Cobra Verde (1987)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Werner Herzog (Director) And Norman Hill (Journalist) Biographies-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer-In English And German Trailer-Herzog Collection
Rating
Year Of Production	1987
Running Time	110:20
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (53:08)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Werner Herzog
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Klaus Kinski
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Popol Vuh

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	German Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Based on Bruce Chatwin's novel The Viceroy of Ouidah, this story tells of Francisco Manoel da Silva (Klaus Kinski), who in a sketchy opening sequence is shown being exploited as a worker and killing his boss. Suddenly he is the feared Brazilian outlaw Cobra Verde, walking into a town where the residents flee as though they were in an old western.

    A sugar plantation owner, impressed by the man but unaware of the fact that he is an outlaw, hires him as overseer. Unfortunately, Cobra Verde soon manages to impregnate all three of his daughters. When the plantation owner finds this out, and also finds out who his overseer really is, he wants revenge. Afraid that attempting to kill Cobra Verde will result in much bloodshed, he and his colleagues decide to send the outlaw to Africa to resume the slave trade which the British had blocked three years earlier. They see this as a death sentence, as the mad King of Dahomey has sworn to kill any white man venturing into his territory. Cobra Verde overhears this but decides to accept the position as Viceroy anyway.

    On arrival in Africa our hero manages to survive and participates in a revolution against the King.

    By Herzog's own account Kinski was now totally crazed. Caught up in the pressures of making his own biography of the violinist Paganini, Kinski seems to have gone over the edge (something he had feared all his life). The production was difficult with the star and director coming to blows, and Kinski walked off the set before it was finished. That probably accounts for the fact that this is, with Woyzeck, the least satisfying of their films together, and also for Kinski's somewhat lacklustre performance. He certainly looks as though he is not himself, and one can believe Herzog when he says in the audio commentary that he was "completely bonkers". While most of the time he looks distracted and his mind far away, he occasionally comes into his usual old screaming self, notably in a sequence where he teaches an army of women how to fight. The choppy nature of the opening sequences can probably be explained by the actor's walkout, as the African sequences were shot first.

    One can certainly see that there was a good film here struggling to get out, but unfortunately it was not to be. Still, it's worth seeing if you like the other films in this set of five collaborations between the two, plus one documentary.

Video

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.75:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    This is a poor video transfer marred by artefacting caused or exacerbated by an NTSC to PAL conversion. Sharpness is not too bad but detail is lacking in a film that is only 18 years old. Colour is also acceptable but less than ideal.

    There are all sorts of MPEG artefacts, mainly that mottled effect that makes the film look like it has been printed on canvas instead of celluloid. Gibb Effect is rife, and there is considerable motion blurring at times. There is also some macro-blocking and mild aliasing.

    Film artefacts are also visible. Most of these are vertical scratches, and most of these are faint.

    The subtitles are in a readable yellow font and use American spelling. They are well timed and all of the dialogue is translated.

    The disc is RSDL-formatted, with the layer change placed at 53:08 just after a cut. It is slightly distracting as a result.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default audio track is German Dolby Digital 5.1. There is also a stereo English track, but I listened to the default track.

    This is probably the best audio track in this set of Herzog-Kinski films, but that isn't saying a great deal. Dialogue is clear and there are no serious distortions or problems. Remastering from stereo into surround adds some directional effects, but the main use of the rear channels is for music. There are a lot of low frequency effects, ranging from drums to waves crashing on the beach.

    The music is yet again by Popol Vuh, and again it is a fine score that adds much to the film. It was his last to date for Herzog after numerous collaborations. There is also what I guess is some traditional African music, reprised over the end credits.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

    The main menu has some of Popol Vuh's music.

Audio Commentary-Werner Herzog (Director) And Norman Hill (Journalist)

    As usual Herzog has plenty of interesting information to impart about the film's production, including the usual Kinski madness. He also speaks at length about Bruce Chatwin, who he met in Australia while filming When the Green Ants Dream. If this commentary is less compelling than the others in the set, it is because there are a few dead spots and a bit too much talking about what is happening on screen. Despite this it is worth listening to.

Biographies-Cast & Crew

    The usual single page text biographies of director and star.

Theatrical Trailers-In English And German (6:44)

    The same trailer appears twice, once with German audio and once with English audio.

Trailers-Herzog Collection (13:29)

    Trailers for the other discs in this set.

    The Region 4 appears to have the same content as the Region 2, though the latter also has a German stereo soundtrack.

    I have the US Region 1 release from Anchor Bay, and it is significantly better than the Region 4, though it is not perfect. Like the Region 2 it has an additional German stereo track, but the only other extra is some liner notes. The video transfer is superior, and while it has a lot of grain it does not have the MPEG artefacting of the Region 4. There is some slight motion blurring but not to the extent of the Region 4. The Region 1 is quite clearly the better option.

    An unfulfilling film which will still be of interest to fans of the director and/or star.

    The video quality is below par.

    The audio quality is good.

    A reasonable selection of extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall