Czech DVDs

[petoluk]

Tisicrocna vcela / The Millennial Bee (1983), d. Juraj Jakubisko - Oct 29 (the shorter theatrical cut; not sure about English subs yet)

This is out, and I've had the ENG subs confirmed...

[admira]

petoluk, thanks for that, I completely LOVE this screen grab. Is it something in the style of the last five minutes in the Ecstasy?

Hmm, I wouldn't say so - I just popped in the Filmmuseum DVD of Ekstase to refresh my memory, and those scenes there seem to me more like "celebration of the labour itself", while the ending of Rodna zem shows the actual fruits of our (and our comrades') hard work (accompanied by some more... folk dancing ). Or something...

That reminds me of another movie of Josef Mach from that period- Valčík pro milión (Waltz for a Million),1960. "Same kind of happiness".
Video

[admira]

Petr Václav
Marian, 1996

Oldřich Lipský
Jáchyme, hoď ho do stroje!, 1974
Tři veteráni(Three Veterans), 1984
Tajemství hradu v Karpatech (The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians), 1983
Šest medvědů s Cibulkou (Six Bears and a Clown), 1972
Ať žijí duchové! (Long Live Ghosts!), 1977

Jan Švankmajer
Přežít svůj život (Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)), 2010

Jindřich Polák
Nebeští jezdci (Riders in the Sky), 1968
Ikarie XB 1, 1963
Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem (TOMORROW I'LL WAKE UP AND SCALD MYSELF WITH TEA), 1977

Zdeněk Podskalský
Noc na Karlštejně (A Night at Karlstein), 1974
Bílá paní (The White Lady), 1964

Jiří Krejčík
Pension pro svobodné pány (BEDTIME STORY), 1967

Jiří Menzel
Na samotě u lesa, 1976
Ostře sledované vlaky (Closely Watched Trains), 1966
Postřižiny(CUTTING IT SHORT), 1981
Rozmarné léto (Capricious Summer), 1968
Skřivánci na niti (LARKS ON A STRING), 1969
Slavnosti sněženek (THE SNOWDROP FESTIVAL), 1984
Vesničko má středisková (My Sweet Little Village), 1985
Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále (I Served the King of England), 2008

Juraj Herz
Panna a netvor (Beauty and the Beast), 1981
Spalovač mrtvol (The Cremator), 1969
T.M.A.( Darkness ), 2009

Filip Renč
Rebelové (Rebels), 2001

[MichaelB]

This was a freebie from a current DVD Best promotion, so I can't really complain, but you might like to know that the film How The World Is Losing Poets (Jak svět přichází o básníky) does not come with English subtitles, despite the box claiming otherwise.

When I posted that, I had another DVD Best order on the way with the sequel How Poets are Losing Their Illusions (Jak básníci přicházejí o iluze) as the freebie, so it was too late to cancel - but I'm glad I didn't, as it did have English subtitles.

So I can only assume that the first film was supposed to have them too, as the box blurb suggests, but they somehow got left off.

[petoluk]

Disc #5



The Quadrille
"Based on the short story by Janko Jesensky, this costume comedy is set in a small Slovak town in 1910. The place is buzzing with excitement in the expectation of the greatest event of the year - the upcoming annual ball. The arrival of a military regiment turns the whole community upside down. In their efforts to shield their fiancees from the intruders, several local gentlemen try to cancel the dance altogether, but the mayor and the regiment commander agree to hold the ball after all."

[admira]

FEX will release Blu-ray of "Lemonade Joe". LINK

"Připravujeme vydání filmu Limonádový Joe aneb Koňská opera".

[petoluk]

Disc #6



Beware!
"A screen adaptation of the drama The Shepherd's Wife by Ivan Stodola, capturing the hard life of Slovak emigrants in the times of political and social oppression before WW I. Young shepherd Ondrej Muranica flees the tyranny of Hungarian landowners to America. But a mining accident destroys his dreams and hopes of a better and fairer life. Ondrej suffers from amnesia and back home, he is pronounced dead. When he returns to his homeland years later, he learns that his wife had married his best friend."

[zedz]

Yeah, DVDBest's packaging is hilariously impenetrable. I remember I took my last package from them with me into the bar and everyone was passing around this heavy brick from a small European country and trying to guess the contents-- no one said DVDs!

I'm feeling hard done by now. My box was well-packed but easily permeable with a couple of deft slits of my knife (and it had DVDbest in huge letters all around it, so clearly I wasn't getting domino-level mystery packaging).

I've watched four of the 60s films so far, and the strike rate is excellent. Birdies, Orphans and Fools confirms that Jakubisko is a singular talent (so singular that my closest points of reference were with Chytilova and Wisniewski), though I feel like I need to see more of his work to get a handle on it. Song of the Grey Pigeon is an out-and-out masterpiece, suggesting that Barabas is a master of expressive camera movement. The film is one of the great children-at-war films, up there with Ivan's Childhood and, in my opinion, ahead of Come and See. Before the Night Is Over is either a masterpiece or a near-masterpiece, a bravura one-set chamber piece in which a set of character types are gathered together in a night club and alcohol is added, and added, and added until they disintegrate. Plenty of the acute character observation and supple shifts of narrative focus that marks many of the great Czech New wave films. The least of the four, Soccer Fans, is nevertheless an entertaining enough comedy.

[Perkins Cobb]

Glad to hear the positive reviews -- I've had all the 60s films for a while now and am looking forward to them. Very curious, though, as to whether any of the 40s-50s films from the high-propaganda period will be as good.

[admira]

David Jařab
Vaterland - Lovecký deník (Vaterland), 2004
Hlava-ruce-srdce, 2010

Fero Fenič
Zvláštní bytosti(Strange Beings), 1990
Džusový román (The Juice Novel), 1984
Fero Fenič – to najlepšie z krátkych filmov (Fero Fenič – Best of Short Films)

Jaroslav Papoušek
Ecce homo Homolka, 1969
Hogo fogo Homolka, 1970
Homolka a tobolka, 1972

Vladimír Morávek
Nuda v Brně (Boredom in Brno), 2003

Dan Wlodarczyk
Indián a sestřička (The Indian and The Nurse), 2006

Jakub Wagner
Profil - Jan Kaplický

Věra Chytilová
Kalamita (Tha Calamity), 1981
Dědictví aneb Kurvahošigutntág (THE INHERITANCE, OR FUCKOFFGUYSGOODDAY), 1992
Pátrání po Ester (QUEST FOR ESTER), 2005

Benjamin Tuček
Děvčátko (Girlie), 2002

Milan Šteindler
Vrať se do hrobu! (READY FOR THE GRAVE), 1989
O život, 2007

Ladislav Smoljak
Vrchní, prchni! (RUN WAITER RUN), 1980
Jára Cimrman ležící, spící (JÁRA CIMRMAN LAYING, SLEEPING), 1983
Rozpuštěný a vypuštěný (DISSOLVED AND LAUNCHED), 1984

Karel Steklý
Svatby pana Voka, 1971

Karel Smyczek
Sněženky a machři, 1982

Vladimír Michálek
Je třeba zabít Sekala (SEKAL HAS TO DIE), 1997
Anděl Exit (Angel Exit), 2000
O rodičích a dětech (Of Parents and Children), 2007

Dušan Klein
Jak básníci přicházejí o iluze (HOW POETS ARE LOSING THEIR ILLUSIONS), 1984
Jak básníkům chutná život (HOW POETS ARE ENJOYING THEIR LIVES), 1987

Václav Vorlíček
Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (WHO WANTS TO KILL JESSIE?), 1966
Konec agenta W4C prostřednictvím psa pana Foustky (THE END OF AGENT W4C), 1967
„Pane, vy jste vdova!“ (YOU´RE A WIDOW, MISTER!), 1970
Dívka na koštěti (SAXANA - THE GIRL ON A BROOMSTICK), 1971
Tři oříšky pro Popelku / Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel (THREE WISHES FOR CINDERELLA), 1973 DVD, Blu-ray (german, NO English subtitles)
Jak utopit Dr. Mráčka aneb Konec vodníků v Čechách (HOW TO DRAWN DR. MRACEK, THE LAWYER, OR THE LAST OF THE WATER-SPRITES IN BOHEMIA), 1974
Což takhle dát si špenát (WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SOME SPINACH?), 1977
Princ a Večernice (THE PRINCE AND THE EVENING STAR), 1978

[admira]

@ admira

Do the Brynych films have english subtitles?

This one has: Link

Also, I see you are located in Germany, so here comes a German version: Link
Not sure about the picture quality.

Another releases: Link, Link

[McCrutchy]

You know you need to stop visiting this forum when:

--You blind buy a copy of the Golden Sixties box set without having ever seen a Czech film.

Why must there be so much Czech DVD material subtitled in English? Can't those people be reasonable and think about my aching wallet?

Also, I despise MichaelB for bringing this set to my attention.

Further, I had an embarrassing moment, when I e-mailed customer service of zlatasedesata.cz asking to pay via PayPal, and all of a sudden I though I found the "English version" of that site, when in reality, I had clicked through to the English version of terryhoponozky.cz and made an order with them (for 400 CZK more than zlatasedesata.cz wanted) without realizing they were two different sites.

Again, I blame MichaelB just for consistency (he did link to both those sites for this box, after all... ).

Naturally, confusion ensued, but Czech customer service is great. Within minutes, I got a PayPal refund from terryhoponozky.cz and paid zlatasedesata.cz promptly via PayPal invoice--all in perfect English.

This is why you do not make overseas transactions online at 5:30 am EST. Time for bed.

[MichaelB]

I hate to say it, but if you've never seen a Czech film, the chances are you'll be buying them by the dozen after seeing Golden Sixties!

I was already reasonably well up on the major classics, but I've ordered loads of Czech and especially Slovak titles since watching it - in fact, the series is especially strong on the often overlooked Slovak component of the Czechoslovak New Wave (often mistakenly shortened to the Czech New Wave), possibly because Golden Sixties director Martin Šulík is himself a prominent Slovak filmmaker.

[McCrutchy]

By the way Michael, I can't believe you didn't go in rainbow order for the viewing, you could have done left-to-right or re-arranged them to ROYGBIV order.

Another strike, for shame, sir.

[MichaelB]

Incidentally, if you're a complete newcomer to Czech cinema, Peter Hames' book The Czechoslovak New Wave is pretty much mandatory - it's the best English-language overview by such a long way that I'd struggle to think of an obvious second preference.

Golden Sixties is a Czech-Slovak TV series aimed at a domestic audience, so Hames provides valuable context that the programme-makers assume the viewer will already have.

And I also strongly recommend watching the two parts of 25 from the Sixties first, as that's a great primer. It doesn't really matter which order you watch the others in.

[admira]

Radúz Činčera, Ján Roháč, Vladimír Svitáček
Kinoautomat Člověk a jeho dům ( (One Man and His House), 1967
The World's First Interactive Film! http://www.kinoautomat.cz/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ján Roháč, Vladimír Svitáček
Kdyby tisíc klarinetů (IF A THOUSAND OF CLARINETS...), 1964

Tomáš Vorel st.
Pražská 5, 1988
Kouř, 1990
Kamenný most, 1996
Z města cesta, 2002

Martin Šulík
Všetko čo mám rád , 1992
Orbis Pictus, 1997
Krajinka, 2000
Záhrada, 1995
Klič k určováni traslíků, aneb Poslední cesta Lemuela Gullivera, 2002

Petr Schulhoff
Zítra to roztočíme, drahoušku...!, 1976

Hynek Bočan
S čerty nejsou žerty (Give the Devil His Due), 1984

Václav Marhoul
Tobruk, 2008

Miloslav Šmídmajer
Miloš Forman: Co tě nezabije… (Milos Forman: What doesn't kill you...), 2009

Oskar Reif
Postel(The bed), 1998

Václav Havel
Odcházení (Leaving), 2011

[admira]

Jan Schmidt
Konec srpna v hotelu Ozon (THE END OF AUGUST AT THE HOTEL OZONE), 1966

Ivan Fíla
Král zlodějů (KING OF THIEVES), 2004
Lea, 1996

Wiktor Grodecki
Mandragora, 1997
Tělo bez duše (Body Without Soul), 1996
Not Angels But Angels, 1994

Jan Šikl
PRIVATE CENTURY, 2006

Maria Procházková
Kdopak by se vlka bál (Who's Afraid of the Wolf?), 2008
Žralok v hlavě (SHARK IN THE HEAD), 2005

Jana Ševčíková
Starověrci (OLD BELIEVERS), 2001

Karin Babinská
Pusinky, 2007

Karel Kachyňa
Smrt krásných srnců (Forbidden Dreams), 1986

Jan Svěrák
Akumulátor 1, 1994
Jízda (The Ride), 1994
Obecná škola (The Elementary School), 1991
Tmavomodrý svět (Dark Blue World), 2001
Kolja, 1996
Kuky se vrací (Kooky), 2010

Zdeněk Durdil
Radio Kebrle, 2006

Martin Mareček
Auto*Mat, 2009
Zdroj(Source), 2005

Helena Třeštíková
Manželské etudy (Marriage stories), 1987
Manželské etudy po dvaceti letech(Marriage stories after 20 years), 2005
Marcela, 2006
René, 2008
Katka, 2009

[admira]

http://www.ihffilm.com/22793.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[admira]

http://www.amazon.com/Czechoslovakias-I ... 674&sr=8-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[perkizitore]

Any pre-order links for the Marketa Lazarova blu?

[John Edmond]

Shhhhh, if you ask things like that it won't have English subtitles.

[admira]

[petoluk]

"Czech for captioned" #-o

[MichaelB]

Hmm... what's wrong with this picture?

(The tech specs suggest that this almost certainly is the new edition, but the artwork was clearly invented from the only other cover available to hand!)

UPDATE: This post no longer makes sense, as they've updated the artwork - but originally they featured a mock-up of the Second Run artwork in a Blu-ray case!

[John Edmond]

heh. Though I don't like the subtitle information. Of course a picture like that suggests not all the info is at hand.