Director’s Cut
Compiled by Brent Aliverti (go)
Last updated 19 April 2004

Hello and welcome to this page. I created this page to track progress on any possible "Director's Cut" release of Wim Wenders' film, "Until the End of the World" (aka "Bis ans Ende der Welt"). I saw UTEOTW twice in the theaters when it was released in 1991 and immediately connected with it. The visuals, music and epic feel of the movie really drew me in and stayed with me long after I left the theater. I have since seen it on video several times, purchasing the US cut on laserdisc and taping the extended Japanese laserdisc version. But the holy grail will be a DVD release containing the "trilogy version" director's cut that I was fortunate enough to see in 1996 and which has been shown only a handful of times since.

I am delighted to receive any and all information regarding the director's cut, and the state of things regarding a DVD release, and will gladly credit any contributions to the site. Thanks!

Latest News

06 March 2004: A big thanks to JK Pepper. We now have menu screens from the recently released Italian 3-DVD set of Until the End of the world. Without further ado:

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. More news as I hear it. Thanks JK and also to Ryan for supplying additional info!

[Note: I previously reported this to be a 4-DVD set, with the extras appearing on their own disc. In fact, it is a 3-DVD set and the extras are on Disc 3.]

06 February 2004: Things DO seem to be looking up for an upcoming release of the Director's Cut. It has recently appeared on an Italian DVD site, so hopefully a US release will not be too far behind. Anchor Bay has listed The Wim Wender's Collection with an April 6 2004 release date, but it is not clear what specific film(s) are included. They have already released three films under that banner, including "The American Friend", "A Notebook on Clothes and Cities", and "Lightning over Water". More info when I have it. Thanks to all who have written in.

18 December 2003: Sorry for not updating the page for a year. There just hasn't been any reliable information to report. But it DOES appear that Until the End of the World (DC) will be released by Anchor Bay in Spring of 2004, according to DVD Future, though I can find no corresponding mention on the Anchor Bay site itself. Still, according to someone at the Wim Wender's forum, representatives of Anchor Bay participated in a panel discussion in Halloween 2003 and mentioned the same time frame. The release will be the full 4 hour, 40 minute version, plus commentary and other extras. The wait will soon be over. :-) Happy holidays.

04 October 2002: In the latest issue of News Reel, Wim Wenders reveals some thoughts about his career as a filmaker and thoughts on specific films. His comments on Until the End of the World follow...

WW: The Reader's Digest version I was forced to release at the time would have broken my heart if I had left it at that. I knew that. And I felt I owed it to my actors, to my crew and to the musicians who had worked on that fabulous score, to finish the real work we had done. It had epic proportions, that was for sure. Together with my editor, Peter Przygodda, we added another full year after the delivery of the commercial version at the time, at our own expense, and finished what I considered "the real film." Of five hours. Which exists since then and which hopefully will see not only the light of day in the form of DVD releases, but also a few theatrical screenings here or there. I have shown it four or five times already, and EVERYBODY who saw it had the same reaction. "Wow! Now we get it. That's a whole different ballgame!" At the time we had to condense the film so much that all the fun had gone out of it. The "message" had become very heavy, if not to say heavy-handed. The very narrator had become more or less a side character, for instance.

02 June 2002: The May 2002 issue of Wim Wenders' News Reel contains a story on the restoration/transfer process Mr. Wenders has ordered for many of his films, including UTEOTW. Munich-based Scanwerk is handling the process. Read the article for more information on their techniques.

10 December 2001: Tim Ebling wrote me today to mention that there has been a status change on the official Wim Wenders DVD Release Info page. On December 1, status for "Until The End of The World" was changed to "In Preparation (Director's Cut)". Although there is still no firm information on when it will be released, I think this is a great sign that the Director's Cut is indeed forthcoming on CD.

23 July 2001: Tim Sniffin tipped me off today on the latest developments regarding DVD releases of many of Wim Wenders films. As reported at DVD Review and discussed on the Wender's Forum, Anchor Bay Entertainment has signed an exclusive deal to release several Wenders fims including Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire, Buena Vista Social Club and Million Dollar Hotel. The latter two, of course, are already released by other studios, but the Anchor Bay versions would likely include additional content. Paris, Texas is reportedly already in production, so it could potentially be released later this year, but that is pure speculation.

Conspicuously absent from the list of mentioned films is the one most topical to this site. Presumably, Anchor Bay will be releasing Until the End of the World Director's Cut once all legal details are ironed out. Anchor Bay is quite adept at releasing collector's editions for niche films. Hopefully UTEOTW will get the treatment it truly deserves. Something akin to what Anchor Bay has done with The Wicker Man would be nice.

13 June 2001: There is a new section of the official Wim Wender's site dedicated to DVD Release Info. Unfortunately, there is no news there regarding UTEOTW, but it's a good resource for status info on all of Mr. Wenders' films.

24 August 2000: Greetings. I have added a link to Wim Wenders - The Official Site. While there is not a lot of new info on a release of the Director's Cut, reading the Forum posts seems to indicate that there is definitely work being done on a DVD release of the film.

20 June 2000: No new word on "Until the End of the World" DC release, but DVD fans may be interested to know that, acording to The Digital Bits, MGM plans to release "Wings of Desire" on DVD in 2001. Interestingly, the sequel "Far Away, So Close" which is controlled by Columbia TriStar, will precede the original. It is scheduled for a DVD release on September 12 of this year.

27 April 2000: J. Pepper wrote in to make sure I had seen the following info posted on the DVD File website:

"Bryant Frazer, the webmaster for Deep Focus, met Wim Wenders recently (April 2000) in Las Vegas. Here is what he wrote on alt.video.dvd:

"I don't know about WINGS, but Wenders says the long version of UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD is coming to DVD. That's got to be a good sign for the rest of his catalog. I asked Wenders about it at the National Association of Broadcasters show last week. (He was there to put in a good word for the new 24p cameras from Sony.) My question was, 'Are you still showing the long version of UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD occasionally?' And his answer, delivered with a broad smile, was 'No, but it is coming out on DVD.'

"I didn't press him on the specifics, but we were in Las Vegas, so I assumed he meant a Region 1 DVD." [ original post ]

20 January 2000: I received news from two people who attended Australian screenings of the Director's Cut in late December 99. Unfortunately, I have misplaced the two emails in question, so I will have to rely on my admittedly faulty memory as to their contents.

First off, since approximately the last third of the movie takes place in Australia, Mr. Wenders said he was very happy to finally get a chance to screen the DC to Australian audiences before the end of the millenium.

The main takeaway from both reports is that the legal tangles in getting the Director's Cut released are as bad as they ever were, if not worse. There are several parties in several countries that have a legal and/or financial interest in the film and they apparently do not see eye-to-eye on a number of matters. Due to these disagreements, it is going to be very difficult to release the Director's Cut...particularly in certain markets like the United States. Apparently, there are more optimistic chances of a release in other countries (I believe Australia was one of them). Sorry to have to relate this downbeat news, especially after the previous seemingly-positive news about Mr. Neill recording a commentary for the Director's Cut.

08 December 99: Here is some interesting news. I was browsing the Home Theater Forum - Software section and came across a post in which someone heard a short radio interview with Sam Neill where Mr. Neill stated that he had recorded a commentary track for the "5 hour" version of UTEOTW. One can only hope that this is in preparation for a future DVD release of the director's cut...otherwise, I can't see what other use there would be for a running 5-hour commentary.

May 99: I just found out that Glenn Erickson aka The Video Savant has posted a very relevant article on the UTEOTW Director's Cut in his column at MGM Video Savant. His memory is a lot better than mine and he details the extra scenes in the director's cut and provides additional info. Required reading.

The Director's Cut

At 280 minutes, the film included quite a bit more material than either the 158 minute US cut or the 179 minute German/Japanese cut. But I don't recall there being any one really long "missing" chunk that was added back in. Rather, it was bits here and there...scenes that had been trimmed, small bits of additional info that helped to flesh out the film and make it richer. One obvious bit that was added back in was the entire sub-plot of each of the main characters playing (or attempting to play) instruments...gradually improving as the film progressed. This all culminated in an impromptu jam session in the Australian camp, with Claire singing "Thank You For the Days" and the other actors backing her up on their respective instruments...a great scene! (On rewatching the US version, I see that part of this is included, but I remember the Director's Cut containing a more expanded version of this scene.)

Although the final running time was close to five hours...it went by quickly. The director's cut was editted in such a way, that for me, I lost myself in the film and let it carry me along. The expanded scenes rounded out the characters and situations and made for a much more involving experience.

Wim was not there to introduce the film but he must have arrived shortly thereafter, because after the film, he walked up to the front of the theater and took the stage. It was a happy surprise for everyone. This particular screening was just one of many Wim Wenders films that were screened that week. The University of Washington Graduate Program, in conjunction with Scarecrow Video, had brought Mr. Wenders in for a week of lectures and film screenings. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend this one...luckily it's the one I most wanted to see. :)

Wim spent a little time talking about the film. My memory is a little hazy a year and a half after the event, so I'm not sure if I remember everything properly. He said that he had always wanted to put together a long proper cut of the film because, in his eyes, that was the only way he could really capture his original vision of the film. He said he had actually had the idea of the film several years prior to actually beginning production (I think it might have been in the early seventies when he first formulated the basic idea for the movie). When it came time to put together the theatrical cut, the US studio imposed a time limit that the film must fall within...I am guessing this was 2.5 hours. The 2.5 hour cut he delivered is the only cut that can be commercially shown or distributed in the US.

Some years later, I think he was feeling that he had unfinished business in that he had never assembled his personal cut of the film. With the studio's permission, he was allowed to create his director's cut...the 280 minute version which he divided into a "trilogy". I think he may have spent his own money doing this...I can't recall now. Anyway, from this new director's cut negative, one print was created and Wim decided to show it a bit. He had to be a little careful though since legally, the only print that could be shown commercially in the US was the 2.5 hour version.

For that reason, I don't think any of the screenings of this film required an admission fee. Wim still recouped some expenses for lectures, etc., but officially, the screening of UTEOTW was presented as more of a film studies kind of thing.

One of his reasons for showing the film though, was to generate some interest, see what people thought of the extended version, etc. One person asked if Wim was planning to release a Laserdisc version of the film. Wim said he was very much interested in doing something along these lines, making it available to all who wanted to see it, but the legal issues involving studios and distribution were fairly complex, and made it difficult for a Director's Cut version to coexist with the studio-authorized 2.5 hour version already in production. Hopefully it will all be worked out one day. The initial success of the DVD format would make it the ideal media for this film. Using a dual-layer dual-sided DVD, there would be room for the entire film and commentaries on just one disc.

I wish I could have taped his talk after the film, as I could then transcribe it for you here verbatim. As it is, you'll have to make do with these remembrances. Mr. Wenders, if you happen to read this, thanks very much! It was a real pleasure to be able to see your final vision of this wonderful film.

The US Cut

The Japanese (German) Cut

These scans courtesy of Scarecrow Video, Seattle

Japanese laserdisc, Front

Japanese laserdisc, Back

Other Resources