"Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" Criterion Region 0 NTSC vs E-M-S Region 2 PAL

(aka "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" or "Fear Eats the Soul")

directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
German 1974

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, already the director of almost twenty films by the age of twenty-nine, paid homage to his cinematic hero, Douglas Sirk, with this updated version of Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows. Lonely widow Emmi Kurowsky (Brigitte Mira) meets Arab worker Ali (El Hedi ben Salem) in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love––to their own surprise––and to the shock of family, colleagues, and drinking buddies. In Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Angst essen seele auf), Fassbinder expertly uses the emotional power of the melodrama to underscore the racial tensions threatening German culture.

Poster

Theatrical Release: March 5th, 1974 - Germany

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DVD Comparison:

Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC vs. E-M-S (2 Disc set) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Andrey Diment for the Region 2 - PAL screen captures!

(Criterion - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. E-M-S - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

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Distribution	Criterion Collection - Spine # 198 Region 1 - NTSC	E-M-S Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:33:15	1:29:21 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1:37:1.00 Original Aspect ratio Average Bitrate: 5.85 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.35 PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
Bitrate: Criterion NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: E-M-S
Audio	German (Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono)	German (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), DUB: DD2.0 (mono) Italian
Subtitles	English, None	English, and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Home Vision Entertainment Aspect Ratio 1:37:1 Edition Details: New high-definition digital transfer Video introduction by director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Velvet Goldmine, Safe) (22:44) Interviews with actress Brigitte Mira and editor Thea Eymèsz (24:57) Short film Angst isst Seele auf(2002) (12:32) Signs of Vigourous Life: New German Cinema, a 1976 BBC television program (32:17) Excerpt from The American Soldier starring Margarethe von Trotta (2:43) Original theatrical trailer (3:03) New and improved English subtitle translation Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition DVD Release Date: June 24, 2003 Double Keep Case Chapters: 21	Release Information: Studio: E-M-S Aspect Ratio: Original aspect ratio - 1.33:1 2-DVD edition (both are DVD-9) Edition Details: Disk 1 (DVD-9): Main feature - 1.29.26 Original trailer - 0.03.05 Actors discussing the movie - 0.40.43 Brigitte Mira sings - 0.08.50 Liselotte Eder's (mother of R.W. Fassbinder) statement - 0.01.41 Picture gallery Crew biographies (narrated) Episode from Der Americanische Soldat - 0.03.27 Disk 2 (DVD-5): “Das kleine Chaos” Fassbinder’s short (1967) 0.09.19 “R.W. Fassbinder, 1977” documentary 0.29.13 Fassbinder’s biography (13 pages, narrated) Fassbinder’s filmography with posters and trailers EXTRAS NOT SUBTITLED IN ENGLISH DVD Release Date: April 25th, 2002 Digipak Chapters 20
Comments:	The E-M-S PAL version is hazy. Its whites are brighter than the Criterion which is (again) slightly cropped on both edges, but this is probably due to contrast boosting. The Criterion is sharper. Both have the original mono sound, but the E-M-S has an Italian DUB. The E-M-S has some bountiful Extras on their 2nd disc but they are not subtitled in English. Criterion's second disc is quite marvelous. I don't see any reason to buy the E-M-S over the Criterion. Criterion all the way. - Gary W. Tooze