Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogy (Criterion Collection)

A German journalist (Rüdiger Vogler) finds his fruitless research junket through America taking a bizarre turn when a new acquaintance (Lisa Kreuzer) abandons her 9-year-old daughter (Yetta Rottländer) with him... and he's got no choice but to bring the child on his return to Europe, in Wenders' endearing effort "Alice in the Cities" (1974). A young would-be writer (Vogler) in search of life experience sets off to see Germany by train... and falls in with a pack of eccentrics who provide more fodder than he bargained for. "Wrong Move" (1975), Wenders' intriguing adaptation of Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister," co-stars Hanna Schygulla, Peter Kern, Ivan Desny, and, in her screen debut, Nastassja Kinski. As he wanders the countryside in search of work, an itinerant film projector repairman (Vogler) stops a depressed psychologist (Hanns Zischler) from committing suicide, and proceeds to show his impromptu companion what life has to offer, in Wenders' engaging buddy tale "Kings of the Road" (1976). 6 1/2 hrs. Total on four discs. In German with English subtitles.