Product Description

Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929, Thomas Mann was honored for a body of work that began with his first novel, Buddenbrooks, and whose other milestones included The Magic Mountain and Doktor Faustus . These three novels are brought to life in this outstanding 7-disc collection, which pays tribute to Mann’s most celebrated and famous works.
Buddenbrooks As seen on PBS Great Performances . A stimulating adaptation of Mann’s most famous novel and one of the most widely read German novels in the world, Buddenbrooks is the sweeping tale of the rise and fall of a wealthy merchant family torn between family loyalty and personal freedom.
Doktor Faustus Driven by a single-minded search for a totally new musical idiom, composer Adrian Leverkühn, makes a pact with the devil with a very high price: the total renunciation of love and the gradual deterioration of the mind and body.
The Magic Mountain Hans Castorp, son of a distinguished Hamburg family, spends seven years in a Swiss sanatorium. Drawn to the hermetic society, he receives an erotic and philosophical initiation but abruptly leaves at the launch of the Great War to learn true life experience and responsibility.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33307 in DVD
• Brand: Koch International
• Released on: 2007-04-10
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: German, English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 7
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 1140 minutes

Customer Reviews

The only DVD release that contains the complete Magic Mountain (Zauberberg) mini-series!
This review is mainly about The Magic Mountain mini-series (2 DVDs) starring Christoph Eichhorn as Hans Castorp, Marie-France Pisier, Rod Steiger, etc. It's ironic that the complete series was finally released on a Region 1 DVD in North-America. This is the only way (apart from occasional rebroadcasts on German tv stations) where you can watch the entire mini-series in three parts as originally intended. There exists a Region 2 German release which contains a drastically edited film version of just 146 minutes as opposed to the more than 5 hour duration of the 3 parts originally. You can imagine how much had to be cut away and how it didn't do justice to the novel or the original film adaptation. The only positive thing about the Region 2 release is a bonus documentary.
Back to this Region 1 release, I only watched The Magic Mountain in its entirety and the picture quality is excellent, the English subtitles are there (optional), and the packaging is done nicely (separate for all three films). I wouldn't have picked those menu stills that the studio did (not sure if they read the novel before) but it's the content that matters.
I have yet to watch the Buddenbrooks (11 part mini-series) and Doktor Faustus. This DVD is highly recommended to students of German Studies and is an excellent addition to any library collection.

Great Set of Thomas Mann's work and of German Cinema
This DVD set contains films of three Thomas Mann Novels:

"Buddenbrooks" (1984) directed by Franz Peter Wirth 11 hours long, in 11 parts - 4 DVD's
"The Magic Mountain" (1982) directed by Hans W. Geissendoerfer 5 1/2 hours long in 3 parts - 2 DVD's
"Dr. Faustus" (1982) directed by Franz Seitz 2 hours long in 2 parts - 1 DVD

All three were serialized and made for German television in the 1980's, a time of re-discovery of Thomas Mann's work. They are all top quality, especially the first two.

"Buddenbrooks", follows the fortunes of a wealthy and politically powerful Merchant family in the Baltic city of Luebeck from about 1830 to 1880. The film captures the details of the 1800's very well and is true to the novel in narrative, action and dialog. It is a beautiful production and was a very successful mini-series in Germany. The sets and locations are beautiful and great care was taken to reproduce the clothing

"The Magic Mountain" was more difficult to film due to the nature of the novel. Is is not a straightforward narrative like "Buddenbrooks". It is the story of young Engineer's visit to a Sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland in 1907 that was supposed to be three weeks long and which stretches to seven years. Of the three films it is my favorite. The Director, Geissendoerfer also wrote the screenplay that quotes directly from the novel about half of the time. The other half of the dialog is skillfully adapted. The film skillfully conveys the senses of isolation and time. Many of the characters are cast almost perfectly such as the lead, Engineer Castorp, Madame Chauchat, Settembrini, and the director of the Sanatorium, Dr. Behrens. Rod Steiger is a great surprise as Mynheer Pepperkorn, a character based on the german writer Gerhart Hauptmann. Steiger even looks like Hauptmann.

My least favorite in this set is "Dr. Faustus", the story of a man obsessed with music and of the results of his obsessions. I think it is flat and over-dramatized. Also the acting is not as good as in the first two films and the budget was much less. I doubt anyone would buy this seven DVD set for this film alone. Part of my opinion may be that it is also my least favorite of the three Thomas Mann novels, but then in all fairness "Buddenbrooks" and "The Magic Mountain" are difficult acts to follow.

The set does have some problems. The transfer to the DVD's is not sharp and is often murky for all three films. The color also seems faded. The sound could be clearer as well. Luckily I do not need to use the subtitles, but these are at times terrible either because they do not convey part of the dialog or because they do so incorrectly. For example at one point in the "Magic Mountain" Hans Castorp makes reference to Madame Chauchat's wedding ring, "Ehering" in German, but this translated as earring. This error does make a difference in understanding the story. It is because of these faults the set gets four instead of the deserved five stars.

If you enjoy Thomas Mann's work I can certainly recommend this set, especially so if you have read the novels. It made me read "The Magic Mountain" again.

Review by Walter O. Koenig

Yes, it's worth it!
Buddenbrooks (10 ½ hours); Dr. Faustus (177 minutes); The Magic Mountain (over 5 hours): the color is excellent throughout, and the sound crystal clear. The subtitles are all legible, and the few mistakes made won't ruin your experience.

"The Magic Mountain," my least favorite of the three novels---is a great. great film. The casting is perfect (especially Castorp, Behrens, Peeperkorn, Clavdia, Settembrini)--but everyone, to the smallest bit player, so inhabits the sanitorium spirit and his or her part, that one forgets to compare the film to the novel. Castorp's first day (the film begins right in the middle of it), Carnival (!), the x-rays, the banging door, Castorp's walk in the blizzard, Ziemsen's death, the duel between Naptha and Settembrini--all great. The setting is magnificent, too.

"Buddenbrooks," the longest serial, is excellent. Most, but not all, of the acting is top-notch; the costumes and the buildings (my God! The buildings!) are perfect, and you will enjoy comparing the film to the novel, and noticing little differences (feeling SO superior!). The leitmotif of the nurse, walking the narrow alleyway of houses to the broad street where Buddenbrooks live--it happens three times--to sit at a deathbed: Mann would have loved it. The older men, Thomas, both Hannos and Kais are particularly good. The use of Plattdeutch is faultless.

There was only one omission that seriously disturbed me.

"Dr. Faustus,"the shortest (Mann's most complex novel!), seemed a bit rushed to me occasionally. But many things are there (the film is called "Pictures from the life...." not "The Life, etc."). Kretchmar, Schleppfuss, the devil, Schwerdtfeger (my, such a familiar face) are especially good. A motive is seriously misplaced for a time (but how many notice it in the book?); there is one addition...Mann would never have quoted that, then! The film does not do the book justice, of course--but then--how could it? If you buy this collection, it should be mainly for "The Magic Mountain." But "Doktor Faustus" is a good introduction to the book, at least.

BUY IT! If you can afford it. "Ist das noetige Geld vorhanden/ ist das Ende meistens gut"...

(I must apologize for this review. Seeing that four others had reviewed the 18 1/2 hours of film, I assumed my review would appear at the bottom, not the top. It is not very helpful as a first (actually last!) review for someone condsidering purchasing the collection....but I ain't gonna do it again!)