Deaf Crocodile

[Saturnome]

MASTERS OF SOVIET ANIMATION VOL. 1

Even if this is just an upgrade of the old DVD that would be fantastic.
I'd love a few more not on any of these DVDs, like Blue Puppy (1976), A Box With Secret (1976), Mitten (1967), The Tree and the Cat (1983, Ukraine), Suur Tõll (1980, Estonia) In the Blue Sea, in the White Foam (1984, Armenia)... It's an infinite treasure box of stuff that never made it on physical media over here.

Good news with Gwen and Ma-Ma !

[knives]

Yeah, that old Kino disc is one of my all time faves and just more of that around is nice to hear.

[swo17]

There's a second December release (Jiří Weiss' The Golden Fern) that subscribers have to pay extra for by Dec 12 to receive. The purchase link is in a personalized email. Mine was in junk mail

[ryannichols7]

There's a second December release (Jiří Weiss' The Golden Fern) that subscribers have to pay extra for by Dec 12 to receive. The purchase link is in a personalized email. Mine was in junk mail

specs:

THE GOLDEN FERN (ZLATÉ KAPRADÍ) – 1963, NFA, 115 min. Czech director Jiří Weiss’s breathtaking B&W fairy tale is one of the most unjustly neglected treasures of 1960s fantasy filmmaking, a hauntingly lyrical work with overtones of Wojciech Has’s THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT, František Vláčil's MARKETA LAZAROVÁ and Cocteau’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. A handsome young shepherd (Jean Marais lookalike Vít Olmer) stumbles across a magical golden fern in the forest. A stunning, enigmatic forest fairy named Lesanka (Karla Chadimová) is sent to retrieve it but instead falls hopelessly in love with him. When he’s forced to join the army and heads off to war, she sews a seed from the fern into his shirt to protect him. While he’s away, though, he falls for the icily beautiful daughter of the commanding general (Dana Smutná) who demands he perform a series of Herculean tasks to prove his devotion to her. Director Jiří Weiss (1913 – 2004) was internationally acclaimed for dramas such as WOLF TRAP and ROMEO, JULIET & DARKNESS – here he worked with cinematographer Bedřich Baťka (who also photographed the legendary MARKETA LAZAROVÁ) to craft one of the most visually ravishing and hypnotic B&W wide screen fantasies of the era. Released by Deaf Crocodile, the Národní filmový archív and Comeback Company. In Czech with English subtitles.



Special Features

Three rare early Jiří Weiss shorts:

THE SUN SHINES ON THE RIVER LUŽNICE (NAD LUŽNICÍ SVÍTÍ SLUNCE) 1936, 10 min – beautiful, lyrical B&W tone poem of the pre-WWII Czech countryside: athletic young men and women canoeing down the River Lužnice, passing medieval castles and sleepy half-forgotten villages. Silent with music.

SONG OF RUTHENIA (PÍSEŇ O PODKARPATSKÉ RUSI) 1937, 11 min. Another gorgeous B&W film poem of the Czech countryside and Weiss’s personal favorite of his early shorts. Mythical images of mountains and streams and rural farmers tilling the land make this a precursor to the mystical visions of the forest in THE GOLDEN FERN. Filmed traveling on horseback through the mountains of Ruthenia (then part of Czecholovakia, now part of Ukraine), shooting the diverse community with Ruthenians (Slavs), Jews and Roma all living in the same area.

THE RAPE OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA (ULOUPENÍ ČESKOSLOVENSKA) 1939, 17 min. Weiss’s classic B&W agitprop short was made after he escaped to London just ahead of the Nazis. He carried with him three reels of material for his unrealized film DVACET LET SVOBODY (TWENTY YEARS OF FREEDOM) i.e. 20 years of the existence of independent Czechoslovakia from its 1918 founding to 1938 when the Munich Agreement dissolved it. In English with poetic narration written by C. Day-Lewis (father of Daniel Day-Lewis).

New video interview with the filmmaker’s son Jiří Weiss Jr. about his father’s remarkable life story and filmmaking career.

New commentary by film historian Peter Hames and Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company

Video essay by film historian Evan Chester.

New reversible cover artwork by Beth Morris.



Deluxe Edition Bonus Content

Slipcase featuring new illustration by Hans Woody

60-page illustrated book with:

Introduction by filmmaker Alexander Payne (THE HOLDOVERS)

New essay by film historian Peter Hames

New essay by film critic Walter Chaw

Memories of cinematographer Bedrich Batka by writer William Robertson

the extras here are incredible, a commentary by Peter Hames and Irena Kovarova, two of the best scholars on Czechoslovak film? awesome stuff. I don't know if I'm in on Felidae but this is something I'll definitely get, as a fan of Romeo, Juliet, and Darkness as well as 90 Degrees in the Shade

[TechnicolorAcid]

Felidae is a wonderfully dark little animated movie. It’s definitely a weird watch and I’ve only experienced the English dub but under the right circumstances it’s a good watch even if it’s not really a fun film.

[ryannichols7]

Felidae is a wonderfully dark little animated movie. It’s definitely a weird watch and I’ve only experienced the English dub but under the right circumstances it’s a good watch even if it’s not really a fun film.

as a huge cat lover I'm not sure how much of it I can take though, even if it is animated. Watership Down is hard, and I've read before that Felidae is even more violent. I trust the animation is great and the story is good, but...I am one of those who do get very sensitive over animals I guess. I skip the cat scene in Satantango to this day, even knowing the cat was safe! luckily the new 4K of Gummo revealed just how prosthetic and fake those cats were, even though I still looked away a good bit..

[TechnicolorAcid]

If it helps, the violence isn’t as extreme as excepted (the worse stuff happens in a dream sequence) and I myself as a cat lover had a good time treating it like a Cat Noir, with all the cynicism that entails. But if you’re overly sensitive it’s best to just avoid it.

[MichaelB]

the extras here are incredible, a commentary by Peter Hames and Irena Kovarova, two of the best scholars on Czechoslovak film? awesome stuff. I don't know if I'm in on Felidae but this is something I'll definitely get, as a fan of Romeo, Juliet, and Darkness as well as 90 Degrees in the Shade

Having recorded a commentary for a Jiří Weiss film myself (his next one, 90º in the Shade), I'm particularly looking forward to hearing theirs. I certainly mentioned The Golden Fern, but not in any particular detail - it was more because the films shared an actress (Jorga Kotrbova) and a cinematographer (Bedřich Baťka) than for any other reason.

[therewillbeblus]

Felidae is an absolutely filthy noir dressed up in the clothes of light cartoon animation (do not show this to your kids!) Unfortunately, once the shock of its sexual content and violence wears off, there's not too much to chew on here - intriguing characters are introduced and discarded way too quickly, and the ones that stick around are bores or boars or both. I really wanted to like this, but if you're going to take yourself this seriously (totally appropriate on the genre front), you should back it up with a more interesting narrative trajectory

[Bunuel]

Watched In The Moscow Slums last night and thought it was breezy good fun. A bit inconsistent in terms of production quality- there are some sets (like the exteriors of the slums) that are genuinely dank and impressive, but other times the film hits a level of visual quality that can best be described as "BBC show on its second season after getting its budget slashed." At times it feels like a long pilot episode to a detective series. Definitely recommended for Sherlock Holmes' fans, as it does some interesting stuff with the story & with subbing in Stanislavski as its Sherlock figure. I hope they make more of these a la Branagh's Poirot.

[MichaelB]

Estonian sci-fi noir Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979), the cinema's other great Strugatsky Brothers adaptation besides Stalker and Hard to Be a God, has been confirmed as a future Deaf Crocodile release - which presumably won't come as a surprise to anyone; it's hard to think of a more perfect "Deaf Crocodile" kind of title.

[colinr0380]

Estonian sci-fi noir Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979), the cinema's other great Strugatsky Brothers adaptation besides Stalker and Hard to Be a God, has been confirmed as a future Deaf Crocodile release - which presumably won't come as a surprise to anyone; it's hard to think of a more perfect "Deaf Crocodile" kind of title.

And as with Stalker, it provided the inspiration for a video game!

[TechnicolorAcid]

Estonian sci-fi noir Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979), the cinema's other great Strugatsky Brothers adaptation besides Stalker and Hard to Be a God, has been confirmed as a future Deaf Crocodile release - which presumably won't come as a surprise to anyone; it's hard to think of a more perfect "Deaf Crocodile" kind of title.

Fabulous announcement, I was never able to finish the film because my subtitles were completely off but based on what I was able to see, it was a very delightful detective film bursting with vibrant visuals and a very good/disorienting score that I can’t wait to get into. By the way Michael I don’t see this on their usual socials and I can’t see a Newsletter announcing it so how did you find this out?

[MichaelB]

Dennis Bartok confirmed its acquisition on his Facebook page.

[ryannichols7]

I really enjoyed Dead Mountaineer's Hotel, seeing an Estonian movie shot around Almaty, Kazakhstan is basically a big cross section of my interests. can't wait for an awesome edition loaded with some English-friendly extras, which I know Deaf Crocodile won't let me down on. I'm still surprised no one has taken this on in the UK - Radiance and Eureka feel like natural landing points, but I'm thrilled to be able to get it from DC

If it helps, the violence isn’t as extreme as excepted (the worse stuff happens in a dream sequence) and I myself as a cat lover had a good time treating it like a Cat Noir, with all the cynicism that entails. But if you’re overly sensitive it’s best to just avoid it.

Felidae is an absolutely filthy noir dressed up in the clothes of light cartoon animation (do not show this to your kids!) Unfortunately, once the shock of its sexual content and violence wears off, there's not too much to chew on here - intriguing characters are introduced and discarded way too quickly, and the ones that stick around are bores or boars or both. I really wanted to like this, but if you're going to take yourself this seriously (totally appropriate on the genre front), you should back it up with a more interesting narrative trajectory

thank you both for your perspectives, I remain really curious! probably won't blind buy but will try and sample it and get around the...difficult to watch parts

[MichaelB]

I'm still surprised no one has taken this on in the UK - Radiance and Eureka feel like natural landing points, but I'm thrilled to be able to get it from DC.

Bartok said that it took much, much longer to secure the rights than he'd anticipated, which probably explains that. They're also creating a new 4K master, which might also explain why others have been reluctant to take it on - if there's nothing available off the shelf (either at all or in acceptable quality for a mid-2020s home video release), that whacks the production budget way up. And this is a seriously niche title, for all its obvious merits.

[therewillbeblus]

Well, I keep touching the stove on these interesting-sounding releases, but Dead Mountaineer's Hotel is certainly of apiece with the label's sci-fi output: hollow, dull, and uninspired genre hybrid. The film doesn't establish its principals well enough to warrant its investigative sincerity, attempting to involve us in a noir mystery that feels at once confounding and completely expendable next to the merits of the shooting locations. By leaning into its sci-fi trappings, the information we have on-hand doesn't have to matter at all. So the film tries to have it both ways, and winds up forsaking its faux-grounding noir elements for the fantastical, which could work in a film willing to dive deeper into its lore of lunacy, but it also feels relatively safe - again, like a lot of their sci-fi output. I dunno, whatever people get out of these tempered films I just don't

[Glowingwabbit]

Well, I keep touching the stove on these interesting-sounding releases, but Dead Mountaineer's Hotel is certainly of apiece with the label's sci-fi output: hollow, dull, and uninspired genre hybrid. The film doesn't establish its principals well enough to warrant its investigative sincerity, attempting to involve us in a noir mystery that feels at once confounding and completely expendable next to the merits of the shooting locations. By leaning into its sci-fi trappings, the information we have on-hand doesn't have to matter at all. So the film tries to have it both ways, and winds up forsaking its faux-grounding noir elements for the fantastical, which could work in a film willing to dive deeper into its lore of lunacy, but it also feels relatively safe - again, like a lot of their sci-fi output. I dunno, whatever people get out of these tempered films I just don't

I had the same experience. I bought the mediabook awhile back because the cover looked cool and the description sounded interesting, but woof was it dull.

[ryannichols7]

since Mike from Grindhouse said we should be supporting the former "partner labels" for very implied reasons, I'll encourage everyone to do so. they put out three previously released titles with new slipcovers, so if you don't have them already you can grab them. personally I hope they do more.

Kin Dza Dza
The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians
Prague Nights

I'm still surprised no one has taken this on in the UK - Radiance and Eureka feel like natural landing points, but I'm thrilled to be able to get it from DC.

Bartok said that it took much, much longer to secure the rights than he'd anticipated, which probably explains that. They're also creating a new 4K master, which might also explain why others have been reluctant to take it on - if there's nothing available off the shelf (either at all or in acceptable quality for a mid-2020s home video release), that whacks the production budget way up. And this is a seriously niche title, for all its obvious merits.

that kind of rocks though with how much effort they put in, and doing their own restoration and all. it is niche but I hope it does catch on with DC's usual audience

[swo17]

There's a second December release (Jiří Weiss' The Golden Fern) that subscribers have to pay extra for by Dec 12 to receive. The purchase link is in a personalized email. Mine was in junk mail

I'm just now realizing that November also had a second release, Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space. That news presumably also went to my junk mail, and I never saw it

[beamish14]

There's a second December release (Jiří Weiss' The Golden Fern) that subscribers have to pay extra for by Dec 12 to receive. The purchase link is in a personalized email. Mine was in junk mail

I'm just now realizing that November also had a second release, Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space. That news presumably also went to my junk mail, and I never saw it

You dodged a bullet with missing Tamala, believe me