50 / BD 67 Morgiana

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souvenir
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:20 pm

50 / BD 67 Morgiana

#1 Post by souvenir » Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:12 am

Morgiana

Image

With delirious visuals conjured by cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera (Daisies) and often described as the 'last' film of the Czech New Wave, Juraj Herz's delirious tale of terror is a fantastical and surreal phantasmagoria of dark desires and splintered minds – a twisted Czech take on Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Poe's The Black Cat.

Based on a short story by Aleksandr Grin, (the 'Russian Poe'), Morgiana is the story of twin sisters, Klára and Viktoria who live a life of decadent opulence, somewhere in the late 19th century. Klára is auburn-haired and beautiful, whilst Viktoria is wicked, sadistic, bursting with hate and jealousy - and who hatches a terrible revenge by slowly poisoning her more popular sister. As the poison takes hold, Klára begins to lose grip on her sanity...

Part fairy-tale, part Gothic horror, Morgiana is a full-blown hallucinatory experience from the director of the chilling The Cremator.

Special Features

• Newly filmed interview with director Juraj Herz.
• New digital transfer with restored picture and sound.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• Booklet featuring essays by Dr Ian Conrich and Daniel Bird.
• Optimal quality dual-layer disc.
• Available for the first time on DVD in the English speaking world.

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carax09
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#2 Post by carax09 » Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:12 am

souvenir wrote:Pre-order up at HMV.
One of the more enjoyable imdb reviews you'll ever read:
Juraj Herz's 1971 Morgiana is less Carroll-gone-softcore than Edward Gorey as filmed by Ken Russell-a sardonic chunk of Victorian penny-dreadful melodrama tweaked to new levels of aesthetic and emotional hysteria. Jealous of her vapidly "good" sister's popularity, poisonous Viktoria doses pretty Klara's tea with a slow-acting fatal substance. As the latter grows hysterically weak, the former finds success increasingly compromised by guilt, blackmail, and the pesky need to kill others lest she be exposed. The women here are painted as elaborately as psychedelic-drag-queen Cockettes, and the purple extremity of their predicament is drawn in equally bizarre/extravagant terms. It's like a dress-up, younger-generation version of Baby Jane?, set in an ornamental snow globe.

Actually I'd almost swear our own Zazou dlM penned that.

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LQ
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#3 Post by LQ » Fri Jun 18, 2010 9:14 am

Well I for one am sold.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 50 Morgiana

#4 Post by zedz » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:50 pm

Can't wait for this. Love Herz.

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MichaelB
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#5 Post by MichaelB » Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:43 pm

I've only seen it without subtitles, but that IMDB review seems pretty spot on.

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jbeall
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#6 Post by jbeall » Fri Jun 18, 2010 5:42 pm

Looks like another winner from SR. I'm sold as well.

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Jean-Luc Garbo
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#7 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:40 pm

This review is pretty good, too. (Here's a short summary from Mubi.) I loved Cremator so I have to see Morgiana. Try a search for Morgiana on Google images for some interesting stills and posters. Or video excerpts.

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Person
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 3:00 pm

Re: 50 Morgiana

#8 Post by Person » Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:08 am

I have seen Morgiana. It's a great film, gorgeous baroque asethetic, highly weird.

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Landjorden
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#9 Post by Landjorden » Sat Jun 19, 2010 2:16 pm

Wow, looking at that intro and one of the other clips on youtube I know I have to get this. Totally wierd and I love it!

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Cash Flagg
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#10 Post by Cash Flagg » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:27 pm


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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 50 Morgiana

#11 Post by knives » Wed Sep 01, 2010 9:34 pm

cover: Image
Just to double check this will be R0, correct?

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MichaelB
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#12 Post by MichaelB » Thu Sep 02, 2010 1:58 am

I'd be surprised if this one was region-coded: I don't think any of Second Run's other Czech discs are, and there's nothing contractually special about this title that I'm aware of.

It'll be PAL, though, obviously.

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knives
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#13 Post by knives » Thu Sep 02, 2010 2:30 am

Oh, obviously PAL, but until I buy that all region player even for SR (which I think has all of two R2s) I'll be neurotic.

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bunuelian
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:49 am
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#14 Post by bunuelian » Thu Sep 02, 2010 3:42 am

I bought a region-free player (pretty cheap nowadays) just to get access to Second Run, and am very glad I did.

I'm looking forward to seeing this film.

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Murdoch
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#15 Post by Murdoch » Thu Sep 02, 2010 10:30 am

Absolutely gorgeous artwork, a blind-buy for me based on what I've seen and heard.

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Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: 50 Morgiana

#16 Post by Bikey » Mon Sep 06, 2010 2:49 pm

Yes, definitely Region 0.

The disc will also now include a new filmed interview director Juraj Herz - which we're really pleased with.
However, because the interview came in so late we had to hold up production to accomodate it. As a result the release date has now moved back to October 11.

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jbeall
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#17 Post by jbeall » Wed Sep 29, 2010 11:26 pm


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MichaelB
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#18 Post by MichaelB » Thu Sep 30, 2010 1:32 am

Framegrabs really don't do this film justice!

Anyway, I now have a final release version, and it would appear to be from the same source as the Czech DVD reviewed here... but with the major difference that the bitrate has been massively increased, so that the blocky artefacting that was complained about isn't an issue any more.

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Matt
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#19 Post by Matt » Thu Sep 30, 2010 12:37 pm

So, how's the movie? I was intrigued by the description, but an available YouTube clip made the film seem like 1,000 other Eurohorror films of the sort that have Barbara Steele creeping around a castle.

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swo17
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#20 Post by swo17 » Thu Sep 30, 2010 12:53 pm

I haven't seen 1000 Eurohorror films to compare, but I'd definitely recommend this film. Underneath all the effectively zany camerawork, there's a pretty psychologically disturbing story about the ties that bind that might bear comparison with something like Sisters or Dead Ringers, with some nice twists and turns along the way. Also, there are kittens.

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Finch
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#21 Post by Finch » Thu Sep 30, 2010 3:50 pm

One of the reviews linked to above felt the ending was terrible. For those who've seen it, would you agree that the ending is an issue?

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MichaelB
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#22 Post by MichaelB » Thu Sep 30, 2010 6:34 pm

Matt wrote:So, how's the movie? I was intrigued by the description, but an available YouTube clip made the film seem like 1,000 other Eurohorror films of the sort that have Barbara Steele creeping around a castle.
I don't see it as a horror film so much as a psychedelic series of variations on a 1940s Gainsborough melodrama, only with the same actress playing both the Phyllis Calvert and Margaret Lockwood roles.

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Bikey
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#23 Post by Bikey » Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:49 pm

Full details now up at our website

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MichaelB
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#24 Post by MichaelB » Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:59 am


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Bikey
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Re: 50 Morgiana

#25 Post by Bikey » Wed Oct 13, 2010 7:08 pm

Time Out/David Jenkins have given Morgiana a great 4**** review in this week's issue.

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