Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Sumurun [One Arabian Night] (1920)

This Ernst Lubitsch Arabian tale of love, lust and jealousy stars Jenny Hasselqvist, Paul Wegener, Pola Negri, Harry Liedtke, Carl Clewing, Aud Egede Nissen and Ernst Lubitsch.

Adapted by Hanns Kräly and Lubitsch from a pantomine play by Friedrich Freksa, Sumurun transports us to a not-so-real world of sheiks and servants, lovers and possessors, manipulators and steadfast friends. More a drawing room play than a historical epic, the film deliciously sways from operatic Sturm und Drang in Wegener’s pop-eyed performance as the jealous old sheik to smarmy revulsion in Lubitsch’s turn as the jealous and pugnacious hunchback minstrel to high comedy in the tribulations of the palace’s eunuchs at the hands of Sumurun’s female servants. Hasselqvist is gorgeous as Sumurun, and Nissen is loads of fun as a mischievous handmaiden, but Negri steals the show as the high-energy migrant dancer who delights in antagonizing her hunchback colleague while she catches the lustful eye of the old sheik and of Clewing as the young sheik (along with just about every other male in the region).

Seemingly disparate, the film succeeds primarily as a comic entertainment that orbits the melodramatic love stories of its main characters. Lubitsch’s genius lies in the perfect mixture of confection and bitter pills, of visual spectacle and turgid playlets. Worthy of multiple viewings, Sumurun is among the most enduringly popular of Ernst Lubitsch’s German films.

— Carl Bennett

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered in high-resolution from a 35mm reconstruction print prepared in 1999 by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung in conjunction with L’Immagine Ritrovata of Bologna and Národni Filmovy Archiv´ of Prague, under the direction of Enno Patalas. Print materials were provided by Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, the George Eastman Museum, Gosfilmofond, the Library of Congress, and the Stadtmuseum-Filmmuseum of Munich. The new HD scan along with the increased resolution of Blu-ray Disc renders a significantly more-detailed picture than can be viewed in previous home video editions. Immediately noted, the scan does a better job of holding subtle details in the highlight areas of the picture that are barely present (if present at all) in earlier video transfers (or in the print itself).

Although we risk the criticism of purists, we feel that an opportunity to stabilize the image and digitally clean-up some of the significant amount of dust, speckling, splices, scratches, exposure flickering, scuffing, emulsion chipping, and other print flaws present in the source materials has been missed in this edition. We feel that retention of all of the authentic warts present in a photochemically-duplicated archival print doesn’t necessarily guarantee one a badge of integrity but may instead distract viewers from the unfolding of the tale and actually be a barrier to the enjoyment of the film by modern audiences. Keep the schmutz in the archival materials if you wish but clean-up the HD scan for digital projection and for home video editions. Still, with our feeble objections now aired, let us say again that this Blu-ray Disc is a significant improvement over previous DVD editions and should be a welcome addition to a home video collection.

The film is presented with the same music score composed and performed on piano by Javier Perez de Azpeitia that graced earlier home video editions. Always appropriate, the music conveys a sense of place and the tone of the film’s action.

Supplemental material includes 35mm screen tests for Lubitsch’s abandoned 1923 Marguerite and Faust production intended for Mary Pickford, as preserved by the Library of Congress (12 minutes). Featured in the footage are actors Charles King, Philip Sleeman. Francis McDonald, Lester Cuneo, Frank Leigh and Lew Cody testing for the role of Mephistopheles (we like McDonald the most). The footage was saved in good time as it shows faint signs of beginning nitrate decomposition and significant examples of emulsion chipping.

This is recommended as the best-looking home video edition of this film currently available.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .

This DVD edition has been mastered from the very-good 35mm reconstruction print prepared by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, with L’Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna, and Národni Filmovy Archiv´, Prague, under the direction of Enno Patalas, with the cooperation of Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv, the George Eastman Museum, Gosfilmofond, the Library of Congress, and the Stadtmuseum-Filmmuseum of Munich. Some dust, speckling, significant frame jitters and other print flaws remain present in the materials.

The film is presented with a piano music score composed and performed by Javier Perez de Azpeitia.

Supplemental material includes a gallery of photos and promotional materials (8 images), and a lean Lubitsch filmography. Perhaps an audio commentary would have added to the edition’s value.

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film but we encourage acquisition of the Blu-ray Disc edition noted above.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD is also available directly from . . .

Among the supplemental material is a short essay on the film by David Cairns.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 2 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Purchase supports Silent Era.

This Sunrise Silents’ DVD-R edition of One Arabian Night was mastered from a video transfer of an 8mm reduction print that includes the main title credits for an American release version of the film. Intertitles for the version were written by Lesley Mason and originally included color intertitles by Prizma with intertitle illustrations by Paléologue. As should be expected from a reduction print, there is a significant amount of dust and speckling (larger in size due to the print gauge), splices, and frame jitters. As the print was projected and captured by a video camera, the image is not nearly as sharp as one would hope.

The film is presented with musical accompaniment performed on a MIDI-based synthesizer.

The disc also includes a Lupino Lane comedy (written and directed by Roscoe Arbuckle), transferred from a good 16mm reduction print; the fourth episode of the serial Mystery of the Double Cross (1917), transferred from a good 16mm reduction print; a short sound-film novelty featuring Reginald Denny, Bobby Vernon and Anita Page, among others, transferred from what appears to be a very-good 35mm print; a Pola Negri photo gallery (33 images); a glass-slide gallery (22 images); and an introduction to Pola Negri by edition producer Rich Olivieri.

With the other higher-quality editions noted above, this out-of-print DVD home video edition is not recommended. Its only value may be in its home video record of the reedited and retitled American release version of the film comprised of alternate takes and B-camera footage.

SUNRISE SILENTS has discontinued business and this edition is . . .

The film is likely to be accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

We have not yet viewed this film in this home video edition.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .

Other silent era POLA NEGRI films available on home video.

Other silent era PAUL WEGENER films available on home video.