Syberberg, Not Schlondorff

[ckaratnytsky at nypl.org]

Steely's inquiring mind wants to know:

>Do you--or anyone else--know if either of these
>films [Parsifal/Our Hitler] are available on videotape? 


     I just checked the '96 Video Sourcebook and the new Kim's Video 
     Catalog and didn't find either.  Both films have been shown here in 
     NYC in the mid/late '70's at places like Film Forum and Goethe House 
     (via Anthology Film Archives) so it looks like there are prints 
     around, but no video.  Our clip file for Syberberg has a few 
     interesting articles in it:  One of them, by Gitta Sereny in the 
     Saturday Review, names Syberberg "Germany's Most Feared Film-maker."  
     The other, a fairly recent piece by John Rockwell in the NYT (on the 
     occasion of a Syberberg retrospective at the '92 Edinburgh Festival) 
     calls the Parsifal "a profoundly strange endeavor."  I am unfamiliar 
     with Syberberg's work and am now totally intrigued.
     
     Rockwell calls Syberberg "elusive" and later says that "up to a point 
     [the director] seems to enjoy his isolation, his self-image as a 
     prophet who proclaims truths society has tabooed."  Seems like he may 
     have something in common with someone we know...
     
     Chris