Heart of Stone Blu-ray
'Heart of Stone' Director: Paul Verhoeven (1950) Eureka Masters of Cinema Limited Edition Blu-ray | 2K restoration | German w/ English subtitles
In 1950, DEFA – the state-owned film studio of East Germany or the GDR – embarked on what would prove to be a long tradition of producing films based on folktales by the likes of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. German author Wilhelm Hauff provided the source for the studio’s first folktale: The Cold Heart, which became Das kalte Herz or Heart of Stone. The first East German production to be shot in colour.
Peter Munk lives in the Black Forest with his mother and makes a modest living selling charcoal in the nearest town. Desperate to improve his social standing, he appeals to a mischievous forest spirit for help. The imp grants Peter two wishes, but only with strict conditions attached that leave him wanting more. He then turns to an infamous, reclusive warlock who can give Peter anything his heart desires – but only if he’s willing to exchange his heart for one made of stone.
By turns whimsical, weird and darkly macabre, Heart of Stone is an arrestingly beautiful work of fantasy that established a template for DEFA’s future folktales.
Special features include:
- Audio commentary by DEFA historian Seán Allan, author of Screening Art: Modernist Aesthetics and the Socialist Imaginary in East German Cinema
- Once Upon a Time in the East – new interview with Soviet cinema expert Claire Knight on Heart of Stone and children’s media in the Eastern Bloc
- Tales from the Black Forest – new video essay on Heart of Stone, folktales and gothic horror by film and literature scholar Mary Going
- The Bremen Town Musicians (Bruno J. Böttge, 1954) – silhouette folktale short produced by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film
- The Magic Ring ( Bruno J. Böttge, 1957) – silhouette folktale short produced by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film
- Thumbelina's Adventures (Christl Wiemer, 1958) – animated folktale short produced by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film
