Product Details

• Actors: Peter Brogle, Jannakis Frasakis, Achmed Hafiz, Katerinaki, Julie Pinheiro
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC
• Language: German (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• DVD Release Date: July 5, 2005
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009KA7D6
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #98,678 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #26 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Original Language > Greek
  #33 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Director > Herzog, Werner

• For more information about "Signs of Life" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Werner Herzog's first feature-length film, Signs of Life is the work of a confident 24-year old filmmaker who knew exactly what he was doing. Many of the stylistic and thematic concerns that would inform Herzog's later films are fully evident here, from his mixture of documentary-like realism and strange, dream-like passages to the bold use of location as character. Set on a remote Greek island during World War II, the slowly paced story unfolds as an injured, recuperating soldier named Stroszek (Peter Brogle) and his new wife Nora (Athina Zacharopoulou) grow accustomed to their slow and quiet life of seclusion. Herzog captures a palpable sense of boredom, but his film is anything but tedious for those who are seduced by its peculiar rhythms and exotic locale. As Stroszek (a name later used as the title of one of Herzog's best-known films) loses his grip on reality and threatens to detonate the munitions dump he's been assigned to care for, Signs of Life attains an elusive, mystical quality that makes it linger in the memory long after you've seen it. New Yorker Video's DVD release is also blessed by a fascinating audio commentary by Herzog devotee Norman Hill and the director himself, whose vivid memories of making Signs of Life add further insight into the curious qualities of this odd yet unforgettable film. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

"Stroszek is an injured soldier sent to recuperate at a remote Greek island. There, he and his new Greek wife, Nora, serve as caretakers to an abandoned ammunition dump. The newlyweds adjust to their new life on this enchanted desert isle and attend to their simple duties, but soon, the heat, the exotic locale, and the suspicious, eccentric natives push Stroszek towards insanity. He finally snaps, tries to kill his wife, then plans to ignite the ammunition dump. Ultimately, soldiers swarm the area, trying to capture the psychotic Stroszek before he blows up the whole island.

Signs of Life is the debut feature from Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Fitzcarraldo; Nosferatu), the director that both Milos Forman and François Truffaut have called "the greatest filmmaker alive today."

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good film; problematic DVD, August 27, 2005

By	Tryavna (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

First off, I want to say that I'm a big fan of Werner Herzog. Between 1972 and 1982, he was one of the best directors in the world, coming up with such unique masterpieces as "Aguirre," "Kaspar Hauser" (or whichever title you prefer), "Nosferatu" (the remake), and "Fitzcarraldo." As his feature-length debut, "Signs of Life" never quite reaches the sublime heights of those later movies. For one thing, I find the narration a little clunky, as if Herzog were still clinging to the last vestiges of traditional plot development, and lead actor Peter Brogle lacks the electrifying presence that Bruno S. and Klaus Kinski bring to Herzog's later films. Still, this film points the way to Herzog's later masterpieces, and it undeniably possesses the same eerie atmosphere and languorous beauty that we associate with his movies. I'll also single out Wolfgang Reichmann's performance as Meinhard as being particularly good. All in all, I give this film 4 stars, but I recommend that movie buffs new to the world of Herzog start with his collaborations with Kinski (which are available in a nice boxset from Anchor Bay) and then work backwards to "Signs of Life."

I've deducted one star from my rating, however, because of New Yorker Video's rather problematic DVD. On the surface, it's a very appealing release: the print they used is beautiful and nearly flawless, and they include a director's commentary with Herzog himself, who is always interesting to listen to. But for some reason, New Yorker has NOT given this film a progressive transfer -- in other words, instead of capturing each individual frame of the film (24 per second), they've simply transferred it all at once (rather like a videotape). To be honest, it's about as good a non-progressive transfer as you can get, and people with regular tube TVs probably won't notice any problems. But for those with projectors and high-resolution screens (heck, even if you toss it into your PC and watch it on your monitor!), you're going to notice a blurriness during horizontal movement that people call "combing." In my opinion, non-progressive transfers are simply unacceptable in 2005, especially since many of us will soon be upgrading to higher resolution TVs. I simply don't understand why New Yorker continue to go the non-progressive route, but I'm pretty sure this will be the last New Yorker DVD I buy until they get their act together.

Finally, I also wish that this DVD had included the two short films that Herzog mentions in his commentary as tying in thematically or stylistically with "Signs of Life": "Last Words" and "The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz." I haven't seen either, but based on the commentary, they sound relevant. Along with the non-progressive transfer, their absence represent exactly why companies like New Yorker fall so short of the standards set by Criterion, despite making such interesting and worthwhile films available.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Werner Herzog's Best Films, July 30, 2003

By	"youngvelvet" (Calgary, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Signs of Life [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Signs of Life is Werner Herzog's very first feature film and also one of his best. The script may have even inspired Stephen King's novel The Shining. In Signs of Life we have an injured soldier and his wife working as the caretakers of a military fortress on a Greek island. The soldier eventually goes mad with boredom and tries to kill his wife and everyone else.

Werner Herzog wrote the script himself in 1964 and made the film in 1967 with only $20,000 at age twenty-five. Herzog's script is amazing and the actors all perform flawlessly. Signs of Life has Herzog's distinctive slow pace which may seem like torture to the average viewer who's been forced-fed a steady diet of fast food images. This masterpiece has great photography and a great use of original Greek music. This film reminds me of Roman Polanski's first feature film Knife in the Water (1962).

...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Herzog's Best!!, May 19, 2003

By	John Q. Rowland (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Signs of Life [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an unbelievably beautiful and poetic film! Great music and cinematography, and a fascinating meditation on the human condition. A wonderful debut by Herzog, an absolute must for fans! In my opinion this is among his best, along with Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, and Kaspar Hauser. A DVD release of this is desparately needed!