criterionforum.org

The Soviet Influence: From Turksib to Night Mail



In the early 1930s, under the nervous eye of the censor, Soviet propaganda films were shown in Britain. They played a central role in developing ideas about film as an art-form. This fascinating package explores the influence of classic, yet little-seen, Soviet documentary Turksib on British documentary films, including the celebrated Night Mail.

- Turksib (Victor Turin, 1929): bold and exhilarating, Turksib charts the building of the Turkestan-Siberian railway. Presented in the English version prepared in 1930 by John Grierson, with an evocative new score by Guy Bartell (Bronnt Industries Kapital)
- The Workers' Topical News No 1 (1930): the newsreel shown at Turksib British premiere. Australian Wine (Paul Rotha, 1931): charming and lively promotional film employing Soviet-style montage.
- The Country Comes to Town (Basil Wright, 1931): a celebration of the importance of the British countryside.
- Shadows on the Mountains (Arthur Elton, 1932): expressive titles and cinematography are deployed in this lyrical film about farming.
- The Face of Britain (Paul Rotha, 1935): a passionate and ambitious appeal for socialist planning.
- Night Mail (Harry Watt, Basil Wright, 1936): justly celebrated, this seminal film applies the aesthetic lessons of Soviet cinema to a very British tale.

Extras
- New musical scores for the silent films on the programme.
- 40-page illustrated booklet, drawing on writings of John Grierson, Basil Wright, Paul Rotha and others to chart the Soviet influence in the development of British documentary film.

antnield wrote:Amazon pre-order. Dual format edition. Due 19th September 2011.

The 78 minute running time suggests a simple pairing of the Victor A. Turin film and the Harry Watt one. No details, as yet, on extra features.

That is indeed what's happening - in parallel with the BFI's ongoing Kino season of Russian cinema, I believe the plan here is to trace the Soviet influence on the British documentary movement by pairing key Soviet and British works. Which, quite aside from the strong aesthetic links, also provides a great opportunity to reissue key British documentaries in 1080p versions.

My understanding is that at least one other similar release is in development, but I'm not at liberty to confirm titles yet.

Salt for Svetania would be great with Song of Ceylon perhaps? Strictly in the interests of alliteration if nothing else

From a March 2011 BFI press release for the Kino season:

Later in 2011, BFI Video Publishing will launch a new strand, 'The Soviet Influence'. A silent Soviet classic will be paired with a title, or titles, from British cinema history, in order to explore the impact which directors such as Eisenstein had on a group of British filmmakers during the early 1930s. The first release will be Victor Turin's poetic classic Turksib (1929) which had a profound effect on the shaping of such documentary classics as Night Mail (Harry Watt & Basil Wright, 1936), Contact (Paul Rotha, 1933) and O'er Hill and Dale (Basil Wright, 1932). The Soviet Influence: from Turksib to Night Mail will be mastered to High Definition from materials held at the BFI National Archive and released in a BFI Dual Format Edition (DVD and Blu-ray) during the Autumn.

Is there any information concerning region-free or region-locked for the Blu-ray?

As soon as I find out, I'll update the region list.

Based on the wording of that press release, I hope they do include an Eisenstein. The British Film Institute has an archival print of The General Line/The Old and the New that was released on VHS a while back. The German Absolut Media disc looks great, but they transferred it at a very slow frame rate; it runs 131 minutes, which just doesn't seem right.

Amazon product description:

The Soviet Influence: From Turksib to Nightmail

The small number of Russian films which were shown in Britain in the late 1920s and early 1930s excited the attention of British filmmakers and writers, and played a central role in developing ideas about film as an art-form. In particular this influence was felt in the British documentary film work of such key figures as John Grierson and Paul Rotha.

This unique and fascinating release explores this influence through the formal and thematic relationships between Viktor Turin's extraordinary, yet little-seen, silent documentary Turksib (1929), and a number of British documentary films, including the celebrated Night Mail (1936).

Extra Features:

- Dual Format Edition: includes both the Blu-ray and the DVD of the film and the extras.
- Workers Topical News Parts 1 and 2 (1930, 10 mins): the newsreels shown at Turksib s first UK screening
- Contact (Paul Rotha, 1933, 42 mins): luminary of the British documentary movement, Rotha used Soviet-style montage and intertitles to illustrate to conquest of the air by aeroplane
- Shadow of the Mountain (Arthur Elton, 1931, 15 mins): the struggles of Welsh sheep farmers is explored in this poetic film
- Night Mail (Harry Watt, Basil Wright, 1936): One of the most critically acclaimed and best loved films produced within the British documentary movement
- Fully illustrated booklet

Confirmed as region-free.

Given that Turksib is one of those films that's far more written about than actually seen, I wonder how many people will be buying this release primarily to get Night Mail in 1080p?

(Probably quite a few, if the massive success of the standalone release back in 2007 was any guide!)

MichaelB wrote:I wonder how many people will be buying this release primarily to get Night Mail in 1080p?

(Although the presence of Contact is a big lure, too)

Given that, to my knowledge, Turksib has only been released on an American NTSC VHS, I will go for this only because of Turksib, those two newsreels and the other extras, but I won't complain about the BFI adding Night Mail for commercial reasons.

Anyway, this looks like a magnificiently compiled package indeed ... And I pin high hopes on the booklet as well ... and on further releases in this same line.

And let me add that I'd love to see the BFI broaden the canon in some ways and release some old workers' films like Bread on DVD for the first time.

I suspect the booklet will be crucial to the overall context-setting plan.

As I understand the project (based on my knowledge of this release, the contents of a second as yet unannounced one and a chat with the head of BFI DVD Publishing a couple of months ago), the idea is to try to recreate the original atmosphere in which these films were shown in the UK via such organisations as Ivor Montagu's Film Society - so we can get a much better idea of the mechanisms by which a selection of Soviet films (and it was only ever a selection, for obvious logistical reasons) came to have such a profound influence on the British documentary movement.

One of the things I love about the best BFI DVD releases is that they're properly curated as opposed to merely programmed - and it looks as though this will very much continue in that tradition.

Michael, Is there any reason that Drifters hasn't seen the BFI light of day yet? Since Grierson was so instrumental in getting Turksib subtitled and distributed in the UK I would have thought that it would have been a cert for this set, being his main claim to fame as a director. Thematically it perhaps foots the bill better than Night Mail although I fully appreciate the marketing decision to include it and of course welcome the blu upgrade.

There is a strong possibility (indeed, probability bordering on virtual certainty) that Drifters will feature on an upcoming release in this series...

My apologies to all of the good people of the United Kingdom, but I must (with great shame) admit that I'm more interested in seeing what Soviet films will be making it onto Blu-ray as a part of this strand.

What A Disgrace wrote:My apologies to all of the good people of the United Kingdom, but I must (with great shame) admit that I'm more interested in seeing what Soviet films will be making it onto Blu-ray as a part of this strand.

For shame. Sackcloth and ashes for a week . Learn the words to Night Mail and recite 100 Hail Humphreys please.

Here's the complete Auden poem - which has passed so firmly into the canon of "proper" English literature that it's hard to believe it was originally commissioned as part of the soundtrack for a film made to promote the work of the Post Office!

Is there "Turksib" itself on this release or "Contact", "Shadow of the Mountain" and "Night Mail" only?

max_cherry wrote:Is there "Turksib" itself on this release or "Contact", "Shadow of the Mountain" and "Night Mail" only?

All four.

MichaelB wrote:All four.

Thanks!

Oh, cry me a river of money...

Nice Guardian piece on the BFI season and Soviet influence on British filmmakers in the 20's & 30's....

The BFI publication 'Traditions of Independence: British Cinema in the Thirties' is a great resource for this period dealing with Montagu's Film Society and the Worker's newsreels movements as well as articles by Jennings,Lye and Rotha. I would have said it would be good for BFI to republish alongside these editions but hey there's plenty going for 1p on Amazon!

Thanks for the recommendation ... And Hogenkamp's 'Deadly Parallels' is also worth a look ... I consulted that book these days to get some information on the newsreels and had to realize that these are exactly the kind of films i asked for in my last posting above ... Lol ...

Btw, I wonder whether 'Drifters' will be released alongside 'Potemkin'? But that's quite unlikely, isn't it?

MichaelB wrote:One of the things I love about the best BFI DVD releases is that they're properly curated as opposed to merely programmed - and it looks as though this will very much continue in that tradition.

I agree wholeheartedly. And that's why I still consider 'That kind of girl' to be the most beautiful DVD I happened to buy last year ...

Marx at the movies: another Guardian feature on the BFI Soviet season...