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The Great Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner/How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck/La Soufriere
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Written and Directed by Werner Herzog West Germany 1975, 1976, 1977 / Documentary / Biography / 45+44+31 min / Color / Monaural / 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / NTSC / In German with English Subtitles |
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| Three superb short documentaries from
the gifted German filmmaker Werner Herzog come together on this DVD
release. Werner Herzog Triple Feature includes the films Die Grosse
Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner (aka The Great Ecstasy of the Woodcarver
Steiner), a deeply personal profile of a sculptor who is also a world-class
ski-jumper; How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck, a witty look at
the 1976 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship competition as men
compete to be named the world's leading fast-talker; and La Soufriere,
in which Herzog and his crew visit a village in Guadeloupe which has
been evacuated in anticipation of a massive volcano explosion, and
encounter three men who have refused to leave. All three movies have
been transferred to disc in their original full-frame aspect ratio
of 1.33:1, and while the source materials show occasional signs of
age, the transfers are rich and colorful, and capture the look of
the 16 mm originals quite well. The audio for all three movies has
been mastered in Dolby Digital Stereo in the original mono mixes,
and the sound quality is excellent. Die Grosse Ekstase des Bildschnitzers
Steiner is in German with optional English subtitles, How Much Wood
Would a Woodchuck Chuck is in English, and La Soufriere is narrated
in English by Herzog. This disc includes no bonus materials beyond
trailers for other New Yorker Video releases, but given the dwindling
number of showcases for important short films, the presence of these
titles on DVD is cause for celebration, and fans of Werner Herzog's
elliptical and obsessive world view will want to have this in their
collection
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