Yeah, thanks, skuhn. Jancso in a speedo sounds unmissable!

I originally planned just to order the Jancsó, but when I realised how cheap the other DVDs in that series were (most of them go for 891 forints, or just £2.48/€2.89/US$3.99, and even the Jancsó is cheaper than the Second Run equivalent), and that they offered free delivery for orders of more than 10,000 forints, I ordered another nine.

Aside from constantly having to cut-and-paste to Google Translate, lira.hu was pretty straightforward to navigate, and they seem happy to ship abroad.

I'll report back when they arrive.

Michael, have you got any recommendations to make? I also initially planned on ordering just the single Jancso.

Well, I haven't seen most of them yet! But I suspect you can't go wrong with an early István Szabó (if Apa and his early 60s shorts are any guide), and I was also very impressed by István Gaál's Current (Sodrásban), which I wrote about here.

Thanks, i will check them out!

Scratch that - they've just cancelled the order. I shouldn't be surprised that the 10,000 forint delivery offer applied only within Hungary, but most other online retailers would have automated systems preventing such an order from going through with a foreign address attached.

I ordered just the Jancso (which came to £13.70 with postage to the UK), and that still seems to be on track.

Hopefully this gets to you. I saw this film recently on 35mm, but it was projected wrong (heads cut out of the image etc.) it looked like it maybe could have been 1:66:1. A website lists the DVD as 1:33:1. Do you know the original aspect ratio of this film? Is the DVD pan and scan?

I have the Hungarian DVD on order, so I'll confirm when it arrives.

Just received my copy of The Red and the White. Haven't checked out the extras yet, but, as promised, the picture quality on the film is big step-up from the Second Run edition. Screen caps for comparison here. Thanks to L.A. and skuhn for bringing this to our attention!

Yes, that's a really dramatic improvement - just as the recent restorations of Red Psalm and Szindbád marked significant advances over the previous DVDs. My copy was posted on Monday, so hopefully I'll get to see it myself before too long.

It's good to see that the Hungarians are taking film restoration seriously, especially when Miklós Jancsó is still with us to advise.

The Hungarian DVD is 1:33:1. I believe this is the correct aspect ratio.

Thanks! This actually makes more sense, the cropping was pretty terrible at 1:85:1. I'm very much looking forward to the DVD arriving now!

My copy of The Red and the White turned up this morning, and although the picture isn't quite up to the standard of Clavis' Cantata or Second Run's My Way Home or Red Psalm (probably the three best Jancsó transfers out there), it's certainly a very substantial advance on the old Second Run disc - and would be a clear first choice even if it wasn't for the superb extras.

I haven't watched the main documentary yet, but the production featurette is a delight - not to mention genuinely fascinating in the way it illustrates the logistical efforts behind Jancsó's visual choreography in terms of positioning both the performers and the camera. I'm also happy to confirm that the package appears to be completely trilingual - when you load it up, you're offered menus in Hungarian, English or Russian.

Sadly, though, this seems to be in a minority among the Magyar Filmtörténeti Sorozata releases in featuring subtitles on the extras - the other discs that I've checked out (two early Szabós and the triple-film edition of The Man of Gold/Az Aranyember) definitely don't. Annoyingly, despite this, the menus are bilingual even with regard to the extras, so you get some idea of what you're missing!

Is the extra from Second Run's edition duplicated on this release?

No, but, as skuhn mentioned, you do get to see footage of Jancso directing in his swimming trunks:

Mephisto is listed here, or already available from the same Hungarian Archive that published the edition of The Red and the White discussed above. Judging by the price this could be a 2-disker

The main question is whether the extras will have subtitles. On the basis of a cursory look through my collection, it seems that the more recent releases generally do, but the older ones definitely don't, so I wouldn't bet on it.

Still, the transfer should be markedly superior to my old letterboxed Anchor Bay disc - though, again, that's not a given, as one or two of the Hungarian discs are letterboxed too.

The only other DVD similar, at least by cover design, to The Red and the White that I've found on lira.hu is one of Dreams of Love.

Curiously, this is another Soviet-Hungarian co-production. The soviet distribution practice was to divide a movie longer that 100 min into two parts. So, accordingly, Dreams... is split on two disks and there are some extras as well on the second disk.

English subtitles are available, but maybe only for the feature.

The movie itself is nothing in the caliber of The Red... - traditional biopic of Liszt. I didn't see it, but, unlike The Red..., it was widely shown in USSR when I was a kid, so one could guess...

Yes, that's the other recent one - just one extra, a film about Liszt biopics that, on the basis of a quick spin through, completely fails to mention Ken Russell's contribution, but it does have English subtitles.

The transfer of the main feature (another 2011 restoration) is excellent - a notch above The Red and the White, in fact.

So it does have English subs on extras?!

Great news, Michael, this might be a trend and indicator that all future releases will have them as well!!!

Saw the new Mephisto available in the shops yesterday. It's a single disc, displays same 'restored' label as Red/White. Not sure if the minimal extras are subtitled, but that seems to be the trend with the revamped label.

Thanks for details, Skuhn! Please let us know about subtitles if you eventually pick this disk up.

Back of the cover of Mephisto can be seen now on lira.hu. As far as I could guess this is a short (18 min) piece about the director. The feature has English subtitles. If this extra piece does have them as well, could this edition be considered the best English-friendly one? Can anybody comment?!

There was an interview with the director on the US release. Was supposed to be pretty dull but this may well be the best release now.