How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (film)

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How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck 1976 film.jpg
Title card
Directed by Werner Herzog
Written byWerner Herzog
Produced byWerner Herzog
Starring
  • Werner Herzog
  • Steve Liptay
  • Ralph Wade
  • Alan Ball
  • Abe Diffenbach
Narrated byWerner Herzog
Cinematography Thomas Mauch [1]
Edited by Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus [1]
Production
companies
Distributed by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion
Release date
Running time
45 minutes
Country West Germany
Languages English
German

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (German: Beobachtungen zu einer neuen Sprache, literally "Observations of a New Language") is a 1976 documentary film by German director Werner Herzog, produced by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion. [2] It is a 44-minute film documenting the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship held in New Holland, Pennsylvania. The film also contains a section about the Amish and shows Amish speaking Pennsylvania German.

Herzog has said that he believes auctioneering to be "the last poetry possible, the poetry of capitalism". [3] Herzog describes the auctioneering as an "extreme language ... frightening but quite beautiful at the same time". [4]

Herzog used two of the featured auctioneers Ralph Wade and Scott McKain as actors in his later film Stroszek .

Cinematographer Edward Lachman got his start working with Herzog on this film; he would work on La Soufrière (1977) shortly after. [5]

References

  1. 1 2 Cronin, Paul (2014). Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Faber and Faber. p. 524. ISBN   9780571259779 . Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  2. ↑ Aitken, Ian (2013). The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film. New York: Routledge. p. 363. ISBN   9780415596428 . Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  3. ↑ DVD audio commentary for Stroszek
  4. ↑ Herzog, Werner; Cronin, Paul (2002). Herzog on Herzog . London; New York: Faber and Faber. p.  140. ISBN   9780571207084.
  5. ↑ LoBrutto, Vincent (1999). Principal photography : interviews with feature film cinematographers. Westport, Conn. : Praeger. p. 122. ISBN   9780275949549 . Retrieved 13 January 2016.


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