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Cash Flagg wrote:From the listing at that link:

The limited signed copies are sold out, however you can still preorder the Blu-ray box set here and get it SHIPPED EARLY on 7/15 and receive FREE STANDARD U.S. SHIPPING!

Thanks. I, obviously, missed that little detail. When I went there after seeing your post it still allowed me to click on the Pre-Order button and add it to my cart. I see now, though, that the button has changed to say Sold Out.

It's a shame that there's a significant differing in the inclusion of films for both releases. For the time being, I'll probably first pick up the Shout release, especially as it's limited to 5,000 copies (anyone else find this rather odd?), and then at a later point, possibly get the BFI box set.

My personal scores (out of 100) for the exclusives on each set....

BFI:
The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz - 56
Last Words - 60
Precautions Against Fanatics - 56
Handicapped Future - 75
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner - 72
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck - 58
Huie's Sermon - 57
God's Angry Man - 72
Burden of Dreams - 78

Shout:
Even Dwarfs Started Small - 83
Ballad of the Little Soldier - 82
Where the Green Ants Dream - 62
Lessons of Darkness - 82
Little Dieter Needs to Fly - 70
My Best Fiend - 67


I know for a lot of people Burden of Dreams is a big selling point, but for me the exclusives on the Shout set are more valuable.

Well I guess that settles it.

criterion10 wrote:I'll probably first pick up the Shout release, especially as it's limited to 5,000 copies (anyone else find this rather odd?), and then at a later point, possibly get the BFI box set.

I think you just answered your own question. The "limited edition" aspect drives interest. Certainly the signatures sold out in a hurry.

criterion10 wrote:It's a shame that there's a significant differing in the inclusion of films for both releases. For the time being, I'll probably first pick up the Shout release, especially as it's limited to 5,000 copies (anyone else find this rather odd?), and then at a later point, possibly get the BFI box set.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see Shout sell certain of these titles as individual releases at the end of the year and into 2015.

Zot! wrote:The "limited edition" aspect drives interest.

Of course this is true, but I feel as though Herzog is popular among enough cinephiles to justify more than 5,000 copies of a box set of his films. I mean, the Anchor Bay releases were in print for quite a while...

Interesting that on their page for the Herzog set, Shout only indicates a German commentary with Herzog on Nosferatu, but on their page for the film's individual release, they show both English and German commentaries. I wonder if that's just an oversight on their part, or if the English commentary will actually be exclusive to the individual release.

Herzog In Africa documentary is probably this one

I wonder if Portrait: Werner Herzog documentary is this one... Or is it In Conversation - Werner Herzog and Laurens Straub (In German with English Subtitles) since Laurens Straub is listed in the cast?

Drucker wrote:Well I guess that settles it.

It certainly ought to.

Ashirg wrote:I wonder if Portrait: Werner Herzog documentary is this one... Or is it In Conversation - Werner Herzog and Laurens Straub (In German with English Subtitles) since Laurens Straub is listed in the cast?

I believe it's this one. Has a few scattered observations that are worthwhile, but most of the best stuff is already covered in Burden of Dreams.

Feego wrote:Interesting that on their page for the Herzog set, Shout only indicates a German commentary with Herzog on Nosferatu, but on their page for the film's individual release, they show both English and German commentaries. I wonder if that's just an oversight on their part, or if the English commentary will actually be exclusive to the individual release.

I don't know if they just updated it but it says this on the individual release page now: Please note: This Blu-ray features the same disc included in our Werner Herzog box set Herzog: The Collection.

So, only the two documentaries about Herzog are added, otherwise the extras are just duplicates of Anchor Bay's DVDs/sets (those appear to be all of the Anchor Bay commentaries +the "behind the scenes featurette" for Nosferatu)?

That this is limited to 5,000 copies perhaps explains why everything was shoved into a giant boxset (is the BFI similarly limited?) -and why no new special features were added. I think I'll be skipping both the BFI and Shout releases and waiting for the next iteration of these titles.

criterion10 wrote:

Zot! wrote:The "limited edition" aspect drives interest.

Of course this is true, but I feel as though Herzog is popular among enough cinephiles to justify more than 5,000 copies of a box set of his films. I mean, the Anchor Bay releases were in print for quite a while...

I would imagine it's a matter of licensing rights, or the relatively low profit margin for such a box set.

Plenty of niche label releases are "Limited editions," they just don't say so and put out the first run and then never repress

And maybe, some time down the road, they'll release the more popular films individually.

Yeah, I can't imagine they wouldn't release Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo (at least) in standalone editions.

Shout! Factory wrote:English Audio Commentaries: Even Dwarfs Started Small, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Heart of Glass, Strozek and Cobra Verde.
German Audio commentaries: Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fitzcarraldo, Where the Green Ants Dream.

Anybody know the provenance of these audio commentaries? Are any ported from the Anchor Bay discs? I can't believe I care, but I sort of really do. If they're mostly new/different commentaries, I may just have to save my old DVD set(s) too. There's really nothing quite like a Herzog commentary and I'm not inclined to part with any of them.

mteller wrote:My personal scores (out of 100) for the exclusives on each set.... [...]

Here's a more useful metric than your personal Scantron results. Running times of exclusive films, in minutes:

BFI:
The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz - 15
Last Words - 13
Precautions Against Fanatics - 12
Handicapped Future - 43
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner - 45
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck - 45
Huie's Sermon - 43
God's Angry Man - 43
Burden of Dreams - 95

Shout:
Even Dwarfs Started Small - 96
Ballad of the Little Soldier - 45
Where the Green Ants Dream - 100
Lessons of Darkness - 50
Little Dieter Needs to Fly - 80
My Best Fiend - 95

Which for the lazy of us means Shout has 112 minutes over BFI (and obviously the higher mean).

knives wrote:Which for the lazy of us means Shout has 112 minutes over BFI (and obviously the higher mean).

The premium for those extra minutes is pretty steep, though, especially in light of amazon's recent price jump. Now the difference in price (for me) is $ 68.82 (shipping included) vs. $161.05 (NY sales tax included).

We know there are some upcoming Les Blank titles from Criterion, right? I wonder if an upgrade to Burden of Dreams is likely.

For those keeping count, the average BFI disc will contain 202 minutes of feature content (if we're not counting the shorts and BoD as supplements), whilst the average Shout! disc will have 117 minutes. Certainly, the BFI is a better set economically speaking. Shout! could probably ditch 3 of their discs no problem, and save everyone $30.

14 features at $150 doesn't seem bad and I would have to guess this will be discounted before long. While I'm still puzzled as to why these sets differ at all, it would seem that both are good choices, and certainly more than I would have thought would be forthcoming at one time.

Hopefully, Shout release their exclusives (or, at least, Even Dwarfs Started Small) separately as the BFI set is too good a price to pass up. I wonder why neither set includes Signs of Life?

Calvin wrote:Hopefully, Shout release their exclusives (or, at least, Even Dwarfs Started Small) separately as the BFI set is too good a price to pass up. I wonder why neither set includes Signs of Life?

IIRC, Signs of Life was released on DVD by New Yorker, so it's probably a rights issue.

mteller wrote:

Calvin wrote:Hopefully, Shout release their exclusives (or, at least, Even Dwarfs Started Small) separately as the BFI set is too good a price to pass up. I wonder why neither set includes Signs of Life?

IIRC, Signs of Life was released on DVD by New Yorker, so it's probably a rights issue.

It was produced by Herzog's own production company, along with everything else, but for some reason it's always suffered a different distribution fate, and now seems to have slipped into critical neglect as a consequence. This would be a great title to lobby Criterion about, since it looks like it's currently OOP in R1.