TREASURE
„Director Georg Wilhelm Pabst, an Austrian born in Bohemia´s Roudnice upon Elbe, has enriched the world´s cinema by silent films The Street Without Joy (Die freudlose Gasse), Mysteries of Human Soul (Geheimnisse einer Seele), Jeanne Ney´s Love (Liebe der Jeanne Ney), Lady Irene´s Divorce (Abwege), The Diary of a Woman Who Disappeared (Tagebuch einer Verlorenen). He made important films in the sound era as well: On the Western Front (Westfront, 1918), The Beggar´s Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper), Buddies (Kameradschaft), etc.
Treasure is Pabst´s first film. It was made after his theater directing experience (in 1919 he is said to have directed for an expressionist stage in Prague) and his stints in other film jobs. The story of human greed and of love which can defeat this yearning for property was shot by Pabst under a telltale influence of expressionism as witnessed by the eerie story (especially in the bell-making and treasure hunt sequences) and the visual aspects, in sets and lighting playing with the contrast of light and shadows.
Film Restoration of Treasure
The following were available for the film restoration:
1) first generation colorized print with Czech intertitles; 1680,8 meters
2) acetate duplication negative with Czech intertitles; 1705,1 meters
3) acetate print with English intertitles; 1442, 2 meters
4) original German title list
In the first phase, the acetate duplication negative was compared with the nitrate print. The comparison showed the materials were identical.
In the second phase, teh duplication negative was compared with the English intertitled acetate print (as direct comparison with the nitrate print was too risky due to its fragility and the possibility of inflicting damage). Although the acetate print was considerably shorter it did include two small sections ranging from 0,5 m to 4 meters which did not appear in the longer nitrate print. Negatives were produced at Cinematheque Royale in Brussels from the original nitrate print and from these (12) sections. They were pieced together at Prague´s National Film Archive and German intertitles, made by Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin, were added.
In the final phase, black and white copies were subjected to a colorizing process closely observing the original nitrate print.
The restored print is 1789,5 meters long. According to the German title list the film was originally 1873 meters long. A total of 83,5 meters - which would add up to the original length - are missing.
The film of Treasure was restored by the National Film Archive in collaboration with Cinematheque Royale in Brussels and Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin with a grant from Taurus Film, Unterfohring.“
Catalogue 34. IFF Karlovy Vary 1999, p. 265.