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Tucked away at the bottom of a BFI press release that's just hit my inbox:

A Dual Format Edition (DVD and Blu-ray) of Aguirre, Wrath of God will be released as part of the BFI’s forthcoming Werner Herzog collection.

That's all I know for now.

Excellent news! Weren't the rights formerly held by Anchor Bay, meaning BFI would have snatched up the bulk that became available, all this giving a rather good guide as to what we'll see released?

Since the BFI is reissuing The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser theatrically in July, it's a reasonably safe bet that that's on the cards too, although Aguirre is the only definite confirmation.

You could pretty much guess this was coming, there's a 2 month Herzog retrospective starting in June at the BFI southbank. Quite a few of the recent seasons have been coincided with blu releases, by the BFI themselves or other companies like Park Circus.

Last year's German blu-ray box is a DNR disaster except for Aguirre. So it makes sense to issue this film first. I hope this also means BFI will do something about the others.

Incredibly excited and can't wait.

Herzog Blus?

That's great news!

andyli wrote:Last year's German blu-ray box is a DNR disaster except for Aguirre.

I'd never thought about the two meanings of 'DNR' together in this context before, but now I'll never be able to think of them apart.

Great news! You guys should try for a documentary box-set too.

My Anchor Bay box sets really need replacing. The subs for the German versions are terrible, especially Nosferatu. Hoping the BFI have picked that up to.

Hope we get some juicy extras. There's plenty of stuff about. Could be something real special.

Someone has recently picked up the U.S. rights to the Herzog package too. I'm guessing that someone starts with a big ol' wacky C, but that's purely speculation. I hope we get some indication of who's got these in the states before I'm tempted to buy all the BFIs.

Has the big C ever shown an interest in Herzog without Bank's name attached. I know they've passed on him previously and I believe with dismissive comments from Becker.

We already had this discussion. I think the Herzog you're thinking of that they passed on was Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which has nowhere near the stature of his '70s films.

Weird the lies people impress upon themselves (I'm talking about myself). I don't even remember that conversation.

EddieLarkin wrote:My Anchor Bay box sets really need replacing. The subs for the German versions are terrible, especially Nosferatu. Hoping the BFI have picked that up to.

I sold mine a couple of years ago because the picture quality on all the films is dire. Nosferatu is my favourite, so I'm hoping they've got it as well.

This is great news if BFI includes the German language version with English subs for AGUIRRE.

I sure hope ENIGMA will come out along with the German version of NOSFERATU with English subs.

Excellent news, means that I'll have to buy these all over again. Hope the transfers are good.

Koukol wrote:This is great news if BFI includes the German language version with English subs for AGUIRRE.

Why would they not? That's the standard version of the film in English-speaking territories as I understand it? Imho, would be nice if they include an English dub as well, but that's just my own strange personal preference...

The film was shot in English. Kinski's performance is more powerful still in the German dub but as it was filmed in English, I always notice that with the dub it's inherently not lip-synchronised and that bugs the hell out of me with any film. So I prefer the English track as well (same with Fitzcarraldo).

And yet of course it should really be in Spanish!

bdlover wrote:

Koukol wrote:This is great news if BFI includes the German language version with English subs for AGUIRRE.

Why would they not? That's the standard version of the film in English-speaking territories as I understand it? Imho, would be nice if they include an English dub as well, but that's just my own strange personal preference...

I JUST bought the German BD where there's no English subs for the German Audio.

Same with the German version of NOSFERATU.

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. One would assume that this rules them out of being part of the set if they can't conjure-up a 35mm print to screen from?

I can understand that most of the early shorts would be screened from video, but something like Heart of Glass I would have expected to see on 35mm. A film that really does deserve to be seen on 35mm. I understand that the BFI would have tried their best to get these films on 35mm, so it begs the question, are these 3 films really that rare on 35mm?

I've been told it was Werner Herzog's company that insisted on sending digibeta, their prints are apparently not in great shape.

That said, there must be a decent print or two out there somewhere?

I wouldn't bet on it - when was the last time these films had new prints struck?