criterionforum.org

Beaver. Looks fantastic.

of course, a huge improvement over the print I saw. hopefully Orbit is able to keep this one in stock, they got it incredibly early (like on Monday) and sold out instantly. thankfully this is the last Second Run title they didn't do preorders for, don't want to miss out in the future

a lot of these Czechoslovakian films only have 1 or 2 original posters available, it's cool to see that literal gallery right there at the top of the Beaver page

"Second Run give the film its worldwide Blu-ray debut and a major world cinema restoration for a film whose striking visual and aural approach has been difficult to appreciate in the past.[...]
the presentation here looks great with the earthy color scheme in the early going giving way to eye-popping colors bouncing all over the screen once the mystical aspects kick in. Equally significant is the Czech DTS-HD MA 5.1 track reflecting the original four-track multichannel mix, which has been heard virtually nowhere if you didn't catch this in its initial screenings. A far cry from the flat mono mix we've had for decades, the sound mix is a real joy with wild separation effects throughout including spacious music, swirling sounds, and widely spread crowd noises"
MondoDigital

Thank you yet again for this delightful Second Run release. If you look carefully you will see that Miroslav Ondriĉek is credited as.II kamera. He also photographed LOVES OF A BLONDE and also If...It is curious that some scenes in CASSANDRA.CAT seem to look forward to the British classic, eg the girl unusually helming an unusual vehicle, the mass evacuation of the hall and others. Of course there was interaction between Czech and English directors in the '60s as there was mutual admiration. This film was shot in the ravishing Czech town of Telĉ where Herzog's Wojczek was also filmed. Was there for a week pre-Covid: must try to get there again.

Marvelous film accompanied by a marvelous animated short. Aside to Second Run: I’d love to see more short films as extras on your Central/Eastern European releases, even if they are not related directly to the film. Most times, I’d even prefer these as extras in lieu of a commentary.

Matt wrote: Sun May 07, 2023 3:48 pm Aside to Second Run: I’d love to see more short films as extras on your Central/Eastern European releases, even if they are not related directly to the film. Most times, I’d even prefer these as extras in lieu of a commentary.

Same

I totally agree. There were some great shorts programmed in the Yugoslav strand of last year's Il Cinema Ritrovato that they should pick up.

Second Run have been very good at including short films as supplements for their Czech and Slovak releases these last few years. I hope the trend will continue.

Fifth’d

I think we've got the message

"Shot in vivid Technicolor-like hues in anamorphic Scope with a four-channel stereo track, THE CASSANDRA CAT may seem a very atypical example of the Czech New Wave... Looking back as much to Hollywood Technicolor musicals as to Soviet fantasy films of the fifties [...] a more indirect and subversive critique of authoritarianism than [Jasný's] more confrontational later work."
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