Thanks to the love and devotion the Criterion Collection offered RWF last year, i have become a devout fan of Rainer Werner Fassbinder....but I want more...I need more...and the sheer volume of films he produced is rather daunting. So I turn to DVDTalk to help me to acquire the best releases out there...I've heard good things about the release for Whity, but are there others that you consider a must? In terms of film and dvd quality? What films aren't available that I should add to the wishlist for future reference?

and please keep the talk to R1, as i am not multi-region capable....thanks....

The 5 best Fassbinders on DVD (besides the trilogy) IMO are:

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul - my favorite Fassbinder film
The Merchant of 4 Seasons
Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kant
Fox & His Friends
Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven

I actually have a couple of sealed Fassbinders:

The Niklashausen Journey and Rio Das Mortes. I haven't watched either of them, so I can't vouche for the films. Anyone know if they are any good?

I am not particularly a fan and am looking to trade them. Email me: [email protected]

Dan

I've seen a bunch of his films, but many in a cinema, so FWIW, my opinions are for film quality, not DVD quality.

My favorite is Katzelmacher, but Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Fox and His Friends, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven, and Satans Brew are all excellent films. Fear of Fear really didn't do it for me.

The thing to remember about Fassbinder was that he was a brilliant lunatic, but a lunatic all the same. The quality of his movies is all over the map, ranging from real masterpieces to stuff that's just unwatchable. I suppose that's to be expected given the rate at which he churned them out.

Querelle (1982)

Which is exactly why I started this thread There's just so many, all of which SOUND good, but I know that there are some real bombs in his oeuvre....

Whity (it's on par ali fear eats the soul. Good melodrama. And pioneers in ingolstadt both available from fantoma.

Also coming later this month from fantoma:

Martha
In a year with 13 moons

Still waiting for Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?, the best Fassbinder I've seen. I thought it was in the pipe?

Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? was supposed to have been released right around, well, now, by Fantoma (same folks who put out Whity and Ingolstadt)... along with Fassbinder's Martha and also In a Year with 13 Moons (one of the director's most intense and depressing but also greatest films, imo).
So while we're on the subject, does anyone know what happened to these three releases?

...anyone?...

MARTHA and IN A YEAR... have been delayed to March 30. WHY DOES HERR R... was never scheduled for release with these two.

I thought I had read somewhere that this DVD edition of the film actually restored some 'racy' footage that was in the European cut of the film. Any truth to this rumour?