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Tízezer nap (Ferenc Kósa, 1967) coming on Feb. 25th.

Cinematography by Sándor Sára, so a good sign.

Just wondering that which is the film's accurate English title, Ten Thousand Days or Ten Thousand Suns?

I saw this on the big screen a few years ago and was very impressed indeed: Miklós Jancsó certainly wasn't the only Hungarian director capable of marshalling hundreds of men and horses into retina-scorching images.

I wrote about it in more detail here - and I'll definitely be buying this.

L.A. wrote:
Just wondering that which is the film's accurate English title, Ten Thousand Days or Ten Thousand Suns?

Days, but its the same word. Like how day in English can mean 24 hours, or the opposite of night.

L.A. wrote:Tízezer nap (Ferenc Kósa, 1967) coming on Feb. 25th.

Cinematography by Sándor Sára, so a good sign.

Just wondering that which is the film's accurate English title, Ten Thousand Days or Ten Thousand Suns?

Very exciting news! This film has gorgeous black-and-white 'scope cinematography, and I love Ferenc Kósa's portrayal of rural life. I worked on subtitles for the film with a Hungarian scholar and poet, so I got to know it closely.

I would call it Ten Thousand Suns. It's true that "nap" in Hungarian means both "day" and "sun," and the title plays on that ambiguity. "Suns" better fits the poetic aspect of the film, and the protagonist's monologue at the end of the film clearly refers to "ten thousand suns":

I always thought I'd see the sea in the light of ten thousand suns. And that I'd rush into it, forgetting even who I am.

jsteffe wrote:I would call it Ten Thousand Suns. It's true that "nap" in Hungarian means both "day" and "sun," and the title plays on that ambiguity. "Suns" better fits the poetic aspect of the film, and the protagonist's monologue at the end of the film clearly refers to "ten thousand suns":

I always thought I'd see the sea in the light of ten thousand suns. And that I'd rush into it, forgetting even who I am.

Thanks, I have never seen it, so I had not guessed the title was open to interpretation. Sorry for the misinformation.

Zot! wrote:

jsteffe wrote:I would call it Ten Thousand Suns. It's true that "nap" in Hungarian means both "day" and "sun," and the title plays on that ambiguity. "Suns" better fits the poetic aspect of the film, and the protagonist's monologue at the end of the film clearly refers to "ten thousand suns":

I always thought I'd see the sea in the light of ten thousand suns. And that I'd rush into it, forgetting even who I am.

Thanks, I have never seen it, so I had not guessed the title was open to interpretation. Sorry for the misinformation.

It's more of a subtle point in translation, and anyway the film is sometimes listed in English and other languages as Ten Thousand Days.

I don't know that the film was ever released in English-speaking territories. It was released in France under the title Dix mille soleils, and the script (by Ferenc Kósa, Imre Gyöngyössy and Sándor Csoóri) was published in L'Avant-scène Cinema.

It played theatrically in the UK. Hungarian films got a surprising amount of exposure back then - or maybe not that surprising when you know that the Academy Cinema in London's Oxford Street, one of the country's most distinguished arthouse venues, was run by expat Hungarians.

But they'd packed it in by the mid-Eighties, and so none of these films ever made it to video - Second Run finally picked up that particular baton in the mid-2000s (often explicitly resurrecting titles that the label's founder had seen in London in the 60s and 70s!).

I will be visiting Budapest in the summer and wondered which shop would have the best selection of Hungarian DVDs with English sub-titles?

Thanks for any help.

--
Tinshed

^ See discussion here.

Also, Tízezer nap finally in stock @ Lira.hu (although no cover for the DVD, I'm willing to bet it should be the MaNDA release). Ordered it along with Meteo.

I've been in touch via email with a very helpful contact at MaNDA who sent me the following list of films they're planning to release this year:

Cimborák nádi szélben/Jolly dogs I. – Wind in the Reeds by István Homoki-Nagy

Budapesti tavasz/Springtime in Budapest by Félix Máriássy

Hyppolit,a lakáj/Hyppolit, the Butler by István Székely

Az ötödik pecsét/The Fifth Seal by Zoltán Fábri

A csodacsatár/The Football Star by Márton Keleti

Szívzűr/Heart Tremors by Géza Böszörményi

^ Thanks for that.

Actually, I have been in touch with MaNDA as well. This year they are also releasing some Miklós Jancsó titles:

Szegénylegények / The Round-Up
Így jöttem / My Way Home

Valahol Európában / It Happened in Europe maybe next year.

Great news! I'd love to see what they do with the Jancsó titles - their DVD of The Red and the White / Csillagosok, katonák is impressive, with a nice transfer, Hungarian and Russian versions of the film, and a period documentary.

vertovfan wrote:Great news! I'd love to see what they do with the Jancsó titles - their DVD of The Red and the White / Csillagosok, katonák is impressive, with a nice transfer, Hungarian and Russian versions of the film, and a period documentary.

...and a much heftier documentary looking back, with everything completely English-friendly. It's a fabulous release.

is there a good source for purchasing the Red and the White DVD and other films released by MaNDA from the US

or even to access a simple list (preferably with English translations of titles) of the DVDs they've released?

Order from lira.hu

swo17 wrote:Order from lira.hu

Once you follow swo's link, you can click on the studio under the title to find more Manda titles, but this doesn't give you all of them by any stretch of the imagination. When I placed an order, I just trawled through this thread and bought any titles that looked vaguely interesting. And they all were. All features have English subs and the extras are subbed as well about 50% of the time.

Another bit of advice: lira.hu charged a whopping amount for shipping, but the discs themselves were dirt cheap, so I'd strongly recommend placing a big order, or waiting until there are enough titles that you really want, so you can share the burden of their postage costs.

Most if not all of their titles are listed here. No English, but there are video clips if you click on the links for individual titles.

This seems as appropriate a place to post this as any - my Sight & Sound obit of Miklós Jancsó has just appeared online.

Details for the upcoming MaNDA DVD of Hyppolit, the Butler.

Az ötödik pecsét / The Fifth Seal (Zoltán Fábri, 1976) coming April 24th.

I recall viewing a scene from Paul Fejos Tavaszi zapor (Spring Shower) and noticed it was posted to You Tube by Manda. Is there any chance the film will be made available by this label in Hungary?

Gems of Hungarian Animation I. Short Films of the 60s

Looks magnificent.

Does anyone know what the best release of István Szabó's Oberst Redl (Colonel Redl) is?

I just bought the German DVD by S.A.D. Home Entertainment but it is cropped to 4:3.

The old US Anchor Bay DVD is cropped to 4:3.

The British DVD by Freemantle has burnt-in subtitles and the print is of poor quality, but at least it is 16:9.

The Dutch DVD looks like a poor print too but it is 16:9.

Szabo's films are woefully under-represented on video. I keep hoping that Criterion (or someone) will do a nicely remastered BD release of the Szabo/Brandauer trilogy of Redl, Mephisto and Hanussen.

Latest releases from MaNDA:

Emberek a havason / Men in the Alps (István Szőts, 1941)
Szerelmem, Elektra / Electra, My Love (Miklós Jancsó, 1974)

Both have unique extras, especially Szőts István és Csoóri Sándor beszélgetése 1988-ból, 64’ on Emberek a havason caught my attention.