The Living Corpse (Fyodor Ostep, 1929)

[Cinetwist]

A new repertory type cinema will be showing this film by Fyodor Otsep. It's also known as Zhivoy trup, made in 1929. I can't find any info on it and don't know anything about Soviet cinema. I doubt that it has a release and whether it'll get one and besides it's good to support a cinema that's programming so ambitiously.

So I was wondering whether anyone knew anything about it? I'd be grateful for any information.

[vogler]

There is an interesting 9 page article about Fyodor Otsep/Fedor Ozep that starts here. I have copies of a number of his films but I have not spent enough time watching them to make any valuable comments yet. He is an interesting director though and I think it would be well worth going to the screening.

[Felix]

A new repertory type cinema will be showing this film by Fyodor Otsep. It's also known as Zhivoy trup, made in 1929. I can't find any info on it and don't know anything about Soviet cinema. I doubt that it has a release and whether it'll get one and besides it's good to support a cinema that's programming so ambitiously.

So I was wondering whether anyone knew anything about it? I'd be grateful for any information.

There is an e-tailer, who has been mentioned in the thread for such things, who is promising but has not yet produced a DVD of this. It is recorded from German TV and is probably the same version (restoration). I think he has the disc but is waiting to tidy up the soundtrack.

I have a copy of the disc he did of Murnau's Der Brennende Acker and it is fine.

All the usual caveats regarding such unauthorised releases are taken as a given but he does not sell anything already available on DVD, all are taken from TV.

[Cinetwist]

Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't read the article yet but I certainly will.

I'll be going to see the film for sure. I wasn't so much intending to buy it on dvd, it not having a release was just another reason for going to see it. I've stopped buying bootlegs anyway, after a run of several bad, expensive experiences. The way I see it is that so long as there's stuff for me to see via a legitimate company then I should be supporting them* (not to mention that it's cheaper and 99% of what I see I rent/borrow/go to the cinema).

I just watched Strike. Now there's one hell of a soviet film!

*Unless that "legitimate" company is Facets, whose dvd's are often (sub)bootleg quality.

[Cineman]

My friend has just added Ozep's "Living Corpse" onto his website www.raredvds4sale.co.uk after spending the last few months translating the title cards and creating english subtitles for the movie, as well as creating a Dolby Digital soundtrack from the original. The film's running time is 120mins (compared with 82mins listed on imdb.com) and is in very good condition.

Hope that helps.

[Mike Gebert]

As this is one of the only film sites where Fedor Ozep has been discussed, ever, I thought a few people here might be interested in a long piece I wrote about Ozep and what films of his I could see:

The Erased Auteur: Rediscovering Fedor Ozep

Besides talking about the attributes of the films of his which it's been possible for me to see, and what influence I believe they had on later filmmakers ranging from Welles to Bresson, it also presents my theory as to why his reputation evaporated so completely after the high point of the 1930s, and why he's worth rediscovering. The good news is that The Living Corpse, which is probably his best film overall (at least that I've seen), will be released by Editions Filmmuseum sometime in the future (a fact I learned here, as it happens, but it bears repeating).

If there's enough interest in Ozep the moderators have suggested the possibility of beginning a dedicated thread in the Filmmakers section.