It ws first shown at the Venice Film Festival. It was then put on tv since German tv paid for the bulk of the production. Fassbinder films almost the entire novel with only a few chanes. It was a touchstone work for him. He even played a character called Farnz Biberkopf in an earlier film FOX AND HIS FRIENDS.
Part of the work's genius is that each episode works as an individual film, but it also all comes together as one very long film (Vincent Canby in the NY Times wondered at the time if this was the future of film. BA comes at the end of a decade when great film artists went long form-- Rivette with OUT 1 [playing at AMMI in Queens the weekend of March 3/4 in the only existing print]; Bergman with FACE TO FACE; SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE; and FANNY AND ALEXANDER; Rossellini with his tv bios).
It will be released as an R2 dvd for sure and almost certainly in a R1 by Criterion. As a supplement, it is rumored that the earlier version will be included to help justify the cost.
> Great flick and a well written book--there are two others in the
triology about those German times.
Might you be thinking of Fassbinder's BRD trilogy which consists of THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN; LOLA; and VERONIKA VOSS? They were shot during the same perion (1978-1981). And you can throw in the stand alone LILI MARLEEN as well.
Fassbinder was committed to making Hollywood movies about Germany and its history. And for 13 years directing 41 movies he actually did it.
Brian