Mr. Bongo Films

[Peacock]

Also, Fellini's Casanova according to their Twitter

[TMDaines]

This would only be good news if it was coming on Blu? There's a French Blu of it, which is very good but expensive.

[Peacock]

Looks like we'll have to look West for salvation once again

[perkizitore]

The Carlotta BD is OOP, according to blu-ray.com. The only downside is the lack of subtitles for the magnificent extras. There is something funny with the US rights, otherwise Criterion would have snatched it!

[TMDaines]

The Carlotta BD is OOP, according to blu-ray.com. The only downside is the lack of subtitles for the magnificent extras. There is something funny with the US rights, otherwise Criterion would have snatched it!

It's up on Amazon for 17.99 euros right now.

[GaryC]

Let's keep schtum. I'm not going to hate on a minor label avoiding the stupid red tape. What would happen if they were caught not submitting to the BBFC?

It's just as well I didn't ask the BBFC to justify some of the certificates on some of the discs I reviewed. (I'm aware that BBFC decisions can appear on the website some time after they were made, so I assumed that was the case at first.)

The one that made me suspicious was Black God White Devil, which has an 18 certificate on the box. I wondered how any film from 1965 or earlier* could have such a high certificate. I can see why it might have had BBFC problems at the time, which may explain why there's no record of a certificate then - there's a scene which implies that a character has been castrated. But there's nothing in it that wouldn't get a 15 now.

*The only exceptions I can think of offhand are Un Chant d'Amour and The Good Old Naughty Days. But even Eyes Without a Face has a 15 now.

[MichaelB]

Let's keep schtum. I'm not going to hate on a minor label avoiding the stupid red tape. What would happen if they were caught not submitting to the BBFC?

They'd certainly be in breach of the 1984 Video Recordings Act, but I don't have my copy immediately to hand to check the penalties. But I imagine they'd involve immediate compulsory withdrawal of all unclassified titles from sale, a ban on reissuing them without BBFC approval (which would necessitate a reprint of disc and box artwork), and probably a fine on top.

[perkizitore]

The Carlotta BD is OOP, according to blu-ray.com. The only downside is the lack of subtitles for the magnificent extras. There is something funny with the US rights, otherwise Criterion would have snatched it!

It's up on Amazon for 17.99 euros right now.

I know, i've ordered it after i noticed how much Bongo is charging for the DVD!

[colinr0380]

Also, Fellini's Casanova according to their Twitter

That's strange, since it already had quite a good DVD release at the end of 2005. Unless it were remastered or brought out on Blu-ray I couldn't see the point. Has the original Freemantle released disc gone out of print?

[Ashirg]

According to Amazon, old disc is out of print and the upcoming Mr Bongo disc is already available for pre-order (as well as Earth and Rocha's Antonio das Mortes).

[stephenp]

While looking up the Dovzhenko, I noticed that something seems to have gone awry with Amazon's database for a whole range of products:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?ie=UTF8&searc ... 0Dovzhenko

Either that, or the Gunners could call on some quite remarkable (albeit fairly elderly) talent to make their videos!

(and yes, I do understand how the confusion has arisen )

[Jonathan S]

That reminds of this confusion on a price comparison site!

[stephenp]

That reminds of this confusion on a price comparison site!

The mind boggles...
"Hooray for Lloyd George" just doesn't have the same ring...
...and I doubt that Harold Lloyd knew my father...

edit: Although it is tempting to try to read the set contents as providing a sly commentary on the last days of the Welsh Goat's premiership:

1. Are Crooks Dishonest? (1918) 2. Just Neighbours (1919) 3. Bumping Into Broadway (1920) 4. His Royal Slyness (1920) 5. An Eastern Westerner (1920) 6. Number Please? (1920) 7. I Do

[Peacock]

Hey there, I read online that your upcoming release of Earth is
fully restored with all deleted scenes. Can you say whether you're
using the Kino master or the Arte? This is a highly anticipated
release for me, i'd love to know it's getting the best transfer
available.
Thanks,
Alexander

Yes it is

Sorry just to clarify, yes it's the Arte?

Yes arte

This is great news for everyone who owns that disk and doesn't speak German! If nothing goes wrong this'll be the best english subbed release on the market.

[MichaelB]

I have a checkdisc of Earth, and a quick spin looks pretty promising - it's certainly the best I've seen the film look to date, with the caveat that a Soviet film from 1930 is never going to look pristine. I also liked what I heard of the score - and the intertitles are in the original Russian with optional English subtitles.

[Doug Cummings]

I've got the disc, too, Michael, and the print is indeed gorgeous. But I'm very concerned about the projection rate. Even at 78 minutes (compared to Kino's 71) it suggests a 24-fps transfer rather than the correct 16-fps.

[MichaelB]

Would a film from 1930 really have been 16fps?

[Doug Cummings]

I got my info from this source:

http://uwf.edu/ruzwyshyn/dovzhenko/Earth.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"George Sadoul writes that the original release time of Earth before censorship was 5,670 ft. (94 minutes at 16 frames/second, silent film speed). Sadoul, Georges. Histoire de l’art du cinéma. Paris: Flammarion, 1949. After censorship in the USSR, the film was cut down to 5,200 ft. (86 minutes). According to Roman Savytsky, the prevalent supposedly ‘uncensored’ version of Earth circulating in the 1950’s and 60’s in the republics ran 5,589 ft.[237] (93 minutes). For another discussion of the different versions of Earth see Savytsky Roman. “Pomiry Zemli O. Dovzhenka” Suchasnist Lypen/Serpen’ 1975 Chastyna 7-8 (175-76). pp. 106-112.

In North America, the 1950’-60’s widely circulated and still present copies of the film from Soviet providers, Audio Brandon and Artkino, reduced this to 4,860 ft. (81 minutes). Reconstructed in the USSR during the Khrushchev thaw, the less censored Russian thaw version to which Carynnyk refers began to circulate from Gosfilmfond (Moscow) in North America in the 1970’s at 5580 ft. (93 minutes.) In the nineties a North American video release version (KINO Red Silents) appeared, which claimed to be copied from an earlier uncensored version of Earth but, in actuality, drew on the Russian ‘Khrushchev thaw’ reconstruction. Projecting the speed at the incorrect 24 frames per second in its video dubbing instead of 16 frames per second, the closer silent film speed, the KINO video release version reduces Dovzhenko’s originally 94 minute film to 73 minutes. Because of Earth’s concern with stasis and motion, this speeding up does violence to Dovzhenko’s rhythm. Dovzhenko’s original conception of the film was predicated on a lyric static, painterly aesthetic. In the original conception, little moves."

[Jonathan S]

(94 minutes at 16 frames/second, silent film speed). Sadoul, Georges. Histoire de l’art du cinéma. Paris: Flammarion, 1949.

My fairly recent Sky Arts recording of the 1971 Mosfilm edition runs 83 minutes, though I don't know what fps was chosen. It looks a bit slower than natural movement to me and that's with PAL speed-up. I'm not sure what frame rate this film was designed for but to me Sadoul's "16 frames/second, silent film speed" (my italics) suggests that this information is a relic from the time when it was wrongly believed that all silents should be run at that speed. Henri Langlois used to show them that way, with no music for the ultimate "pure" viewing experience, at the Cinematheque Francaise and in some cases viewers fell asleep or walked out. (I don't however ally myself with the current campaign to run all silents at or near 24 fps!)

The ultra-rare complete Dovzhenko DVD set apparently presents two versions of this film, including the original. Can anyone confirm the timings on that edition?

[MichaelB]

5,670 feet is only 63 minutes at 24fps, so either Sadoul's footage count is wrong (though he's right about it equating to 94 mins at 16fps, so that's unlikely), or the Mr Bongo disc is sourced from a significantly longer print, or it's been transferred at a slower framerate. Given that print debris isn't flickering as fast as it would at 24fps, my money's on the latter.

Assuming the source footage of the version on the Mr Bongo DVD equates to this same 5,670 feet, transferring it at a frame rate of 19-20fps would produce the 77 minute running time of the DVD - and that may well be correct. I'd certainly favour 20fps over 16fps for a film made right at the end of the silent era.

[Doug Cummings]

I know 16 fps isn't an absolute rule, but his numbers sounded really exact--glad Michael's got the math.

Bongo didn't send me any documentation whatsoever with the disc, so I've emailed them for more info but haven't heard back yet.

[MichaelB]

The trouble is, without knowing the footage length of the source print of Mr Bongo's DVD, all this is conjecture. But if it really is the 5,670 foot uncut version and it's been transferred at roughly 20fps, then it would end up at more or less the disc's running time - which looks pretty promising. By eye, I'd say I could well believe it to be 20fps.

This piece is very interesting, because it explicitly claims that the running time should be 64 mins at 24fps, 76 mins at 20 fps (i.e. the running time of the Mr Bongo disc) and 95 mins at 16fps. It also offers framegrabs of the 69-minute Image Entertainment release, and I can certainly confirm that the Mr Bongo disc is very substantially better in terms of both image quality and composition (it's much less cropped). I've uploaded comparative framegrabs here.

[Doug Cummings]

Yes, I've been gasping at the improved image myself the past few days. One would think Bongo would readily promote the specifics of the restoration; given the improved print and runtime, this could be a release of major importance.

[Cash Flagg]

I'm a bit confused as to Earth's price. DVD Outsider gives a £12.99 list price, which is in keeping with previous Mr. Bongo pricing, but the Amazon pre-order has a list price of £17.99, on sale for £13.99.

[jsteffe]

It's good to hear that Mr. Bongo is using the Arte transfer, which looks really nice and has an effective orchestral score.

I can't say anything about the actual frame rate of the Arte transfer, but the 1971 Mosfilm reconstruction of Earth with the Ovchinnikov score was more than likely stretch-printed (i.e., every alternate frame repeated). This technique usually makes the action too slow and jerky. The 70s reconstruction of Potemkin (the one with the Shostakovich score) definitely suffered from that problem. As a matter of fact, many of the commonly circulating prints of Soviet silent films are from that slate of reconstructions/sonorizations carried out during the Seventies.

It's possible that the title cards on the 1971 Mosfilm reconstruction are also different from the originals and may even have slightly different lengths; I could compare the two DVDs when I get home and let you know what I find out.

Because of the fairly complicated questions surrounding the frame rate and the multiple release versions, I wouldn't necessarily assume that any footage is missing based on discrepancies in running time. The only way to tell for certain would be a shot-by-shot comparison of the versions in question. It's been a while since I've seen the Arte version, but I recall that it does have some footage which was censored previously based on what I've read, such as the shots depicting workers urinating into the tractor's radiator. To be sure, much if not all of that footage is also found in the 71 Moscow reconstruction which Kino released on VHS and DVD in the U.S. But the Arte version is far ahead of the Kino DVD, which was sourced from an analog videotape master. Mr. Bongo was very smart to pick up this particular title.