Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The American Soldier Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 17, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 3.

Arrow has been curating interesting collections of Rainer Werner Fassbinder films courtesy of both The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 1 and The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection: Volume 2, and now with this latest third volume. The first two editions offered some of Fassbinder's better known efforts like The Marriage of Maria Braun and The Merchant of Four Seasons, and while this third collection offers titles that will no doubt be known by Fassbinder aficionados, it might present more "cult"-ish productions.

It might be both interesting and salient for some viewers to watch this film and Gods of the Plague as a double feature. I mentioned in my Gods of the Plague Blu-ray review how The American Soldier is kinda sorta revisits at least some aspects of the earlier effort, but that assessment needs to be accepted with a bit of slack granted. While the films both deal with the criminal element, and both expectedly feature some of the same performers due to Fassbinder's repertory approach, this outing is probably more overtly attempting to link itself to the Hollywood noir tradition, or at least the tradition of hardbitten characters engaged in relentlessly ruthless activity. As with Gods of the Plague, a character returns to Munich and soon finds himself engaged in the criminal underworld, though in this case it's not an ex-con, but an ex-veteran named Ricky von Rezzori (Karl Scheydt), who reconnects with his friend Franz Walsch (Rainer Werner Fassbinder), a character (or at least character name) also utilized in Gods of the Plague.

This is a decidedly more hallucinogenic affair than Gods of the Plague, though, filled with visual anachronisms and weird character beats that seem to erupt out of nowhere. Still, Fassbinder's emphasis on desperate characters attempting to elude the trajectory of their perceived "enslavement" is rather viscerally presented here, though in a way that is intentionally hyperbolic and stylized.

The American Soldier Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The American Soldier is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Arrow's insert booklet groups the films together in its informational verbiage about the restorations, as follows:

All films are presented in their original aspect ratios of 1.37:1* with mono sound. The restorations for The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew were produced and provided by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation from original 35mm camera negatives scanned on an Arriscan film scanner at Arri Media GmbH in Munich. The Niklahausen Journey, Rio das Mortes and Fear of Fear were originally made for television, with restorations produced and provided by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation from original 16mm camera negatives, and are presented in standard definition.

*See individual reviews, since not all aspect ratios are actually 1.37:1.

This is one of the nicer looking transfers in the third volume of Fassbinder offerings, with really luscious black and white cinematography presented with excellent contrast, nicely deep blacks and very well modulated gray scale. This is probably more immediately evocative of, say, thirties or forties American gangster films and even noir outings in its use of chiaroscuro, and the transfer offers some really nice gradations that give the play between light and dark real energy. Detail levels are typically excellent throughout and the grain field is tightly resolved and organic looking.

The American Soldier Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The American Soldier features an LPCM Mono track in the original German. This is a nicely energetic track that delivers a glut of ambient environmental effects quite well, including some unexpected aspects courtesy of some unusual props that show up in some scenes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The American Soldier Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged The Niklashausen Journey and The American Soldier together on one disc, with the following supplements:

• Commentaries

  Commentary by critic Olaf Möller on The Niklashausen Journey

  
  

  Commentary by critic Tony Rayns on The American Soldier

• Fassbinder Produces Film No. 8 (HD; 29:06) is a 1971 television documentary about the production of The American Soldier. Subtitled in English.


• Man in the Shadow (HD; 33:58) features Michael Fengler discussing Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Subtitled in English.


• Freedom or Death! (HD; 22:57) features Michael König discussing The Niklashausen Journey. Subtitled in English.


• Image Gallery (HD)

The American Soldier Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are parts of The American Soldier which are remarkably straightforward (at least for a "typical" Fassbinder film), but then there can be downright gonzo interstitials that make both the story and its visual presentation decidedly weirder. Technical merits are solid and the supplements very enjoyable.