"Actor: Anna Loos"

• DIE NIBELUNGEN (Masters of Cinema) (BLU-RAY) | Blu Ray | (29/10/2012) from £14.79   |  Saving you £3.20 (21.64%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Perhaps the most stately of Fritz Lang's two-part epics, the five-hour Die Nibelungen is a courageous and hallucinatory work. Its extraordinary set-pieces, archetypal themes, and unrestrained ambition have proved an inspiration for nearly every fantasy cycle that has emerged on-screen since - from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings.In Part One, Siegfried, the film's eponymous hero acquires the power of invincibility after slaying a dragon and bathing in the creature's blood. Later, an alliance through marriage between the hero and the royal clan of the Nibelungen turns treacherous, with Siegfried's sole weakness exploited. In Part Two, Kriemhilds Rache [Kriemhild's Revenge], Siegfried's widow travels to the remote land of the Huns to wed the monstrous Attila, and thereby enlist his forces in an act of vengeance that culminates in massacre, conflagration, and, under the auspices of Lang, one of the most exhilarating and terrifying end-sequences in all of cinema.Adapted from the myth that was also the basis for Wagner's Ring cycle of operas, Lang's epic offers its own startling expressionistic power - a summit of the director's artistry. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Die Nibelungen in a spectacular new HD restoration.

• DIE NIBELUNGEN (Masters of Cinema) (DVD) | DVD | (29/10/2012) from £11.98   |  Saving you £10.00 (100.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Perhaps the most stately of Fritz Lang's two-part epics, the five-hour Die Nibelungen is a courageous and hallucinatory work. Its extraordinary set-pieces, archetypal themes, and unrestrained ambition have proved an inspiration for nearly every fantasy cycle that has emerged on-screen since - from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings.In Part One, Siegfried, the film's eponymous hero acquires the power of invincibility after slaying a dragon and bathing in the creature's blood. Later, an alliance through marriage between the hero and the royal clan of the Nibelungen turns treacherous, with Siegfried's sole weakness exploited. In Part Two, Kriemhilds Rache [Kriemhild's Revenge], Siegfried's widow travels to the remote land of the Huns to wed the monstrous Attila, and thereby enlist his forces in an act of vengeance that culminates in massacre, conflagration, and, under the auspices of Lang, one of the most exhilarating and terrifying end-sequences in all of cinema.Adapted from the myth that was also the basis for Wagner's Ring cycle of operas, Lang's epic offers its own startling expressionistic power - a summit of the director's artistry. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Die Nibelungen in a spectacular new HD restoration.

• Anatomy | DVD | (23/04/2001) from £7.10   |  Saving you £12.89 (181.55%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A medical horror movie from Germany, Anatomy is every bit as slick as its Hollywood equivalents (most notably Coma) but cuts a lot deeper thanks to its connections with a Gothic past. Brilliant medical student Paula Haller (Franka Potente) is accepted into a prestigious summer anatomy course at Heidelberg University and gradually learns that many of her teachers and classmates are members of the Antihippocratic League. This secret society carries out unethical vivisection experiments on live human specimens and has been active in the medical profession since the 16th century with a special peak during the Third Reich. Director-writer Stefan Ruzowitsky plays some distinctive and personal games as the heroine uncovers the conspiracy, then learns that her own family is intimately connected with the League. In gruesome but delicate horror scenes, kidnapped human specimens awake anaesthetised to the sound of easy-listening music as masked students dissect them alive to create the impressive, grotesque and beautifully preserved cutaway specimens used in the anatomy classes. Potente, the star of Run, Lola Run, has a very different role as the serious but passionate heroine and her character is affected by the revelations of the plot in a way that deepens the movie beyond the terrific suspense mechanisms of its lady-in-peril climax, in which Paula's medical knowledge and personal grit enable her to fight back. A great moment has the heroine forced to instruct her non-medical student boyfriend (Sebastian Blomberg) how to administer a simple but crucial intravenous injection to save her life, while the plausible villain turns out to be a renegade even by the standards of his secret society. On the DVD: An extremely high-quality DVD, this offers a pristine widescreen transfer (1:2.35) of the film (enhanced for 16:9 TVs); soundtracks in German, Spanish and English with optional subtitles in English, German and a dozen other languages; a full-length commentary in German by Ruzovitsky, with English subtitles; a couple of deleted scenes, with director commentary; on-set interviews with the cast and crew and a snippets of behind-the-scenes footage; a music video by co-star Anna Loos, shot on the set of the film; trailers; filmographies; and a neat animated menu. --Kim Newman

• Die Nibelungen - Siegfried's Death/Kriemhild's Revenge | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the greatest artistic and technical achievements of the German silent cinema Fritz Lang's monumental Die Nibelungen is a passionate retelling of Nordic legend invested with all the resources of the colossal Ufa Studios. Scripted by Lang's wife at the time Thea von Harbou (Metropolis) Siegfried establishes larger-than-life heroic characters who are defined by tests of valor a rigid codes of honor. In order to win the hand of Kriemhild (Margarete Schoen) Siefgriend (Paul Richter) must win a bride for her brother King Gunther (Theodor Loos). Kriemhild's Revenge begins after the death of Siefgriend and weaves the treacherous tale of his widow's ungodly vengeance upon his murderers. The noble qualities of the first film become liabilities in the second as the blood oaths and vows of loyalty bring about a maelstrom of violence that results in the slaughter of entire armies