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Released by: Arrow Video
Released on: November 3rd, 2015.
Director: Ulli Lommel
Cast: Kurt Raab, Jeff Roden, Margit Christensen, Ingrid Craven, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Year: 1973
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The Movie:
Considerably 'artsier' than pretty much anything he's made since, director Ulli Lommel's 1973 film Tenderness Of The Wolves is so far removed from pictures like The Bogeyman that it's hard to believe the same guy was behind the camera calling the shots.
The film follows a man named Fritz Haarman (Kurt Raab), a serial killer active in Hanover around the end of the Second World War. Inspector Mí¼ller (Rainer Hauer) and his team find some of Haarman's victims, or what's left of them at least, and start investigating but despite Mí¼ller's efforts everyone else seems to think that the discovered remains are the work of grave robbers. Haarman, however, is very active in the area and he's got a taste for young boys. He pays off a small time hustler to help him acquire what he's after, has his way with them, and then disposes of the bodies all without ever raising any concern from his neighbors.
He's basically flying under the radar until Inspector Braun (Wolfgang Schenck) pays him a visit and agrees to let him continue doing what he does on the condition that he basically work for him as an informant. Haarman agrees and he and his boyfriend, Hans Grans (Jeff Roden), have a good thing going for a while. Eventually Hans falls for Wittowski (Rainier Werner Fassbinder), which causes tension, but not nearly as much tension as the mother of one of Haarman's victims…
Languid in its pacing, even slow in spots, Tenderness Of The Wolves is nevertheless pretty compelling stuff. Although the film is not without its own sense of twisted black humor, it deals in heavy doses of dark content and it is, at times, legitimately disturbing stuff. The film isn't particularly gory or graphic but the basic premise behind the murders is ugly enough on its own that the movie doesn't really need to be sensationalized in that regard. It does, however, leave little to the imagination in its depiction of child molestation, which will understandably get under the skin of a whole lot of people. Creepy stuff.
The performances do a lot to make this one work. Wolfgang Schenck is slightly odd as the cop who sanctions the serial killer while Jeff Roden as Haarman's boyfriend does fine work here as well. It's amusing to see Fassbinder show up in a supporting role here, and it makes sense that he'd show up in Lommel's picture given that they had worked together often, but really this is Fassbinder regular Kurt Raab's show more than it is anyone else's. Looking quite a bit like Peter Lorre's character in Fritz Lang's M, with his twitchy mannerisms and his shifty eyes, Raab is just flat out creepy in this movie. His shaved head and pointy ears also bear a resemblance to Max Schreck's appearance in F. W. Murneau's Nosferatu.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Arrow brings Tenderness Of The Wolves to Blu-ray in a new high definition digital transfer “prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation†and presented in AVC encoded 1080p framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. In short, the image quality here is outstanding. Detail is very strong, the films odd color scheme is reproduced perfectly and black levels are nice and rich but not at the cost of shadow detail or crush problems. There is impressive texture and depth to the image and the picture is quite clean but at the same time, there's no evidence of noise reduction, so expect some nice, natural looking film grain even if there isn't much in the way of actual print damage. Really though, the screen caps speak for themselves , this is a very, very strong transfer.
Audio chores are handled by an LPCM 1.0 German language track with optional subtitles provided in English only. There are no problems to report here, the track is crisp, clean, clear and properly balanced. There are no problems with any hiss or distortion, the dialogue has good presence and the score sounds nice, demonstrating nice range and depth.
Extras start out with a commentary track with director Ulli Lommel moderate by Uwe Huber. Speaking in English, they talk about what inspired the film, casting the picture, some of the subtleties and intricacies of the different performances featured in the film, the look of the picture, different uses of symbolism and more. It's a well-paced track and when Lommel does occasionally slow down a bit here and there Huber is quick to get him back on track. It's an informative listen that offers plenty of insight not only into the history of this particular work but also the director's creative process.
Arrow has also included a new video interview with Lommel entitled The Tender Wolf in which he speaks for twenty-five minutes about what it was like collaborating with Fassbinder on this production and about some of the pro's and con's that this entailed. He also expresses his thoughts on the script, the performances, some of the improvisation that took place during the shoot both in front of and behind the camera and quite a bit more. Also on hand is a brand-new interview with director of photography Jí¼rgen Jí¼rges entitled Photographing Fritz. This twenty-four minute segment lets the DP talk about how he came on board the project, what it was like working with Lommel, what he tried to bring to the film in terms of creating its specific look and some of the films that influenced his work on the picture. In the sixteen minute long Haarman's Victim Talks, actor Rainer Will talks about working on this film as a teenager hoping to use it to get his foot in the door after working with Fassbinder previously in some live theater productions. Last but not least, in terms of the featurettes, we get a forty-one minute appreciation from author Stephen Thrower who gives us his take on what makes this picture unique and at the same time gives us an interesting career overview of the director's work, offering some critical analysis along the way.
Aside from that, we get a theatrical trailer for the film, an optional thirty-second intro to the movie from Lommel, menus and chapter selection. As this is a combo pack release, we also get a DVD version of the movie containing identical extra features. Both discs fit inside a clear keepcase with a hinged flipper inside. Accompanying the discs inside the case is a color insert booklet of liner notes written by Tony Rayns that discuss the history of the picture. Arrow have also included reversible insert sleeve art for this release, with an original commission on one side and the original theatrical poster are on the reverse side.
The Final Word:
Tenderness Of The Wolves is pretty chilling stuff, a dark character study of sorts that takes you into places you don't necessarily want to go, but that you can't look away from. It's just as well acted as it is well directed and Arrow has really and truly rolled out the red carpet for the film's Blu-ray debut. The quality of the presentation is top notch and the supplements are as plentiful as they are comprehensive and fascinating.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
