Rainer Werner Fassbinder Commemorative Collection Volume 1 - 1969-1972 [DVD]

The release of the vast Fassbinder catalogue on dvd seems a dream come true - co-ordinated box sets featuring (nearly) all the director's films in chronological order, with all the relevant documentaries & shorts. Fassbinder was so prolific that, if you are a big fan, box sets are the only affordable, practical & sensible way to go, especially given the large discounts you regularly find on boxes.
So what are the options?
Arrow box set RWF #1 "69-72" features the first 9 mostly experimental slow minimalist/pastiche films.
Arrow box set RWF #2 "73-82" features 8 films from Fassbinder's more polished, focused and successful mid 1970s period.
Artificial Eye box set #1 has 3 films plus a full-length documentary (note: NOT the actual film I Only Want You to Love Me).
Artificial Eye box set #2 has 4 films (looks a rather daunting selection!). As far as I can tell these Artificial Eye box sets are not really themed, but kind of round up films from RWF's late period (& have lots of extras).
The Second Sight box set presents Fassbinder's magnum opus Berlin Alexanderplatz on 6 discs.
There are no duplications across any of these releases (but there are still a few films missing).
I went for Arrow box set #1 "69-72" in the Amazon half-price pre-order sale because I like the early stuff best. This box is basic - there is no booklet & apart from trailers not many extras other than those on the Merchant & Petra Von Kant discs, but generally the packaging & presentation is fine & all the films have been restored by the RWF Foundation (though the original prints are often quite low-budget & rough). The early stuff may be derivative of Godard & French new wave but Fassbinder's sensibility is so different from his cinematic influences that the films now look utterly original & unique. Most of the films in box #1 are black comedies, droll rather than grim - the noir thriller parodies like Love is Colder than Death, Gods of Plague & American Soldier (uncut version) are "successful" whereas some of the other films might, individually, be "failures", but over 9 discs each film seems primarily like an episode in the intense psychodrama unfolding within the Fassbinder troupe of actors. All the films are pretty uncompromising & probably not for the uninitiated, but the set ends strongly with Beware the Holy Whore (a distant precursor of Almodovar?) and the first real "hits" - Merchant of Four Seasons & Petra Von Kant (the definitive Fassbinder film?) Overall, a fascinating if challenging collection. And addictive. I already need another box set...

Contains:

LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH
16:9, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles

KATZELMACHER
4:3, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles
Trailer

GODS OF THE PLAGUE
4:3, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles
Trailer

THE AMERICAN SOLDIER
4:3, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles

THE NIKLASHAUSEN JOURNEY
4:3, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles

RIO DAS MORTES
4:3, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles

BEWARE OF THE HOLY WHORE
4:3, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles
Trailer

THE MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS
4:3, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles
Women of Fassbinder - The Women of Rainer Werner Fassbinder (58:40mins)
Life, Love & Celluloid - A Journey and a Film Retrospective (1:29:35)

THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT
4:3, 2.0 audio with optional English subtitles
End of the Commune (47:17mins)
Harry Baer Interview (40:53mins)

Having never come across any of the movies on this boxset before, this was a bit of risk purchase. It actually took me a couple of months to work up to starting these. Having done so I am transfixed. Individually some of these movies come across as better than others, but really in my view they are best viewed as part of a gradual unfolding and refining of Fassbinder's vision, especially as the same ensemble of actors run through many of the films on here. On the face of it, the film sets are very basic (and I mean very basic....often just a table and chair in a bare room) and the films themselves often seem to be made up of a series of cut up 'staged' set pieces shot in a pseudo documentary style. Doesn't sound too promising on the face of it, but I found these pieces absolutely fascinating, so much so that I ended up setting myself up to watch them 1 per day until I got through them. Themes of poverty and aspiration as well as sexual and racial politics run through the films but these are not merely po-faced intellectual exercises. Instead I found them thoroughly modern, compelling, especially visually, and a great introduction to a truly great film-maker... now, for box set 2!