criterionforum.org

Trailed as a future release in the latest Second Run newsletter:

Although author of the screenplays for Daisies, Ikarie XB1 and A Jester's Tale, Pavel Juráček remains one of the Czechoslovak New Wave's most neglected artists. He made only four films, and this surrealist masterpiece - inspired by two icons of Czech literature: the anti-militarist, anti-authoritarian Jaroslav Hašek and the grotesque nightmares of Franz Kafka - was "banned forever" after the Soviet invasion of 1969. With a beautiful minimalistic style, Juráček and Jan Schmidt create a concise and absurdly humorous, biting allegory of life under a totalitarian regime.

"Juráček and Schmidt scarcely put a foot wrong in evoking the incomprehensible mazes - simultaneously absurd and terrifying - of totalitarian bureaucracy" Time Out

This is just a short film; surely it would come with at least his other short as a supplement? Or with a lower price point?

Very exciting news. I've been wanting to see this one since reading about it extensively in Peter Hames Czech and Slovak Cinema book. I could never find an english friendly copy available, though I may not have been looking hard enough. Either way, hats off to Second Run once again.

Thanks to both!
We are delighted to announce that we'll release Josef Kilián in a two-film set with another great Czech film from that period from a filmmaker who will be already familiar to those who know our catalogue...
Both films are being newly restored and with new English subtitles.

When Joseph Kilián was screened at the BFI as part of its Pavel Juráček season (seven years ago now, I think) it was paired with The Key For Determining Dwarves http://www.kviff.com/en/about-festival/ ... -gulliver/, a kind of drama doc based on Juráček's diaries. I recall it being very illuminating. I also remember Joseph Kilián being great, and I'm very excited about this release. What a tremendous label Second Run is!

Bikey wrote: We are delighted to announce that we'll release Josef Kilián in a two-film set with another great Czech film from that period from a filmmaker who will be already familiar to those who know our catalogue...
Both films are being newly restored and with new English subtitles.

Thank you for your incredible dedication to Central & Eastern European cinema! This is truly exciting news.

Excellent film! And restored?! Bring it on!! My DVD-R recorded off Slovak TV a couple of years ago sure could do with an upgrade.

Bikey wrote:Thanks to both!
We are delighted to announce that we'll release Josef Kilián in a two-film set with another great Czech film from that period from a filmmaker who will be already familiar to those who know our catalogue...

Well, that narrows it down to:

The White Dove and The Devil's Trap (František Vláčil)
The Cry (Jaromil Jireš)
Black Peter (Miloš Forman)
Something Different (Věra Chytilová)
...or something by Jiří Weiss or Karel Kachyňa, but they're less obviously 'New Wave'.

I'd be happy with any of those, but ecstatic if it was The White Dove, whose only other DVD release is an abomination. And of course that film's slightly shorter than the average feature, so arguably more in need of double-billing...

Pairing it with a another shortish film was my guess, too, and White Dove seems perfect.

MichaelB wrote:

Bikey wrote:Thanks to both!
We are delighted to announce that we'll release Josef Kilián in a two-film set with another great Czech film from that period from a filmmaker who will be already familiar to those who know our catalogue...

Well, that narrows it down to:

The White Dove and The Devil's Trap (František Vláčil)
The Cry (Jaromil Jireš)
Black Peter (Miloš Forman)
Something Different (Věra Chytilová)
...or something by Jiří Weiss or Karel Kachyňa, but they're less obviously 'New Wave'.

I'd be happy with any of those, but ecstatic if it was The White Dove, whose only other DVD release is an abomination. And of course that film's slightly shorter than the average feature, so arguably more in need of double-billing...

How about the Passer or Herz shorts that were excised from Pearls of the Deep? They'd also fit the bill, I'd expect.

Wouldn't that be kind of weird, since Second Run hasn't released the main films from Pearls of the Deep? Kind of like "hey, here are a few films that weren't included on that Criterion set that everyone owns". I'd assume if Second Run was going to release those films, they'd probably just release all the Pearls of the Deep shorts together.

I'd be surprised if it was the Pearls of the Deep shorts, for the simple reason that they're very short - a combo of, say, Joseph Kilián and Ivan Passer's A Boring Afternoon (wonderful though the latter is) only just scrapes 50 minutes.

It would also be rather more of a marketing challenge than, say, another major Vláčil - which in the wake of Marketa Lazarová's belated Criterionisation would obviously be of far more interest.

(But I must stop convincing myself that that's indeed what they're doing - that's a fatal mistake!)

PYTEL BLECH (A BAGFUL OF FLEAS)

Be still my heart. A presumably restored release of The White Dove is exactly what I need to lift my mood.

It wouldn't even have to be that well restored to improve upon the Facets!

This is like a dream. Second Run, I love you.

I don't know that the two films really fit together, but what the hell! Two great films than any self-respecting cinephile should see.

swo17 wrote:It wouldn't even have to be that well restored to improve upon the Facets!

Indeed not. Of course, I hope (in fact, confidently expect) that the picture will be substantially better than Facets' poorly-encoded VHS-quality mess, but merely offering optional, properly synchronised subtitles will make a huge difference.

I hope it's not too late to add the haček on Pavel Juráček's surname!

This isn't the final version - all will be correct on the final print version. Thanks!

Correct sleeve

Full details now up at our website

Well, the good news is that Second Run's The White Dove does indeed wipe the floor with the Facets disc - merely being native PAL with optional subtitles makes a whopping difference. (The Facets was a PAL-to-NTSC conversion with ghosting galore, and the subtitles weren't just fixed but poorly synchronised).

That said, Second Run's source looks distinctly like analogue videotape to my eyes, and there's some very noticeable haloing - I'm sure this was the best master available, but those who've been spoilt by the Blu-rays of Marketa Lazarová should perhaps rein expectations in a tad. It's undoubtedly the best that The White Dove has ever looked on video, but there's still room for improvement.

By contrast, a quick spin through Josef Kilián suggests that it looks very nice indeed - I'm guessing it's a much more recent transfer. And in this case Second Run's edition is the only one available worldwide (to my knowledge), so it's not as if you had a choice to begin with.