Kino

[Roscoe]

Kino will be releasing ten restored Hungarian films:

Kino Lorber has announced that it has acquired North American rights for ten newly restored classics from the Hungarian National Film Fund- Film Archive.

The titles includes “Mephisto,” directed by István Szabó, which won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1981 Academy Awards; “Colonel Redl,” directed by Szabó and a 1986 Academy Award nominee; Szabo’s “Confidence,” winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 1980 Berlin International Film Festival and 1981 Academy Award nominee.

The others are “My 20th Century, directed by Ildikó Enyedi; and six films by Miklós Jancsó — “The Red and White,” “The Confrontation,” “Elektra, My Love,” “The Round-Up,” “Winter Wind” and “Red Psalm,”which won the Best Director award at 1972 Cannes Film Festival.

There's a lot of overlap with Second Run here, but I'll be happy to upgrade the Jancsó titles (assuming they're released on BD.)

Great news about MEPHISTO -- one of the most strangely neglected films around, it has fallen off the map for just far too long.

[fdm]

Wasn't "Hanussen" part of a trilogy along with "Mephisto" and "Colonel Redl"? (Just going by faint memory.) Seems to be the neglected title for some reason. (Wiki sez informal trilogy.)

[nitin]

Will there be a boxset? Would pre-order that right now!

[colinr0380]

Wasn't "Hanussen" part of a trilogy along with "Mephisto" and "Colonel Redl"? (Just going by faint memory.) Seems to be the neglected title for some reason. (Wiki sez informal trilogy.)

Yes, they are often considered a trilogy as all three films star Klaus Maria Brandauer in, as Wikipedia notes, a "series of roles based on historical figures who, as represented in the films, compromised their morals in order to climb the ladder of success within a context of authoritarian political power". Colonel Redl is a little less celebrated partly because Mephisto won the Foreign Language Academy Award (though Colonel Redl won the Jury Prize at Cannes), and perhaps also because it is dealing with a World War I era figure rather than Nazism, but its worth thinking of all three films as loosely thematically connected (I sometimes think of them superficially in the same way as the three historical Aleksandr Sokurov films Moloch, Taurus and The Sun, though of course The Sun has a different actor in the major historical figure role, and those films are dealing more with central figureheads losing their grip on power)

[onedimension]

I know they’re not “studio classics”, but would love to hear from the Kino Insider if they have any plans to repackage on blu ray some of their existing sets - The Movies Begin, Edison..

[Boosmahn]

Park Chan-wook's Thirst is coming to Blu-ray in the U.S. from Kino

[andyli]

I cannot see it top the excellent Korean CJ Ent. release. Unless of course Kino carry over the commentary tracks and subtitle them.

[domino harvey]

Kino will release the Lee Marvin/Robert Ryan the Iceman Cometh on Blu-ray in March. This should be interesting, given their DVD was virtually unwatchable and the sound hard to even understand

[kekid]

All American Film Theater DVD's and Blu Rays are issued without subtitles. This is a serious flaw. Given poor sound quality, watching them has been a frustrating experience. I don't see how the planned release of the Iceman Cometh would be easier to understand than the previously released DVD.

[whaleallright]

dupe message

[whaleallright]

I was just looking at that DVD of Iceman Cometh and you're not kidding. It looks like someone soaked the film in piss and dragged it across the floor before scanning it.

I know they’re not “studio classics”, but would love to hear from the Kino Insider if they have any plans to repackage on blu ray some of their existing sets - The Movies Begin, Edison..

The sheer variety of material on some of those sets would seem to mitigate against easy HD release—unless someone is systematically scanning the entire Blackhawk collection in HD. And even if that were the case, some of the stuff on Movies Begin seems to be from dated 16mm sources that probably wouldn't hold up to the scrutiny of today's discerning home-video enthusiasts, and to get better sources for much of it Kino would have to make arrangements with umpteen film archives across Europe and the U.S.

I agree though that HD versions of the early-cinema stuff would be wonderful, for teaching purposes among others. The restored Lumière actualities on this set are just jaw-dropping.

[Aspect]

I hope KL can release Pinter’s The Homecoming hot on the heels of The Iceman Cometh. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

[solaris72]

All American Film Theater DVDs and Blu Rays are issued without subtitles. This is a serious flaw. Given poor sound quality, watching them has been a frustrating experience. I don't see how the planned release of the Iceman Cometh would be easier to understand than the previously released DVD.

According to Kino's site, both cuts of The Iceman Cometh will have English subs.

[Kino Insider]

Coming March 26th!

The Iceman Cometh (1973) with optional English subtitles

Disc One: New 2K restoration of the complete 239-minute director's cut | Optional English subtitles

Disc Two: New 2K restoration of the 178-minute theatrical version | Interview with Edie Landau | "Ely Landau: In Front of the Camera," a promotional film for the American Film Theatre | Optional English subtitles | Trailer Gallery

[kekid]

I stand corrected. Thank you.

[onedimension]

I was just looking at that DVD of Iceman Cometh and you're not kidding. It looks like someone soaked the film in piss and dragged it across the floor before scanning it.

I know they’re not “studio classics”, but would love to hear from the Kino Insider if they have any plans to repackage on blu ray some of their existing sets - The Movies Begin, Edison..

The sheer variety of material on some of those sets would seem to mitigate against easy HD release—unless someone is systematically scanning the entire Blackhawk collection in HD. And even if that were the case, some of the stuff on Movies Begin seems to be from dated 16mm sources that probably wouldn't hold up to the scrutiny of today's discerning home-video enthusiasts, and to get better sources for much of it Kino would have to make arrangements with umpteen film archives across Europe and the U.S.

I agree though that HD versions of the early-cinema stuff would be wonderful, for teaching purposes among others. The restored Lumière actualities on this set are just jaw-dropping.

Thanks for the perspective, I wasn't thinking of the production obstacles. Seems more likely, then, Kino would reimagine the sets (Pioneers of...?) or that a competitor/frienemy will pick up the slack.

[tenia]

The Lumière shorts French release is not only technically wonderful, but it comes with Thierry Frémaux' audio commentary and this is thoroughly entertaining but also very enlightening. The shorts are a window of how were at the time they were shot, and Frémaux doesn't only talk technique but also spends lots of time talking history, society, etc. It's really fascinating stuff, outside of any love of movies. These shorts are moving postcards from early 1900s and they are wonderfully contextualised this way.

[kidc]

Is The Iceman Cometh a good adaptation of the play?

[knives]

Yes.

[M Sanderson]

I hope KL can release Pinter’s The Homecoming hot on the heels of The Iceman Cometh. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

Agreed. It’s superb.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

In the "better late than never" file, Kino Lorber is planning a May theatrical release for Ferrara's Pasolini, with home video to follow in the fall.

[Fiery Angel]

Ha, I'd completely forgotten about Pasolini.

[Aunt Peg]

Ha, I'd completely forgotten about Pasolini.

So had I and I've seen the film. Not one of high points for Ferrara's career. My advice: rent first, don't blind buy.

[spectre]

That’s astonishing! Pasolini first screened theatrically in Italy – not even merely on the festival circuit – in 2014 and seems to have had a UK run a year later. I wonder what could have taken so long to get to the US?

[headacheboy]

I see that Kino Lorber is selling the three Blu-Ray set Macunamia (Joaquim Pedro de Andrade) for $17.97 if anyone is interested.