Signs of Life (1968 film)

Signs of Life German Lebenszeichen is a 1968 feature film written, directed, and produced by Werner Herzog. It was his first feature film, and his first major commercial and critical success. The story is roughly based on the short story Der Tolle Invalide auf dem Fort Ratonneau, written by Achim von Arnim.

The fortress which gives the films main setting is a real 14thcentury fortress built by the Knights Hospitaller. Herzogs grandfather, Rudolf Herzog, lived and worked for several years as an archaeologist at this site, and published translations of the ancient Greek engravings which appear in the film. The old Turkish man who appears in the film with a written translation was the last surviving worker from Rudolf Herzogs archaeological project.During several shots, Peter Brogle could only be filmed from the waist up after he had been injured in a tightrope accident and spent several months in a walking cast. The man who appears as a pianist in one scene is keyboardist Florian Fricke of Popol Vuh, who composed and performed the music for many of Herzogs later films. ........

Source: Wikipedia