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A brief, tranquil morning reading the paper, a quick dalliance with a lover, a peaceful walk through the city, a fun game of catch, a sudden flirtatious glance, or perhaps even a lazy afternoon spread out on a beach. Often we take these trivial occurrences for granted, letting them slip from our minds and memories. Sometimes though, it's in these deceptively simple moments -- the ones we think are unimportant or disposable, the ones seeped in our routines and everyday lifestyles -- that real truth lies. 'People on Sunday,' a 1930 silent film set in Weimar-era Berlin, is a movie about such moments. Shot by a dream-team of young German filmmakers including Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, and Billy Wilder, along with nonprofessional actors and an improvisational, quasi-documentary style of loose narrative structure, the film offers a beautiful window into the past, through an effortless yet still potent rumination on the carefree minutia of weekend life.

Directors: Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Rochus Gliese, Curt Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Erwin Splettstosser, Brigitte Borchert, Wolfgang von Waltershausen
Country: Germany
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Silent

BD50, DVD9 | 1080i AVC, NTSC | 01:14:00 | 39.5 Gb + 7.42 Gb
Language: Deutsch intertitles
Subtitles: English

Extras:

• Two scores: one for a silent-era-style score performed by the Mont Alto Orchestra and another for a contemporary score composed by Elena Katz-Chernin and performed by the Czech Film Orchestra.

• Weekend am Wannsee (2000) - a very informative documentary on the making of People on Sunday containing various interviews with writer Curt Siodmak, star Brigitte Borchert, and film restorer Martin Koeber. Mr. Siodmak's comments about Berlin and his brother, director Robert Siodmak, are particularly interesting. Directed by Gerald Koll. In German, with optional English subtitles. (32 min).

• Ins Blaue Hinein - Into the Blue (1931) is a short film directed by the cinematographer of People on Sunday, Eugen Schufftan. In German, with optional English subtitles. (36 min).