Werner Herzog's first feature film. Often regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusual talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. In 1961, when Herzog was 19, he started work on his first film Herakles. He has since produced, written, and directed over 60 films and documentaries. He has also published over 12 books of prose and directed many operas. French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog "the most important film director alive." American film critic Roger Ebert said that Herzog "has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular." He was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time in 2009.
DIRECTOR_CAMEO(Werner Herzog): one of the soldiers at the beginning of the film that transports Stoszek to the hospital. Herzog is the helmeted soldier who jumps from the back of the truck and carries the front of the stretcher, walking backwards to the home.
The screenplay is based on a story by (Ludwig) Achim von Arnim, which he wrote in 1818 and is called "Der tolle Invalide auf dem Fort Ratonneau" (The Mad Invalid at Fort Rattoneau). Until 1997, it was the only story written by Arnim that was previously translated into English.
For the Screenplay Herzog won the Carl Mayer Prize in 1964 against about 480 other competitors. Still he had troubles, to get official funding, because of his young age. In 1967 he finally got a funding of 300.000 DM to finance the film, what according to his statement cost about 400.00 DM. As he wanted to start shooting, the greek military conducted a putsch to take over the greek government. He could get no official permit to shoot the film, so he started filming anyway. He would had even risk prison, to get the movie done.
Kos (and the rest of the Dodecanese) were administered by the Ottoman Empire from 1523 to 1912, by the Kingdom of Italy from 1912 to 1943, by the Italian Social Republic (a puppet-state of Nazi Germany) from 1943 to 1945, and by the Italian Republic from 1945 to 1947. It was ceded to the Kingdom of Greece in 1947, as part of a formal peace treaty between Greece and Italy. The two countries were enemies during World War II.