Werner Herzog Collection

Following on the heels of the Herzog/Kinski Collection (VL-9/02), the Werner Herzog Collection is, admittedly, second-tier Herzog (minus his muse/nemesis leading man Klaus Kinski), but compelling nevertheless with a solid mix of dramatic triumphs and eclectic efforts. Leading the former is 1974's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (a.k.a. Every Man for Himself and God Against All), based on a true incident circa 1828 in which the titular young man--locked in a basement for nearly two decades and then abandoned--is transformed from an illiterate, near-mute, stumbling beast into a "civilized" man with ultimately tragic results. Herzog "find" Bruno S., who is excellent as Hauser, also stars in the similarly-themed 1976 film Stroszek as the title character, a naive, but goodhearted man with a drinking problem who's spent most of his life in institutions. Emerging once again into the free world, Stroszek hooks up with his former girlfriend, Eva (Eva Mattes), and his landlord Scheitz, and the trio head for Railroad Flats, Wisconsin in search of the American Dream with…ultimately tragic results. On the eclectic side, we have Herzog's controversial second feature, Even Dwarves Started Small (1969), a "fever dream" tale featuring an all-little-people cast in which the inmates of an unspecified institution revolt against an administrator holding one of their number hostage (among the film's many David Lynch-like images is a sequence featuring a monkey tied--crucifixion-style--to a cross and paraded around a dusty courtyard by the inmates). Also tipping the weird scale is 1976's Heart of Glass, in which the inhabitants of a pre-industrial German village are rocked when the head of the local glassworks dies, taking the secret of making ruby glass with him to his grave. Interestingly, Herzog actually had his actors put into hypnotic trances to heighten the effect of confusion and stupor that overtakes the townspeople. Rounding out the collection are three documentaries: 1998's Little Dieter Needs to Fly (VL-5/02), a biographical portrait of Dieter Dengler, who emigrated from Germany after WWII to America, joined the Navy, and became a P.O.W. after being shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War; and (on one disc) the companion documentaries Lessons of Darkness (1992) and Fata Morgana (1969), two impressionistic studies of the raging oil fires in Kuwait in the wake of the Gulf War, and mirages in the Sahara desert (for what was originally meant to be a sci-fi film), respectively. Taken as a whole, the DVD transfers on these films are beautiful and the Dolby Digital mono soundtracks are clear. In addition, all four of the feature films and Fata Morgana sport characteristically mysterious and occasionally vague commentary (you'll hear the phrase "ecstatic truth" a lot) by Herzog who responds to questions from Norman Hill. Most entertaining of these are the commentaries for Even Dwarves Started Small and Fata Morgana, in which actor Crispin Glover (Back to the Future, Willard) joins Herzog and Hill and (mostly in vain) tries to pin the director down on various details related to production and interpretation. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)