BD 98 István Szabó: Mephisto, Colonel Redl (Redl ezredes), Hanussen + short films

[What A Disgrace]

November release, details forthcoming.

[domino harvey]

Mephisto is befitting our recent discussion about one time art house titans. Didn’t realize Kino finally put it (and Redl) out recently, but I have no doubt Second Run will give us something better here as a package

[knives]

And Hanussen is also excellent. As usual this is a very exciting release.

[brundlefly]

Mephisto is befitting our recent discussion about one time art house titans. Didn’t realize Kino finally put it (and Redl) out recently, but I have no doubt Second Run will give us something better here as a package

Also Confidence, which makes it a shame Second Run isn't upgrading their standalone DVD. Still looking forward to this.

Wish someone would restore 25 Fireman's Street.

[ryannichols7]

holy fuck. this and Huszárik in the same year! great work Second Run!

I do hope they upgrade Confidence at some point as it's my favorite of Szabó's films. have the Kino but, y'know...

[fdm]

Hanussen finally…

[Calvin]

There have been a whole batch of Szabo restorations in recent years. I note that Second Run's DVD release of Confidence is listed as out of print - whether that portends an upgrade or not I guess we'll have to wait and see. Father appears to still be in-print and, arguably, needs the upgrade more seeing as Kino haven't touched it.

[What A Disgrace]

I think this is the first time they've released two boxed sets in one year. I hope it's the beginning of a trend.

[ryannichols7]

since they've gone Bluray, this is indeed the first. if the December release is one of those long awaited titles like the Costa or Rocha twofers we all keep asking for, or even The Fifth Seal or Extreme Private Eros, this really will be one of Second Run's most banner years yet

[Stefan Andersson]

Colonel Redl runs 144 minutes according to ImdB, but 167 minutes according to this page:
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redl_ezredes_(film)

Might the longer version be a domestic cut, or a pre-release cut, perhaps shown at a film festival before being shortened?

[GaryC]

Colonel Redl runs 144 minutes according to ImdB, but 167 minutes according to this page:
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redl_ezredes_(film)

Might the longer version be a domestic cut, or a pre-release cut, perhaps shown at a film festival before being shortened?

For what it's worth, it was 149 minutes in UK cinemas, as per the BBFC, and as I saw it twice I can confirm that. I don't know where the 167-minute length comes from, or if that was a version ever shown officially.

[Stefan Andersson]

Colonel Redl runs 144 minutes according to ImdB, but 167 minutes according to this page:
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redl_ezredes_(film)

Might the longer version be a domestic cut, or a pre-release cut, perhaps shown at a film festival before being shortened?

For what it's worth, it was 149 minutes in UK cinemas, as per the BBFC, and as I saw it twice I can confirm that. I don't know where the 167-minute length comes from, or if that was a version ever shown officially.

OK, thanks for this information!

[Murdoch]

Mephisto is excellent. Finally I've seen a Second Run film before they've released it! Never thought I'd meet that milestone in my film-watching career.

edit: Oh wait I've seen Wendy and Lucy, too. A banner year for my cinephile ego.

[TMDaines]

Will sell my Kino imports. Great news on Hanussen.

[Bikey]

Order at our webstore at a special pre-order discount of £37.99 (RRP: £44:99) - valid until release date 24/11/2025.

And Amazon UK pre-order

[j99]

I have been waiting for a release like this for years. Fantastic news. The last time I saw Hanussen was on a Connoisseur VHS tape about 30 years ago. An incredible film, as are the other two. Well done Second Run. The reissue of the year.

[MichaelB]

For what it's worth, it was 149 minutes in UK cinemas, as per the BBFC, and as I saw it twice I can confirm that. I don't know where the 167-minute length comes from, or if that was a version ever shown officially.

Second Run's version of Colonel Redl runs a whisker short of 151 minutes, the discrepancy being due to additional restoration credits at the end.

I too am not aware of a 167-minute version ever being commercially released, although quite often such scenarios arise from the fact that the film premiered in a cut that wasn't yet quite finished (to meet a high-profile festival submission deadline), and additional fine tuning then happened prior to official release - this is also true of such diverse titles as The Pumpkin Eater and Dawn of the Dead (whose longer cut is misleadingly called a "director's cut" - only literally true in that George A. Romero created it, but this was to meet a Cannes market deadline, and he subsequently refined it to what's known as the "theatrical cut" despite also being the definitive director's cut.)

Anyway, given that the Hungarian National Film Archive restored it at 149 minutes, that strongly suggests that that's the definitive version. István Szabó wasn't listed in the restoration credits, but his long-term cinematographer Lájos Koltai approved the end result, and Koltai would certainly have had a direct line to Szabó if there'd been any uncertainty.

[j99]

This release has been put back to the 8th December.

[MichaelB]

Full specs, courtesy of their latest newsletter:

István Szabó:
Mephisto ∕ Colonel Redl ∕ Hanussen
Limited Edition 3-disc Blu-ray Box Set

István Szabó is perhaps the most renowned of all Hungarian filmmakers, having made hugely successful, Oscar®-winning films across Europe and in Hollywood.

This Box Set uncovers the most creative and exuberant period of Szabó’s Hungarian cinema, with a trio of exceptional films made in collaboration with actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, writer Péter Dobai and cinematographer Lajos Koltai: Mephisto (1981), Colonel Redl (1985) and Hanussen (1988). These films unravel the conflicts of history, society, and the individual. Each is an audacious, beautifully shot, and brilliantly executed tale of moral corruption.

These important and evermore powerfully relevant films are presented from stunning 4K restorations, and released for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.

Mephisto (1981): Szabó’s brilliant retelling of the Faust legend centres on a struggling but wildly ambitious actor in 1930s Germany who dispels his political qualms to revel in the adulation he craves. But success, inevitably, comes at a price... Widely acknowledged as Szabó’s masterpiece, Mephisto is a haunting study in ambition, opportunism, and compromise.

Colonel Redl (1985): Set in the years before WW1, the film charts the rise and fall of the brilliant but unscrupulous Alfréd Redl, an ambitious young officer who becomes the head of the Austro-Hungarian Secret Police. Klaus Maria Brandauer’s brilliant performance conveys the emotional complexity of a life destroyed by deceit and moral cowardice, as Redl becomes a prisoner of his own deceptions.

Hanussen (1988): Based on a remarkable true story, Szabó’s third collaboration with Brandauer tracks clairvoyant Hanussen’s rise in parallel with the Nazi regime to dark, mesmerising effect.

"Szabó emerged from the Hungarian New Wave of the 1960s with a series of deeply moral works"
Senses of Cinema

3-DISC BLU-RAY BOX SET
OUT 8 DECEMBER 2025

• Mephisto (1981), Colonel Redl (1985) and Hanussen (1988) presented from 4K restorations by the National Film Institute Hungary - Film Archive, supervised and approved by cinematographer Lajos Koltai
• Four of István Szabó’s short film works, newly remastered in HD by the National Film Institute Hungary - Film Archive: Variations on a Theme (Variációk egy témára, 1961), You (Te, 1963), Concert (Koncert, 1963), and City Map (Várostérkép, 1977).
• Istvan Szabó - The Director Answers: A video interview with Szabó.
• Remembrance of József Romvári: Filmmaker Sophy Romvári’s tribute to her grandfather, the production designer József Romvári.
• Szabó’s Central Europe: a look at the director's Hungarian films.
• Individual booklets each with new writing by Hungarian cinema experts John Cunningham, Peter Hames and Catherine Portuges, and journalist Stephen Lemons on the real-life Erik Jan Hanussen.
• Trailers.
• Hungarian and German audio options on all three Features.
• New and improved English subtitle translations.
• UK premieres on Blu-ray.
• Region-free Blu-rays (A/B/C).

I'm glad they're offering both language options, as there's no single perfect one. With German, you get Klaus Maria Brandauer's own voice and native language (a huge deal, given how dominant his performances are), plus of course the fact that it's situationally appropriate - but a pretty whopping percentage of the supporting cast is obviously dubbed, and in the case of Hanussen it's almost everyone bar Brandauer! But although they're mostly speaking Hungarian, this isn't true of everyone - there are quite a few Polish actors, and I'm not sure what language they were performing in (it might well have been Polish, given that the set was already polyglot). Ditto Erland Josephson in Hanussen, who I suspect was acting in Swedish as he's visibly out of sync in both German and Hungarian.

[Bikey]

To coincide with our new ISTVÁN SZABÓ Box Set release - Michael Brooke selects '10 great Hungarian films' for BFI online.
(And eight of the ten wonderful films selected are available on Second Run!)

[Bikey]

Tick tock....
Less than 24 hours to get our ISTVÁN SZABÓ Box Set at the discount price of £37.99 at our webstore...

[Bikey]

"Szabo's historical triptych plunges into the darkest chapters in Mitteleuropa's history with Isherwoodian elegance and biting critique [...] That Szabo is a major director will surprise no-one. But these films bring his talent for telling personal stories against vast historical backgrounds into spotlight-sharp relief."

Sophia Satchell-Baeza reviews in the latest Sight and Sound magazine

[Stefan Andersson]

"Hanussen was actually classified twice for cinema release: at 142 minutes in September 1988 and then at 117 in May 1989. That was after the film was re-edited and shortened, but the latter version is now the official one and is the one restored and on disc in this set. I have only seen this version, so am not aware of what the differences were."
https://cineoutsider.co.uk/istvan_szabo ... ay_review/

[Bikey]

"An incredible trilogy before you even get to the extras, Second Run have packed this release"
The Geek Show review

[Bikey]

A brand-new interview with the great István Szabó on his masterpiece MEPHISTO in today's Guardian