Criterion Collection is releasing this trilogy on dvd September 16, 2003. Has anyone on this forum seen these movies? I blind buy many Criterion dvds (Over 57 titles) and have been extremely happy with every puchase except 3.

How many members on this forum are excited about this release? and How many would recommend this set? I was able to preorder from Amazon for $53.


The extras alone look great:

Special features for The Marriage of Maria Braun:

Audio commentary by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and filmmaker Wim Wenders

Exclusive video interview with regular Fassbinder collaborator, Hanna Schygulla

Video interview with Fassbinder scholar Eric Rentschler

Special features for Veronica Voss:

Audio commentary by Fassbinder scholar Tony Rayns

New video conversation with star Rosel Zech and editor Juliane Lorenz

Dance with Death, a one-hour portrait of UFA Studios star, Sybille
Schmitz, Fassbinder's inspiration for Veronika Voss

Special features for Lola:

Audio commentary by Fassbinder documentarian, biographer, and friend Christian Braad Thomsen

New video interview with Lola star Barbara Sukowa

New video interview with Fassbinder co-screenwriter Peter Marthesheimer

The Supplements (Fourth bonus disc)

I Don't Just Want You to Love Me, a feature-length documentary of Fassbinder's life and career

Life Stories: A Conversation with R.W. Fassbinder, a rare 45-minute interview with the director, made for German television

Exclusive video interview with Fassbinder cinematographer Xaver Schwarzenberger

Exclusive video conversation between Fassbinder scholar Laurence Kardish and editor Juliane Lorenz

Widescreen anamorphic format

I am very excited by this release & have my preorder in.

I have not seen any of these films, yet I know that The Marriage of Maria Braun is considered by many to be Fassbinder's masterpiece. I have only seen two of his films thus far: Fox and His Friends, which I found underwhelming, and Criterion's release of Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, which I found to be brilliant and very moving.

I have also bought many of my 85+ Criterion DVDs blindly, and have only been disappointed in one--Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (due to the film, not Criterion's edition). Blind-buying Criterion's is a fairly safe practice, since they tend to hold their value well (I sold FaLiLV--used-- for the same price I'd paid for it--new).

Given the specs on the Fassbinder box set, I couldn't pass this one up. I, too, would be interested in the impressions of others who have seen the films.

FilmFanSea, Thanks for the quick reply. The three I sold off were

70 Last Temptation of Christ
89 Sisters
95 All That Heaven Allows

Good movies, but if I sold them I could buy 3 I would appreciate more.

Looking forward to any other reponses.

I've seen The Marriage of Maria Braun and Veronika Voss (both many years ago). The Marriage of Maria Braun is the better of the two, although not my favorite Fassbinder film (which is currently Katzelmacher).

If you regularly 'blind-buy' Criterions then you won't go wrong doing so with the Fassbinder box. IMO his earlier films were very 'hit or miss' (with more hits than misses), but by the latter part of his career his films were consistently outstanding, the less said about Querelle the better, I suppose...

As far as I know, Criterion's "Last Temptation of Christ" remains in print.

[quote] As far as I know, Criterion's "Last Temptation of Christ" remains in print.

Sorry about that. It was mislabeled in a list I have.

For those who have seen these Fassbinder movies as well as the ones included in The Ingmar Bergman Trilogy, which collection would fit my tastes better? (I'm torn on which to purchase)

For those who don't know the contents of The Ingmar Bergman Trilogy:
209 Through a Glass Darkly
210 Winter Light
211 The Silence
212 Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie

Here is the list of Criterions I currently own:
2 Seven Samurai
3 Lady Vanishes
11 Seventh Seal
14 Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
15 Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji
16 Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island
33 Nanook of the North
34 Andrei Rublev
35 Diabolique
36 Wages of Fear
44 The Red Shoes
46 Most Dangerous Game
48 Black Orpheus
49 Nights of Cabiria
51 Brazil
52 Yojimbo
53 Sanjuro
55 Unbearable Lightness of Being (OOP)
56 The 39 Steps
57 Charade (OOP)
62 Passion of Joan of Arc
63 Carnival of Souls
64 The Third Man
72 Le Million
81 Variety Lights
91 The Blob
98 L'Avventura
103 Lady Eve
110 M. Hulot's Holiday (OOP)
111 Mon Oncle (OOP)
112 Playtime (OOP)
114 My Man Godfrey
116 Hidden Fortress
118 Sullivan's Travel
124 Carl Theoder Dreyer Box Set
125 Day of Wrath
126 Ordet
127 Gertrud
128 My Metier
135 Rebecca
136 Spellbound
137 Notorious
138 Rashomon
139 Wild Strawberries
140 8 1/2
141 Children of Paradise
147 In the Mood for Love
170 Trouble in Paradise
172 Pepe le Moko
185 The Adventures of Antoine Doinel
005 400 Blows (ReRelease) w/Antoine and Colette
186 Stolen Kisses
187 Bed and Board
188 Love on the Run
189 The White Sheik
190 Throne of Blood
193 Quai des Orfevres

I'm looking forward to the trilogy. I wish I could buy them individually though that way if I didn't like one I wouldn't have to buy the others.

bshassel,

Looks like Bergman might fit your tastes better since you obviously like his work, but I'd advise you to take a chance on the Fassbinder box since you already own a couple of Bergmans. If you don't like it, you can always re-sell it and buy the Bergman box.

Or at least rent the CC disc of Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and see what you think of Fassbinder.

I got Fassbinder and Bergman sets on order... got the Truffaut and Dreyer sets today... w00t!!

As for the films, all of these sets intrigue me, but I think the Bergman set intrigues me the most. However, the Fassbinder films look like they'll be great too. Either that or Criterionco.com just excels at talking up their product.

The Fassbinder set intrigues me too.
i've never seen any of his films before but from what i read these sound interesting, and with the recent 20% off coupon from DDD, it seemed like a good time to give it a shot.
its backordered which probably means another 3 weeks or so.

i've seen the box in Borders and it looks quite classy. i'm looking forward to it very much.

I'm sure you won't be disappointed either....Criterion have produced some fantastic boxsets...Antoine Doinel,Bergman,Monterrey Pop etc.. and IMHO the Fassbinder is probably the best of the lot (thus far).

we'll see.
i went thru a phase in my early twenties when i was much more interested in foreign films.
now i'm more into 'comfort food' although compared to the average blockbuster customer my tastes are still probably too 'fringe'.

i got an e-mail saying they just shipped it so i will probably have it next week sometime.

I ordered my copy during the great DDD Money Vacuum Experiment of 2003, and it should be arriving this week. Can't wait to watch it! I've been on a Herzog kick lately, so maybe I'll just keep going and make it a General German New Wave kick.

This is such a great set, the perfect followup to Criterion's DVD of "Ali: Fear Eats Soul" (I prefer the non-grammatical title). If you like these, here are a few other worthwhile Fassbinder films on DVD (in order of my preference):

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (my alltime favorite Fass flick)
Whity (underrated IMO)
The Merchant of Four Seasons
Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven
Fox and His Friends

I'm not so much a fan of Effi Briest and Querelle, and haven't seen most of the others yet...

This gets my vote for dvd package of the year - even over the much (over) vaunted Two Towers and Alien sets.

I have the ones you listed plus the Eisenstein and Dryer sets.
None are slouches, but I agree with you, Fassbinder is tops so far.