Customer Reviews
The Enigma of Werner Herzog - By: Mr. S. Anderson, 16 Feb 2006 
One of the unfortunate things for fans of Werner Herzog’s cinema is the rather feeble & pathetic array of literature there is out there. Timothy Corrigan’s essential Herzog book "The Films of Werner Herzog: Beyond Mirage & History" has been out of print for some years & besides, only covers Herzog’s career up to 1985. If you don’t have access to academic journals & university libraries the alternative is to pay through the nose. A definitive study of the great man’s films is required. Cronin’s book kind of fills that gap as it does at least deal with most of Herzog’s important works. The interest of this book comes from the fact that it a book of interviews & Herzog’s views are both illuminating & interesting. I could almost here his hypnotic German accent as I read it. However, a lot of old ground is trodden over & if any reader is looking for new & exciting tales of the raving Klaus Kinski, they will be disappointed. Many of the anecdotes & comments Herzog comes out with are repeatedin My Best Fiend (1999) & on a number of commentary tracks for his DVD’s. Far more interesting are his comments on less known films such as "Ballad of the Little Soldier" (1984), "Echoes From a Sombre Empire" (1990) & "The Dark Glow of the Mountains" (1984). So many myths have sprung up around Herzog & his work, that perhaps now, mostly due to documentation & the media they feel somewhat stilted & stale. Herzog is at his best when expounding his own theories on the effects of cinema, &in his rants against academia. But its clear the man has a philosophy & goal which he is trying to achieve through the medium of cinema, not simply a director making money & then moving on to the next thing. Cronin’s questions arein the main insightful, but at times he comes acrossin the same way as Herzog himself didin one of his best films "The Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner" (1974) as an excitable & breathless fan. Overall, an interesting & thought provoking read & probably one of the bestin this ongoing range by Faber & Faber, the other I recommend is the David Lynch one. But this book does sit rather strangely with Herzog & it wasn’t something I ever expected him to do.
Definitive discussion with one of cinema's true originals. - By: Jonathan James Romley, 21 Mar 2005 
Herzog is without question, one of the defining figures of 20th century filmmaking, easily deserving of his reputation as an eccentric genius & practitioner of cinematic poetry, & of course, more than worthy of his creative association with people like Bergman, Dryer, Kubrick, Tarkovsky, & so on. His films seem absolutely alien when compared to the work of both his contemporaries & those that have followedin his wake- with no filmmaker since managing to perfectly pull off his trademark combination of surreal stylisation with moments of almost documentary realism - whilst his use of landscape & location was always as important to the feel of his films as both the narrative & characterisations. In his most celebrated film, Fitzcarraldo, he created his own parallels with the central character - by undertaking the mammoth task of hauling a giant steamship over a foreboding, Peruvian mountain terrain - which, would not only become the vision of his cinematic obsessions made real, but would also give birth to a number of rumours, legends & falsities that have arisen around the filmmaker throughout his career.
In this book, Herzog & interviewer Paul Cronin attempt to dispel some of these myths, whilst simultaneously creating some new ones of their own (with Herzog being the living proof that truth really is stranger than fiction), with the pair casting a critical eye over the filmmaker's career, from his first film Signs of Lifein the late 1960's, to his more recent endeavour, 2001's Invincible, as well as discussing his childhoodin the secluded Bavaria countryside, his years as a globetrotting youth, his volatile relationship with the actor Klaus Kinski & his thoughts & ruminations on life, work, travel & cinema. As a subject, Herzog is fascinating... after all, this is the man who made a film about rebellious dwarfs (Even Dwarfs Started Small), cast a former mental patientin one of the greatest films ever made (The Enigma of Kasper Hauser), filmed on an active volcano (La Soufrière), hypnotised an entire castin order to visualise their escalating madness (Heart of Glass), remade one of the all-time-classic German expressionist picturesin full colour, & with Kinski (Nosferatu - pre-dating Gus Van Sant's similarly post-modernist update of Hitchcock's Psycho) & once made a bet with fellow filmmaker Errol Morris about the documenting of an American pet cemetery, which culminatedin Herzog having to eat his shoe (Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe).
He's certainly an unconventional fellow here, dispelling the auteur theory & notions of art to instead talk about cinema as a craft or athletic event (Herzog's "utopian film school" would entail boxing classes, cross-country running & a 500 mile trek cross-country) & yet, despite such seemingly provocative diversions, he remains an intelligent, humorous & exhilarating host throughout. The best & most interesting chapters of the book are obviously the ones that look at his most famous works, films, for example, like the classic adventure Aguirre, Wrath of God, the experimental Heart of Glass, the heartbreaking Kasper Hauser, the touching (and strangely iconic) comic-melodrama Strozseck & the much misunderstood Nosferatu. The longest discussionin the book is obviously the conversations about Fitzcarraldo, which is probably Herzog's most archetypal (and certainly most controversial) work, although the discussions here tend to focus more on Kinski's erratic behaviour, the difficulties surrounding the location & the subsequent negative press (Herzog wrongly being accused of putting livesin danger), as opposed to the technical & ideological merits of the film. It's also nice to see lesser-know Herzog works getting some attention, notably his first two films Signs of Life & the hypnotic Fata Morgana - which certainly set the template for his future works - not to mention his great documentaries like The Land of Silence & Darkness, The Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner & Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
Other films are slightly glossed over - particularly the problematic Where the Green Ants Dream (which Herzog considers too "preachy"), the much criticised Cobra Verde (his last film with Kinski) & the unanimously despised (even by the director) Cerro Torre: Scream of Stone - which isn't really a problem, since these are lesser Herzog endeavours... however, it is sad to see the great Woyzeck so briefly discussed, as for me, it represents the ultimate creative pinnacle of all the Herzog/Kinski collaborations. This is only a slight (personal) criticism, of course, with the rest of the book really offering us a deeper insight into the real-life persona of this enigmatic, genius-like figure. As others have said, Herzog on Herzog is easily one of the best booksin the Faber interview series - ranking alongside similar books on David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Krzysztof Kieslowski & Lars von Trier - as it offers us a greatly entertaining & wholly definitive look at one of the most individual & important filmmakers of the last fifty years.
MARVELLOUS - By: Gavin Syevens, 08 Feb 2003 Werner Herzog's endlessly fascinating career has been the subject of many myths & speculations. In this bountiful book, able film scholar Paul Cronin provides a context for Herzog to give his own account - the definitive one. I have to agree with the review on this page by ermoguff2: Herzog On Herzog is inspirational, well edited, & may be the best book so farin the faber interview series. No small claim.
Finally, a book about my favourite director! - By: , 18 Nov 2002 This is a really good read - lots of juicy stories about Herzog & Kinski. I've been trying to find a book about Herzog for ages, & Herzog on Herzog is a very welcome addition to my shelves. A must for film buffs everywhere!
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS BOOK FOR YEARS... - By: , 18 Nov 2002 I've been waiting for this book for years. Why has it taken so long for someone to sit down & get inside the head of this brilliant filmmaker? Regardless, now the book is finally done, & it's great! Lots of good stories (I love the stuff about Klaus Kinski!), things you never knew about your favourite film director. The book is densely written, but well worth a read. One of the best interview books I've read.
