue Janacekās 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 Pigeoletās work.
Special feature : Danse Macabre (1922)
This special edition of Warning Shadows will include 1922 short film by Dudley Murphy āDanse Macabreā. A movie that shares similarities with Warning Shadows. This master scanned by the Archive Python Library will also be restored in 4K.
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