Forthcoming: Pharaoh (Faraon)

[criterionsnob]

Blu-ray coming soon.

Pharaoh
(Faraon)
A film by Jerzy Kawalerowicz

Poland, 1966


Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz and adapted from the famous novel by Bolesław Prus, Pharaoh is a truly epic production, focusing on a young Ramses XIII as he ascends to the throne of the ancient Egyptian empire.

Complete with huge battle scenes, towering sets, stunningly choreographed sequences and spectacular cinematography, Pharaoh became the most successful film in Polish history. But unlike its Hollywood counterparts, Kawalerowicz's authentic epic remains resolutely anchored in ideas as well as spectacle.

[swo17]

Great!

[knives]

This is one of the all time greats. It’s so entertaining in addition to the intellectual stimulation that I’m sure the board is interested in.

[Stefan Andersson]

How long will this release be?

Online info mentions several running times for the film, from c. 190 to ca. 152 minutes, for the Ostalgica bluray. Polish DVD editions seem to erroneusly give a runtime of 175 mins.
Version(s) of about 140 mins. seem to have been intended as international cuts.

There is also mention of a 180-minute VHS edition from Polart, badly subtitled and in 1.85 format. If this master is accessible, maybe Second Run could take relevant scenes from it, as a special feature, a bit like the Madman edition of La Ronde had a featurette presenting scenes cut from the first release version.

Are there any English-friendly online descriptions of the cuts to the long version?

Some sources:

https://culture.pl/pl/dzielo/faraon-rez ... walerowicz

https://www.filmweb.pl/film/Faraon-1965 ... ja,1904463 - informative posts by heathcliff filmaniak and lucky luke about running times and a 176-min. version from TVP.

https://pisf.pl/aktualnosci/faraon-po-c ... nstrukcji/

https://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/ ... alerowicz/ - on the Polart VHS

[MichaelB]

It'd lay money on it being the 152-minute version, in line with the Studio Kadr restoration.

There are two official versions of Pharaoh that were personally signed off by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, running 176 minutes and 152 minutes (some sources for the latter say 145, but that'll be after PAL speedup has been factored in). Everything else will be either misreported or an unofficial variant. Half the running-time discrepancy is apparently down to dozens of brief trims, usually to the start and end of shots, or the removal of inessential dialogue. I have a more detailed account of the actual scenes that were removed (minor subplots in all cases, I believe), but it's in Polish and so will need a bit of time to plough through.

[Stefan Andersson]

It'd lay money on it being the 152-minute version, in line with the Studio Kadr restoration.

There are two official versions of Pharaoh that were personally signed off by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, running 176 minutes and 152 minutes (some sources for the latter say 145, but that'll be after PAL speedup has been factored in). Everything else will be either misreported or an unofficial variant. Half the running-time discrepancy is apparently down to dozens of brief trims, usually to the start and end of shots, or the removal of inessential dialogue. I have a more detailed account of the actual scenes that were removed (minor subplots in all cases, I believe), but it's in Polish and so will need a bit of time to plough through.

Thank you very much, MichaelB, for this info!

[TMDaines]

Yeah, nice. This never got a standlone Blu-ray in either Poland or the UK, and was only in the Scorese sets, so I need this one.

[MichaelB]

It may well be the case - in fact, it’s more likely than otherwise - that Kawalerowicz made the trims to the original camera negative, with the offcuts then being discarded as per usual in these situations. So a restoration of the 176-minute cut may not be possible - even if 35mm materials survive, there’ll be a very noticeable quality discrepancy at around eighty different points in the film.

[What A Disgrace]

I have a feeling this will be a May release. Usually SR titles are up for pre-order shortly before the most recent title is released, and Happy End is already out.

[What A Disgrace]

I wonder if this might wind up being a two-fer release of films, like Desire evolved into a double feature with All My Good Countrymen. Happy End has been out for a month and we still have no word on the next release.

[Bikey]

Unfortunately, we're still frustrated with the ongoing Amazon UK issue and are therefore reluctant to release anything at the moment, but IT IS coming soon...