Berlin Alexanderplatz (miniseries)
| Berlin Alexanderplatz | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
| Written by | Rainer Werner Fassbinder Alfred Döblin (the novel Berlin Alexanderplatz) |
| Starring | Günter Lamprecht Hanna Schygulla Barbara Sukowa |
Release date | 1980 |
Running time | USA: 931 min West Germany:894 min |
| Language | German |
Originally broadcast in 1980, this television mini-series was adapted and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and starred Günter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa, Elisabeth Trissenaar and Gottfried John. The complete series was 15½ hours long.[1].
The TV series was released as a film in the United States, and has attained cult status. It was mentioned in the cult series The Critic and inspired the TV series Freaks and Geeks, also about misfits and outsiders but set in an early 1980s American high school. It was available on VHS in the 1980's and was broadcast on PBS in the 1980's, but has been rarely seen since. Rumors of a DVD release have been circulating for many years, but it is unclear if these are true or not. (As of 2006, there is still no DVD of Fassbinder's series.)
=Restoration
In 2005, the German Cultural Institute, having completed the reconstruction and restoration of Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin, decided to restore Berlin Alexanderplatz, saying that the original film negative was in "catastrophic physical condition" and that it "must be restored."
The restoration is expected to be complete by 2007, exactly 25 years after Fassbinder's death. The film will play as a prelude to a retrospective of Fassbinder's work at the Berlin International Film Festival. Accompanying this re-release will be a book that includes the original screenplay for Berlin Alexanderplatz, original drawings, selections from Döblin's novel, as well as selected reviews of the film.
Running Time
- Part 1: 81 min.
- Part 2: 59 min.
- Part 3: 59 min.
- Part 4: 59 min.
- Part 5: 59 min.
- Part 6: 58 min.
- Part 7: 58 min.
- Part 8: 58 min.
- Part 9: 58 min.
- Part 10: 59 min.
- Part 11: 59 min.
- Part 12: 59 min.
- Part 13: 59 min.
- Epilogue: 111 min.