My friend just watched the Italian edition of 'Until the End of the World' director's cut dvd. The following is his comment:

I have watched the fourth and extra DVD of Wim Wender's 'Until the End of the World' last night (and emptied one bottle of Italian 'Primitivo') and understood more of the background of this version issue. I think Wenders takes the birth of this DVD package very seriously. He continued telling in his interview that the 2&1/2 hours theatrical cut has done a lot of injustice to the crew, the actors, the soundtrack musicians and the film itself. This DVD version with the film splitting up into three parts, each with 90 minutes running time, reflect the trilogy nature of the film and thus its grandeur. And this Director's Cut definitely gets enough time for every soundtrack score to ring itself at least once. During the pursuit for the issuance of this DVD version, he found himself has changed from the pessimistic view of the world's feasible collapse in confronting the end of a millennium to an awakening of hope that the digital image is not at all bringing forth ruin to the film art. He believes no more that capturing dream images would drown the individual soul and he is happy that the end of cinema has not arrived.

I was disappointed with the version of the movie that I watched, the 2 1/2 hour one, but fell in love with the soundtrack. I was unaware that there was another version floating around, or even considered for that matter. This is great news.

I'm not a huge Wim Wenders fan but I do appreciate his work and could see how the film could have been better with a more thorough treatment.

Any chance this disc has an option for default English subtitles during the French-language dialogue?

Anyone have a link to more info on this flick?

Disc 1 97 mins
Disc 2 91 mins
Disc 3 93 mins
DD 5.1, 16/9 transfer
Disc 4 100 mins(with documentary(Up Down Roma), interview, outtakes, trailer, photo galleria)

Where can u get that copy?

Fino alla Fine del Mondo - Director's Cut
http://www.dvdland.it/details.asp?pr...0&cat=35&path=

what about subs and audio tracks?
forced subs on the original audio track?

The movie is mostly in English, with several scenes also containing French dialogue. Maybe some Japanese as well (a little bit of the movie takes place in Tokyo).

I'm wondering about the DVD too.

I can't imagine this will be the only release. The full length version was screened in NYC 1 (or was it 2) years ago, and Wim was present. He talked about creating a super-deluxe DVD release, so I'm pretty sure this will be released elsewhere.

There was word last year that Anchor Bay would release this director's cut in Spring of 2004 but so far no announcement on the date so maybe its been delayed.

Moon, what's the verdict on the subs? Are there english subs for the non-english portions of the movie?

edit:

Menu shots and more info on this set can be seen at this site.

http://theacf.com/endworld/

The French and Japanese sections are not subtitled in anything other than Italian. Consequently I can’t say for sure if this omission is responsible for the movie boring me into a coma. Never has the need for a strong producer and editor been more acute. Towards the end with the capturing of the dreams on film, the movie does begin to have some narrative momentum but up until that point Wenders travelogue through Europe and Australia looks like nothing more than an attempt to satisfy the various co-participants by filming just about every-damn-where. On the plus side the transfer is gorgeous and the soundtrack is rich and varied. It’s just such a shame to see actors the quality of Sam Neill, William Hurt and Max Von Sydow being wasted in this self-indulgent morass.

About the foreign lang part:
Chapter 03 in South of France: when Claire (the heroine) first meets the two French bank robbers, Raymond and Chico; all French dialogue, about 20-30 sentences
Chapter 05 in Paris: when Claire talks in the phone with Chico; in French, 2 greeting phrases
Chapter 05 in Paris: when Claire goes to find an apartment with her Japanese friend Makiko; Makiko's remark in Japanese, 1 sentence
Chapter 06 in Berlin: when Claire meets Trevor (Hurt) at his uncle's home; in German by Trevor's relatives, 2 greeting phrases
Chapter 08 in Lisbon: when Claire and Trevor take the tram; in Portuguese, 6 sentences with woman passenger sitting opposite to them
Chapter 10 in Moscow: a broadcasting announcement: in Russian, 1 statement
Chapter 12 in Moscow: when Claire gets onto the Trans-Siberian Train; in Russian with cabin passengers, 2 greeting phrases
Chapter 12 in Beijing: tele-video conversation between Claire and Gene (Neille): in French
Chapter 13 in Tokyo: when Claire chases Trevor (Hurt) at the Hotel; remarks in Japanese by all those Japanese stunts appears in this scene; not more than 10 phrases
Part II
Chapter 02 in North of Japan: when Claire takes the injured Sam (Hurt again) to a hilltown retreat and meet Master Mori; in Japanese, less than 10 phrases
Chapter 03 in San Francisco: tele-video conversation between Claire and Chico; in French
Chapter 05 on Board a ship sailing to Sydney: Chico when talking to Claire and tele-video conversation with Raymond; in French, few remark sentences
Chapter 06 in Sydney: dialogue between Chico & Claire, and between Chico & Sam; in French, 2-3 sentences each
Chapter 09 in Central Australia: when Claire first meets Sam's mother, Edith (Jeanne Moreau); in French
Chapter 10 in Dr. Farber's Laboratory Land: when Eugene (i.e. Gene) asks for the typewriter; in French, 2 remarks
Part III
Chapter 05 in Dr. Farber's Laboratory Land: dialogue between Claire and Edith on their lover/ son Samuel Farber; in French, about 10 sentences
Chapter 06 in Dr. Farber's Laboratory Land: when Claire talks with Edith on the images, and reads to her about the impressionist painters; in French, 2 sentences
Chapter 10 in Dreamland: when Claire indulges in her own dream images and declares: in French

Anchor Bay has rights issues that are delaying the R1 release. I contacted them about it and that is what they told me. Plus, with new management there, I don't know if it is a priority.

You can also order the Italian DVD through Scarecrow.com (out of Seattle) for $45. May be easier than ordering from Italy.

Given that Wenders is German, what's the DVD outlook for this movie in that country?

I read in another thread that there were rights issues in R1. I personally emailed Wender's production company in LA regarding an R1 version and never got a reply.

Not heard anything and I doubt very much they’d bother to subtitle the French and Japanese dialogue into English anyway.

Jonathan, I'm wondering if you've ever seen some of Wenders' older films, especially Kings of the Road, and how you felt about those?

My Wenders experience is confined to Paris Texas, Wings of Desire, American Friend, Faraway So Close and The End of Violence. I like (love in the case of Wings of Desire) all of them except the last 2 so I’ve no agenda in disliking UTEoTW. Having said that I never particularly liked the shorter version so it’s odd that I shelled out for the DVD set. I wanted to like it and, as I said, once the stuff kicked in about capturing the dreams on film I actually started to enjoy it but by then it was too little too late. I think ultimately it’s flawed at a story level. What he’s trying to do/say seems too nebulous to be captured on film and maybe would work better as a novel or even a series of poems. Just my 2 Cents.

Is the shorter, non-director's, cut available anywhere?

The thing with Wenders is that there's a distinct change from his older films to his later films. Kings of the Road is, like you describe with this one, a very long and rambling film that seems to have no point at all. But I find it utterly captivating. Others may scream at their TVs.

That's basically how I felt about the short version of the movie. I've heard from various people that the longer version was better, and it sounds like a return to his older type of movies, but I haven't seen it for myself.