Karl May Collection 3: Winnetou Rides Again (1963 - 1965)

3 film, 3 disc collection of German Karl May Westerns, based on a series of Old West novels. Ufa R0 German boxset.

The Films - links to individual film reviews where available.

Winnetou I (1963)

Winnetou II (1964)

Winnetou III (1965)

In Brief:

Anyone famous in it?	American actor Lex Barker and French actor Pierre Brice play the lead roles. Look out for euro-cult stars Klaus Kinski, Mario Adorf and Terence Hill
Who is it for?	This trio of films would make a great starting place for newcomers to the Karl May Westerns - with some epic adventure and western sequences, they are enjoyable and distinctive films. Fans of the smaller, classic Western style films will probably enjoy the Surehand Collection more.

The DVDs

Visuals	All films are in Original Aspect Ratio (2.35:1) and Anamorphically Enhanced. The picture quality is good, ranges from light to heavy grain throughout, and some print damage. Always Watchable.
Audio	Parts I and II have German and English language audio, part III has just German audio. Generally sounds strong.
Subtitles	German HOH English (this track translates the English soundtrack, so there are some discrepancies when watching the German as the translations are different) - only in parts I and II.
Extras	All the discs include a collection of trailers. Disc 3 also includes: Original trailers for all three films (2 in German for each, plus an English language trailer for part II) 2 Interviews/documentary about the three films (22 and 15 minutes) including interviews with Harald Reinl. In German only. 4 contemporary newsreels/television reports about the films, including some interesting behind-the-scenes footage. With German audio only, but plenty to look at. (total 5 minutes). Interactive film quiz (?) in German only. Photo galleries for all three films - manual scrolling. EASTER EGG: Shots of the film restoration process and what appears to be footage from the original camera negative from the filming of Winnetou II. The boxset also includes a 20 page booklet - all German, but with some interesting illustrations.
Packing	Digi-pack in cardboard sleeve - the box is patterned and textured in the style of an old hardback book.
Region	Region 0 - PAL
Other regions?	There are other German DVDs of these films but without English language options.
Cuts?	All films are believed to be fully uncut including scenes cut for US market. Print language is German.

Summary

This boxset contains the three Winnetou films from Rialto's series of Karl May Westerns - based relatively accurately on Karl May's books, they are generally considered to the be the best three films in the entire series.

Unfortunately, although the boxset contains lovely looking prints of all three films, only the first two have English options, with part 3 in German only. The interesting looking extras are similarly unsubtitled. The set is worth getting as there are no proper English language versions of the films out yet.

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All text in this review written by Timothy Young - November 2006.
Text from this review not to be used without authorization.

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