Werner Herzog on DVD

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Barmy · #26 Post by **Barmy** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:21 pm

I would not assume that, just because the Documentary Box is Region 0/NTSC, it will have English subtitles. I won't be buying until this is confirmed.

That said, it does look like most/all of the DVDs that are offered are R0/NTSC and have English subtitles. Does anyone know whether these transfers are different from those that are available from Amazon and the like?

#27 Post by **zedz** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:07 pm

Barmy wrote:I would not assume that, just because the Documentary Box is Region 0/NTSC, it will have English subtitles. I won't be buying until this is confirmed

Considering the box is called "Werner Herzog DVD Edition Documentaries and Shorts" and all the film titles are in English it would be extremely perverse if the films were unsubtitled!

#28 Post by **zedz** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:52 pm

Coming from a country where DVDs are routinely overpriced, I'm seriously considering getting the box set, and was wondering if anybody had purchased any of the other DVDs from the Herzog website. There are a handful of documentaries missing from the box but available separately on DVD, namely Christ and Demons in New Spain, Death for 5 Voices, Pilgrimage and The Transformation of the World into Music. Can anybody recommend any of these films and / or discs?

NABOB OF NOWHERE · #29 Post by **NABOB OF NOWHERE** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:54 am

I received the box set today.It's obviously going to take some time to trawl through it systematically but if anyone has any specific questions re quality/subs/langs. etc feel free to ask.

NABOB OF NOWHERE · #30 Post by **NABOB OF NOWHERE** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 4:26 pm

Well packaging wise it falls short given the price. The Slipcase/ Box is flimsy and quite disposable. There are no inserts /booklets or any additional written materials. Some of the prints are grimy and worn others (e.g. Jag Mandir ) clean and acceptable. As I work my way through I'll let you know if there are any stunning results (Somehow I doubt this) or any below par. I got the New Yorker dvds recently so I might do a quick contrast and compare of those first.
Bottom line is that some of these are of course otherwise unavailable but having got a lot of these titles already I wish I'd cherrypicked those that were missing rather than plump for the whole lot.

Barmy · #31 Post by **Barmy** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:12 pm

Anyone else get this?

Blissful Sinner · #32 Post by **Blissful Sinner** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:41 pm

I also ordered a copy of this set and I'm eagerly anticipating it. I never thought I would be able to see all of these films.

As a side note, did anyone else notice on the Grizzly Man DVD the absence of the David Letterman interview?

I remember it distinctly when I saw the movie in theatres but it isn't on the DVD. I suppose they didn't have DVD rights for the segment. I live in Canada and there is a slight possibility that this could be a Canadian only thing, can someone in the US confirm this segment to be absent?

Oedipax · #33 Post by **Oedipax** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:49 pm

It's absent in the U.S., too. Quite irritating.

exte · #34 Post by **exte** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 6:54 am

Describe the interview segment for those who haven't seen the film yet, like myself...

Blissful Sinner · #35 Post by **Blissful Sinner** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:13 pm

From what I remember Treadwell comes on the show and Letterman makes a joke about him being crazy for living with grizzly bears (I think I had the impression that this wasn't his first time on the show).

Letterman then asks him about being eaten by a bear and the segment ends with Treadwell saying that you will never hear of him being eaten by a grizzly bear.

Gordon · #36 Post by **Gordon** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:47 pm

I received my boxed set today.

I watched The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner and it still blows me away - the 72 and 96 frames per second slow-motion shots of Walter Steiner gliding through the air like an eagle to the beautiful, hypnotic music by Popol Vuh remains one of Herzog most beguiling moments. The falls that the ski-flyers take look horrific and Steiner's fall caused him memory loss, but he still went back for more! An indominatable will - a true Nietzschean.

Which brings me on to the extraordinary and constantly overlooked, The Dark Glow of the Mountains (1984) with the genuinely legendary free-style mountaineer, Reinhold Messner who, along with Hans Kammerlander scaled Gasherbrum I & II - two of the world's most difficult peaks back to back. Reinhold Messner is undoubtably the greatest mountain climber of all time. He was the first person to climb all 14 of the 8000+ meter peaks (between 1970-1986).

Since the days of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, oxygen tanks had been used in ascents of Everest. Messner was the first climber to break this tradition. In 1978, he and Peter Habeler made the first successful climb without oxygen. Critics claimed that Messner used mini-bottles of oxygen, Messner silenced them when he summited the mountain, without oxygen or support, on the more difficult Northwest route, in 1980 - and during monsoon season, to boot! A feat that will probably never be equalled. During 1989, he and Arved Fuchs were the first men to cross Antarctica without animal or motorized power - purely on on skis alone.

He is also the world's greatest author on mountain climbing. His books - especially The Naked Mountain; The Big Walls: From the North Face of the Eiger to the South Face of Dhaulagirl and Free Spirit: A Climber's Life are truly amazing, being at once informative, harrowing, deeply emotional and truly inspiring.

Messner was a member of the European Parliament for the Italian Green Party from 1999 to 2004. He is - in my mind, at least - one of the most formidable dudes of all time and I wish that he and his achievements were known by all. The Dark Glow of the Mountains is beautiful jewel of a film that delivers so much more than one would expect and I feel it is one of Herzog's greatest works.

#37 Post by **zedz** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 10:51 pm

Thanks Gordon. You don't have to sell me on the films (have you seen La Soufriere yet?): what do you think of the presentation / quality of tranfers etc.?

Oedipax · #38 Post by **Oedipax** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:14 pm

Does anyone know if the Popol Vuh music from Woodcarver Steiner was ever released as an album? One of the cues is also used in Aguirre, but isn't on the soundtrack (the haunting solo guitar track). I'd really love to be able to listen to the music apart from the films, especially the cue at the end, the triumphant one that builds as Steiner's final jump unfolds.

Gordon · #39 Post by **Gordon** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:11 am

Oedipax wrote:Does anyone know if the Popol Vuh music from Woodcarver Steiner was ever released as an album?

I'm not sure. Was the music for Steiner composed for the film or did it perhaps come from the early Popol Vuh albums? Or was it featured in later ones?

Affenstunde (1970)
In Den Garten Pharaos (1971)
Hosianna Mantra (1972)
Seligpreisung (1973)
Einsjager & Siebenjager (1975)
Das Hohelied Salomos (1975)

These albums were remastered in 2004 with unreleased/alternate tracks.

Amazon.com listings

Amazon.co.uk listings

In 1974, Popul Vuh released an album called, Aguirre, which features music from the film. Listen to some of the tracks HERE

I don't have any of these albums. I really must order them soon.

Gordon · #40 Post by **Gordon** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:05 pm

zedz wrote:Thanks Gordon. You don't have to sell me on the films (have you seen La Soufriere yet?): what do you think of the presentation / quality of tranfers etc.?

The transfers have all been problem-free, so far. All of these films were shot in 16mm or Super-16 save Fata Morgana, so I am not expecting much, only that there are no compression problems or ghosting problems. The Dark Glow of the Mountains looks fantastic. La Soufrière also. No compression problems and the prints - new from the O-negs, I presume - all look in good shape, so far, but and I have quite a way to go!

richast2 · #41 Post by **richast2** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:27 pm

there's also a CD called "The Best of Popol Vuh: From the Films of Werner Herzog." I don't know if any of the music on that disc is unavailable on their regular albums or not. Additionally, there was at one point a box set of Popol Vuh's Herzog soundtrack CD's, but I think it's been out of print for a while.

Gordon · #42 Post by **Gordon** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:10 pm

I watched Julianes Sturz in den Dschungel (Wings of Hope) (2000, 65 mins, made for TV) which I had been wanting to see since it came out, but it eluded me.

If you have the boxed set and have not seen this one before, then be sure to hear - and see, to some extent - Juliane Koepcke's struggle for surival in the Amazon jungle. Fucking insane story - a great companion to Little Dieter Needs to Fly, which Herzog has just remade as a feature film and principle photography has just wrapped in Thailand - I can't wait to see this one!

#43 Post by **zedz** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:31 pm

Gordon McMurphy wrote:I watched Julianes Sturz in den Dschungel (Wings of Hope) (2000, 65 mins, made for TV) which I had been wanting to see since it came out, but it eluded me.

If you have the boxed set and have not seen this one before, then be sure to hear - and see, to some extent - Juliane Koepcke's struggle for surival in the Amazon jungle. Fucking insane story

Yeah, Wings of Hope is a brilliant film, maybe the best example yet (and there have been some doozies) of Herzog finding prototypical 'Herzog characters' in real life. I'm surprised it hasn't been better appreciated to this point.

There's been a lot of talk of Herzog's 'renaissance' this year, thanks to the success of Grizzly Man, but the past decade has been full of superb Herzog documentaries if you've been looking in the right places.

Gordon · #44 Post by **Gordon** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:16 pm

zedz wrote:Yeah, Wings of Hope is a brilliant film, maybe the best example yet (and there have been some doozies) of Herzog finding prototypical 'Herzog characters' in real life. I'm surprised it hasn't been better appreciated to this point.

The reason is probably due to availability. It was made for TV and it didn't have didn't have any theatrical showings outside of Germany and the 2003 Czech Republic "One World Film Festival". Has it been shown on American TV? It was shown on BBC 3 in the UK, but as I generally avoid this medium, I must have missed it and friends of mine who are also big Herzog fans have not seen it, either. It's one of the greatest true survival stories I have ever came across - Juliane Koepcke is like the female Shackleton, but luckier, braver and she was all alone in the Jungle. Incredible will-power - who easily stands beside Fini Straubinger, Walter Steiner, Reinhold Messner, Dieter Dengler, Kaspar Hauser as one of Herzog's greatest discoveries.

But goddamn it, why is Walking in Ice still out-of-print? Surely Herzog could do something about this, no? I have only read excerpts of it and re-reading Herzog on Herzog has made me want to read the thing badly. From what I have read and can gather, it is an unprecidented work of self-expression by a filmmaker, but then ol' Werner stands alone anyway!

Portrait: Werner Herzog is short, but pretty interesting. We see Herzog wandering around his home in the Bavarian mountains, showing us where played and tells us what it was like there during the war. He also travels to Brittany to show us the standing stones there, which were the igniting image that inspired Fitzcarraldo. A fascinating little piece. Good clean transfer and sound.

There's been a lot of talk of Herzog's 'renaissance' this year, thanks to the success of Grizzly Man, but the past decade has been full of superb Herzog documentaries if you've been looking in the right places.

Definitely. He constantly seeks out challenging subjects, stories and themes and presents them in his own inimitable, iconoclastic, Bavarian manner, but it is all done with great warmth for humanity and dedication to the mysteries of the Universe!

#45 Post by **zedz** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:08 pm

Gordon McMurphy wrote:
zedz wrote:Yeah, Wings of Hope is a brilliant film, maybe the best example yet (and there have been some doozies) of Herzog finding prototypical 'Herzog characters' in real life. I'm surprised it hasn't been better appreciated to this point.
The reason is probably due to availability. It was made for TV and it didn't have didn't have any theatrical showings outside of Germany and the 2003 Czech Republic "One World Film Festival". Has it been shown on American TV?

I saw this at the local film festival and presumed it had done the international festival circuit. I'm amazed it wasn't picked up by more festivals.

Blissful Sinner · #46 Post by **Blissful Sinner** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 1:57 pm

How long did everyone have to wait for their boxsets?

Gordon · #47 Post by **Gordon** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:22 pm

Blissful Sinner wrote:How long did everyone have to wait for their boxsets?

Germany to Scotland: 4 days via airmail.

#48 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:42 pm

When he's not busy making films or being shot at by crazed fans, Herzog stays busy by pulling famous motorists from their overturned cars.

Toshiro De Niro · #49 Post by **Toshiro De Niro** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:01 am

"There's something so calming and beautiful about Werner Herzog's voice. I felt completely fine and safe"

he does have a great voice and would be my first choice for my own rescuing too.

dekadetia · #50 Post by **dekadetia** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:21 am

Blissful Sinner wrote:As a side note, did anyone else notice on the Grizzly Man DVD the absence of the David Letterman interview?

I remember it distinctly when I saw the movie in theatres but it isn't on the DVD. I suppose they didn't have DVD rights for the segment. I live in Canada and there is a slight possibility that this could be a Canadian only thing, can someone in the US confirm this segment to be absent?

The DVD rights vs. exhibition/broadcast rights must be the issue, as an edited version (bleeped language) of the film was broadcast several times on The Discovery Channel this weekend, and the Letterman clip was back in the film.