Visions of Germany
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Movie Reviews of Visions of Germany
Movie Review: Very nice aerial journey along the Rhine and Danube
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this video set not really knowing the details of what it contained, but having travelled extensively through Germany by bicycle in the 1980s I was hoping to rekindle some memories. I was not disappointed.
This DVD set takes the viewer on a helicopter tour along the Rhine north from the Swiss border to around Cologne, then generally along the Danube, again from the Bodensee (Lake Constance) until it flows into Austria. Since these areas were the focus of my first German cycling trip I was familiar with many of the sights along the way.
The scenery is beautiful and the camerawork is great. Shot and mastered in high-definition, then transferred in standard format, the video plays on a standard DVD player but retains very good image quality for those of us who own up-converting DVD players. I own a 61" TV and although the image is not as good as a high definition broadcast it is by no means bad, and on a smaller TV the difference in image quality will be negligible.
There are just a few minor criticisms: firstly, the DVDs don't cover some beautiful parts of Germany - conspicuously absent are the beautiful towns of Regensburg and Nurnberg, which I would have thought would have made it into the Danube show. Also, Bremen, Kassel and parts of North Germany are not covered. Perhaps these towns will make it into an upcoming set (the former East Germany, including Berlin, is - obviously - also not covered). Secondly, the narrator's voice is a little off-putting, being annoyingly melodious and almost soporific. But maybe this is just my own preference. Finally, a very minor annoyance is that the Rhine video's subtitles are often misspelled and occasionally German and English spellings are mixed in the same caption - anyway, that's hardly worth mentioning.
Highlights of the programs were Burg Eltz (a few kilometers from the Rhine along the Mosel) and Neuschwanstein - I'm a sucker for fairytale castles.
All-in-all the video is excellent. The sound is great, with classical and folk music being mixed together almost seamlessly. Occasionally I wanted to see some shots inside the towns from the ground, but I think that including that level of detail would have forced the producers to make the video set at least twice its length - not that I would complain, but it might be beyond the scope of what the producers were aiming for.
I can't wait to see another set of DVDs in this series - I hope many more are forthcoming. Having lived in Austria for a few years I'm hoping the producers of this show might be working on an Austrian DVD. I'd also like to see Italy given the same treatment (currently there's only a 1.33:1 version available) and perhaps France and Spain.
Movie Review: Great Gift for those who love Germany
Summary: 5 Stars
We bought Visions of Germany (2 DVD's) for my father-in-law as a Father's Day Gift. He loves anything to do with Germany and we were looking for something different that he would enjoy. He couldn't wait to watch them and he absolutely LOVED it!Movie Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw (and made a VHS tape of) this great traveloge during a local PBS pledge drive a couple of years ago.
Obviously, my original VHS tape quality cannot compare with this DVD version.
The photography is fantastic, and the aerial "bird's eye" view adds a whole new perspective to the many familiar sites that many of us have seen before either in person or through photos.
After viewing it I get the feeling that I should be raising my liter stein and saying, "ein prosit der gemutlichkeit."
Movie Review: Not HD
Summary: 3 Stars
Although the DVD is wonderfully shot, it is NOT in High Definition, and because it is in widescreen, I presumed it was. Moral: never presume.Movie Review: Visions of Germany
Summary: 5 Stars
This is another excellent video in the "Visions" series where one sees the cities and the countryside from a helicopter. This series covers Bavaria and the Rhine. I look forward to more Visions of Germany covering the rest of the country.
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