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Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Posted By: Notsaint
Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction ]
5xDVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC | 4:3 | 720x480 | 5100 kbps ~ 7000 kbps | 21.8Gb
Audio: German AC3 1.0 @ 384 Kbps | Subtitles : English
Full time: more than 7 hours | West Germany, Italy | Comedy, Crime, Drama, Romance

From the very beginning of his incandescent career, the New German Cinema enfant terrible Rainer Werner Fassbinder refused to play by the rules. His politically charged, experimental first films, made at an astonishingly rapid rate between 1969 and 1970, were influenced by the work of the Antiteater, an avant-garde stage troupe that he had helped found in Munich. Collected here are five of those fascinating and confrontational works. Whether a self- conscious meditation on American crime movies, a scathing indictment of xenophobia in contemporary Germany, or an off-the-wall look at the dysfunctional relationships on film sets, each is a startling glimpse into the mind of a twentysomething man who was to become one of cinema’s most madly prolific artists.

The Criterion Collection

DVDTalk

It needs to be said: the great German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder was damn prolific, and damn quirky, from the very start.

The starkness and searching characters common in his work is all over the five films assembled in Criterion's Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder DVD box set, which were produced in a flurry of activity over 1969 and 1970. Only 25 years of age by the time he made this set's most recent film, these gritty dramas of disaffected youth reflected the numbed-out discontent Fassbinder and his peers were experiencing in postwar West Germany. These modest films have the clunkiness of a tyro with a lot to say but limited means with which to say it (especially the first two). However, they also share an uncompromising singularity of vision, since he directed, wrote, and often acted in every one - an unbelievably busy pattern that continued up until Fassbinder's early death in 1982.

The five stark, mostly black and white dramas assembled on Eclipse Series #39: Early Fassbinder reveal Fassbinder as a filmmaker who had a vision and strong sense of purpose almost from the very beginning. Although it's missing two of films from this period (the controversial Whity and What Makes Herr R. Run Amok?, which was perhaps given over to another director, Michael Fengler), the set has a remarkable consistency. Fassbinder's screenplays dealt with the alienation and bottled-up hostility of post-World War II Germany, especially as it applied to the younger generation. Most of the actors in these films came from members of the Antiteater Collective, a leftist group that Fassbinder co-founded to stage the kind of politically-infused dramas that Fassbinder felt were woefully underrepresented in German cinema. His regulars from this period included Hanna Schygulla, Fassbinder's muse and star of better-known later projects such as The Marriage of Maria Braun.

Cinespect

Criterion’s new DVD box set “Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder” features five movies the prodigious German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder made from 1969 to 1971: his deconstructive gangster/noir trilogy, “Love Is Colder Than Death” (1969), “Gods of the Plague” (1970), and “The American Soldier” (1970); his damning critique of postwar Germany’s rejection of “the socio-cultural” outsider, “Katzelmacher” (1969); and his hilarious film about filmmaking, “Beware of a Holy Whore” (1971). In the accompanying liner notes, critic Michael Koresky, following the director’s lead, labels these works “cinema films” or “bourgeois films.” Yet, as Fassbinder well knew, these paradigms are anything but stable given his penchant for merging and exploding film genres through blatantly theatrical staging, sparse production design, discordant soundtracks, extended long takes, and alienating performance styles. While the director’s later movies, from “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul” (1974) onward, are often considered more viewer-friendly due to their narrative cohesion and muted Brechtian effects, these earlier works offer ample visual and aural treats for discerning cinephiles who like their dark humor a shade blacker than midnight.

* * * * *


Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte / Beware of a Holy Whore (1971)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC | 4:3 | 720x480 | 5100 kbps
Audio: German AC3 1.0 @ 384 Kbps | Subtitles : English
01:44:00 | West Germany, Italy | Comedy, Drama

In Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s brazen depiction of the alternating currents of lethargy and mayhem inherent in moviemaking, a film crew—played by, and not so loosely based on, his own frequent collaborators—deals with an aloof star (Eddie Constantine), an abusive director (Lou Castel), and a financially troubled production. Inspired by the hellish process of making Whity earlier the same year, this is a vicious look at behind-the-scenes dysfunction.

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Lou Castel, Eddie Constantine, Marquard Bohm, Hanna Schygulla, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Hannes Fuchs, Marcella Michelangeli, Karl Scheydt, Ulli Lommel, Kurt Raab, Herb Andress, Monica Teuber, Benjamin Lev, Gianni Di Luigi, Werner Schroeter, Magdalena Montezuma, Rudolf Waldemar Brem, Thomas Schieder, Enzo Monteduro, Mario Novelli, Ingrid Caven, Tanja Constantine, Katrin Schaake, Achmed Em Bark, Michael Fengler, Harry Baer, Burghard Schlicht, Dick Randall, Peter Berling

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


IMDb

On a film set there are two things missing, the film material and the director. So the actors and actresses as well as the crew try to make the best out of the situation. When the director arrives the material is still missing and so they still wait and try to make the best out of the situation. When the material finally arrives all folks involved into the film find themselves in a weird situation. Jealousy, competition and despair are ruling. Nobody seems to be able to break through this atmosphere, so they all still try to make the best out of the situation, but this is probably not the way to finish the film.
~ Oliver Heidelbach

* * * * *


Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Götter der Pest / Gods of the Plague (1970)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC | 4:3 | 720x480 | 5900 kbps
Audio: German AC3 1.0 @ 384 Kbps | Subtitles : English
01:32:00 | West Germany | Crime, Drama

Harry Baer plays a newly released ex-convict who slowly but surely finds his way back into the Munich criminal underworld. Meanwhile, his attentions are torn between two women (Hanna Schygulla and Margarethe von Trotta) and the friend (Günther Kaufmann) who shot his brother. This sensual, artfully composed film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder is a study of romantic and professional futility.

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Hanna Schygulla, Margarethe von Trotta, Harry Baer, Günther Kaufmann, Carla Egerer, Ingrid Caven, Jan George, Lilo Pempeit, Marian Seidowsky, Micha Cochina, Yaak Karsunke, Hannes Gromball, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Irm Hermann, Eva Madelung, Doris Mattes, Peter Moland, David Morgan, Kurt Raab, Katrin Schaake, Thomas Schieder, Ursula Strätz, Lilith Ungerer

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


IMDb

A man is released from prison and finds the society on the outside less than appealing. With several women as well as the police on his tail, he sets out to find an old friend.

* * * * *

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Katzelmacher (1969)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC | 4:3 | 720x480 | 6400 kbps
Audio: German AC3 1.0 @ 384 Kbps | Subtitles : English
01:29:00 | West Germany | Drama, Romance

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s second feature depicts the intolerance of a circle of financially and sexually frustrated friends when an immigrant laborer (Fassbinder) moves to their Munich neighborhood. This scalpel-sharp theatrical experiment, based on one of the director’s successful early stage plays, is both a personal expression of alienation on the part of the filmmaker and a comment on the persistence of xenophobic scapegoating in German society.

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Hanna Schygulla, Lilith Ungerer, Rudolf Waldemar Brem, Elga Sorbas, Doris Mattes, Irm Hermann, Peter Moland, Hans Hirschmüller, Harry Baer, Hannes Gromball, Katrin Schaake, Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


IMDb

Jorgos, an emigrant worker from Greece, joins a group of young people usually hanging around. This foreigner incites hostility and jealousy among them, and he is insulted as a "Communist" and "Greek dog". After having been attacked, Jorgos talks to Maria of his wish to return home.
~ L.H. Wong

* * * * *


Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Liebe ist kälter als der Tod / Love is Colder Than Death (1969)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC | 4:3 | 720x480 | 6100 kbps
Audio: German AC3 1.0 @ 384 Kbps | Subtitles : English
01:29:00 | West Germany | Comedy, Crime, Romance

For his feature debut, Rainer Werner Fassbinder fashioned an acerbic, unorthodox crime drama about a love triangle involving the small-time pimp Franz (Fassbinder), his prostitute girlfriend, Joanna (future Fassbinder mainstay Hanna Schygulla), and his gangster friend Bruno (Ulli Lommel). With its minimalist tableaux and catalog of New Wave and Hollywood references, this is a stylishly nihilistic cinematic statement of intent.

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Ulli Lommel, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Liz Soellner, Gisela Otto, Ursula Strätz, Monika Nüchtern, Hans Hirschmüller, Les Olvides, Peer Raben, Howard Gaines, Peter Moland, Kurt Raab, Peter Berling, Anastassios Karalas, Rudolf Waldemar Brem, Yaak Karsunke, Hannes Gromball, Ingrid Caven, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wolfgang Gmoch, Irm Hermann, Thomas Hill, Gottfried Hüngsberg, Franz Maron

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


IMDb

Unusual gangster story, in which a small-time pimp Franz, who is torn between his mistress and Bruno the gangster sent after him by the syndicate that he has refused to join. Things are turned on their head when Franz and Bruno become friends, to the point that they even share Franz's girlfriend Joanna. But Joanna soon becomes bored of Bruno, and when he plots a bank robbery, she reports it to the police before Bruno's scheme to kill her can succeed. Bruno is shot dead by the police, but the lovers manage to escape.
~ L.H. Wong

* * * * *


Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Der amerikanische Soldat / The American Soldier (1970)
DVD5 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC | 4:3 | 720x480 | 7000 kbps
Audio: German AC3 1.0 @ 384 Kbps | Subtitles : English
01:20:00 | West Germany | Drama

The German-born American GI Ricky (Karl Scheydt) returns to Munich from Vietnam and is promptly hired as a contract killer. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s experimental noir is a subversive, self-reflexive gangster movie full of unexpected asides and stylistic flourishes, and features an audaciously bonkers final shot and memorable turns from many of the director’s rotating gallery of players.

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cast: Karl Scheydt, Elga Sorbas, Jan George, Hark Bohm, Marius Aicher, Margarethe von Trotta, Ulli Lommel, Katrin Schaake, Ingrid Caven, Eva Ingeborg Scholz, Kurt Raab, Irm Hermann, Gustl Datz, Marquard Bohm, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peer Raben

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]

Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder (1969-1970) [The Criterion Colelction]


IMDb

Ricky is a cold-blooded German-American contract killer. After serving in Vietnam he returns to his home town of Munich to eliminate a few problem crooks for three renegade cops. He inspects his old neighborhood with his childhood accomplice Franz Walsch, and pays a short visit to his mother and doting brother. When Ricky asks the hotel clerk for a girl, one of the cops sends his girlfriend Rosa. However she falls for the killer.
~ Will Gilbert