Until the End of the World

"The cut features two sets of Italian subtitles (not sure currently what the difference is). There are no English subs (burned-in or not) for the few non-English scenes in the movie. The extras consist of:

* 10 minute monologue (in English) by Wim Wenders as he is driven around in Australia
* 40-minute interview (in English) on the making of the Director's Cut
* 30-minute montage of cut scenes and out-takes
* photo gallery

This is a PAL format DVD, so you will need a multi-format player to view it in non-Europe locales. It likely runs slightly shorter than the film version due to typical PAL transfer speed-up (motion picture film, shot at 24fps, is played back at 25fps to match PAL video standard). Also, no commentary track in included, although initial details suggested there would be one.

I have no definitive word on when the US version might be released. There is a rumor that Anchor Bay is transitioning ownership, and that may impact the US release date which was rumored for mid-2004."


The Travesty Is...   March 20, 2004
Nickle Nip (Sioux City, IA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

...Wim has yet to release a DVD version of this Wenderfully-sensitive sci-fi film. He's been threatening to press it to disk for years. Still, we are left with just the VHS version. It's a pity that the filmmaker is taking so long on his much-anticipated "director's cut." Wim, drown yourself in coffee and get on the stick, we're waiting!


Hard to Get Until the End of the Movie   March 11, 2004
gonn1000 (Portugal)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This futuristic, post-apocalyptic thriller/ comedy/ romance tries to deliver some clever ideas about the power of dreams, memory and its manipulation and control. One should always praise a film that dares to raise thought-provoking questions, yet in this case I can`t help but give it one star. Despite the gripping premise, this movie is too long, unfocused, slow and disjointed to deserve a higher rating. Director Wim Wenders has an interesting concept, still he seems uncomfortable with the material here and the result is a failed attempt. The plot is contrived at best, the characters` motivations and attitudes don`t make much sense and the story truly is a test to one`s patiente and good-will. Ok, so the soundtrack is alright and the directing is competent, but that`s it. Maybe a remake could give a better life to this concept, since this effort is pretentious, incredibly boring and seems unfinishable. It just drags endlessly.
One to skip.


music rights must be the problem...   February 7, 2004
JunkyardMessiah (Los Angeles, CA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

That has to be the reason this wonderful wonderful film has not been released on DVD. The soundtrack is mesmerizing, haunting, and still one of my favorite albums of all time. But it must be almost impossible to get the rights to use all that music...U2, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Elvis Costello etc.

As for the film itself, I am in love with it. Sweeping, cinematic, epic, unconventional, dead romantic, chilling. It's a long long film, but I wish it were longer. Even Solveig's stiff acting style grew on me by the middle of the movie, and by the end of it I *was* Clare. This is the LAST VHS TAPE I am still holding onto, since all my other favorites have come out on DVD...and its starting to look a little worn :( PLEEEEASE RELEASE THIS TITLE ON DVD!!!!!!!


Dreamscapes   January 13, 2004
R Jess (Limerick, Ireland.)
I can understand why some would want to see the full 5 hour version, for in this 2 and a half hour cut, you get the feeling that there's a whole story in the background that we should have been clued in on. Such is the need for a narrator I presume. Although I'm sure the uncut version would slow things down a bit and we would lose some of those logic-defying jump cuts that make this shorter cut so unintentionally unusual.

A present culture's vision of the future says more about it's present than it does about it's future. But this film takes it one step further by looking 10 years into the future and making it look like the 10 years previous. For even though it was set in the year 2000, it was made in 1991 and everybody in it looks like they were at a New Year's Eve party in 1982.

The premise of the film is interesting, Wim Wenders has often talked about the sociological aspects of his art-form and the West's fascination with images. Who wouldn't be curious to see their own dreams up on screen? This idea is taken to it's predictable extreme in the Max Von Sydow character who wishes to see the only remaining images that the eye cannot. For the Aboriginies who work with him, this is one step too far. In our eyes the cinematic stereotype of the megalomaniac mad scientist is for them just another over-inquisitive Westerner working to take all the mystery and wonder out of life. This abuse of images becomes a disease for the remaining dream specimens, a disease which is notably cured by reading.