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swo17 wrote:Based on Fitzcarraldo's performance in the lists projects, I gather that it's the forum's consensus favorite Herzog, which I must confess I find a little perplexing.

I wouldn't go as far as Pauline Kael to suggest that he would've been better off filming the ship in a studio. But in hindsight surely this is the one film where it becomes apparent his sensibilities are better suited for documentaries than fiction. Kinski is great, of course. And so are other isolated bits, like Huerequeque. But as a whole it simply does not work.

Fitzcarraldo -- interesting and very worth seeing -- but never at (or near) the top of my favorite Herzofg list.

Michael Kerpan wrote:Fitzcarraldo -- interesting and very worth seeing -- but never at (or near) the top of my favorite Herzofg list.

Burden Of Dreams is the better film. But perhaps it can't be enjoyed as fully without having seen Fitzcarraldo first.

Not that anyone cares, but my fave Herzog is Heart of Glass: Bavaria, the music of Popol Vuh, and Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein doing his Caspar David Friedrich impressions. No Kinski, but you can't have everything.

Jack Phillips wrote:

Michael Kerpan wrote:Fitzcarraldo -- interesting and very worth seeing -- but never at (or near) the top of my favorite Herzofg list.

Burden Of Dreams is the better film. But perhaps it can't be enjoyed as fully without having seen Fitzcarraldo first.

Nah, I had seen Burden of Dreams years before Fitzcarraldo with no pain in appreciation. Bank's film doesn't seem to care if Herzog succeeds so much as that Herzog is doing it.

Jack Phillips wrote:Not that anyone cares, but my fave Herzog is Heart of Glass: Bavaria, the music of Popol Vuh, and Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein doing his Caspar David Friedrich impressions. No Kinski, but you can't have everything.

Despite not having seen Heart of Glass for over two decades, my brain have been feeding me with images (AV connotations?) from this film whenever I listen to this track by Gas.

I'm watching Cobra Verde (English version) right now and I have a question: is the slow-motion thing that happens at about 1:26:40 in part of the film? Or is something wrong with my player/disc? It happens there and two other points in the film, including when Kinski is getting his face painted. Is it a weird camera effect, or is something wrong?

I assume it's intrinsic to the film, an editing trick (like looping a clip played forward and reversed) intended to fill a little more time for one reason or another. It could have been done more seamlessly though.

Is Burden of Dreams a new HD transfer, and are there any plans to issue it as its own separate BD release?

The two Blank films in this set were sourced from an HD restoration that Criterion performed in 2004. I remember them looking fine here, but perhaps they could be improved upon with more recent technological standards. They get their own disc in this set, which would presumably make a future standalone release straightforward.

Slowly going through the Herzog set. Has anyone else had a stutter and then freeze at around the 1:28 mark on Burden of Dreams? Or have I just had the luck to receive an individual faulty disc?

Strange - does it happen on all players?

I have watched my copy and nothing of the sort happened.

swo17 wrote:Finally, God's Angry Man is another documentary about a preacher of sorts, though this one seems more concerned with governmental conspiracy theories and the business end of things than with sharing the good word. (He saves this for his backup band.) He's actually not all that angry most of the time, though there is a pretty tense sequence where he berates viewers of his TV broadcast for not donating enough to his ministry right then and there (neglecting the fact that his viewers might have been short on funds from over-donating in an earlier scene!). Unfortunately for English speakers, much of the film's dialogue is dubbed over in German and then subtitled in English, though that's how Herzog made the film, so it's no slight against the BFI.

I watched this a few nights ago and found the film almost impossible to enjoy with Herzog's constant translating over Gene Scott. How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck is exactly the same, but in that case there is an alternative English track for English viewers, which is the same audio but minus the Herzog voice over. Whilst I was watching I figured that an English track must not exist like it does in the case of HMWWaWC, but then found this version on YouTube, indicating I was wrong.

I highly doubt that Herzog would ever want an English audience to see either of these films with himself translating over the top of the live audio in German, and then his completely unnecessary voice over being subtitled in English. It's completely disruptive to the film for English viewers, indeed I'd lay money that Herzog feels the voice over-less versions are the primary versions, whilst the translated ones are strictly for German audiences only. I'm baffled as to why the BFI presented the film this way, since they got it right with HMWWaWC and so would have surely realised that God's Angry Man existed without the voice over as well.

Well that certainly changes things. Nice find.

God's Angry Man was made for German television, so there probably weren't any
plans to release it beyond the country of origin. Also, I believe that Herzog has
stated in the past that he destroys outtakes and discarded material (I assume this
includes the original audio tracks) so this is probably the only way to see the film.

Whether or not it was made for German TV, English versions of both it and HMWWaWC exist. I just find it peculiar that only one made it onto the actual set. Whenever I watch the film in the future, I'll probably rip the English track from YouTube first and sync it up.

I just waited nearly a month for this set to arrive from The Hut, and it finally landed with two smashed disc holders, bits of plastic everywhere, and various dents and bumps to the cardboard case. This is very disappointing. It was packed in one of those fold-around cardboard mailers, which seem to rely on the strength of the items within to resist crushing. I notified them and they offered me a 15% refund, which I find laughable. The set really deserves more robust packaging.

Stand your ground and know your rights. Refuse their offer, as you're absolutely entitled to a full refund and reimbursement of the cost of returning the item.

TMDaines wrote:Stand your ground and know your rights. Refuse their offer, as you're absolutely entitled to a full refund and reimbursement of the cost of returning the item.

I once stood my ground and because of that theHut deleted my account. In the end I got my money back from my credit card company. Nothing to do with Herzog Collection, though.

A good example of why I always pay with Credit Card rather than debit card. Easier to dispute/get refunds.

They've often offered me crappy compromise refunds for damaged goods but I have never had issues with getting a full refund or replacement.

I had a similar situation with their sister company, zavvi, when they offered me a partial 15% refund (and promise of a future 20% discount on a future order) on a Herzog set that arrived damaged. I foolishly accepted their small "good faith token" and now find that they've frozen my account because of a credit card dispute I opened on a subsequent order that included an incorrect item for which they refuse to take responsibility. Lovely bunch of folks.

Thanks for the feedback - I have negotiated the refund process with them now. I don't think they'll cover the full return cost, but I can live with that. I might end up purchasing this set from Amazon - at least getting an unsmashed copy of the product isn't such a drama.

I just received the UK Truffaut 8-disc set from Amazon. It was not packaged any better than the Herzog set from The Hut, but it arrived undamaged, I'm sure mainly because it's a set of slimline cases in a slipcase. Not the prettiest box set, but it does 'mail better'.

bugsy_pal wrote:I just received the UK Truffaut 8-disc set from Amazon. It was not packaged any better than the Herzog set from The Hut, but it arrived undamaged, I'm sure mainly because it's a set of slimline cases in a slipcase. Not the prettiest box set, but it does 'mail better'.

Only my 2 cents, but it's pretty likely the condition in which it arrives mostly depends on the transportation itself and is pretty random.

Is this Blu-Ray set limited? Doesn't seem like it is, but it is almost out of stock on Amazon UK. Just wondering how soon I should pick it up.