Rating: 
Summary: Attitude, my friends
Review: I bought this DVD because I was intrigued by the description of a small village gripped by insanity following the death of a glassmaker. But when I watched it I immediately dubbed it horrible. I felt as though it had killed me.After that night, though, I couldn't get the pictures out of my head. I could vividly recall scenes from the film, and as they played out in my mind they seemed so beautiful. The more I thought, the more I realized that I had merely watched the movie with the wrong idea, expecting something that it was not. The attitude of the movie became clear to me. When I watched it the second time I was stunned by how amazingly well the stupor and dazed madness of the town was portrayed. The events and actions of the characters engulfed me and drew me into the story. The hypnotic trance of the actors provides an effect I have never seen before. This truly is a great film if you are prepared for it.
Rating: 
Summary: This is too slow for the regular viewer
Review: I bought this DVD because I'm trying to learn German. First mistake since they don't talk much. Besides that, I can only say that I couldn't help falling asleep watching it. But I like movies Hollywood style. If you are like me, you won't like this at all. If you are more the intellectual movie type, you probably will like it.
Rating:
Summary: This is too slow for the regular viewer
Review: I bought this DVD because I'm trying to learn German. First mistake since they don't talk much. Besides that, I can only say that I couldn't help falling asleep watching it. But I like movies Hollywood style. If you are like me, you won't like this at all. If you are more the intellectual movie type, you probably will like it.
Rating:
Summary: He forgot to hire Kinski.
Review: Instead, my favorite German director makes the blunder of employing a bunch of actors (?) and hypnotizing them. Supposedly this was to make it very real, instead it makes it very sonambulistic. This is one of my favorite all time films to cure insomnia. On the count of three, everybody's asleep.
Can't say much more as it was eminently forgettable except for one scene in which one of the actor-zombies smashes a bottle over another sleepwalker's head. This symbolises how the audience feels about Herzog at this point. Do yourselves a favor and rent Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, Woyzeck or Nosferatu
Rating:
Summary: A touching film
Review: It's hard to explain, but this is one of my favorite movies. I think about this movie often... not all the time, but parts of it bubble up to my consciousness, unbidden, like dream images... I think it touches you on some very deep level in your psyche... it may not affect everyone this way, but I think it hits on some kind of weird universal truth.
Rating:
Summary: Artsy Cinematography
Review: Just trust your mysterious mysticism and get it.
You WON'T regret this GRRRREAT Story!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Uncanny
Review: There is only one word to describe this movie: Uncanny. The director has hypnotized the actors. They meander through the movie,lost and not quite at home, their blank stares leaving imprints on the consciousness of the viewer. Not a gimmick. Much too complex to be a gimmick. The intense visual imagery, characteristic of all herzog movies, is in this movie the most haunting and unnerving. It may not be as sound in plot, or as epic as Fitzcarraldo or Kaspar Hauser, but for people who don't need something substantial to happen every 5 seconds in a film (and so those who don't suffer from television or hollywood induced Attention Deficit Disorder)Heart of Glass no doubt will be a force of visual fury, done subtly but surely, evoking the uncanny upon each viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and Uncanny
Review: There is only one word to describe this movie: Uncanny. The director has hypnotized the actors. They meander through the movie,lost and not quite at home, their blank stares leaving imprints on the consciousness of the viewer. Not a gimmick. Much too complex to be a gimmick. The intense visual imagery, characteristic of all herzog movies, is in this movie the most haunting and unnerving. It may not be as sound in plot, or as epic as Fitzcarraldo or Kaspar Hauser, but for people who don't need something substantial to happen every 5 seconds in a film (and so those who don't suffer from television or hollywood induced Attention Deficit Disorder)Heart of Glass no doubt will be a force of visual fury, done subtly but surely, evoking the uncanny upon each viewing.
Rating: 
Summary: Shows promise
Review: Very creative... a MUST if you're a Herzog fan!
Rating:
Summary: Bavarian Beauty? - Quiet, Simple with Deep, Timeless Message
Review: With a rural 1800s Bavarian setting, director Werner Herzog tells the timeless tale of tragic loss and its consequences.- The young "master" of a glass mill, who appears to be "ruling" the village of people whose lives revolve around this source of employment, becomes obsessed with the "formula" for the making of a special kind of "ruby glass", the secret of which the foreman of the factory apparently took to his grave. The bizarre behavior of this young master is compounded by another character, Heisl, who constantly bubbles over with preminitions affecting the townspeople immediately, as well as prophesies reaching beyond their own lifetimes. One account clearly describes the events surrounding WWI and WWII (remember that the characters in this story are living in the 1800s). Several of the characters appear to be "mad", either mentally or emotionally. One young woman is shown in various situations indicating that she is not of sound mind, stripping her clothes off and twirling in a daze, in a state of mental unconsciousness. The young master's father, an elderly man who is shown wearing clothing befitting an aristocrat, yet he babbles and laughs uncontrollably, all the while refusing to walk. Towards the end, as the townspeople are in a panic over a fire, the man wanders about his house searching for his shoes, then again laughing uncontrollably and without motivation. Two "drinking buddies" are bewitched by Heisl's preminition that one of them shall die, while the other shall walk away from the "deadly accident". The events happen just so, then the "survivor" fetches the corpse for a dance. Even when putting this material in the perspective of the setting, it appears extremely morbit, pointing again to the disproportionally large number of "village idiots". Another scene indicating the depth of the symbolism employed by Herzog is set in the primitive jail in which the young master and Heisl are thrown (one because he murdered his maid in a euphoric daze, the other because he was faulted for "wishing" the series of misfortunes he had predicted on the village). The young master was pictured with his wrists tied in sheckles and chained to the wall, while Heisl was pacing the floor restlessly, lamenting that he must be in the woods to "see things", not in this place of confinement. The next scene shows Heisl back in the woods. There are too many gripping scenes in this masterfully written, cast, photographed, and directed film. The authentic Bavarian dialect and the period language give this film true genuineness. Both written and spoken German has evolved considerably in the past 100-150 years. Anyone speaking like the characters in this film would be ridiculed today. The differece compares to The King James Bible vs. Webster's Dictionary. Some would consider it "strange", but upon giving the message of "Heart of Glass" more thought, the viewer must conclude that this is more than an old Bavarian folk tale. When replacing some of the characters with known figures of World History, we may be struck with haunting similarities. This is not the kind of film to view in a Sunday Matinee, but it certainly makes for some great discussions for a film club, a university level German class, or a literary club. For its many outstanding features, this film earns my highest recommendation.
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