50 / BD 67 Morgiana

[MichaelB]

The Digital Fix - a very fair piece that isn't blind to the film's faults, but which absolutely nails its appeal.

[Bikey]

Probably the first time Second Run have been reviewed in Horrorview - Morgiana reviewed by Blackgloves

[zedz]

What a riot this film was: highly recommended! Looking at those Beaver caps again, they give a good account of the image quality, but it's amazing how they could cherry-pick such a visually extravagant film to make it appear almost normal. I mean, we've got point-of-view fish-eye lens shots galore, sly split-screen work, cat-cam sequences and full-on colour-smearing psychedelic freakouts, all through an art nouveau filter. Bikey, you ought to post some rival money shots to show people what they're really in for.

[domino harvey]

I've said this before too. DVDBeaver captures hardly ever manage to capture the spirit of the film, and I often wonder how high the percentage is of films "watched" that are merely sampled, captured, and posted with vaguely-phrased praise or indifference tagged on at the end to give the illusion of a review

[jbeall]

A riot, indeed. I freaking loved this film. I haven't seen Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, so I can't comment on any comparisons between the two, but Morgiana is a pretty unique film in its own right. (If anything, comparisons to Cinderella and/or David Lynch might be more appropriate.) Although it's superficially apolitical, for at least the first third of the film, surveillance is a major leitmotif, especially when

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the mason spies on Viktorie while she's undressing. Speaking of leitmotifs, the film opens with multiple shots of the father's black coffin, and I assumed throughout the film that Klára's death was a foregone conclusion. The ending, then, quite took me by surprise.

Herz and Kučera have a wonderful eye for visual similarities, such as Viktorie's dress in Klára's hallucinations, which look like the reddish substance (poison?) Viki pours into a glass at one point, and the most "oh. my. god." moment for me was

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the utterly horrifying resemblance between Morgiana the cat and Klára's nurse; whoa!

An equally disconcerting moment for me was when

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Viktorie walked into the sea, and then Herz cut to a bloated doll's face... WTF?!?

Anyway, this was such a wild film, with a major twist at the ~85 min. mark. Herz may say he made this film only in order to keep his skills sharp, but it's such a weird, crazy thrill!

[Bikey]

Mondo Digital tackle both Morgiana and The Cremator in this wonderful, enthusiatic appreciation.

[knives]

I really don't think that even if the beaver had picked on some of the (amazing) effects shots that they would have been able to grasp the film still. It manages to be so fully cinema rather than the extension of photography a lot of these pretty pictures tend to be. Really it seems like he is trying to shoot an encyclopedia of film techniques. Of course some of this technique makes for obvious or even cliched moments (the black sister V. the white sister), but he toys with this enough that I'm a bit happy with that sort of goofiness. The music too was fascinating. Something seems off about it, but I'll just assume that's the PAL. That odd tingling aside I think it did the very necessary deed of balancing the comedy and drama of the film so it wouldn't fall into self-parody.

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Finally, I am completely shocked that the two sisters were played by one woman. I don't think that I would have ever noticed without the interview she inhabits the two roles so completely and so differently. I still don't believe it almost everything from body language to voice seemed dramatically different.

[Bikey]

DVD Outsider's enthusiastic recommendation of Morgiana.

[admira]

DVD freak

[MichaelB]

That link was posted in this very thread, several months ago.

[Bikey]

Screening at this year's Belfast Film Festival on April 5th at 8pm as part of their 'Altered States' strand.

[domino harvey]

I feel like that person who politely declines to indulge in the positive accolades post-screening and merely chimes in with, "Well, that was interesting." This struck me as being more concerned with its stylistic conceits than I ever was watching it. But regardless of that complaint, whatever underlying gothic fun hiding beneath the affectations was swiftly undone the constant and inescapable histrionic tone. Too bad, so sad, etc

[jbeall]

But regardless of that complaint, whatever underlying gothic fun hiding beneath the affectations was swiftly undone the constant and inescapable histrionic tone. Too bad, so sad, etc

Hmmm... I rather thought the gothic fun and the histrionic tone went hand-in-hand. Or at least from my perspective, the gothic was half the fun, the histrionic tone (and the formal means used to present it) the other half. I guess we'll just disagree on this one.

[tarpilot]

Yeah, I'm a rather big fan as well. The only other Herz I've seen is The Cremator, but Morgiana almost felt like a lost Zulawski in the very best way.

[mwuet]

In what I've read about this film I haven't seen any mention of where it was filmed. Not in the Czech Republic or Slovakia obviously. I'm guessing Croatia but does anyone know for sure?

As for the film, like others here I loved the excess. It would've been interesting to see a version adhering to Herz's original vision, though, at least to see which would've been more twisted. Plot-wise a schizophrenia theme would've been more complex to pull off, but the family ties theme makes it darker.

(Note: First post in the forum after following for a while).

[Bikey]

Screening as part of BFI's ongoing 'Gothic' Season - Herz's glorious MORGIANA plays at BFI Southbank on Wednesday 15th Jan at 6.20pm (introduced by Michael Brooke) and Friday 17th Jan at 8.40pm.

[MichaelB]

Oh yeah, that's tomorrow, isn't it? I knew I had something scheduled for this week.

[JamesF]

Any idea of format? The 35mm print of Valerie that screened last week was beautiful.

[AidanKing]

Oh yeah, that's tomorrow, isn't it? I knew I had something scheduled for this week.

I hope your trains are running properly, what with all the floods and everything.

[MichaelB]

Any idea of format? The 35mm print of Valerie that screened last week was beautiful.

Also 35mm. There's one more screening.

[yoloswegmaster]

Blu-ray coming in May

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

Morgiana (1972) presented from a new HD transfer from the best existing original materials created by the Czech National Film Archive.
An exclusive filmed interview with director Juraj Herz (2010).
A Projection Booth audio commentary with Mike White, Kat Ellinger and Ben Buckingham.
Booklet featuring essay by Daniel Bird and Dr Ian Conrich.
New and improved English subtitle translation.
UK premiere on Blu-ray.
Region Free (A/B/C) Blu-ray.

[Finch]

A most welcome upgrade, did a double take on the DVD being from 2010! Time flies.

[Calvin]

I notice that it's not advertised as a 'restoration' like the one Severin Films announced for the US a few days ago. It'll be interesting to see if we have another Valerie and Her Week of Wonders situation on our hands.

Regardless, I'm glad to see SR releasing more Herz on Blu-Ray and I hope they tackle The Night Overtakes Me soon

[ryannichols7]

was Morgiana not restored by the Czech NFA? I swore it was on their list. definitely curious if we had a questionable restoration job on our hands, will be interesting to see what this looks like going forward

first upgrade for Second Run of 2023, good title to pick. hope Szindbad, Fruit of Paradise, and Three Cheers for Cinderella come soon. let alone anything Polish

[Bikey]

Fulll details now at our website