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UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD (aka BIS ANS ENDE DER WELT) is a favorite of mine I rented on VHS back in the early 1990s in a
160 minutes theatrical cut which director Wim Wenders refers to as the reader's digest version of his movie. He took care
to make a copy of his original cut and he cut the theatrical cut from the movie. Then he spent additional time to craft his
full director's cut which he started showing in various theaters years later and the full director's cut became a movie I
wanted to buy on DVD and later on blu-ray for years and years. I missed the showing of the director's cut on TCM (back in
2016) where I only learned it aired after the fact. I went to watch it on the TCM app and never got that far into it and
it was soon gone from the TCM app. Finally, the Criterion Collection has released the full 287 minute cut to DVD and blu-ray
in the USA in December 2019.
The director's cut is like discovering UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD for the first time again with an additional 127 minutes
I have never seen and a narration that was mostly missing from the movie as main character of Eugene (Sam Neill) takes center
stage again where the theatrical cut mostly focused on his ex-girlfriend Claire (Solvieg Dommartin) and the man she follows
around the world she first knows as Samuel Farber (William Hurt) and later learns his real name is Trevor McPhee. Claire
crosses paths with a pair of bank robbers who want her to smuggle their bank loot to Paris and she is soon thrust again into
the life of her ex-boyfriend Eugene who also follows her around the world with the help of a private detective, Phillip Winter
(Rudiger Vogler), who is also on the trail of Samule farber for several clients including Claire. The movie is split into
two parts on two blu-ray discs where the first part is an external road movie where the second part is an internal journey
when everyone ends up in the Australian Outback with Trevor reuniting with his father Henry Farber (Max Von Sydow). Henry
Farber has his scientific quest of wanting transmit images into the head of his blind wife Edith (Jeanne Moreau). The road
trip plays like a thriller/ love story as everyone waits for the apocalypse to happen as a rogue nuclear satellite may fall
from orbit at any time. When I first saw the theatrical cut, it was taking place in the near future of 1999 where Europe and
Tokyo are in some type of BLADE RUNNER/ Phillip K. Dick type world where the isolation of the Australian Outback seems less
desperate and much less chaotic.
This alternate version of 1999 did predict some things like car GPS, people talking via video on their phones, search
engines to track people (none as amusing as Bounty Bear though), and transmitting images into the brains of the blind. So
Wim Wenders does get some things right with UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD and some things wrong while providing a commentary
of people being addicted to images like so many are with the internet on their phones.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
DISC ONE-
Introduction by Wim Wenders on the movie
TILL THE END OF THE WORLD- Interview with Wim Wednders about the movie's soundtrack and he was surprised that he got 16
out of 18 musicians he wanted in the movie agreed to do a song for the movie (and how the director's cut restores how the
songs relate to the movie's scenes)
Conversation between Wim Wenders and musician David Byrne
Around thirty minutes of alternate and deleted scenes
DISC TWO-
2001 Interview with Wim Wenders about the movie's themes, how long it took it to write the movie and put it together,
and how his blind aunt inspired the ideas for the story
WIM WENDERS IN TOKYO- an hour long Japanese Behind-the-Scenes program from 1991 on the movie
UP-DOWN UNDER ROMA- a 1993 interview with Wim Wenders on his experiences in Australia
THE SONG- a short film from 1991 by Uli M Schueppel detailing the recording of (I'll Love You) Until the End of the World
by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
The original US theatrical trailer in 1.33:1
Also included in this two disc set is a booklet with essays on the movie and its soundtrack
FINAL ANALYSIS: UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD is one of the movies I wanted to see on blu-ray for years and the director's
cut was the holy grail that finally sees release. It is like discovering the movie again for the first time. The only minor
complaint is not seeing the theatrical cut as an extra, but regardless of its exclusion this is one of the best movies to
own on blu-ray. Wim Wenders' grand opus is one that you should discover if you haven't seen it and only heard the soundtrack.
The extras are great especially the 30 minutes of deleted scenes. Also I recommend you check out the article and review
written by the CineSavant.
This blu-ray review is (c)12-31-2019 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to
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