Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer
People on Sunday
Years before they became major players in Hollywood, a group of young German filmmakers—including eventual noir masters Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer and future Oscar winners Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann—worked together on the once-in-a-lifetime collaboration People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag). This effervescent, sunlit silent, about a handful of city dwellers (a charming cast of nonprofessionals) enjoying a weekend outing, offers a rare glimpse of Weimar-era Berlin. A unique hybrid of documentary and fictional storytelling, People on Sunday was both an experiment and a mainstream hit that would influence generations of film artists around the world.
Special Features
- New high-definition digital restoration, created in collaboration with the EYE Film Institute Netherlands
- Two scores: a silent-era-style score by the Mont Alto Orchestra and a modern one by Elena Kats-Chernin, performed by the Czech Film Orchestra, both presented as uncompressed stereo soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition
- Weekend am Wannsee, Gerald Koll’s 2000 documentary about the film, featuring interviews with star Brigitte Borchert and writer Curt Siodmak
- Ins Blaue hinein, a thirty-six-minute short from 1931 by People on Sunday cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Noah Isenberg and reprints by scriptwriter Billy Wilder and director Robert Siodmak
New cover by F. Ron Miller
Special Features
- New high-definition digital restoration, created in collaboration with the EYE Film Institute Netherlands
- Two scores: a silent-era-style score by the Mont Alto Orchestra and a modern one by Elena Kats-Chernin, performed by the Czech Film Orchestra, both presented as uncompressed stereo soundtracks on the Blu-ray edition
- Weekend am Wannsee, Gerald Koll’s 2000 documentary about the film, featuring interviews with star Brigitte Borchert and writer Curt Siodmak
- Ins Blaue hinein, a thirty-six-minute short from 1931 by People on Sunday cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Noah Isenberg and reprints by scriptwriter Billy Wilder and director Robert Siodmak
New cover by F. Ron Miller
Cast
- Erwin Splettstösser
- Himself (taxi driver)
- Brigitte Borchert
- Herself (record seller)
- Wolfgang von Waltershausen
- Himself (wine seller)
- Christl Ehlers
- Herself (extra in films)
- Annie Schreyer
- Herself (model)
- Kurt Gerron
- Himself
- Valeska Gert
- Herself
- Heinrich Gretler
- Himself
- Ernö Verebes
- Herself
Credits
- Director
- Robert Siodmak
- Director
- Edgar G. Ulmer
- Produced by
- Moriz Seeler
- Photography
- Eugen Schüfftan
- Script
- Billy Wilder
- From a reportage by
- Kurt Siodmak
- Cinematography assistance
- Fred Zinnemann
