criterionforum.org

Pinback wrote:

ltfontaine wrote:

Humanity and Paper Balloons
(Yamanaka, 1937) Eureka/MoC R2 UK

Very exciting news, and really wonderful that MoC is pursuing elusive Japanese titles like this one and the Teshigaharas. Isn't this the first appearance of a Yamanaka film ever on home video?

Indeed. The MoC label could become as useful a source of Japanese classics as Criterion. Let's see which company will be the first to start putting out Mikio Naruse films...

I've heard of Woman in the Dunes but not this one. What can you tell me about Mikio Naruse?

It sounds like you folks are doing a wonderful service. Am I right in assuming that this is the only DVD company thread in which the people involved in the making of the DVDs are also talking to us little people? What a novel idea! Even the great Criterion may be improved by such great customer relations!

Sadao Yamanaka was the best director of revisionist historical films in 1930s Japan. He made around 25 films, before he was drafted in 1938, and sent to North China -- where he died of disease, before he reached the age of 30. He was a close friend of Ozu -- and adapted some of Ozu's ideas to the realm of historical films. He apparently was a major source of inspiration for Kurosawa. Only three of his films survive today.
"Humanity and Paper Balloons" is an urban ronin tale -- and the local samurai boss (who refuses to hire our hero, despite a letter of introduction he refuses to accept) is like a proto-yakuza boss. Wonderful -- but very grim.

Naruse is probably the film maker with the closest sensibility to Ozu. He differs from Ozu in that he tends to tell stories from the female perspective -- and has a more no-nonsense visual style. Like Ozu, he focused on home dramas. Despite a reputation for pessimism, his films actually have quite a bit of humor (and a few are even genuinely optimistic). None of his best work has ever been available on home video with Englis subtitles.

MEK

Both of those Japanese directors sound very intriguing. Which Yamanaka films would you classify as major. All three of the surviving works? How does one see them without dedicated festival attendance? How were his other films lost? Allied bombing?

Did some investigating for information about Naruse. You're right, his films are scarce! I like the Ozu films I've seen so far, thanks Criterion! Have enjoyed Japanese cinema in general, particularly Akira Kurosawa and teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes. Mizoguchi I am aware of but exposure is limited. So many worlds to explore!

All three of Yamanaka's surviving films are worth seeing. The first is a (mostly) comedy -- "Every Pot Worth a Million Ryo", about a one eyed-one armed master swordsman (who is also extremely indolent). In it, rich newly-weds give away an ugly looking wedding present -- that turns out to have been extraordinarily valuable -- and then spend the rest of the film searching for it (sort of). As it turns out, the pot is being used as a goldfish bowl by an orphan, our hero has "adopted". Even without subtitles, my whole family found this very funny (except for the few serious bits).

The next is "Kochiyama soshun", about an urban bandit chief (semi-retired) rather reminiscent of Robin Hood. A young girl running a local vending stand (Setsuko Hara -- at 15 or so) gets in to trouble with the local samurai thugs due to her ne'er-do-well brother. Kochiyama comes to the rescue, angering his wife (mistress), and (after saving the girl) things don't go well for him and his crew. This was rough going without a script or even a synopsis (Yamanaka's revisionist take on this classical kabuki play bears little resemblance to the original). I'm beginning to figure it out, though.

Right now, these two films are available only on a Japanese DVD (without English subs). I'm not certain how the other films were lost. Possible (probably joint) causes -- (1)Japanese studios took few efforts to preserve films in the early days -- viewing them as consumables with no long-term shelf life. (2) bombimg losses, and (3) deliberate destruction by US Occupation authorities (who destroyed hundreds of films due to their belief that these were "feudalistic" or otherwise "anti-democratic").

As to Naruse, Right now, only Spanish readers have any access to any of his better known films on DVD (and videos have pretty much evaporated). ;~}

MEK

As to Naruse, Right now, only Spanish readers have any access to any of his better known films on DVD (and videos have pretty much evaporated). ;~}

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs and Late Chrysanthemums are both still available on VHS in the U.S. and Canada from World Artists.

http://www.worldartists.com/videotitles.htm

The prints on video are not bad, but these films deserve first-class treatment on DVD.

Barnes and Noble purport to have an early Naruse title in stock, but they appear to have their wires crossed . . .

The Water Bearer video is indeed "Apart from Hugh" -- not "Apart from You". ;~}

The WAHV releases are officiallly no longer being produced -- and when back stock runs out -- that's it. The only problem I have with the "Woman Ascending" video (one of the best US home video releases ever, quality-wise). is that my old VCR ate it, rendering it unplayable.

But while both this and "Late Chrsanthemum" are quite good (and well woth seeing) -- they are not among the very best of Naruse's films.

MEK

Mother also had a US VHS release, also way past out of print, by Sony Video Software.

But the best Naruse film I've seen is Flunky, Work Hard!, which I caught at the Pacific Film Archive. It's very reminiscent of Ozu's I Was Born, But..., but more succinct, and perhaps more biting. It also was made a year earlier.

Since, sadly, the MoC titles will not be offered by subscription (I still think it's a good idea), are there any vendors in the US selling these titles? If not that, then what UK vendors <sigh> have the best combination of price and overseas postage? I'm really interested in virtually all these titles (Pitfall is one I'm completely unfamiliar with, and it sounds wonderful!), but have had several not-serious but annoying problems ordering from a couple of different UK vendors.

I recently received Holy Mountain from Bensons World. I know they are the obvious choice, but my package arrived safely, quickly and customs friendly. Shipping cost wasn't bad either if I remember correctly.

Also, This Holy Mountain release is really wonderful. The fact that the entire 3 hour documentary is included is amazing. And with the new cover art it just makes it that much better.

I feel a new DVD obsession coming on.

Brian Oblivious wrote:Mother also had a US VHS release, also way past out of print, by Sony Video Software.

But the best Naruse film I've seen is Flunky, Work Hard!, which I caught at the Pacific Film Archive. It's very reminiscent of Ozu's I Was Born, But..., but more succinct, and perhaps more biting. It also was made a year earlier.

I suspect the Sony "Mother" has been out of print for at least 10 years. ;~}

I found "Flunky" interesting -- but it is near the bottom of my Naruse list (not a mark of shame -- as I like all of the films I've seen by him). I found it much more melodramatic and maudlin than "I Was Born But". My favorite early Naruse so far is "Wife Be Like a Rose" -- but most of early Naruse still remains terra incognita for me. (Pretty hard to get any chance to see any of his pre-50s work).

Essential (post-war) Naruse would include (at a minimum), "Meshi" (Repast), "Sound of the Mountain", "Floating clouds", "Wanderer's Notebook", "Lightning" and (by report -- and cast list) "Flowing". There are many more films that are close to essential, however. ;~}

MEK

I just wanted to chime in that I really enjoyed the MOC Michael set. The film is beautiful and it looks wonderful considering its age. I really like both music scores as well, leaning towards the Kurtz one. I'm not all the way through the commentary but it is very informative and interesting so far. The Dreyer interview was also good. The photos stills added a breadth to the audio track.

I'm still relatively new to international cinema and can still count the number of silent films I've seen on one hand. I took a chance on this and paid the premium for it because I'm a nut for the Dreyer Criterions. I am so happy with this purchase and will definitely be exploring more of the great silent films in the MOC catalog.

denti alligator wrote:So what's the second April title gonna be?

My guess: Shohei Imamura's The Insect Woman

It is, by many accounts (including Nagisa Oshima's), Imamura's masterpiece. Plus, I really want it to get the MoC DVD treatment. So it's more a request than a speculation, really...

I personally like "Pigs and Battleships" and "Eijanaika" more than "Insect Woman" -- but would be happy to have a nice subtitled "Insect Woman" just the same.

Many thanks to Michael Kerpan and others for piping in with their Mikio Naruse films. It seems we are in a drought for his work. Everything I read about the director make sme want to see his films more and more.
Eureka, Masters of Cinema, this appears to be your chance to be heroes!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. We've almost got 2005's entire slate ready and will begin announcing things in January.

I can see 2005 being an expensive year!

www.mastersofcinema.org wrote:The Flowers of St. Francis
(Rossellini, 1950) Eureka/MoC R2 UK

Holy shit. I don't like to curse online, but seriously... this and Humanity and Paper Balloons in the same month... two of my "most wanted on DVD" films...

Damn. Thank you very much.

Superb - that's an end to my prized multigeneration multiply degraded flickering VHS copy...

We're debating what to call it.

Original Italian title: FRANCESCO GIULLARE DI DIO

US title: THE FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS

UK title: THE ADVENTURES OF FRANCIS OF ASSISI (although the bbfc have never certificated any version of the film, so there's no real precedent).

Literal English translation of the Italian title: FRANCIS, GOD'S JESTER.


When shown at the NFT in London a few years ago, the bfi called it FRANCIS, GOD'S JESTER.

Am I right in thinking that, as well as a title difference, there are also differences between the US and European versions?...

Allen Millen notes in his chapter on the film in 'Roberto Rossellini: Magician of the Real' that..

'FRANCIS GOD'S JESTER is the title of the film in Italian with English subtitles owned by the bfi... The version distributed in the US, FLOWERS OF ST FRANCIS, has an additional prologue featuring the frescoes of the life of St. Francis, but omits the episode "Perfect Happiness" and the intertitles between the episodes'.

We're debating what to call it.

Original Italian title: FRANCESCO GIULLARE DI DIO

Will likely buyers be put off if the original title is used? The literal translation is clumsy in English, and no one objects to the original Italian titles in cases like La Dolce Vita, L'Avventura, La Strada, Il Grido, Il Posto, etc.

Congratulations to MoC on securing this prize!

Yes, the US version added a prologue (first shown at the Venice premiere) and omitted the chapter intertitles and a whole scene from near the end (where Francesco and a fellow monk get thrown out into the snow and give thanks).

The Italian restoration that will be released in the MoC Series is visually gorgeous, has the original chapter intertitles, and the "missing" scene where they get thrown out into the snow.

There is however, rumour of another scene that was shot, but never properly added into the film, (it's about a prostitute Francesco defends in a piazza, then a cathedral, in Tuscany). We don't know whether it still exists.

Tag Gallagher's helping us with a few things.

Itfontaine, it seems those Italian titles fit the usual convention of keeping foreign language titles if they only comprise a single word (with or without an article); in the case of Rossellini's film, it's a phrase.

flixyfox, I'm surprised that you think "The Flowers of St. Francis" sounds more 'religious' than "Francis God's Jester." I would guess the opposite. Part of our hesitation is that the "Flowers" title actually fits the film better; Francis is the straight man in this film, surrounded by eccentrics, as opposed to a lot of other screen versions. He's not a jester at all. But I guess the Italian title conveys the film's charm and sense of joy.

We're releasing some fantastic titles at MoC, even if I say so myself, but I'm especially excited about this one.

Itfontaine, it seems those Italian titles fit the usual convention of keeping foreign language titles if they only comprise a single word (with or without an article); in the case of Rossellini's film, it's a phrase.

Doug, consider these instances of titles preserved intact, in their original languages, from the current Criterion catalogue:

A Nous la Liberte
Casque d'or
La Commare secca
Coup de Grace
Coup de Tourchon
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Hiroshima mon amour
Quai des Orfevres
Touche pas au grisbe
Tout va bien

Which is preferable, A Nous la Liberte, or Freedom for Us? Touche pas au grisbe, or Don't Touch the Loot? Most viewers of MoC's forthcoming Rossellini DVD are going to watch the film in the original language, with subtitles, so why would they demand that the title be "dubbed?" Especially when the alternative is something as ungainly as God's Jester?

Yeah, those are better examples. Of course, those films are all internationally recognized by those names, too, even "Les Dames...," whereas Rossellini's film is known by its English substitutes. I think we're simply just going to have to choose a title and accept that it will have its limitations no matter which one we settle on.