criterionforum.org

domino harvey wrote:I would guess six discs, the film spread across five discs, and the sixth housing special features. It probably won't look any different than any of their other boxed sets.

Your estimate seems much more reasonable. It'll still be pricey, but I think I just *may* have the shelf space for a six-disc set, esp. if it's in the slimmer cases (as opposed to the regular size cases, like in the John Cassavettes set).

I'm guessing it will be very similar to the Rohmer case, if only slightly slimmer since that box had two books. Probably 90 or 100 MSRP.

I wonder if another 90-minute tour of Berlin will be included. It seems to be owned by Pathfinder in US.

The remaster premiered in Germany today. I don't think the trailer's been posted here yet.

Doctor Sunshine wrote:The remaster premiered in Germany today.

Fassbinder's classic 'Remastered'

"The original 'Berlin Alexanderplatz" was made for television so the quality of the analogue broadcast was actually rather low," said Marcus A Claren of Bavaria Media, who oversaw the $1.8 million restoration. "What we'll be showing in Berlin is probably closer to what Fassbinder intended than any of the versions seen before."

Claren calls the restoration of "Berlin Alexanderplatz" the "equivalent of restoring 7 feature films," because of the sheer volume of original material. Some 15 1D2 hours of 16 mm footage was remastered and digitally scrubbed to produce the final version.

"We didn't do anything that would compromise the artistic integrity of the work," Claren said. "We stopped short of say, rebuilding sections of the frame completely on the computer. But in the grey and black areas of the screen, where before you couldn't see anything, we suddenly discovered new things that were there all along."

That has got to be the shittiest trailer text and voice-over I've ever seen, but thanks for posting it anyways.

I just love how the trailer is advertising this to commemorate Fassbinder's death. They're not celebrating some sort of special anniversary of the movie; they're celebrating the anniversary of a fatal drug overdose. That's lovely.

They couldn't have just said "Come watch Berlin Alexanderplatz. It's very good."? Or something like that? Jesus.

I'm hoping it's 7 discs. 5 discs aren't enough for the whole film at a high bite rate. 5 1/2 will do, plus 1 1/2 discs for extras, hopefully to include the Jutzi film. Isn't there a Fassbinder-directed making-of? That might require an 8th disc. It's gonna be between $89.99 and $99.99 no matter how many discs. They can't charge over 100 bucks for one film.

I think I'm going to try to watch this in one sitting. Heck, there are Lord of the Rings fanatics that watch all the unedited films, that has to be close to fifteen hours. We need an international "Watch Berlin Alexanderplatz" day.

German set has only 6 discs.

Sounds great. Looking forward to this one, although of course it won`t be cheap

blindside8zao wrote:I think I'm going to try to watch this in one sitting. Heck, there are Lord of the Rings fanatics that watch all the unedited films, that has to be close to fifteen hours. We need an international "Watch Berlin Alexanderplatz" day.

perhaps people with laptops could get on the chat and we could watch it together, that might be fun.

LOTR Extended 1 sitting takes 12 hours, but that wasn't very taxing when I last did it.

As the focal point of East Berlin, ALEXANDERPLATZ (Alexander's Square) was and remains a showcase of socialist modernist architecture... Nearby is a marvellous communist era cinema, used for the film fest, with sleek silvery architectural lines defining the main auditorium which stretches towards the sky and some imagined destiny... Obviously all now buzzes with capitalist activity in reunited Germany...

denti alligator wrote:I'm hoping it's 7 discs. 5 discs aren't enough for the whole film at a high bite rate.

I wouldn't be surprised if they go with just a six-disc set (five for the film and one for supplements). It will be no more compromised than the upcoming Phantom India discs.

Phantom India: 378 min / 2 discs = 189 min per disc

Berlin Alexanderplatz: 939 min / 5 discs = 187.8 min per disc

Put all of Berlin's extras on a sixth disc, and the first five can be just as stripped-down as an Eclipse release.

What, no commentary?

-Toilet Dcuk

Jeff wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if they go with just a six-disc set (five for the film and one for supplements). It will be no more compromised than the upcoming Phantom India discs.

Phantom India: 378 min / 2 discs = 189 min per disc

Berlin Alexanderplatz: 939 min / 5 discs = 187.8 min per disc

Put all of Berlin's extras on a sixth disc, and the first five can be just as stripped-down as an Eclipse release.

How are the episodes broken down? That might determine the number of discs. And keep in mind the first moral tale got its own disc.

justeleblanc wrote:How are the episodes broken down? That might determine the number of discs.

Episode Guide(Wikipedia)

Nr. Title Running Time

1. The punishment begins. 82
2. How one should live if one does not want to die. 59
3. A hammer on the head can injure the soul. 59
4. A handful of people in the the depths of silence. 59
5. A mower with the violence of the dear Lord. 59
6. A love, that costs so much. 58
7. Remember: You can amputate a tumour. 58
8. The sun warms the skin that it sometimes burns. 58
9. From eternity, between the many and the few. 59
10. Loneliness tears also cracks of insanity in walls. 59
11. Knowledge is power and the early bird that catches the worm has gold in its mouth. 59
12. The snake in the soul of the snake. 59
13. The external, the internal, and the secret of fearing the secret. 58
14. My dream from the dream of Franz Biberkopf von Alfred Doeblin: An Epilogue. 112

Running time (Fassbinder Foundation)

Part 1: 81 min.
Part 2: 59 min.
Part 3: 59 min.
Part 4: 59 min.
Part 5: 59 min.
Part 6: 58 min.
Part 7: 58 min.
Part 8: 58 min.
Part 9: 58 min.
Part 10: 59 min.
Part 11: 59 min.
Part 12: 59 min.
Part 13: 59 min.
Epilog: 111 min.

Hmm, I always thought of this one as a TV series (and that's how I saw it at the theater once on a sort of retrospective, with the opening and closing credits at the beginning and end of each episode) but now everyone's talking about it as one long 15 hour movie, which I think it's incorrect because I believe this was purposely done for German TV.

I wonder how the remastered transfers and DVDs will handle this issue.

This looks like a 7 discer, at least.

I think you're right, now that I can see how they're divided:

1
1. The punishment begins. 82
2. How one should live if one does not want to die. 59

2
3. A hammer on the head can injure the soul. 59
4. A handful of people in the the depths of silence. 59
5. A mower with the violence of the dear Lord. 59

3
6. A love, that costs so much. 58
7. Remember: You can amputate a tumour. 58
8. The sun warms the skin that it sometimes burns. 58

4
9. From eternity, between the many and the few. 59
10. Loneliness tears also cracks of insanity in walls. 59
11. Knowledge is power and the early bird that catches the worm has gold in its mouth. 59

5
12. The snake in the soul of the snake. 59
13. The external, the internal, and the secret of fearing the secret. 58

6
14. My dream from the dream of Franz Biberkopf von Alfred Doeblin: An Epilogue. 112

although you could easily include bonus materials on the first and last discs and still only need six discs... we'll have to see

Jeff wrote:

denti alligator wrote:I'm hoping it's 7 discs. 5 discs aren't enough for the whole film at a high bite rate.

I wouldn't be surprised if they go with just a six-disc set (five for the film and one for supplements). It will be no more compromised than the upcoming Phantom India discs.

Phantom India: 378 min / 2 discs = 189 min per disc

Berlin Alexanderplatz: 939 min / 5 discs = 187.8 min per disc

Put all of Berlin's extras on a sixth disc, and the first five can be just as stripped-down as an Eclipse release.

I was wondering about this. What are the odds that they'd release it as an Eclipse set? After reading kinjitsu's post and seeing that the Fassbinder foundation isn't going as all-out on this as one might expect (albeit for good reasons, IMO), it makes me wonder if Criterion is really giving this one the 'Criterion' treatment. Also, it'd probably be a helluva seller at Eclipse prices. I want commentary tracks and oodles of extras, too, but methinks that after 15 1/2 hours of the actual miniseries, I probably won't be in the mood to watch any extras.

What are the odds that they'd release it as an Eclipse set?

None. Given the film's reputation and Eclipse would mean NO extras and no FULL restoration. Besides, they know fans been wanting this for a long time now.

jbeall wrote:What are the odds that they'd release it as an Eclipse set? After reading kinjitsu's post and seeing that the Fassbinder foundation isn't going as all-out on this as one might expect (albeit for good reasons, IMO), it makes me wonder if Criterion is really giving this one the 'Criterion' treatment. Also, it'd probably be a helluva seller at Eclipse prices. I want commentary tracks and oodles of extras, too, but methinks that after 15 1/2 hours of the actual miniseries, I probably won't be in the mood to watch any extras.

I haven't seen anything that would even remotely tag this as an Eclipse release. I'm not sure what in kinjitsu's post indicates otherwise. I can't imagine that a project this huge, not to mention expensive for Criterion, would warrant anything less than Criterion treatment.

Tribe

Also, this is one title (even if it's a mini-series). Wouldn't it rule out a possible Eclipse series.

Why would it necessarily rule out an Eclipse release? Are all their releases going to be series? (For that matter, BA is a 'miniseries'...)

I'll actually be happier for this to be a criterion release. I was just speculating, in part because I have nothing better to do, in part because I'd rather pay the Eclipse price for Alexanderplatz than the criterion price, although I'll buy it regardless. Like many others on these boards, I'm psyched about this release.