The New Babylon/Arte Edition

[HerrSchreck]

Thanks for the heads up. You only live once, but nothing wrong with nom de plumes.

Actually my first name is Herr and my last name is Schreck. Really, I swear.

[Michael Kerpan]

I don't believe Trauberg and Kozintsev saw eye to eye on much -- after their directorial partnership broke up in the late 40s. I wonder whether Kozintsev would have approved the short version (had he lived longer)?

[Tommaso]

Well, I saw the arte "Babylon" recently on German ebay from a private seller, so, as Kinsayder confirms, it IS out, perhaps even for a longer time than the 19/10 date at jpc would indicate. And the simple fact that they announce new discs for the coming year (among which is a new Tarkovsky "Sacrifice", but apparently without the bonus doc on the AE and SFI releases) seems to indicate that any troubles - should there have been any - are overcome now. Looking very much forward to "Odna" now.

[jsteffe]

Perhaps this should go in a new topic, but...

To follow up on some previous messages here, Absolut Medien / Arte have indeed released Kozintsev and Trauberg's Odna. According to their item description, it's region free PAL and has optional English subtitles. Amazon.de also lists it as "Auf Lager."

Needless to say, I'm ordering this TODAY!

A comment on the sound... a few years back the Muzei Kino in Russia put the film out on videocassette through Krupnyi Plan. The Muzei Kino series tended to have very good transfers, but their VHS of Odna had the absolute worst sound quality I've heard in a film. I suspect that's how the film actually sounds before restoration, hence the decision to re-record the score for Arte.

[Tommaso]

Yes, "Odna" is out, I received it on Saturday and watched it yesterday. Jsteffe, you're in for a treat, at least filmwise! This is a marvellous film with a lot of shifts in mood and meaning. It starts as a light-hearted and joyful comedy, then becomes a social satire, an ethnographical film, a drama and finally a propaganda piece which still manages to retain critical undertones re the new form of society. And it's wonderfully photographed, one marvellous shot after another. Gorgeous performance by Elena Kuzmina on top of it. Much more intimate than "New Babylon" and much more endearing, too. I'd probably rate it higher than NB.

As has been pointed out, there's just one print known to exist, and it misses a whole reel (sadly the one which seems to contain the most exciting action), and this disc is taken from that print which the booklet indicates was 'restored' by the Russians in 1966. The date alone makes it obvious: to call this a restoration is a bitter joke. To make things clear: this is probably the most deplorable condition I ever saw a film in apart from PD titles from labels like Alpha or Grapevine. It's simply badly, badly battered. The current versions of Dovzhenko's "Earth" or Vertov's "Enthuziasm" are almost beauties compared to this one. Well, arte as usual did their excellent job to transfer the mess without loss, but it's really a pity. On the other hand, not even CC or the guys at FWMS would probably have been able to clean this up to remotely 'normal' standards. I guess we can be happy that it exists at all.

As has been said, this film was made 'silent to sound', but there's really little actual sound (some talking, some sound effects, some folk music from the Altai), which made it possible to make a new recording of the Shostakovitch music. It's well done and certainly comes much nearer to the original intentions than the original 1931 recording which sounds equally bad as the film looks. The original is available as an alternative soundtrack here, too, although curiously if you choose that option, you can't switch on any subs anymore. Otherwise, subs on the film and the docu are optional and in English or German.

It's great to hear how well Shostakovitch music fits to a film if it is not cut up and assembled together at a later stage as with the awful old "Potemkin" versions. There's a nice documentary on Shostakovitch and Soviet films in the 20s on the disc (containing excerpts from another film, "SVD", by Kozintsev/Trauberg as well), plus a great animated cartoon from 1940 which also has original Shostakovitch music. Very charming, that one.

So, all in all, I consider this an essential disc and compulsory viewing for anyone interested in silent cinema, but just be aware of what you have to expect printwise. But honestly, I forgot about that after 10 minutes, when the film began to work its marvels.

[Michael Kerpan]

I have the previous video -- and, yes, the sound deterioration of this film is some of the most extreme I've ever encountered. My copy of the DVD is supposedly "in the mail".

[Scharphedin2]

Reading Tommaso's description of the condition of Odna made me a little perturbed.

I received my copy of the disc today, and while I think Tommaso is giving a faithful appraisal of the disc, I thought I would post a few stills to give some idea of how beautiful this film is, despite the worn condition of the source.

A disc very well worth owning.

[Michael Kerpan]

Those screen captures of Odna are loevely -- a big improvement on the VHS version I currently have (My DVD should arrive in a week or so).

[jsteffe]

Just announced for March 2008 from absolutmedien (so I suppose it will also be a disc from arte edition) is Boris Kuleshev's "The Project of Engineer Prait". Details here.

Nice to see that they continue presenting rare Soviet films, though I have never heard of this one. Anyone who knows this film?

Well, this is major news indeed! The Project of Engineer Pright (1918, also spelled "Prite") is Lev Kuleshov's first major film, and the one that really initiated the Soviet montage school. Note that it's only about 30 minutes long in this reconstruction by Nikolai Izvolov; apparently much of it is lost. There's a French-language interview about his work here.

Supposedly this particular disc will use some kind of innovative commentary/annotation method. Check out this link from Hyperkino, the folks who are designing it.

The Chris Marker "Last Bolshevik"/Medvedkin "Happiness" disk which contains two of Izvolov's reconstructions is available from France, and some of you may already be familiar with it.

Let's just say my curiosity is aroused.

[Scharphedin2]

Those screen captures of Odna are loevely -- a big improvement on the VHS version I currently have (My DVD should arrive in a week or so).

Michael, there are moments, where the image is very damaged. But as I think Tommaso wrote, Arte did the very best they probably could with transferring the film.

[Tommaso]

Sharph, I'm glad you enjoyed "Odna" as much as I did. Sorry if my above words have caused some fears and irritation about the disc. In no way did I intend to make anyone abstain from that disc, on the contrary! By writing that 'mini review' I basically wished to say how great the film is, and how despite of the print's condition it is wholly enjoyable. But as you can bet that there won't be any reviews on the usual sites soon, I thought it would be fair to describe the damage as best as I could so that nobody will be disappointed.

Still I wonder whether there's really no other print available in the whole wide world. Apparently "Odna" has even been exported to the USA in the early 30s and was a success in many other countries. I only hope arte or whoever did the resto looked through all the archives....

[Michael Kerpan]

From the video I've seen of Odna, I'd say that it is in _good_ condition compared to things like Ozu's great "Tokyo Inn" (which is why I know this will never be released by Criterion proper -- so thanks to the Eclipse safety valve.

[Tommaso]

I've never seen "Tokyo Inn", but if it's worse than "Odna", it must be in deplorable condition indeed. I had a quick look at Sharph's screen caps now. Curiously I find that these caps look far better than when seeing the film in motion, the various speckles etc. are far less intrusive than when the film runs. In the caps, the film only looks a little worse than "New Babylon", but the difference when in motion is quite striking. But the caps of course give a good idea about sharpness and detail, about which I don't have anything bad to say. Incidentally, "Odna" made it into my Top 10 List of Non-CC's this year elsewhere in this forum, just another indication how much I cherish the disc despite the damage.

Anyway, the bits posted by Jsteffe on Kuleshev's "Engineer Prait" (or however you prefer to spell it) sound intriguing to me. The absolutmedien site mentions it will be released in two different versions, with a documentary(Semyon Raitburt, USSR, 1968) and an 'interactive commentary' as already described. Looks like another must have disc.

[Michael Kerpan]

When films are as great as "Odna" and "Tokyo Inn" -- one simply has to give thanks they were not totally lost (unlike so many other great films). "Tokyo Inn" is, at least, complete (which puts it ahead of "Odna" in this respect).

Not all parts of "Tokyo Inn" in are in horrible shape -- but some sections seem to have been stabilized (one hopes) just short of the point of being totally lost.