86 Man of Marble

[antnield]

From the latest newsletter...

...we are very excited to announce that we will be releasing a beautiful, newly restored version of Andrzej Wajda's iconic 1977 film Man of Marble (Człowiek z marmuru) - a film that has long been close to the top of our "love to release" list.

[RossyG]

How about a Kickstarter campaign to make this one a Blu-ray?

[Bikey]

hmmmm.... food for thought!

[RossyG]

Go on, you know you want to.

I'll chip in a score. Anyone else?

[jsteffe]

Go on, you know you want to.

I'll chip in a score. Anyone else?

Count me in!

[swo17]

Me too!

[jbeall]

Although I doubt this forum has enough members to make it a reality, I'd chip in, too. I'll definitely be buying it the day it comes out, whether in dvd or blu.

[swo17]

The beauty of Kickstarter is that that's how you find out how much real support there is.

[knives]

..on the Internet.

[Calvin]

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, as I'd certainly support any Second Run Kickstarter, but I'm not sure it would be successful if it were only for Man of Marble on its own. After all, it already has an English-friendly Blu-Ray release.

[MichaelB]

On the other hand, the mere fact that a restored HD master already exists means that the cost of producing a Blu-ray would be far, far lower than the £20,000 that Arrow needed to raise for their Borowczyk project.

Also, isn't the Polish BD pretty much barebones? I have it on very good authority that the Second Run disc certainly won't be - I'm aware of at least three brand new interviews with major contributors to the film (you can probably guess one of them from the fact that he's already recorded interviews for two previous Second Run releases!).

[multivitamin]

hmnn...quite a disappointment for me. so many gems in Wajda's filmography that are almost totally unknown outside Poland - Without Anesthesia, Landscape After the Battle, The Wedding, Everything for Sale, The Maids of Wilko, Hunting Flies... to name a few. Great score by the superbrill Andrzej Korzynski though:)

[MichaelB]

hmnn...quite a disappointment for me. so many gems in Wajda's filmography that are almost totally unknown outside Poland - Without Anesthesia, Landscape After the Battle, The Wedding, Everything for Sale, The Maids of Wilko, Hunting Flies... to name a few. Great score by the superbrill Andrzej Korzynski though:)

Man of Marble is also far less well known than it should be. As far as its British distribution history goes, it had a brief theatrical outing in the late 1970s, a TV screening in 1985, and a VHS release in the 1990s - but that's pretty much it.

Despite its towering reputation in Wajda's filmography, it's always been much easier to see its sequel Man of Iron in the UK, presumably because of the Palme d'Or and the Oscar nomination and the fact that it's partly about the much more international audience-friendly Solidarity protests.

True, Man of Marble was released on English-friendly DVD in Poland - but so were five of the other films on your list (Hunting Flies is the only exception). And this new restoration is dramatically superior to my old Polish disc.

[Calvin]

On the other hand, the mere fact that a restored HD master already exists means that the cost of producing a Blu-ray would be far, far lower than the £20,000 that Arrow needed to raise for their Borowczyk project.

Also, isn't the Polish BD pretty much barebones? I have it on very good authority that the Second Run disc certainly won't be - I'm aware of at least three brand new interviews with major contributors to the film (you can probably guess one of them from the fact that he's already recorded interviews for two previous Second Run releases!).

Those are all good points. I was speaking in the mind that it would be important for Second Run's first Kickstarter to be successful in order to encourage more in the future, and that having a competing release might hamper Man of Marble's chances. I suppose trying can do no harm though.

[RossyG]

Roughly speaking Bikey or Michael (or anyone who knows), what are the costs involved in turning a pre-existing HD master into a Blu-ray disc?

[jsteffe]

On the other hand, the mere fact that a restored HD master already exists means that the cost of producing a Blu-ray would be far, far lower than the £20,000 that Arrow needed to raise for their Borowczyk project.

Also, isn't the Polish BD pretty much barebones? I have it on very good authority that the Second Run disc certainly won't be - I'm aware of at least three brand new interviews with major contributors to the film (you can probably guess one of them from the fact that he's already recorded interviews for two previous Second Run releases!).

I personally never bought the Polish Man of Marble Blu-ray, precisely because I was hoping for something more like this...

[GaryC]

Man of Marble is also far less well known than it should be. As far as its British distribution history goes, it had a brief theatrical outing in the late 1970s, a TV screening in 1985, and a VHS release in the 1990s - but that's pretty much it.

Man of Marble also had a UK TV showing on BBC2 late on New Year's Day 1982 - I know this because I stayed up to watch it, and it held my attention for over two and a half hours until about 1.30am on the 2nd. I remember that showing vividly: there was an apology beforehand that the print was not as good as it could be, due to Martial Law operating in Poland at the time. I don't remember noticing much untoward, but the print did break somewhen in the early hours causing a temporary pause in the broadcast. There was also an acknowledgement at the end to Channel 4, who hadn't started broadcasting yet, but presumably they had the rights and allowed the BBC to show it. If I remember rightly, the 1985 showing was on C4.

1 January 1982 was a big film-watching day for me. Earlier I had watched Spartacus and the UK TV premiere of 2001 - the notorious showing during which the BBC added stars to their letterbox black bars for certain scenes.

Man of Iron was shown a few days later on BBC2, while it was still playing in at least one London cinema. I watched that broadcast too.

I haven't seen either film since - obviously time to do so!

[What A Disgrace]

Two disc set - April 14

[MichaelB]

I'm not surprised they've gone to two discs - given the running time of the main feature, I was wondering how they'd manage to squeeze in three potentially hefty interviews.

[antnield]

[shaky]

I'm very, very glad I own those three Polish Wajda blu-rays(THE PROMISED LAND, MAN OF MARBLE, MAN OF IRON) as they are quite beautifully done, but I'll nonetheless still support this release for the interviews alone.

[McCrutchy]

I'm sad to see that the proposed Kickstarter campaign never materialized. I would have loved to get this release, with its extensive extras, in HD on Blu-ray. I suppose it will never happen now...

I will probably pick this one up, but I would urge Second Run to consider that Kickstarter option for their next major release, especially if it would a be region-free Blu-ray. DVD is an outdated format, and while it is much cheaper to release on, as a consumer, it is very difficult to continue to spend money on them. Every dollar (or pound) wasted on DVD is one that could have gone to a Blu-ray release. In fact, I do believe I only bought two of them last year, one of which was to supplement a missing extras DVD in a Blu-ray set.

[RossyG]

An article on MovieMail's site says that Network is releasing more Blu-rays from now on as the price of authoring them has dropped.

This plus a Kickstarter campaign could ease Second Run into the Blu-ray scene, where HD masters already exist, of course, as in the case of Man of Marble.

[Bikey]

MAN OF MARBLE screens at the 12th Kinoteka Polish Film Festival at the Barbican Cinema on Sunday May 11 at 3pm

[foe]

I'm very, very glad I own those three Polish Wajda blu-rays(THE PROMISED LAND, MAN OF MARBLE, MAN OF IRON) as they are quite beautifully done, but I'll nonetheless still support this release for the interviews alone.

doing the same