Product Details

• Actors: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Rüdiger Vogler, Hanna Schygulla, Wim Wenders
• Directors: Wim Wenders, Nicholas Ray
• Writers: Wim Wenders, Nicholas Ray, Francois Burkhardt, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Patricia Highsmith
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, French, German, Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
• DVD Release Date: December 5, 2006
• Run Time: 708 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007WQGWC
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,445 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Wim Wenders Collection, Vol. 2" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

An interesting gathering of fiction features and documentaries spanning nearly a quarter-century of filmmaking by one of the original giants of the German New Wave, The Wim Wenders Collection, Vol. 2 has both the famous and obscure. From Wenders' early career comes 1972's The Scarlet Letter, which helped define the director's passion for the theme of the outsider in society. Senta Berger stars as Hester Prynne, the 17th century heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's proto-feminist novel. Lou Castel plays her tormented lover, Reverend Dimmesdale, and Hans Christian Blech is the husband who disappeared and underwent a transformation while in captivity. The mesmerizing The Wrong Move (1974) was one of the films that brought Wenders international attention, and it's another adaptation: this time Goethe's Wilhelm Meister. Ruediger Vogeler, an icon in Wenders' first works, stars as Meister, a writer who takes a journey in a forest with several companions (among them Hanna Schygulla and Nastassja Kinski) and becomes the guest of a wealthy industrialist (Ivan Desny) with a dark secret. 1980's Lightning Over Water is a loving and tragic tribute to American film director Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without a Cause), a major inspiration to Wenders and a physically fragile artist at the time of production.

Ray has a small part in the extraordinary The American Friend, a major success in Wenders career and a thriller based on Patricia Highsmith's novels about sociopath Tom Ripley. Dennis Hopper plays an isolated, deranged version of Ripley, seen here as an art dealer who sets up a dying restorer (Bruno Ganz) to commit a murder, then regrets his actions and becomes the innocent man's ally. The rest of Vol. 2 is more of Wenders' fascinating documentaries, including the wonderful Tokyo-Ga, a moving and sporadically funny 1985 essay about contemporary Tokyo and how it measures up to the Tokyo portrayed in the masterpieces of the late filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. Room 666 (1984) is an unusual experiment in which several other world-class filmmakers consent to a spontaneous interview, one after the other, in a hotel room. Another experimental work, A Trick of Light (1996), concerns the Skladanowsky brothers, inventors of the Bioscope projector. Much of the film was shot using the film pioneers’ own, 19th century equipment. Finally, Notebook on Cities and Clothes (1989) is an intriguing piece about Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, whose design process is viewed in the context of the computer age and digital information. Special features include a filmed lecture by Nicholas Ray, and commentary by Wenders on each of the movies. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Room 666: Film directors answer the question: "What is the future of cinema?".

Tokyo-Ga: Wim Wenders travels to Japan in search of the Tokyo seen in the films of Yasujiro Ozu

Wrong Move: Six days in the life of Wilhelm: a detached man without qualities. Couplings and rare bursts of feeling come as surprises; other characters remain alone.

Lightning Over Water: Wim Wenders helps his friend Nicholas Ray realize his final wish of completing a final film before his imminent death from cancer.

The Scarlet Letter: Based on a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

A Trick of Light: Award-winning Documentary

The American Friend: A metaphor for the relationship between American and German culture. Includes the cameo appearance of several Hollywood directors.

Notebook on Cities & Clothes: Wim Wenders talks with a Japanese fashion designer about the creative process and ponders the relationship between cities, identity and the cinema in the digital age.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice collection, great price!, May 23, 2009

By	jrc "jrcasey" (Jonesboro, AR USA) - See all my reviews

Great value for a few really great films and occasional lesser works from Wenders. Although labelled as "Vol. 2," this is really the one and only volume available. "Volume 1" was an old Anchor Bay set that only included three of the films that reappear here: FRIEND, LIGHTNING, and NOTEBOOK.

So, collectors: forget about the "Volume 2" moniker and enjoy this Wenders set!

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wim Wenders Collection Vol 2, February 11, 2007

By	Julia (Australia) - See all my reviews

A fantastic collection from a master filmmaker, comprising some of his best known as well as his less well known works. Denis Hopper in An American Friend, the work of Ozu and his cinematographer in Tokyo Ga are particular stand outs.