i highly recommend all of the herzog dvd's. (yes, they are all up to the standard of "fitzcarraldo"!) all of the fictional films have insightful and endlessly entertaining commentary by herzog (with commentator norman hill and a couple w/ crispin glover ["even dwarfs started small" & "fata morgana"], a longtime fan.) usually containing anecdotes about the shooting process, the actors involved and some reminiscences about his life at the time, and various explanations about what he's trying to do/why things must be as they are, etc. i've immensely enjoyed them. full of herzog's insights into cinema, his sense of humor and unique philosphy (i.e. god creating the world in anger, nature being vulgar, etc.). a few of the anchor bay dvd's also have short making-of documentaries, as well. however, there is no commentary for the documentaries("little dieter needs to fly", "my best fiend", etc.), though i'd recommend them nonetheless since they are fantastic. "woyzeck" for some reason (fictional film w/ kinski) appears to have no commentary. not sure why. as per kinski, he really is pretty much a lunatic. his "jesus christ superstar" performance at the beginning of "my best fiend" and what is supposedly a mild outburst during the shooting of "fitzcarraldo" (also seen in "my best fiend"), display a pretty volatile personality and if much of his autobiography can be believed ("kinski uncut"), he's a pretty extreme fellow. whether herzog has fluffed some of it up for a better story (like the aforementioned autobiography), is hard to tell. though it doesn't seem like kinski needs much help looking like a madman. and yes, the end of "stroszeck" is definitely one of the best endings of any movie i've seen. (i've actually considered making a pilgrammage to cherokee, north carolina where it was filmed.) .greg. Ben Axelrad [mailto:soulfrieda@hotmail.com]
Can anyone comment on Herzog's audio commentary for the DVD releases on Anchor bay? I've been very tempted to buy some of these, especially after seeing parts of "Burden of Dreams" on the Sundance channel.
Glad Stroszek was finally released. Rivals some of Fassbinder's films for best ending ever. Is this really me?
"josephneff" <jneff@visuallink.com>
Herzog is quite reserved on the commentary, dispelling myths and providing anecdotes, many of which give an impression of Klaus Kinski as an outrageously difficult actor to deal with. I haven't
watched "My Best Fiend", so maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I get the gut feeling that Herzog is exaggerating this situation somewhat. Comments? If the rest of the Herzog issues are up to this standard (and Anchor Bay stuff isn't always produced at a high standard), I'd say they're worth it.
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