Aleksandr Dovzhenko

[Tommaso]

jpc. Just make sure to order something else with it in order to save on shipping if you live outside Europe.

[denti alligator]

Schreck, I'm more keen on seing Ivan, if only because a boot of Zvenigora is out there already (hardly does it justice, I imagine).

Also, Rosenbaum has this to say:

"at least four [Dovzhenko films] are jaw-dropping masterpieces, made consecutively over a mere six years: Arsenal (1929), Earth (1930), Ivan (1932), and Aerograd (1935).

Later he writes: "There are astonishing things in both Zvenigora (1927)--which Dovzhenko once called "a catalog of all my creative possibilities"--and Shchors (1939), which has a remarkable opening, though I'd hesitate to place them in the same league as the other four."

Arsenal and Ivan, of those four, are distinguished further in that Rosenbaum includes them among his 100 favorite films of all time. High praise that!

[Adam]

Just came across this in a log of footage related to the Ukraine from Footage Farm. Just log entries; haven't seen the film yet. What a nice potential extra for some day...
(no listings for reels 5-7)

X 1964
[+ 1930s] LN 400-251 B/W Ukraine / USSR SD UNKNOWN 05:50:34 - 06:01:20 O. Dovzhenko [Reel 1 of 7]
Documentary on Ukrainian filmmaker Alexander Dovzhenko. Ukrainian commentary.
Clips from Dovzhenko feature films shown. High pan across river valley; scenic views Ukrainian countryside. Stork. Thatched cottage w/ plaque marking birthplace of Dovzhenko in 1894; INT cottage - portraits of mother & father.
05:54:35 Film extract from “Earth”. Sunset over countryside - dark woodland. Photo of Dovzhenko.
05:56:35 Feature film scene [from Ivan, 1932?] - men in barracks telling stories animatedly - cutaways to stills of director. VO presumably re development of Dovzhenko’s early career, key themes etc. CUs newspaper & political cartoons by Dovzhenko.
06:01:06 Film studio in Ukraine - exterior & interior shots of filming..

X 1964
[+ 1920s ] LN 400-251 B/W Ukraine / USSR SD UNKNOWN 06:01:30 - 06:11:20 O. Dovzhenko [Reel 2 of 7]
Documentary on Ukrainian filmmaker Alexander Dovzhenko. Ukrainian commentary.
Cont’d... Animated film reel out of can, fades into scene from early Dovzhenko short? - Chaplin-style stylized slapstick. Early film poster & extract from film [The Diplomatic Pouch, 1927?] set on ocean liner (GOOD).
06:04:40 Still of Dovzhenko & crew posing w/ camera. More film scenes from Zvenigora (1928)? - good montage from fast-moving train w/ Cossacks fighting - train crashes. CUs newspaper articles on Dovzhenko

X 1964
[+ 1920s - 1930s] LN 400-251 B/W Ukraine / USSR SD UNKNOWN 06:11:29 - 06:21:24 O. Dovzhenko [Reel 3 of 7]
Documentary on Ukrainian filmmaker Alexander Dovzhenko. Ukrainian commentary.
Cont’d... Scenes from Dovzhenko’s Arsenal (1928) re uprising in Kiev - Red Army soldiers.
06:14:06 Pan across modern exhibition complex - 1950s architecture; crowds inside huge hall look at displays. Release of Dovzhenko’s most famous film Zemlya [The Earth] (1930); feature extracts shown - collective farm workers celebrate arrival of tractor - man skips & dances along empty village lane then collapses.
06:18:07 Funeral procession thru orchard from Shchors (1939) - heavy rain falling on fruit in orchard.

X 1964
[+ 1930s] LN 400-251 B/W Ukraine; rUSSIA ? / USSR SD UNKNOWN 06:21:43 - 06:31:49 O. Dovzhenko [Reel 4 of 7]
Documentary on Ukrainian filmmaker Alexander Dovzhenko. Ukrainian commentary.
Cont’d... Tracking shot from train thru industrial landscape - extracts from Dovzhenko’s first sound film Ivan (1932). Workers building railroad? - heavy industry scenes - Dnieper Dam construction site.
06:23:52 Scenes from Aerograd (1935) - inc. gun battle w/ man chasing Japanese invaders in Siberian outpost / Soviet frontier - Stalinist propaganda.
06:26:29 Dovzhenko on set of Aerograd directing actors. Dialogue scene between Russian frontiersman & Japanese captive who is then shot.
06:28:45 Cartoon sketches by Dovzhenko. Dovzhenko greets & chats w/ actor. Dovzhenko filming outdoor scene [from Shchors, 1939?].

[tojoed]

Members might be interested in this 10 DVD box. But don't get too excited. Apparently only ten were ever issued, and then only to a few diplomats. However, a certain chap, who e-mails me from time to time, has copies of seven of them.

[MichaelB]

Given that the new Mr Bongo disc of Earth appears to be an English-subtitled version of the Arte edition, I thought it was worth highlighting a few details, since I watched the checkdisc in full last night.

First of all, it is indeed miles better than the Kino/Image discs (I have the Kino, but I understand that the Image is essentialy identical), and on every single level. Although the print is far from pristine, it certainly looks as though Arte went to every effort to source the best one they could - there's a fair bit of surface damage, but the quality of the actual cinematography is way ahead of the much grainier and contrastier Image/Kino release. It looks like 35mm, whereas the Image/Kino may well be a 16mm dupe. Also, the image is far less cropped - in fact, it may even be uncropped, since it has rounded corners at the right-hand side.

Mr Bongo's version has all onscreen text in the original Russian, with optional English subtitles, while Kino/Image has some English intertitles, and burned-in English subtitles on the Russian ones. Both sets of English subtitles try to reproduce the colloquialisms of the original Ukrainian, but Mr Bongo's are less toe-curlingly vernacular. (This may be a matter of taste, though - I'm more likely to respond favourably to subtitles in British English).

I was also very impressed with the full orchestral score on the Mr Bongo/Arte edition, clearly composed specifically for the film (i.e. unlike the shoehorned Shostakovich that accompanies too many 1970s Soviet "restorations" of their silent masterpieces). Recording quality is infinitely higher on the new edition - the Kino/Image score is clearly sourced from an old optical print, and sounds like it: there's hiss and crackle galore.

The running time of the new disc is 77 mins, compared with the 71 mins of the Image/Kino edition - though the latter is really 69 mins once nearly two minutes of explanatory text is eliminated. I'd need to do a direct shot-by-shot comparison to be sure, but both editions certainly feature all the contentious material (the female nudity, the urination into the tractor's radiator tank), so my preliminary guess is that the Image/Kino disc has been transferred at a higher framerate, and may have been stretch-printed (I can't tell if repeated frames are a by-product of that or NTSC 3:2 pulldown). It certainly "feels" faster than the Mr Bongo edition.

With regard to the latter, I can tell by eye that it's clearly slower than 24fps, there's no sign of stretch-printing and given the running time of just under 77 minutes it's highly plausible that it is indeed the full 5,670-foot version transferred at 20fps (at which speed it looks entirely convincing - in any case, 16fps sounds historically wrong for 1930, and I'd be curious to know where that recommended speed came from). But regardless of whether any problems turn up under closer examination, it's already clear that the new Mr Bongo disc is the definitive English-friendly edition for now - and came as a really pleasant surprise, since I'm by no means a fan of rather too many of their other discs. There are no extras whatsoever, but if it's priced in line with their usual releases it should be a bargain.

[Duncan Hopper]

Thanks for that Michael, given Mr Bongo's track record, I'm glad someone has taken the time to fully check it out in advance for us.

Now, have you done all your prep for Sunday?

[jsteffe]

MichaelB, thanks for the early peek at Earth! I have the Arte German disc but will definitely pick up the Mr. Bongo disc so I can show the film to various friends. It would be nice if Kino could work something out with Arte to release the new transfer as well.

To explain a little further about what's going on with the language in the subtitles... As you note, the titles are (mostly) in Russian on the Arte disc. However, the dialogue on the intertitles uses deliberately non-standard Russian in places to give it a "rural Ukrainian" flavor. For instance, Vasyl' calls his father "bat'ko" and "batiushka." "Bat'ko" is definitely Ukrainian. "Batiushka" can be used in Russian to address a priest, but outside that context I'd guess that it sounds archaic or regional. Although it is a different language Ukrainian is nonetheless very close to Russian, and many Russian speakers perceive it as archaic and "country"-sounding. While I was in Russia, I even saw a comedy routine on TV poking fun at Ukrainian manners of speech. The translators have picked up on this and have tried to represent that aspect in English. If the English subtitles were in plain vanilla English, you'd lose an important dimension to the film - the connection between language and ethnic identity.

I'm not at all sure about this, but you might be able to describe the language used in the intertitles as "surzhik," a colloquial mixing of Russian and Ukrainian that you find in southern Russia and Ukraine. This is something that a native Russian or Ukrainian speaker could verify, but I haven't been exposed to enough actual surzhik to say with any confidence that it's what we're seeing here.

Where things get interesting is that at least one of the title cards in the Arte version--"There's no water in the radiator."--is in a different typeface and is definitely in Ukrainian and *not* Russian. I'm curious to learn more about the restoration, what elements were used, and especially the origin of the intertitles. Was the film originally distributed in Ukraine with Russian or Ukrainian intertitles? Are these titles original, or were they done later? More information about the film's restoration would be helpful.

[MichaelB]

The translators have picked up on this and have tried to represent that aspect in English. If the English subtitles were in plain vanilla English, you'd lose an important dimension to the film - the connection between language and ethnic identity.

Just to be clear, Mr Bongo's subtitles aren't in plain vanilla English - but they're not quite as straw-chewingly yokel-like as Image/Kino's. However, the distinction between explanatory Russian and colloquial Ukrainian still comes across perfectly clearly.

[jsteffe]

Just to be clear, Mr Bongo's subtitles aren't in plain vanilla English - but they're not quite as straw-chewingly yokel-like as Image/Kino's. However, the distinction between explanatory Russian and colloquial Ukrainian still comes across perfectly clearly.

Mr. Bongo's subtitles are probably a better solution based on what you're saying. You're right, the Image/Kino subtitles push the "yokel" thing really far, and it can be off-putting. They are, after all, subtitles, which should be quickly & easily readable.

[MichaelB]

I'll post some direct comparisons when I get a chance, as it would be nice to get some expert input.

[tojoed]

I posted this in the relevant thread, but I thought it should go here as well.

Mr Bongo (UK) are releasing Arsenal and Zvenigora on DVD in February.

[Tommaso]

Let's hope they are using the same restored transfers that the Ukrainians made available in their 'Complete Dovzhenko edition' that they made only available to diplomats...

[HerrSchreck]

How is this Columbia set different from the huge Cultural Heritage set that was released recently on Dovzhenko?