RUSCICO (Russian Cinema Council)

[pro-bassoonist]

Hello Gordon:

This is indeed the correct framing for the film, 1.33:1, (as already noted this is the uncut 6 hour version which was shown on Russian TV). Indeed, the RUSCICO disc also offers the same aspect ratio i mentioned in my review. Finally, I have also seen the shorter 3 hour version in theaters (way back when I was still living in Eastern Europe) and it wasn't in Sovscope as IMDB suggests.
If such "version" of the film does exist it is most certainly news to me!

Ciao,
Svet

[Gordon]

Merci, Svet!

I'll submit a change for the aspect ratio at IMDb.

[MichaelB]

1.33:1 definitely looked correct to me.

As for the film itself, perhaps unsurprisingly it's a bit of a mixed bag. It's a bit of a soap opera at base, focusing on the fluctuating fortunes of two rival families (one wealthy, one poverty-stricken, natch) from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1970s, though individual episodes are considerably more compelling. This is particularly true of the first half, where Siberia is so remote from the rest of the Soviet Union that even major upheavals barely have much impact on a way of life that has clearly continued for centuries, but as technology begins to shrink the planet, the various family members go west in search of fame and fortune, find it, and return to transform their home town. I watched it in four sessions as a kind of TV miniseries, and on that level it worked very well.

The single biggest flaw is Eduard Artemyev's score, which is 1970s synth dreck at its most pointlessly bombastic. I imagine to Russian ears in 1979 it sounded about as cutting-edge as it could possibly get, but it just seems like a baffling error of judgement now - if Konchalovsky was remaking the film today, I doubt very much he'd consider something that sounds like bad Tangerine Dream. To be fair to Artemyev, his more abstract electronic contributions, such as the weird heightening of the natural forest sounds, are much more effective - but every time the main theme appeared, I had to fight the urge to press the 'mute' button.

[jsteffe]

Has anyone seen the recent RUSCICO edition of Protazanov's AELITA? I'm curious to hear how it compares with the Image Entertainment version.

Another one of their new releases that I'll probably order is Mark Donskoi's THE VILLAGE SCHOOLTEACHER (Sel'skaia uchitel'nitsa, 1947). That's a classic of the Forties. BTW: Donskoi's war film THE RAINBOW (Raduga) was a major influence on the Italian neorealist movement.

[Tommaso]

I haven't seen the Ruscico, but as long as you get the PAL version of it, I'm sure nothing can go wrong. They're normally doing very good discs, though some of their source materials from the 60s and 70s seem to have deteriorated (which caused some bad reviews of Ruscico discs occasionally). But as the print on the Image looked quite good, I can't see why there should be any problems with the Ruscico. You also get the original Russian intertitles and some extras with it.

[Belorezki]

You also get the original Russian intertitles (...)

You don't! The subtitle track provides the title/intertitles. They are displayed in the language you choose.
The picture quality is very satisfying. This review should give you an impression of the quality. Scrolling downwards you'll see screenshots of the new title and intertitles and a few of the original ones that have unfortunately been replaced.

[Tommaso]

You also get the original Russian intertitles (...)

You don't! The subtitle track provides the title/intertitles. They are displayed in the language you choose.

Ah, thanks. This somewhat lets me down, I was on the verge of replacing my Image disc with the Ruscico because I like the 'feel' of the (for me) 'strange' letters in Russian titles. But of course it's an adequate way of doing it, at least better than the split Danish/English titles on many silents from the Danish Film Institute, which result in their near illegibility even on a not so small screen.

These Ruscico caps look good, but I'm not sure whether they're really better than the Image.

[jsteffe]

You also get the original Russian intertitles (...)

You don't! The subtitle track provides the title/intertitles. They are displayed in the language you choose.
The picture quality is very satisfying. This review should give you an impression of the quality. Scrolling downwards you'll see screenshots of the new title and intertitles and a few of the original ones that have unfortunately been replaced.

Wow--where else but here could someone refer me to a Russian review of the DVD? It's disappointing to see that Ruscico has created new player generated subtitle-intertitles when optical intertitles still extist for the film. I think I might go ahead and order it for my library, and later do a side-by-side comparison with the Image disc.

I don't know if you all noticed, but there's something very interesting in the menu captures--it looks like Ruscico is planning to release "The Man From the Restaurant" and the silent version of "The Forty-First" on DVD as part of that same series. Cool!

[Kinsayder]

There is a French edition of Aelita which in my opinion has a better image than the Ruscico. French intertitles only.

I've put up some samples and a comparison here.

[jsteffe]

I'm replying to a message in the Kino thread here since it pertains to a Ruscico title:

Hell, topics seem to get well jumbled here in this thread, but I try...

Re Early Paradjanov/Soviet films:

One addition would be Shengelaya's "Melodies of the Verijsky Quarter", which I also haven't seen. But on one (or several) of the Ruscico discs that I have there is a trailer for it, and ever since I watched that trailer I wanted to see that film. Must be a very charming, poetic 'musical' I assume. Ruscico has it announced as forthcoming on their site for several years now, but nothing seems to happen. Does anyone have any news about it?

It appears that Ruscico is getting back on track with their Georgian films. The Ruscico site may not be 100% up to date, but "Melodies of the Veri Quarter" is supposed to come out soon according to the Russian online retailer Ozon.

Ruscico is also supposed to release one of the founding works of modern Georgian cinema on DVD this week: "Magdanas lurja" ("Magdana's Dapple-Gray Donkey"), co-directed by Tengiz Abuladze and Rezo Chkheidze. A restored print of it was screened at last year's Tbilisi International Film Festival, with Chkheidze in attendance. Here's the Ozon product description.

Pity you can't order videos from Russia any more because of the Duma's idiotic new law restricting their export. But we should be able to get them soon direct from the Ruscico website.

Being something of a specialist in Georgian cinema, I have to say that Ruscico's selection represents some of the better Georgian films of the postwar era. I wish they could have included some films by Rezo Esadze and Lana Ghoghoberidze, not to mention Abuladze's wonderful NECKLACE FOR MY BELOVED and GRANNY, ILIKO, ILLARION AND I, or some works from Georgia's great silent period. But it's churlish to complain when they're making so many other great works available.

[videozor]

The same selection of Russian movies as on Ozon.ru available from RusKniga.com. And they are right here, in US of A! The only thing that alerts me is that movies from one of their major distributor, Krupnyi Plan, are listed as in NTSC here, but as in PAL on Ozon: who knows how the conversion is done and whether we will meet again with, almost unavoidable, PAL to NTSC issue...

[Kirkinson]

Being something of a specialist in Georgian cinema, I have to say that Ruscico's selection represents some of the better Georgian films of the postwar era.

Being something of a wannabe specialist in Georgian cinema--my expertise being mostly limited to available films and literature and whatever social context I can glean from Georgian acquaintances--I have to agree, though half these films I only know by reputation. I've seen both Melodies and magdanas lurja but unsubtitled, and the former in pan-and-scan. Though not two of my favorites, I enjoyed them both and I'll be extremely happy to have them on DVD in what I hope will be better transfers than what I saw. The music in Melodies is almost ridiculously charming, and anyone who only knows Sofiko Chiaureli from Paradjanov's films should really look into it. Kakhi Kavsadze is a riot as the Italian music teacher, too. (But I always love watching him -- his interview on Ruscico's Wishing Tree is one of my most-cherished DVD supplements, despite that he barely talks about the film at all.)

The one I'm really holding my breath for is Pirosmani, as I've read so much about it and I've been very taken with Pirosmani's paintings. But I'm eager to own all of them, really.

Have you seen Ruscico's Sun of the Sleepless? I've been wary of it since I can't find any descriptions that list a Georgian language track and I fear another Legend of Suram Fortress. (Then again, Sun of the Sleepless may be another fire casualty -- the copy I obtained from Georgia last year looked like it was transferred from a print rescued from the bottom of the ocean.)

But it's churlish to complain when they're making so many other great works available.

I just busy myself complaining about the general lack of Georgian films available to watch. That way I can go on loving Ruscico as long as they actually release what they say they're going to release.

[Tommaso]

Good news then! Has anyone ever ordered from ozon.ru? I've never ordered anything directly from Russia so I'd like to know about how reliable they are.

[videozor]

Good news then! Has anyone ever ordered from ozon.ru? I've never ordered anything directly from Russia so I'd like to know about how reliable they are.

Pretty reliable, as far as books are concerned. Takes a while though to get the order, actually, so long that you'll forget you've placed it. You can NOT order DVDs, at this time at least. Again, you can order the same DVDs from RusKniga.com - this is an American company and they are shipping from within US and mostly R0 NTSC disks. I'm not sure if PAL to NTSC transfer was done properly though. If you want just to rent and watch the movie first, here is the site for you: MoscowFlix.com. As you can guess it works on NetFlix model. Good selection, but low stock and, correspodingly, long wait. Since recently they are under new management, promise better service; but I didn't give a try yet...

[jsteffe]

Good news then! Has anyone ever ordered from ozon.ru? I've never ordered anything directly from Russia so I'd like to know about how reliable they are.

Ozon is very reliable--they're the Russian equivalent of Amazon. Trouble is, because of the new law they absolutely will not ship Russian DVDs to you because of the new law I mentioned. They'll still ship books, though.

Kinomost.ru is also good, and they'll ship to the US--I've ordered from them before--but payment and shipping is ungodly complicated and there's no way you can order from them unless you're fluent in Russian. Even then it's a headache to negotiate.

Also try Petershop.com in Germany--they'll often sell PAL versions of the same titles that are being sold NTSC here by distributors such as Krupnyi Plan. They accept payment via PayPal.

Ruskniga.com has a good selection, but they don't always have everything. In the US, the broadest selections are probably at Russiandvd.com and Oversystem.com.

Can you tell I order a lot of Russian videos?

[Tommaso]

Thanks! I never heard of Petershop before, but as they're in Germany, they seem to be ideal for me. Lots of Ruscicos there, but apparently no "Veriskij quarter" yet. I'll keep checking them...

[Lemmy Caution]

Being something of a specialist in Georgian cinema, I have to say that Ruscico's selection represents some of the better Georgian films of the postwar era. I wish they could have included some films by Rezo Esadze and Lana Ghoghoberidze, not to mention Abuladze's wonderful NECKLACE FOR MY BELOVED and GRANNY, ILIKO, ILLARION AND I, or some works from Georgia's great silent period.

jsteffe, I just picked up a copy of Abuladze's Molba (1968) aka The Plea (which also seems to be known as Vedreba and listed as 1967). It seems interesting, but the only thing I can read on the Dvd cover is Ruscico, GeorgiaFilm and 1968. I was able to guess the director's name.
Wonder if you have seen it or might have any comments on it.

Only 3 comments on IMDb, but one begins:

It's like Bergman and Kurosawa went to Georgia and decided to do Shakespeare together in the mountains.

Apparently all of the dialogue comes from an old Georgian epic poem, and it is steeped in Georgian history.

[videozor]

Can you tell I order a lot of Russian videos?

Did you make any observation on whether or not Krupnyi Plan's NTSC diks suffer from usual PAL to NTSC problem?

I have only 2 of them and could judge only by running time. On both diks time is exactly the same as indicated on the cover, so looks like no PAL speed-up. But I can be wrong...

[Michael Kerpan]

Can you tell I order a lot of Russian videos?

Did you make any observation on whether or not Krupnyi Plan's NTSC diks suffer from usual PAL to NYSC problem?

Krupnyi Plan == no subs, ever, no?

[MichaelB]

On both diks time is exactly the same as indicated on the cover, so looks like no PAL speed-up. But I can be wrong...

That usually means a PAL-NTSC or NTSC-PAL conversion job of some kind - and if it's PAL-NTSC, the speedup would affect both PAL and NTSC versions.

Given that Russia is PAL, the chances are that it's PAL master to NTSC copy.

[videozor]

Apparently all of the dialogue comes from an old Georgian epic poem, and it is steeped in Georgian history

Vedreba is the correct Georgian title. It is based on 2 (or maybe 3 or more) different poems by Vazha Pshavela, great Georgian poet. Poetry is not epic and it's not that old - late 19th-early 20th century. But the language by no means is an everyday Georgian - it was easier for me to follow Russian subtitles.

Central theme is on co-existence of Christian Georgians with their Muslim neiborgs, Kists (more known as Chechens). Vazha's (and the movie's) call for peace and tolerance is so actual today, knowing what's happened and happening in Georgia, Abkhazia, Chechnia, Russia, and, to that matter, everywhere around the world...

[jsteffe]

Apparently all of the dialogue comes from an old Georgian epic poem, and it is steeped in Georgian history

Vedreba is the correct Georgian title. It is based on 2 (or maybe 3 or more) different poems by Vazha Pshavela, great Georgian poet. Poetry is not epic and it's not that old - late 19th-early 20th century. But the language by no means is an everyday Georgian - it was easier for me to follow Russian subtitles.

Central theme is on co-existence of Christian Georgians with their Muslim neiborgs, Kists (more known as Chechens). Vazha's (and the movie's) call for peace and tolerance is so actual today, knowing what's happened and happening in Georgia, Abkhazia, Chechnia, Russia, and, to that matter, everywhere around the world...

Videozoro, kartul laparakobt?

Vazha-Pshavela (Luka Razikashvili, 1861-1915) is a fascinating poet. I've read several of his works in translation and a tiny bit in Georgian. He's from the mountainous region of Pshavia, hence the nom de plume, and his language is not standard literary Georgian. Part of its richness comes from his use of folk idioms, which derives from his experience in ethnography and collecting folk poetry. In his history of Georgian literature, the scholar Donald Rayfield mentions him in the same breath as Shakespeare, Goethe and Lermontov, which gives you some indication of the range and depth of his work.

The film itself uses a shorter poem, "Vedreba" (The Plea/Entreaty/Supplication) as a frame and two longer narrative poems, "Aluda Ketelauri" and "The Host and the Guest." Rayfield has translated them into English, though that book is very hard to come by.

[jsteffe]

Can you tell I order a lot of Russian videos?

Did you make any observation on whether or not Krupnyi Plan's NTSC diks suffer from usual PAL to NYSC problem?

Krupnyi Plan == no subs, ever, no?

I've been disappointed by the Krupnyi Plan NTSC discs. Obviously they put some care into the transfers for the newer editions, but I've noticed a weird jerkiness in the motion, perhaps due to duplicated frames. (I believe this may be one way PAL is sometimes converted to NTSC--I've noticed it before.) That's why I make a point of buying only the PAL versions for myself when possible.

Krupnyi Plan RARELY adds English subs. Their new edition of CHAPAYEV has English subs, but that's all I'm aware of.

[Kirkinson]

I just picked up a copy of Abuladze's Molba (1968) aka The Plea (which also seems to be known as Vedreba and listed as 1967). It seems interesting, but the only thing I can read on the Dvd cover is Ruscico, GeorgiaFilm and 1968. I was able to guess the director's name.
Wonder if you have seen it or might have any comments on it.

Only 3 comments on IMDb, but one begins:

It's like Bergman and Kurosawa went to Georgia and decided to do Shakespeare together in the mountains.

Apparently all of the dialogue comes from an old Georgian epic poem, and it is steeped in Georgian history.

I wrote that comment. And I'm pretty sure I used the exact same line elsewhere on this forum. It's sort of a histrionic thing to say, but as I'm sure you can gather, it's a very difficult film to explain to people. I tried to promote it a bit when we did the 60's list, but I don't think I promoted hard enough.

[jsteffe]

I just picked up a copy of Abuladze's Molba (1968) aka The Plea (which also seems to be known as Vedreba and listed as 1967). It seems interesting, but the only thing I can read on the Dvd cover is Ruscico, GeorgiaFilm and 1968. I was able to guess the director's name.
Wonder if you have seen it or might have any comments on it.

Only 3 comments on IMDb, but one begins:

It's like Bergman and Kurosawa went to Georgia and decided to do Shakespeare together in the mountains.

Apparently all of the dialogue comes from an old Georgian epic poem, and it is steeped in Georgian history.

I wrote that comment. And I'm pretty sure I used the exact same line elsewhere on this forum. It's sort of a histrionic thing to say, but as I'm sure you can gather, it's a very difficult film to explain to people. I tried to promote it a bit when we did the 60's list, but I don't think I promoted hard enough.

What's wrong with comparing Vazha-Pshavela to Shakespeare? Or Abuladze to Bergman and Kurosawa? They're world-class artists and they deserve to be recognized as such. People need to actively promote the achievments of "small nations," otherwise they'll just be ignored. Do we really need one more book on Bergman or Hitchcock when someone could write on Georgian instead?

I tried to get some Russian colleagues to watch a Kyrgyz film--namely Bolotbek Shamshiev's The White Steamship--and was disheartened by the total lack of interest, even among people with otherwise open-minded views regarding cinema. And that film even has a score by Alfred Schnittke! Very sad.