Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) is one of cinema's loveliest city symphonies. Bruno Ganz is Damiel, an angel perched atop buildings high over Berlin who can hear the thoughts – fears, hopes, and dreams – of all the people living below. But when he falls in love with a beautiful trapeze artist, he is willing to give up his immortality to come back to earth to be with her. Made not long before the fall of the Berlin Wall, this stunning tapestry of sounds and images, shot in black and white and colour by the legendary Henri Alekan, is movie poetry. And it forever made the name Wim Wenders synonymous with film art.

Anchor Bay's still available UK edition is certainly no slouch (and was mysteriously missed in our coverage of Anchor Bay's Wim Wenders Collection), boasting fine picture and sound and some decent extras, including a commentary by Wenders, but it looks soon to be topped by a US release from Criterion on both 2-disc DVD and single disc Blu-ray (coded region A, unfortunately). Featuring a new, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Wim Wenders, with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition, the following extras have also been announced:

• Audio commentary featuring Wenders and actor Peter Falk;
• The Angels Among Us (2003), a documentary featuring interviews with Wenders, Falk, actors Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander, writer Peter Handke, and composer Jürgen Knieper;
• Excerpt from "Wim Wenders Berlin Jan. 87," an episode of the French television program Cinéma cinémas, including on-set footage;
• Interview with director of photography Henri Alekan;
• Deleted scenes and outtakes;
• Excerpts from the films Alekan la lumière (1985) and Remembrance: Film for Curt Bois (about the actor who plays Homer in Wings of Desire);
• Notes and photos by production designer Heidi Lüdi and art director Toni Lüdi;
• Trailers;
• New and improved English subtitle translation;
• A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson and writings by Wenders and Handke.