Shout! Factory
Werner Herzog is no stranger to film fans, but it’s possible that Fandor is. If like me you’re a fan of the former yet blindly unaware of the latter then this news may be very welcome indeed.
Fandor is a streaming video service featuring feature films and shorts from all around the world, and while their catalog includes just about every genre the titles are far from the typical ones available on Netflix or at your local Redbox. The site’s tagline is “All for film,” and it’s clear immediately that they truly do love cinema thanks not only to the availability of obscure titles but also in the clean simplicity of the layout. The service costs $10/month or $90/year, but you can get a free two week trial to check things out and see if it’s for you. I’m neck-deep in the site now and will have a proper review of the service in the weeks to come.
Fandor’s appreciation and love for quality, lesser known titles makes it a perfect fit for their recent acquisition of sixteen Herzog films. He’s been making movies since the early ’60s, but he’s become a bit more ubiquitous these days thanks to higher profile documentaries, more frequent media appearances and his villainous appearance in Jack Reacher. The films being released on Fandor dig deep into his filmography with a mix of narrative and documentary films both well known and far more obscure. Two of the titles (Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo) are already available while the rest roll onto the site one per week through July.
Keep reading for the complete list of Herzog films hitting Fandor through the summer.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Helena Rojo, Del Negro, Peter Berling
Spanish conquistadores disappear into the jungle without a trace while searching for the legendary El Dorado.
Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984) – Available 7/8
Directed by Werner Herzog and Denis Reichle
A documentary film about child soldiers tragically caught up in the Miskito Indian resistance of Nicaragua.
Cobra Verde (1987) – Available 5/13
Starring: Klaus Kinski, King Ampaw, José Lewgoy, Salvatore Basile, Peter Berling
Based on the best-selling novel “The Viceroy of Ouidah” by Bruce Chatwin, Cobra Verde tells the fascinating story of Francisco Manoel da Silva.
Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970) – Available 7/22
Starring: Helmut Döring, Gerd Gickel, Erna Gschwendtner
Werner Herzog’s bleak vision of rebellion and the resulting mayhem in an institution.
Fata Morgana (1970) – Available 6/3
Fata Morgana (“Mirage”) is a science-fiction elegy of dead or demented colonialism in the Sahara.
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, José Lewgoy, Peter Berling
An opera aficionado’s determination to build an opera house in Peru leads to an ambitious effort to pull a boat over a mountain.
The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974) – Available 6/10
Starring: Bruno S., Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira
A mysterious foundling emerges from a dark cellar where he has spent his youth and, as if he had arrived from another planet, he has no concept of this world. Based on a true story.
Heart of Glass (1976) – Available 7/1
Starring: Josef Bierbichler, Stefan Güttler, Clemens Scheitz, Volker Prechtel
A figure has apocalyptic visions and foresees destruction and collective madness.
Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) – Available 6/17
Featuring: Fini Straubinger
The heroine of this documentary is a blind and deaf woman whose job is to help others similarly afflicted.
Lessons of Darkness (1992) – Available 5/20
An apocalyptic vision of the oil well fires in Kuwait after the Gulf War as a whole world burst into flames.
Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) – Available 7/15
A documentary about the extraordinary capture and escape of the German/U.S. pilot Dieter Dengler in Laos.
My Best Fiend (1999) – Available 4/22
A film about the love/hate relationship between Werner Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski.
Nosferatu, the Vampyre (1978) – Available 4/29
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani
An homage to F.W. Murnau’s silent classic, this richly-drawn version of the Dracula tale is one of Herzog’s most beautiful and haunting films.
Stroszek (1976) – Available 5/27
Starring: Bruno S., Eva Mattes, Burkhard Driest, Prinz von Homburg
The story of a man for whom there is no place in society and his attempts to find freedom and fortune in America.
Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) – Available 6/24
Starring: Bruce Spence, Wandjuk Marika, Roy Marika, Ray Barrett, Norman Keye
In a desolate stretch of earth somewhere in the heart of Australia, a group of tribal Aborigines struggle to defend a sacred site against the bulldozers of a mining company.
Woyzeck (1979) – Available 5/6
Starring: Klaus Kinski, Eva Mattes
The powerful story of the poor soldier, Woyzeck, who is driven to madness and murder by the social conditions in which he lives. Based on the stage play by Georg Büchner.
All sixteen of the films are also heading to Blu-ray this summer from Shout! Factory in a box set limited to 5000 copies. Fifteen of the movies are making their Blu-ray debut, and the set also features a booklet loaded with photos and film synopses. The set can be pre-ordered from Shout! Factory’s website, and folks who do so directly from them will get their set three weeks early.
Head on over to Fandor to start watching Herzog’s films, odd educational shorts about teeth and strangers, old-school action flicks like Death Force, horror films like Dario Argento’s Inferno and the creepy Toad Road, international sex romps and more.
