Summary: It is 1850 in the beautiful, perfectly-kept town of Wismar. Jonathan Harker is about to leave on a long journey over the Carpathian Mountains to finalize real estate arrangements with a wealthy nobleman. His wife, Lucy, begs him hot to go and is troubled by a strong premonition of danger. Despite her warnings, Jonathan arrives four weeks later at a large, gloomy castle. Out of the mist appears a pale, wraith-like figure with a shaven head and deep-sunken eyes who identifies himself as Count Dracula. The events that transpire slowly convince Harker that he is in the midst of a vampyre. What he doesn't know, however, is the magnitude of danger he, his wife and his town are about to experience as victims of the Nosferatu.
Video Librarian Reviews
Von Sternberg and Dietrich. Hitchcock and Stewart. Ford and Wayne. Scorsese and De Niro. To this list of legendary director-actor collaborations must be added Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. This magnificent six-disc DVD boxed set contains the five (mostly) brilliant films they made together, as well as an illuminating documentary that charts their tempestuous (to say the least) professional and personal relationship. As the accompanying booklet points out, "these two warriors of German cinema would challenge, inspire, and torture each other into creating some of the most enduring and unique experiences of modern film." Included are such masterpieces as the visually stunning conquistador epic Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1973), the production-problem-plagued Fitzcarraldo (1982) and the atmospheric remake of F.W. Murnau's silent classic Nosferatu (1979), as well as Herzog's moving adaptation of Georg Büchner's play Woyzeck (1979), and their final film together, the lesser-known Cobra Verde (1987), based on the life of a 19th century Brazilian bandit. The award-winning documentary, My Best Fiend (2000) is part tribute and part exorcism. Herzog praises Kinski as a "monumental, epochal actor," but adds that he was also "impulsive, unpredictable, half mad." One revealing anecdote corrects a rumor that Herzog directed Kinski while armed with a loaded rifle. Not true, Herzog insists. What happened, he claims, was that Kinski once threatened to leave the set, and Herzog threatened to shoot him with a rifle loaded with nine bullets; eight for Kinski and the ninth for himself. An instant library of world cinema masterworks, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (K. Lee Benson) Copyright 2003 Video Librarian Reviews
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