Until the End of the World DC - now out in Italy. Reviews?? (1 Viewer)

[Dan Clark]

A 4-DVD set of Until the End of the World is now out in Italy. This is the full director's cut, presented in three parts. Was wondering if anyone was going to order this and could post a review?

Cheers!
Dan

 

[Ted Kontos]

Dan,

I just ordered it from dvdland.it and would be glad to fill you in when I get it (the website indicates a 3/22 release, even though dvd.it shows it as being available). I have found dvdland.it to be much cheaper on shipping, so I use them for my DVDs italiani.

Ted

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

The rights are owned by Warner in the US, right? It would maybe be worth asking about this title when the Warner Chat comes up. The Italian edition has Italian text:

It would also be great to see Kings of the Road on DVD - does anyone know if a DVD release is planned?

 

[Will_B]

www.wim-wenders.com message area discussion (written by a fan, so take it for what it is worth):

"UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD was to be released spring 2004 in the US by Anchor Bay, in the full length directors cut. However since that announcement, Anchor Bay has been going through some financial problems and was sold to another company. No word yet on if the DVD release is still in the works or what..."

Followed by:

"Anchor Bay Entertainment was hosting a panel discussion on horror movies at a Horror Movie Convention I was at over Halloween (2003) weekend. I asked about UTEOTW. The FULL (5 hr) version with lots of tasty extras is scheduled to come out in Spring of 2004. If this is common knowledge, forgive the post, but I haven't seen anything mentioned. (then again, I didn't look too hard.)

Cheers."

 

[Will_B]

If I recall what Wenders' site reported several years ago, one needs to be careful or aware that many of his films were being prepared in two versions - with his commentary tracks spoken in German, or with his commentary tracks spoken in English. Which does Italy have, I wonder.

 

[David_Blackwell]

I want to see the director's version of this movie make it to DVD in the US. I hope it sees release soon.

Be Seeing You,
David Blackwell

 

[Jon Martin]

Anchor Bay did indeed announce this last fall for a Spring 2004 release in the US.

Does anyone know what is going on with them? Did the sale go through? Haven't heard a word since that announcement. They only have 10 future titles in the upcoming releases section of their site as well.

I just checked the site and they have a rerelease of "The Wim Wenders Collection" (the previously released AMERICAN FRIEND, LIGHTNING OVER WATER and NOTEBOOK ON CITIES AND CLOTHES) for release on 4/6/04, but no news on UNTIL. They don't even have the press release announcing it anymore.

 

[Dan Clark]

There are menu screenshots and set contents list of the Italian set at http://theacf.com/endworld/

 

[Will_B]

Paging Ted Kontos, come in Ted Kontos. What's the word? Do the lack of English subs in a few scenes detract from the film? Worth getting?

 

[Jon Martin]

I contacted Anchor Bay about the R1 version. They said that there are rights issues and the disc isn't in the works for this Spring anymore.

I'd pick up the Italian disc, but how do you order from that site if you don't speak Italian?

 

[Dan Clark]

Looks like scarecrow.com (my favorite video store right down the street) is selling the Italian (PAL) version for $45. That is slightly more than dvd.it (about $41 US), but ground shipping from Scarecrow is only $4 so I think you'll end up ahead in the end. Just FYI. Cheers! Dan

 

[Will_B]

Sold! Awesome. Thanks for the tip to the Scarecrow DVD site.

 

[Ted Kontos]

Will_B,

Ted Kontos back on the air....
I just received my copy about a week ago and have not had a chance to watch it yet (busy week, big time investment). I did sample the discs quickly and found the video/audio quality to be excellent. Did some skipping around chapter-wise but couldn't find any of the non-subtitled sections. I do plan to watch it this week, but my initial impression is very favorable. Since this movie is really based on atmosphere, visuals, music and not necessarily dialogue-driven, I honestly don't expect the foreign language segments to pose a major problem. I am somewhat fluent in Italian, however, so if worse comes to worse, I'll turn the Italian subs on...

More to come....

Ted K.

 

[Jon Martin]

Thanks Dan!!! Just placed an order with them.

According to Scarecrow, it looks like the extras are in English. I've seen the 3 hour Japanese laserdisc version and only a few scenes are in German and need subtitles. Nothing major.

I haven't seen the 5 hour version but from what I've heard, most of the additions are to the Australian segment, which is in English.

 

[Will_B]

Thanks Ted, and just an FYI to all, Scarecrow has sold out of their few copies and so my order, any maybe yours, are "backorders" - and they're five bucks higher than advertised due to the way the exchange rate went. So, people fluent in Italian may want to order direct from Italy, and nonfluentarians-of-Italian should order from Scarecrow and expect a bit of a delay...

 

[Ted Kontos]

Will_B and others:
Just to clear up an apparent misconception here, one does not need to be too fluent in Italian to order from an Italian site. I order primarily from dvdland.it, which contains an option for English display of the site. Everything is clear, and all payment, etc. is done in English. Even though many people order from dvd.it, I find that their shipping is rather high compared to dvdland.it, whose service I have been happy with (I order many Italian movies, BTW). They're a little slow, but solid. There are a few Italian terms you need to be familiar with in the movie summary page, however. "Sottotitoli" means subtitles. If you want English subs, make sure you see "Inglese" there. If anyone wants to get into the wonderful world of Italian cinema and needs any pointers, please PM or email me for more info.

Ted K

 

[Jon Martin]

I also got the backorder and $5 increase notice. I'll stick with them though. It shouldn't be too long.

 

[Mark_Wilson]

http://www.dvd.it/ has an english page. top right of their home page.