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I did a search to see if the classic 1967 Serbian film I EVEN MET HAPPY GYPSIES is available. Fortunately it is available in Yugoslavia [R2, PAL].
I got my copy via Yu4you yesterday and despite the average transfer it is quite satisfactory. The film is presented 4:3 letterboxed [1.66:1], the source print is OK with minimum scratches but the colour does alter slightly at times throughout although not too severely. (Despite this the colour palette used by Petrovic is remarkable and shows clearly.) The subs are removable, white and translate 90% of the dialogue.

The film was a blind buy for me. I was not dissapointed. The lead actor is called the Yugoslavian Belmondo and he really does resemble our well known hero. The behaviour of these Gypsies has to be seen to be believed. My father-in-law was Serbian and my wife, upon viewing this with me, said she finally understood many things about her father and his cronies (albeit undesirable aspects of human behaviour). The camera work is dazzling and this film leaves me wanting more Yugoslavian new wave classics. [Pavlovic's WHEN I AM DEAD & WHITE is also available but unfortunately without English subs.]

The total cost in AUD was about $30. it took 8 days from posting to arrive here in South Australia.

What an amazing find. Thanks for posting this information. I'll be buying that very soon. I did a bit of browsing to see if there were any other interesting films with English subtitles but unfortunately most of the dvds seem to be without subs. Did you find anything else of interest that is English friendly?

Slightly off topic, I noticed that there is a U.S. dvd available of Petrovic's The Master and Margarita. I am just wondering if you are familiar with this film and if the dvd is worth getting.

I spoke with a jugoslavian guy some years ago who said that Emir Kusturica's oeuvre is mainly samples of this film.

The Yu4You website now has a button on its video home page for DVDs with English subtitles. That page is also available here.

While it is true that most DVDs do not have English subtitles, there are nine pages of videos that do.
DS Sound also has DVDs with English subtitles. Likewise, it has a button on its home page for DVDs with English subtitles. The real treasure here is 'KO TO TAMO PEVA (Who's Singing Over There?)', an absolutely delightful comedy with some pointed aspects. Interestingly, dssound has this in NTSC with English subtitles, whereas it is only PAL format lacking English subtitles on Yu4you. Print quality for the DVD is not great, but certainly more than acceptable. And it is a memorable film.

So apparently one can also now order I Even Met Happy Gypsies and March to the River Drina via Amazon.com's "CustomFlix" thing where they burn you a DVD-R on demand. Oddly they are still PAL DVD-Rs, though, which makes you wonder how many people have bought them and tried to play them on an NTSC system (or if maybe nobody has ordered them at all). It looks like it might be more expensive there than at Yu4You but possibly more desirable in terms of shipping or credit card transactions.

Solent's report was encouraging but before I take the plunge can anyone else weigh in on the quality/accuracy of the transfer, aspect ratio, subtitles, etc., of either disc?

I reviewed Happy Gypsies last year for Sight & Sound (December 2007 issue), and concluded:

The non-anamorphic image of this Serbian DVD is very soft and the colours seem faded, though the print is in acceptable condition for its age. The English subtitles are rough and ready and occasionally poorly synchronised, but one is grateful to have them at all.

Correct view MichealB. Despite being a little erratic the subs are nowhere near as bad as those found on some Facets releases. After watching the film a couple of times I found the film to be perfectly enjoyable without subs as well - in zoom mode (i.e. preudo-'anamorphic']. If I ever get SZINBAD I would love to watch this without distracting subs so as to enjoy the photography which features some frames of what appear to be less than a second.

Unless somebody comes out with a better version and you really want this film now then get it. [I'd love to see THREE (1965), the film Petrovic made before this and considered by some to be the herald of the Serbian new wave of the 60s.]

solent wrote:If I ever get SZINBAD I would love to watch this without distracting subs so as to enjoy the photography which features some frames of what appear to be less than a second.

Mokép's Hungarian DVD has optional subtitles. It's non-anamorphic, but the source print is superb.

I strongly recommend (if you can find) H-8 by Nikola Tanhofer, Svoga tela gospodar by Fedor Hanžeković & Breza by Ante Babaja. Great movies, but sadly very hard to track down on any home video format. I've rocorded them when they were on croatian TV station.