58 Szindbád

Discuss releases by Second Run and the films on them.
Message
Author
User avatar
jbeall
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:22 am
Location: Atlanta-ish

Re: Szinbad

#26 Post by jbeall » Sat May 28, 2011 6:31 pm

Dunno if anybody noticed, but the release date is now June 27.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Szinbad

#27 Post by MichaelB » Sun May 29, 2011 3:05 am

Yes, there were a few last-minute hitches - such as an unexpected rights issue over Elégia, which sadly may not be happening (it's not 100% definitely out of the question yet, but it's not looking good).

But the other planned video extra was filmed last week, and my booklet text has been finished and submitted. I can't wait to see the new transfer - I had to watch the old Mokep one a lot when working on the booklet, and while it's pretty good by non-anamorphic standards (the source print is virtually flawless) its lack of fine detail became increasingly hard to ignore.

And I'm also looking forward to the new subtitles - Mokep's were pretty good, but there were occasional passages that were left untranslated for two or three lines for no apparent reason. Second Run's should be an improvement on that score, and they're having them double-checked by a native Hungarian speaker (and passionate fan of the film).

User avatar
Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: Szinbad

#28 Post by Bikey » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:05 am

We can confirm that filmmaker Peter Strickland (director of the extraordinary Katalin Varga) has recorded a filmed introduction for our DVD of Szindbad, a film which he loves.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Szinbad

#29 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:14 am

A test pressing arrived an hour ago, so I can now confirm a few things:

1. This is 100% definitely a brand new anamorphic transfer, not the old letterboxed Mokép DVD unconvincingly blown up to 16:9. Even if this hadn't been confirmed via an opening title inserted by the Hungarian National Film Archive, it was obvious from the very first shots, which reveal a level of detail that the old DVD couldn't come near (and I became very familiar with that DVD when writing the booklet!). I've posted some framegrabs here - with the caveat that these weren't sourced from the final production version.

2. I note that the formerly untranslated line in the opening scene (or rather, the earliest narratively coherent scene, with the dead/dying Szindbád in the cart) has now been subtitled. I assume the same is true of the other gaps.

3. Elégia is not included, presumably because the unexpected rights issue was unresolvable in the time available. I note that it's also been removed from YouTube in the last few weeks.

4. So the only video extra is a 12-minute appreciation by Peter Strickland - but there'll also be a booklet with a lengthy essay on the film, its literary source, and Zoltán Huszárik's life and career. Incidentally, Peter was kind enough to credit me with alerting him to the film's existence in the first place (it was my nomination for Sight & Sound's "75 Hidden Gems" feature from mid-2007), so I should probably flag up that our very own Skuhn8 deserves a similar nod from me.

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Szinbad

#30 Post by knives » Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:55 am

Assuming it's just a smidge under 19 minutes Elégia is available here. Not sure if it's subtitled though.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Szinbad

#31 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:15 pm

knives wrote:Assuming it's just a smidge under 19 minutes Elégia is available here. Not sure if it's subtitled though.
It doesn't need subtitles, and that does indeed appear to be the whole thing.

Sadly, that's the only Huszárik film that's up there - I'd love to see a decent copy of Capriccio again, but the best I can manage right now is this low-res excerpt courtesy of the Béla Balázs Studio (which made it in the first place), and I still haven't seen his other professional shorts. In fact, in the booklet it's embarrassingly obvious which ones I haven't seen, as I go into some detail about the ones that I have!

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Szinbad

#32 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:03 pm

...and here's the final cover:

Image

Apparently this took a lot of work, and it really shows. I had no idea how they'd sum up this film in a single image, but I think this is just about perfect - and easily one of my favourite Second Run covers to date.

User avatar
jbeall
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:22 am
Location: Atlanta-ish

Re: Szinbad

#33 Post by jbeall » Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:35 pm

Absolutely phenomenal cover. Indeed, one of SR's best yet.
MichaelB wrote:The Hungarian title is Szindbád, but there are various Anglicisations - my copy of the original Gyula Krúdy stories that inspired the film is called The Adventures of Sinbad, but that spelling misleadingly suggests that Ray Harryhausen might have had something to do with it.
Just noticed this comment as I was scrolling through the thread. FWIW, for interested readers here in the U.S., NYRB Classics is releasing an English translation of Krúdy's book in early Nov.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Szinbad

#34 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:50 pm

That looks like a US edition of the book I bought in Budapest a few years back, unless George Szirtes translated it twice.

It's not "Krúdy's book" as such - just a selection of the Sindbad stories, some of which fuelled the film. But Krúdy wrote several dozen in total, most of which have yet to be translated. Apparently Krúdy is phenomenally difficult to render into another language, because he uses Hungarian in such a complex way, paying close attention to the sounds, rhythms and the etymology of the words that he uses - and the stories are more sensual prose poems than narratives proper.

In fact, until Zoltán Huszárik proved his doubters wrong, it was widely assumed that Krúdy was unfilmable too.

User avatar
jbeall
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:22 am
Location: Atlanta-ish

Re: Szinbad

#35 Post by jbeall » Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:12 pm

I saw an older edition on amazon.com, but it didn't list the translator. It's probably the same one; NYRB editions often reprint earlier translations.

Also, the release date (for the dvd) has been moved back to July. Looking at the cover, I can see why, but I am eagerly awaiting this release!

charal
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:36 pm
Location: ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

Re: Szinbad

#36 Post by charal » Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:59 pm

Thanks for the link knives. The 18.49 min film is indeed complete and needs no subs. The source print was very clear. An interesting exercise in editing much like SZINBAD but less frenetic for most of the time.

Near the film's end there are shots of horses being killed in a slaughterhouse (by way of being conked on the nut). I wonder [if SR had been able to put it on the DVD] whether British censorship laws would have been applied here forcing cuts to the film.

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Szinbad

#37 Post by knives » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:26 pm

If that were such with the case, I hadn't thought of that being too hypnotized, than I am almost glad it didn't go through because even a frame different would have rendered the movie flaccid let alone such an important part. Given the context though I believe it would have been left uncensored because they allow slaughterhouse footage to be shown as a general rule.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Szinbad

#38 Post by MichaelB » Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:56 am

charal wrote:Near the film's end there are shots of horses being killed in a slaughterhouse (by way of being conked on the nut). I wonder [if SR had been able to put it on the DVD] whether British censorship laws would have been applied here forcing cuts to the film.
I honestly don't think that there would have been any problems. Firstly, clean kills seem to be fine under the 1937 Animals Act, which is only concerned with animals obviously in genuine pain - and secondly, it's very unlikely that the horses were killed specifically for the film.

hangman
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:33 am

Re: Szinbad

#39 Post by hangman » Sun Jun 26, 2011 6:26 am

Amazon.co.uk & moviemail now lists the release date as July 11, 2011 so DVD has been pushed back again - can't wait for this release the delays are killing me wonder though if anything new was added. On a sidenote that cover is really one of the more beautiful ones I've ever seen, this is saying a lot given how Second Run has produced some really great covers.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: Szinbad

#40 Post by MichaelB » Sun Jun 26, 2011 7:15 am

My shrinkwrapped final copy (contributor's privilege) arrived yesterday - I understand it was posted pretty much as soon as Second Run received it from the pressing plant. So I imagine it will be working its way into retailers' supply chains over the next few days - and will probably start being sent out a few days in advance of July 11th.

The specs are exactly as mentioned in my previous detailed post, namely:

1. A brand new anamorphic transfer (created by the Hungarian Film Archive earlier this year), framed correctly at 1.85:1.
2. A 12-minute video appreciation (with clips) by Peter Strickland, director of Katalin Varga.
3. A booklet with a lengthy essay by me covering the film, source author Gyula Krúdy and director Zoltán Huszárik.

Having had a look at the subtitles in more detail, I can now confirm that they're a new and much more complete translation when compared with the ones on the old Mokép DVD - not only is previously untranslated dialogue now covered, but so is important onscreen text (glimpses of love-letters, that kind of thing).

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: 58 Szindbád

#41 Post by MichaelB » Mon Jun 27, 2011 4:53 am

Incidentally, I'd just like to thank whoever had the idea of fusing this thread with the original Szindbád discussion - it was well worth doing, and I've updated my own contribution to reflect things released/discovered since I wrote it.

I can't wait for the reviews - of all the films in Second Run's catalogue, I'd say that this deserves the "unknown masterpiece" tag more than just about anything since Marketa Lazarová. And, like that film, its international obscurity is offset by a formidable reputation at home: it came third in two separate Hungarian critics' polls to establish the best Hungarian films ever made, and topped a similar public one.

User avatar
Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

Re: 58 Szindbád

#42 Post by Bikey » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:34 am

Full details of our Szindbád release now up at our website

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: 58 Szindbád

#43 Post by MichaelB » Thu Jun 30, 2011 6:05 pm

I suspect this will be up on Second Run's website in full in due course, but the new Sight & Sound has a near full-page rave by Michael Atkinson:
A layered, rum-soaked torte of a movie, adapted from stories by the revered-at-home, proudly untranslatable author Gyula Krúdy, 'Szindbád' comes off virtually as an anti-Jancsó - in the Art Film heyday, elaborate tracking and widescreen compositions and brooding long shots were something of a standard, especially in Eastern Europe. But 'Szindbád', seemingly as a riposte to Jancsó's contemporaneous monumentalism, is a montage frenzy, evoking the hero's dying moments via a hectic, timeline-skittering assemblage of impressions, memories, microscopic details, abrupt zooms and free associations, many of them only a few frames long, and all of them dripping with regret.

Nothing
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:04 am

Re: 58 Szindbád

#44 Post by Nothing » Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:28 pm

So what other films topped those Hungarian polls (lots of Jancso + Satantango, one hopes!)?

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: 58 Szindbád

#45 Post by MichaelB » Fri Jul 01, 2011 1:37 am

This was the result of the 2000 critics' poll to find the 'Budapest 12', an all-Hungarian tribute-cum-riposte to the famous 'Brussels 12' poll of 1958 - which, unsurprisingly, included no Hungarian films.

1. The Round-Up (Szegénylegények, Miklós Jancsó, 1965)
2. Love (Szerelem, Károly Makk, 1970)
3. Szindbád (Zoltán Huszárik, 1971)
4. People on the Alps (Emberek a havason, István Szőts, 1942)
5. Somewhere in Europe (Valahol Európában, Géza Radványi, 1947)
6. Time Stands Still (Megáll az idő, Péter Gothár, 1982)
7. Hyppolit the Butler (Hyppolit, a lakáj, István Székely, 1931)
8. Merry-Go-Round (Körhinta, Zoltán Fábri, 1955)
9. Little Valentino (A kis Valentinó, András Jeles, 1979)
10. My Twentieth Century (Az én XX. Századom, Ildikó Enydi, 1989)
11. Father (Apa, István Szabó, 1966)
12. Professor Hannibal (Hannibál tanár úr, Zoltán Fábri, 1956)

I've highlighted Second Run releases in bold. Some of the others are also available with English subtitles, but mainly on Hungarian labels.

And this was the result of the popular poll conducted last year by Hungarian magazine Index, which I also alluded to in the booklet:

1. Szindbád (Zoltán Huszárik, 1971)
2. Lovefilm (Szerelmesfilm, István Szabó, 1970)
3. The Witness (A tanú, Péter Bacsó, 1969)
4. The Corporal and the Others (A tizedes meg a többiek, Márton Keleti, 1965)
5. Hyppolit the Butler (Hyppolit, a lakáj, István Székely, 1931)
6. The Fifth Seal (Az ötödik pecsét, Zoltán Fábri, 1976)
7. Stars of Eger (Egri csillagok, Zoltán Várkonyi, 1968)
8. Lovely Green Grass (Égigérő fű, György Palásthy, 1974)
9. Cantata (Oldás és kötés, Miklós Jancsó, 1963)
10. The Toth Family (Isten hozta, őrnagy úr! , Zoltán Fábri, 1970)

I'm afraid I don't have a list of the complete '40 Years - 40 Films' poll conducted by Hungarian critics in 1985 (the third poll that I alluded to), but it was published in the third edition of the 1985 Hungarofilm Bulletin, so I might dig it out next time I'm at the BFI.

User avatar
jsteffe
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:00 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: 58 Szindbád

#46 Post by jsteffe » Fri Jul 01, 2011 9:58 am

Facets released a not-so-hot DVD of People on the Alps (Emberek a havason, István Szőts, 1942). It's a deeply moving film that has a lot in common with neorealism. I'm not sure whether it's something that Second Run would consider for release, but I really like it.

As for Szindbád, I do agree that it deserves a place at the top or near the very top of the best Hungarian films ever made.

Zot!
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:09 am

Re: 58 Szindbád

#47 Post by Zot! » Fri Jul 01, 2011 11:28 am

Thanks for these lists. I've always struggled to find Films from Hungary that I enjoy, despite, or perhaps because, I understand Hungarian. I will work my way through this to see if I can change that opinion. I'd be curious if you have some insight into the conspicuous absence of Tarr from these lists. He's got to be the most famous export, yet doesn't seem to get much attention at home. His broody approach doesn't seem hopelessly disparate from other Hungarian films.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: 58 Szindbád

#48 Post by MichaelB » Fri Jul 01, 2011 11:55 am

Well, the critics' list was compiled in early 2000, by which time Tarr had only made one film that would deserve serious consideration on an "all-time best" list, and I suspect even Sátántangó would have been seen by comparatively few people if only because the rarity of theatrical screenings and its unavailability on video.

I'm not the least bit surprised that he doesn't feature in the popular poll at all, any more than I'd be surprised by a popular British poll ignoring, say, Terence Davies, Lynne Ramsay or Derek Jarman. But it's interesting that Jancsó's early Cantata (effectively his feature debut, since he disowned his actual one) seems to be more popular than what came later - which may well be because it starred Szindbád's Zoltán Latinovits, who looms very large in the list: he's in four of the titles.

videozor
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:16 am
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA

Re: 58 Szindbád

#49 Post by videozor » Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:35 pm

The Fifth Seal is a great movie, deserves to be much better known than it is. I was surprised not to see in in Budapest 12 list, so I'm sort of satisfied by its inclusion in the other one (which I was not familiar with before seeing the post above)

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

Re: 58 Szindbád

#50 Post by MichaelB » Fri Jul 01, 2011 4:03 pm

I love these polls (I'm also a big fan of the 1998 Czech survey that put Marketa Lazarová on top, at a time when it was practically unknown internationally) because of the gaps they reveal between people who've grown up being exposed to the entirety of a particular national cinema, and people who've only seen the minuscule percentage that international distributors and festival programmers have made available to them. And they often tend to fixate on particular auteurs, which means that other possibly equally interesting titles slip through the gaps and are never picked up - which is one of the reasons that Second Run's policy of giving these films a second (or sometimes first) chance is so incalculably valuable.

I note, for instance, that four Zoltán Fábri films appear in those lists, making him by far the most cited director. I've only seen one of those specific titles (Merry-Go-Round, a film so embedded in the national cinematic consciousness that I keep spotting unmistakable references to it in a whole range of other Hungarian films, most recently Taxidermia), but the qualities of the other two that I've seen (Sweet Anna and Twenty Hours), plus the exceptionally high regard that Hungarian Cinema author John Cunningham has for him (the book even started out as a monograph on Fábri) suggests that this is very much my loss. But as far as I'm aware, no Fábri films are currently available in any English-speaking country, and most have never been released in Britain or the US in any form, even theatrically.

Post Reply