Werner Herzog Collection

[Duncan Hopper]

Indeed. A shame though, I was very much looking forward to seeing Heart of Glass especially on 35mm. Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to pay £9.50 for a digibeta screening.

[bdlover]

Interesting to see Even Dwarfs Started Small, Land of Silence and Darkness and Heart of Glass are all screening from video at the BFI in June.

Yes, this is pathetic, a situation the BFI certainly wouldn't have accepted a few years ago. Prints would have been found one way or another - and new prints would have been made if necessary. In fact, I actually saw Heart of Glass in 35mm at the NFT during their last Herzog retrospective, which wasn't so long ago. At that time, they also struck pristine new 35mm prints of Kaspar Hauser and Aguirre, so there's no need for a DCP screenings of either of those.

[MichaelB]

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Nosferatu have both been confirmed as upcoming dual-format releases via the BFI's Twitter feed,

[EddieLarkin]

Excellent news. Fingers crossed Nosferatu will include both versions of the film.

[AK]

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Nosferatu have both been confirmed as upcoming dual-format releases via the BFI's Twitter feed,

Fabulous news, indeed!

I'm sorry but I just can't for the life in me find mention of this on Twitter. Only found something here, but that's for the cinema release, right? ("The first of these will be Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre [Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, 1978], on 1 November – following Hallowe’en previews in selected cinemas.")

[antnield]

Confirmation here.

[bdlover]

Next year? Aguirre before that, please!

[kekid]

Any update on this? A German box set of all Herzog/Kinski Blu Rays is already available with English subtitles on all but Woyzeck.

[Drucker]

Eight Herzog films will be playing in 35MM prints at Lincoln Center this August!

[bdlover]

According to an Amazon review, four of the five discs (minus Woyzeck) contain English dubs but not English subtitles. Having never been a huge fan of Nosferatu or Cobra Verde, this makes the much cheaper individual blu-ray releases of Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo a more tempting proposition - can anyone confirm whether or not these still contain the English dubs though?

[MichaelB]

The specs haven't been revealed yet.

And given that the BFI has already announced a full slate of releases up to and including December, I wouldn't expect to see the first Herzog discs until 2014. Although I believe Nosferatu the Vampyre is getting a theatrical reissue in time for Halloween.

[bdlover]

Meant the individual German releases of Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo - only €10 each. Blu-ray.com confirms that these contain both German and English dialogue tracks. Aguirre also contains My Best Fiend, whilst Fitzcarraldo contains Burden of Dreams, although haven't been able to confirm whether these are English friendly or not. In any case, a good option if you don't want to hang around.

[bdlover]

I now have both of these and can confirm they both look amazing although Aguirre is the biggest step up from the DVD. Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo and Burden of Dreams all have an English audio option, but no English subtitles. My Best Fiend and Burden of Dreams are both standard definition, so that's another area where the BFI could improve. Also, Fitzcarraldo suffers from a pet hate of mine - digitally recreated opening titles, would be nice if the BFI could fix this too (that is, if they're even intending to release Fitzcarraldo, which isn't clear).

[MichaelB]

Good things come to those who wait...

• Limited Edition Blu-ray SteelBookTM editions of Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972) and Nosferatu the Vampire (1979) (May)
• The Werner Herzog Collection – mammoth Blu-ray and DVD box sets compiling 17 of the legendary German director’s films from late 1960s to the early 1980s, with extras including Jack Bond’s long-unseen South Bank Show on Herzog from 1982 (July)

(Latest BFI press release)

[EddieLarkin]

Now, do they mean a single 17 film box set released on both formats, or several box sets across both formats that will make up the Collection? Or to put it another way, are we really getting 17 Herzog films in HD? And does anyone know which ones the BFI have the rights to?

[TMDaines]

Good things come to those who wait...

• Limited Edition Blu-ray SteelBookTM editions of Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972) and Nosferatu the Vampire (1979) (May)
• The Werner Herzog Collection – mammoth Blu-ray and DVD box sets compiling 17 of the legendary German director’s films from late 1960s to the early 1980s, with extras including Jack Bond’s long-unseen South Bank Show on Herzog from 1982 (July)

(Latest BFI press release)

Herzog box sounds good, but I hope that they will go the whole hog and include all his shorts and documentaries from this period. The Complete Works 1962-1987 would be awesome! There's enough trouble trying to buy his entire early catalogue without much overlap!

[TMDaines]

The films are listed on the site now:

The Werner Herzog Collection – mammoth Blu-ray and DVD box sets compiling 18 of the legendary German director’s films from late 1960s to the early 1980s, including The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz (1967); Last Words (1968); Precautions Against Fanatics (1969); Fata Morgana (1971); Handicapped Future (1971); Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972); Land Of Silence and Darkness (1971); Heart of Glass (1976); Stroszek (1977); The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974); The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974); How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1978); Woyzeck (1979); Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979); Fitzcarraldo (1982); Huie’s Sermon (1983); God’s Angry Man (1983); and Cobre Verde (1987). Extras include Jack Bond’s long-unseen South Bank Show on Herzog from 1982. (July)

Missing from this period are:

Herakles (1962) [short]
Lebenszeichen (1968)
Die fliegenden Ärzte von Ostafrika (1970) [documentary]
Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (1970)
Mit mir will kein spielen (1976) [short]
La Soufrière (1977) [documentary short]
Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen (1984)
Ballade vom kleinen Soldaten (1984) [documentary]
Gasherbrum - Der leuchtende Berg (1985) [documentary]
Werner Herzog Filmemacher (1986) [documentary]

So you'll be able to replace one Anchor Bay box but not the second, non-Kinzki box. The OOP Encounters in the Natural World boxset is a keeper too.

[EddieLarkin]

As soon as I get home my 6 film Anchor Bay DVD set is going in the bin.

[swo17]

It looks like they're giving the Borowczyk set a run for its money! It's a little odd though that Shout recently acquired about as many Herzog films, but that a few of them are switched out for others here (perhaps most notably, the omission of Heart of Glass).

[Calvin]

The BFI have updated their site and the set is now listed as including Heart of Glass.

[swo17]

I gladly stand corrected! Now if I also mention Even Dwarfs Started Small, will that magically show up as well?

[EddieLarkin]

The BFI have updated their site and the set is now listed as including Heart of Glass.

Without swapping it for another, meaning this is actually an 18 film box set (9 features, 3 shorts, 6 documentaries, by my count)!

[chatterjees]

Any idea about how many discs would be included? I am just wondering how risky it would be to import that Mammoth. I might prefer a few volumes.

[antnield]

Special features for the Aguirre standalone release:

Special features*
- Limited Edition Steelbook
- Newly remastered HD presentation
- Three additional Werner Herzog films, all remastered in HD:
1. The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz (1967, 14 mins)
2. Precautions Against Fanatics (1969, 12 mins)
3. Fata Morgana (1971, 79 mins)
- Booklet with new essay and full film credits

* subject to change

[MichaelB]

The BFI have updated their site and the set is now listed as including Heart of Glass.

Without swapping it for another, meaning this is actually an 18 film box set (9 features, 3 shorts, 6 documentaries, by my count)!

It is indeed an 18-film box set - it's easy to lose count!

(I'm still not entirely sure how many shorts are going in the Borowczyk box - only that it's at least 14!)