Heart of Glass

Starring:Josef Bierbichler, Thomas Binkley, Claude Chiarini, Janos Fischer, Gunter Freyse, Wilhelm Friedrich, Stefan GÃ¼ttler, Brunhilde KlÃ¶ckner, Helmut Kossick, Helmut KrÃ¼ger, Wolfram Kunkel, Sepp MÃ¼ller, Bernhard Schabel, Clemens Scheitz, Sonja Skiba, Arno Vahrenwald, Detlev Weiler, Karl Yblagger, Andrea von Ramm
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Customer Reviews:

A must for Herzog fans.......2007-05-30

With or without Klaus Kinski, Werner Herzog takes us into strange realms of the human spirit. This collection is eclectic, wonderful, and an absolute must for Herzog fans. Hypnotized actors, evil little people, gorgeous, capable Eva Mattes, and the indescribable Bruno S. make up this disturbing, brilliant collection. Ann Doreen

Wonderful films, Anchor Bay has a few problems.......2006-04-17

These are stunning films. "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" is one of the classics; the shot of the rye field in the wind alone is worth the price of admission. It's good that Anchor Bay is emphasizing that they'll rectify defective disks, though, because problems abound. Thanks to an earlier reviewer for posting their complaints URL! On my copy of "Kaspar Hauser" the commentary simply won't turn off (and it's not that I haven't figured out how, because it turns off on the other disks). Then occasionally it turns off all by itself, but if you try to get the subtitles, it turns back on -- so you can't watch the film WITH subtitles but WITHOUT commentary. Exasperating! While I was fiddling with commentaries, however, I managed to watch the whole of "Heart of Glass" with commentary. "Heart of Glass" is not the most accessible film -- not because, as Herzog says, it's slow, but because hypnotized actors are more like zombies than actors. But the film with the commentary on is the most surreal, fascinating experience -- the stories behind the making of the film are an artwork in themselves. The same is true of "Kaspar Hauser" -- an unintended benefit of the disk problem. Providing Anchor Bay makes good on their defective disks, this is a great set.

Lost & Found: "Fata Morgana" .......2005-12-29

I've encountered a snag with "Fata Morgana" as well-- in my case, it was missing entirely. However, I contacted Anchor Bay's feedback department (http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com/index.asp?p=FAQ_Problem) and they sent me a fully functional DVD pretty quickly. I'm glad they did, as it's a gorgeous piece well worth seeing.

Manufacturing defect?.......2005-08-03

Has anyone else had a problem with 'Lessons of Darkness/Fata Morgana'? I've tried two different copies of this box set and the same few minutes at the end of Fata Morgana won't play. It skips and goes back to the DVD menu.

Regardless of that, the box set is worth it. An amazing collection of films, well put together. I want to see the end of 'Fata Morgana', but the other six movies are spectacular.

Werner Herzog - An Unconventional Study.......2005-03-14

Those that are new to the world of Werner Herzog are advised to stay away from this boxset until they discover his collaborations with actor Klaus Kinski... The HERZOG/KINSKI boxset (also from Anchor Bay) is essential, and should be your first exposure to this challenging director's work.

Those of you that have seen his more famous works (AGUIRRE, NOSFERATU, FITZCARRALDO, etc.) and want to explore further into Herzog's catalogue, then this is the ideal boxset. It's important to note, though, that it's a fairly unconventional series of films that vary wildly from style and genre.

There are only two "conventional" films in this boxset and those are THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER and STROSZEK. Despite the fact that both films have fairly linear plots, they often slip into the director's notorious weirdness (the final few minutes of STROSZEK for instance).

There are three documentaries in this boxset. LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY is the most straightfoward of the bunch but features a riveting story of wartime survival. LESSONS OF DARKNESS is about the burning of the oil fields in Iraq, and it features an almost subliminal science-fiction approach to the material (if I wasn't told about it in the liner notes, I don't think I would have picked it up on my first viewing). FATA MORGANA is certainly a strange film, the genesis of which came about Herzog's desire to film mirages in the desert.

Rounding out the package are the two feature length experimental films, and the real highlight of this boxset. HEART OF GLASS is a bizarre twist on a local folk tale in which the entire cast (with the exception of one character) performed under hypnosis... the effect is startling and quite eerie. EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL is my favorite of the director's non-Kinski films, and simply defies explanation... dwarfs, camels, cars riding around in circles, chickens. It's all an exercise in absurdist anarchy, and you simply can't stop watching it.

Recommended for fans of the surreal.

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Mystical beauty...
On the wings of the mythic rapture!
A dreamlike experience
A Masterpiece
A failed experiment?

Heart of Glass
Starring: Josef Bierbichler , Thomas Binkley , Claude Chiarini , Janos Fischer , and Gunter Freyse
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
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Similar Items:

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Stroszek
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ASIN: B00005R247
Release Date: 2002-01-08

Amazon.com essential video

In his tireless crusade to expand the vocabulary of cinema, Werner Herzog turned Heart of Glass into a bold and challenging experiment. By placing all but one of his actors under hypnosis, Herzog achieved his desired effect, eliciting performances that seem oddly detached and trancelike, perfectly appropriate to a story about 19th-century Bavarian villagers who have lost their collective vision, cast adrift and descending into madness. They've lost the life-sustaining secret to the magical ruby-red glass that was once made in the local glassworks, and their predicament cannot be solved by the mystic (Josef Bierbichler, the only actor not hypnotized) who appears with premonitions of the fate of all humankind. All of this is mere pretense for Herzog's loftier (and not altogether successful) ambition: to present haunting, mysterious images that seem directly drawn from our collective subconscious. In his visionary defiance of conventional narrative, Herzog crafted a timeless, mesmerizing allegory, and one of the most eerily beautiful films ever made. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Heart of Glass - A small village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the owner of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, his son tries to recreate it. In order to create the proper atmosphere of trance and sleepwalking, the entire case acted under hypnosis.

Customer Reviews:

Mystical beauty..........2007-04-04

This is amongst the most poetic, mysterious, and mystical films Werner Herzog has ever given us (and for him, that's saying something). Many have recounted the story behind the production that all of the cast (except the lead actor) were hypnotized before shooting. It gives the actors another worldly appearance. I really love the soundtrack by Popol Vuh. The opening scenes from this film are amongst the most beautiful I've ever seen in a film, with Popol Vuh's music giving such a deep, majestic feel to the film. The film was based on a Bavarian legend about a glass maker who died without leaving his secrets, and the townspeople went insane aftewards. The film is really told mostly through imagery and sound. Dialogue here seems incidental. Herzog was on a tear in the 1970's, making brilliant film after brilliant film. He lost a little bit of his "mojo" after Fitzcarraldo, but since has gained it back with some amazing documentaries. This is Herzog's most underrated film, one that grows stranger and mysterious with each consecutive viewing.

On the wings of the mythic rapture!.......2007-02-08

All of us are aware about the powerful imagination and fascinating spell of this unique filmmaker. In this movie Herzog displays his portentous creativity to engage us with a new world, sort of dreamy landscapes, arresting images and steady dialogue.

The humble people of a small village attempt for all their means to find and learn the formula to make a special glass; we have a wandering herdsman, who represents a shaman in the darkness of the vulgarity and ordinariness; take all your time for watch and delight this peerless movie, that constitutes at least to my mind (I have seen almost Herzog's works) one of the most the most poetic, captiavating and mesmerizing films in years.

You won't believe what you will see in the epilogue, with those unforgettable images.

Hypnotic all the way through!

A dreamlike experience.......2006-10-03

Famous as the film where all but one cast member was hypnotized by its director, Heart of Glass is another of Werner Herzog's almost ethereal looks at damaged, alienated (indeed, almost alien) protagonists completely unsuited for the world around them. In this case it's an entire pre-industrial town where the secret of making the ruby glass that the local economy depends on has been lost, and with it the townspeople have lost all will to live and wander around in a somnambulist daze reminiscent of an entire community of Clive Owens: well, a slightly livelier Clive Owen at least, if such a thing can be possibly imagined. Only the local shepherd-cum-prophet is immune from the spell, his real prophecies a mixture of the strikingly pertinent and the truly nonsensical. Naturally, this being Herzog, a chicken does feature briefly, although whether it also is hypnotised is open to debate. It should be horribly and unwatchably self-indulgent, but the strikingly beautifully photographed tableaux and the weird poetry in its soul turns it into a dreamlike experience you drift through almost benignly despite the darkness, madness, violence and hopeless stupidity on display.

Aside from trailer, production notes and stills gallery, the main extra is another one of Herzog's excellent audio commentaries.

A Masterpiece.......2006-07-13

The essential metaphor which beats at the heart of glass, is the terrible and frightening fragility of existence. Hias the prophet, sees a future in which not only the village is engulfed in flames, but the world itself, he foresees the raise of nazism and like a good many Herzog productions the echoes of fascism reverberate. This is a village in which the capitalist dictator who owns the glass factory, can enter peoples houses on a whim and take their property, and can almost get away with murder. That murder, insanity and death should hang palpably over this film is no accident; the glass is red for a reason as it represents the very life essence of the village, with the demise of its vital ingredient, so the village slowly dies. Herzog's articulation of this mass breakdown is rendered beautifully, in a way which is quite simply painterly. Whether one considers the hypnotism of many cast members a gimmick or not, the result is perhaps the most accurately displayed example of mass hysteria committed to celluloid. There is an abyss at the centre of the film, which the audience itself finds itself walking into. A sense of somnambulism which emerges out of the screen. Structurally this is a confusing film, jumping all over the place, no regard for time or space - which gives it a dream logic perfect to the content of the film. The forces of creation and destruction are at work in this film and in many ways it is reminiscent of FATA MORGANA. Like the earlier film HEART OF GLASS is challenging and disturbing and in my opinion has the greatest opening 10 minutes in cinema. Wonderfully obtuse, wonderfully mythical - Herzog's finest moment.

A failed experiment?.......2006-02-20

'Heart of Glass' was quite the daring experiment from the extraordinary German filmmaker Werner Herzog. He hypnotized all the actors except one man; a mystic who is trying to save a village from destroying itself. The scenery is stunning and so is the music. The yodeling at the begging of the film is hair-raising and unforgettable. Other than that, 'Heart of Glass' does not make any sense, espicially the last scene. The final scene has nothing to do with the main story. The final scene has nothing to do with anything in general. Also, the hypnotized actors look goofy and silly most of the time rather than being in a trance-like state. It is a good thing when artists try to experiment like this, but in this case, I would consider the experiment a failure. Watch some other Herzog films, especially the ones with Klaus Kinski.

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Heart of Glass [Region 2]

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Heart Breakers: Live in Australia
Starring: Bob Dylan
Manufacturer: Glass
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Werner Herzog Box Set 2 (5 Disc Edition) [PAL, Region 2, Import]

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Werner Herzog Box Set 2 (5 Disc Edition) [PAL, Region 2, Import]

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Product Features:

Region 2, PAL (Europe, Japan, South Africa and the Middle East including Egypt)
Requires multi-region DVD player for the US.

ASIN: 8373021132

Product Description

Five features. In 'Stroszek' a Berlin street musician is released from prison and moves to America with his girlfriend to live the American dream. Things don't go to plan and the dream soon becomes a nightmare in this tragic comedy. Also features: 'Even Dwarves Started Small', 'Fata Morgana', 'Heart Of Glass' and 'The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser'.

Heart Of Glass (Herz aus Glas) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ]

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Heart Of Glass (Herz aus Glas) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ]
Director: Werner Herzog
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FTD61Q

Product Description

Great Britain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: German (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Subtitles), WIDESCREEN, SYNOPSIS: In director Werner Herzogs most conceptual and perhaps most challenging film, HEART OF GLASS, a small Bavarian town is plunged into a mysterious and haunted despair when the owner of the towns preindustrial glass factory dies, failing to pass on the secret formula for its special ruby-colored glass. The aesthetic and narrative paths merge as the film leads viewers deep into the hypnotic and at times gothic plight of the workers and townspeople who stumble through the town, mesmerized and dazed, verging on murder and madness.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Trailer(s), Scene Access, Production Notes, Photo Gallery, Interactive Menu, Commentary, Biographies,

Heart Of Glass [Non-US Format, PAL, Region 2, Import]

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Heart Of Glass [Non-US Format, PAL, Region 2, Import]

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ASIN: 8386314567

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