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MichaelB, thanks for the review! This is really helpful. PAL is not an issue for me.

You're right, most of their NTSC conversions are inferior, but actually the Parajanov titles (SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS, THE LEGEND OF SURAM FORTRESS and ASHIK KERIB) look fine in their NTSC incarnations.

By the way, did anyone ever acquire a *subtitled* Ruscico edition of the Yutkevich cut of THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES? I'm curious to hear whether the problems with the source materials were addressed, or if they used the same incomplete print and out-of-sync soundtrack. (I got the disc as part of an *unsubtitled* box set of Armenian films from Ruscico.)

Now Ruscico will be releasing Blu-ray discs, including an English-subtitled Blu-ray of BURNT BY THE SUN. Here is the announcement. I especially hope this portends Parajanov on Blu-ray, though there are plenty of other titles by them I'd like to see in hi-def if they have decent masters, such as Bondarchuk's WAR AND PEACE.

All Mosfilm titles on Blu so far have been released by another company (Digital Element), so if War and Peace comes to BD, I suspect it won't be through Ruscico.

RussianDVD.com now lists English-subbed editions of a few of those Tallinnfilm titles. Not a single one of them lists Estonian audio, though, so I fear lots of Russian voice-over tracks, though I'd love to find out if some of them are dubs.

Kirkinson wrote:RussianDVD.com now lists English-subbed editions of a few of those Tallinnfilm titles. Not a single one of them lists Estonian audio, though, so I fear lots of Russian voice-over tracks, though I'd love to find out if some of them are dubs.

Sometimes Ruscico specifies "zakadrovyi perevod," though I don't know whether they're consistent in this. RussianDVD.com also says that the DVDs are NTSC, and now they're selling an NTSC version of THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES with subtitles. Not that I'd be all that interested in NTSC conversions myself. It's encouraging at least to see that they're stepping up their release schedule again.

Good news--it looks as if RUSCICO is resuming their releases of subtitled DVDs of Georgian films. Forthcoming releases include I, Grandmother, Iliko and Illarion (dir. Tengiz Abuladze), The Mameluke (dir. David Rondeli), and The White Rose of Immortality (dir. Nana Mchelidze). The listings indicate Russian language tracks only. If that's accurate, it may be due to the lack of original Georgian soundtrack elements (i.e., the recent Georgian film archive fire).

The Abuladze film is a delightful adaptation of Nodar Dumbadze's comic novel of the same title, which is a classic of modern Georgian literature. The Mameluke was one of the most popular Georgian films throughout the Soviet Union.

I'm pretty sure they don't even work with Georgian archives with these releases and I doubt Russian archive own Georgian-language copies of these films since most of them were released dubbed in all USSR except Georgia itself.

A famous two-film fantasy-scifi by Richard Viktorov:

Moskva - Kassiopeya / Moscow - Cassiopeia (1973) + Otroki vo vselennoy / Teens in the Universe (1974)

I was just wondering whether anyone has yet seen the new subtitled Paradjanov Sayat Nova disc? Is the soundtrack out of sync with the picture, as apparently occurred on an earlier release?

Also, has anyone seen the new RUSCICO hyperkino / academia discs? I'm particularly interested in the Eisenstein discs, and wondered, for example, whether the "October" disc has the original Meisel soundtrack, and if so, whether it has been recorded by a new orchestra?

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere!

The first time I order from Ruscico and they screw it up. I order THE GREAT CONSOLER and they send 5 DVDs no-one would want. Problem is you can't ring them because with work commitments and them being in Moscow you can never be at home at a time they're open.

Two days later and still no response from them to two emails. Seems I have going to have to take a financial hit on this item and write Ruscico down as a "do not do business again" Some films I guess you're just not meant to see.

jsteffe wrote:MichaelB, thanks for the review! This is really helpful. PAL is not an issue for me.

You're right, most of their NTSC conversions are inferior, but actually the Parajanov titles (SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS, THE LEGEND OF SURAM FORTRESS and ASHIK KERIB) look fine in their NTSC incarnations.

By the way, did anyone ever acquire a *subtitled* Ruscico edition of the Yutkevich cut of THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES? I'm curious to hear whether the problems with the source materials were addressed, or if they used the same incomplete print and out-of-sync soundtrack. (I got the disc as part of an *unsubtitled* box set of Armenian films from Ruscico.)

To see Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors on blu-ray..that would be great news and to me the dvd version released by Kino looked good to me. Now i wish Ruscico would restore Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala in it's 70mm glory....

mert1149 wrote:Also, has anyone seen the new RUSCICO hyperkino / academia discs? I'm particularly interested in the Eisenstein discs, and wondered, for example, whether the "October" disc has the original Meisel soundtrack, and if so, whether it has been recorded by a new orchestra?

That disc has a score compiled from classical music cues. The print looks better than the one released by Image Entertainment--a closer generation to the original--but it's still based on a sound print made from a full aperture negative and thus is slightly cropped on the left side. The running time is 115 minutes, which seems a little on the slow side. My totally uninformed gut instict tells me that the 103-minute running time for the Image disc, which is presumably 24fps, is closer to the mark. I may be wrong about that, though.

Jonathan Rosenbaum has a very detailed and favorable essay on the Academia releases and their extras at the Moving Image Source.

jsteffe wrote:The Mameluke (dir. David Rondeli)

Received my copy this week and did a little quick check. It has original Georgian language soundtrack (mono) with optional English and Russian subtitles.

The disc also offers some extras, an interview with actor Otar Koberidze (lasting nearly nine minutes), filmographies and a photo album.

Thanks, L.A.! I'm going to order The Mameluke!

Looks like the Georgian films are starting to pour in:

Aleksandre Rekhviashvili's The Step and 19th-Century Georgian Chronicle (yay!) BTW, I met Rekhviashvili in Tbilisi, and he's currently working in an art gallery. Too bad, because was a very talented director.

Semyon Dolidze's Cucaracha

Nana Dzhordzhadze's Robinsonade, or My English Grandfather.

I hope they start releasing subtitled editions of some of their Armenian titles, too.

jsteffe wrote:By the way, did anyone ever acquire a *subtitled* Ruscico edition of the Yutkevich cut of THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES? I'm curious to hear whether the problems with the source materials were addressed, or if they used the same incomplete print and out-of-sync soundtrack. (I got the disc as part of an *unsubtitled* box set of Armenian films from Ruscico.)

UPDATE: I picked up the subtitled Ruscico DVDand took a look at it last night. I've published comments on it in my blog. On the positive side, it reinstates the missing footage and thus fixes the audio sync problem of the unsubtitled version.

Is the RUSCICO site as messed up for everyone else as it is for me? Can anyone suggest an alternate source for ordering the Academia titles online?

Matt wrote:Is the RUSCICO site as messed up for everyone else as it is for me? Can anyone suggest an alternate source for ordering the Academia titles online?

Unfortunately this problem goes on for weeks now. I know from a source that Ruscico apparently hasn't stored many of the films they had listed as available on their page, but why the brand new Academia titles should be affected with all the rest eludes me.

I ordered mine from a German Marketplace seller for a reasonable price.

Hello,

I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if I touch upon a subject already covered. I could not find it whilst using the search function though.

I have two different question, the first concerning Ruscico: has anyone received any information what has happened to their website? It's still -- after six or more months -- not working. Their back catalogue is for example not available. I did get information -- via a Russian friend -- from a Ruscico employee a couple of months ago that "the problems" would be sorted out shortly. Not so apparently.

My second question deals with Russian films: do any of you know if any of the early Mosfilm Chekhov adaptation is avaliable on DVD? I found a list (perhaps not complete) of some very interesting titles. Of the films listed I only know of DVDs of Nikita Mikhalkov's, Emil Lotyanu's and Aleksandr Gornovsky's films.

I have especially been looking for the 1961 "Duel" (based on the same novella as the recent film by Dover Koshashvili) and Bodarchuk's "Step".

Good news, RUSCICO is in fact working to get their site back up and running. They've already started to repopulate the online catalog. So it seems that your friend was correct.

Does anyone own Konchlavsky's Siberiade from RUSCICO?

I'd like to buy this title, but I'm not sure what the transfer looks like. I've owned the KINO release for sometime and the transfer is so sad and decrepid.

Can anyone recommend buying this now?

Thanks Tim

Based on precedent, the Kino version is probably the NTSC-converted version of Ruscico's PAL original.

Can anyone recommend the dvd (I believe it's region free NTSC) of I am Twenty/Mne dvadtsat' let?

*CG* wrote:Can anyone recommend the dvd (I believe it's region free NTSC) of I am Twenty/Mne dvadtsat' let?

Well, the film is wonderful, but it sounds like maybe you already know that and are asking about the image quality. Can't help you there, sadly.

Perkins Cobb wrote:

*CG* wrote:Can anyone recommend the dvd (I believe it's region free NTSC) of I am Twenty/Mne dvadtsat' let?

Well, the film is wonderful, but it sounds like maybe you already know that and are asking about the image quality. Can't help you there, sadly.

Yeah, I was just asking about the image quality. Great film, and would be great to see Criterion release this, along with July Rain.