The RW Fassbinder Collection - 1969-1972 (Commemorative Edition) (Box Set DVD, 1969-1972

When a film maker is studied and venerated by other film makers, whether in gushing, cultish adulation or in sedate, reverential canonization, the result is almost inevitably imitation. Fassbinder is a unique phenomenon in that his work is studied, scrutinised, at times inordinately worshipped, yet there are no faux Fassbinders. This echoes a phenomenon that marked Fassbinder's early gangster and killer films which make up the bulk of this collection: They are infused with the model genre's spirit and sensibilities, but they don't copy its look, style or form. The American gangster films were already there, no need to mimic them.

Among the other films in this extraordinary collection, Niklashauser Journey is a particular treasure in that it was made for TV, and Fassbinder's work for the tube is not in wide circulation. In this retelling in modern dress of a 15th century uprising, a rabble-rouser preaching the gospel of social justice is himself the unwitting dupe of a mysterious "Black Monk" (Fassbinder in his black leather jacket). Beware of a Holy Whore investigates the power dynamics inherent in a particular form of prostitution: filmmaking. Fassbinder again takes responsibility by playing the manipulative production manager who knows just how to keep a doomed project going.

Believe it or not, The Merchant of Four Seasons is a period picture. When there's full employment and opportunity just around the corner, mightn't even a fruit peddler with his handcart partake of the economic boom? Set in the 50s, it marks the beginning of Fassbinder's melodrama period following his discovery of Douglas Sirk. The final film in this box is the first of his Upper Middle Class dramas, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. This high melodrama going full tilt was one of Fassbinder's greatest international successes. With its five acts all taking place in the same room, it is claustrophobic in the extreme and absolutely riveting. The next logical step to take is to progress further into Fassbinder's melodramas, past the dividing line between this box and its companion piece, The RW Fassbinder Collection (1973-1982)

Christoph Michel on 8th October 2007
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