49-50 Judex & Nuits rouges
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- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:27 pm
- Location: London, UK
49-50 Judex & Nuits rouges
Judex + Nuits rouges
Judex
The magical, rarely seen Judex directed by the great Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) was largely unappreciated at the time of its release in 1963. This lyrical and dreamlike picture, a putative "remake" of Louis Feuillade's own 1916 Judex, is as evocative of the silent master's own works as it is the later films of Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali. A French reviewer wrote in 1963: "The whole of Judex reminds us that film is a privileged medium for the expression of poetic magic".
Starring the magician Channing Pollock, the divine Edith Scob, and the mesmerising Francine Bergé, Judex concerns a wicked banker, his helpless daughter, and a mysterious avenger. It plays like a fairy tale, one in which Franju creates a dazzling clash between good and evil, eschewing interest in the psychological aspects of his characters for unexplained twists and turns in the action. The beautifully controlled imagery, superbly rendered by Marcel Fradetal's black-against-white photography, animates a natural world and the spirits of animals all at war with a host of diabolical forces.
Nuits rouges
Nuits Rouges [Red Nights] released in the UK as Shadowman was the second Franju Champreux meditation upon the films of Feuillade. It aggressively escalates a pulp atmosphere steeped in shocking turns of events to an even more vertiginous level. Here, the object of pursuit is the fabled treasure of the mythical order of the Knights Templar, which the filmmakers use as the jump-off point for staging a series of fantastic set-pieces. As the Fantômas-esque arch-criminal (known only as "The Man Without a Face", played by Jacques Champreux himself) violently pursues the treasure, the action intensifies amongst a cadre of post '68 bohemians, the Paris police bureau, and a cult of cowled conspirators.
Franju's Judex and Nuits Rouges both paid overt homage to the surreal, silent serial-works of Feuillade. Scripted in collaboration with Feuillade's grandson, Jacques Champreux, these films evince the same poetic magic that made the art of that earlier master a cause célèbre not only for the Surrealist movement, but also for the world renowned Cinémathèque Française. It was the Cinémathèque (co-founded by the legendary Henri Langlois with Franju) that helped resurrect the reputation of Feuillade decades after he'd slipped out of the public consciousness. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Georges Franju's two most mindbending films on DVD in the UK for the first time.
Special Features:
- Gorgeous new transfers in their original aspect ratios
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- Video interviews, for both films, by Franju-collaborator Jacques Champreux
- 40-page booklet containing newly translated interviews with Georges Franju; newly translated writing by Jacques Rivette, and more!
Judex
The magical, rarely seen Judex directed by the great Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) was largely unappreciated at the time of its release in 1963. This lyrical and dreamlike picture, a putative "remake" of Louis Feuillade's own 1916 Judex, is as evocative of the silent master's own works as it is the later films of Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali. A French reviewer wrote in 1963: "The whole of Judex reminds us that film is a privileged medium for the expression of poetic magic".
Starring the magician Channing Pollock, the divine Edith Scob, and the mesmerising Francine Bergé, Judex concerns a wicked banker, his helpless daughter, and a mysterious avenger. It plays like a fairy tale, one in which Franju creates a dazzling clash between good and evil, eschewing interest in the psychological aspects of his characters for unexplained twists and turns in the action. The beautifully controlled imagery, superbly rendered by Marcel Fradetal's black-against-white photography, animates a natural world and the spirits of animals all at war with a host of diabolical forces.
Nuits rouges
Nuits Rouges [Red Nights] released in the UK as Shadowman was the second Franju Champreux meditation upon the films of Feuillade. It aggressively escalates a pulp atmosphere steeped in shocking turns of events to an even more vertiginous level. Here, the object of pursuit is the fabled treasure of the mythical order of the Knights Templar, which the filmmakers use as the jump-off point for staging a series of fantastic set-pieces. As the Fantômas-esque arch-criminal (known only as "The Man Without a Face", played by Jacques Champreux himself) violently pursues the treasure, the action intensifies amongst a cadre of post '68 bohemians, the Paris police bureau, and a cult of cowled conspirators.
Franju's Judex and Nuits Rouges both paid overt homage to the surreal, silent serial-works of Feuillade. Scripted in collaboration with Feuillade's grandson, Jacques Champreux, these films evince the same poetic magic that made the art of that earlier master a cause célèbre not only for the Surrealist movement, but also for the world renowned Cinémathèque Française. It was the Cinémathèque (co-founded by the legendary Henri Langlois with Franju) that helped resurrect the reputation of Feuillade decades after he'd slipped out of the public consciousness. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Georges Franju's two most mindbending films on DVD in the UK for the first time.
Special Features:
- Gorgeous new transfers in their original aspect ratios
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- Video interviews, for both films, by Franju-collaborator Jacques Champreux
- 40-page booklet containing newly translated interviews with Georges Franju; newly translated writing by Jacques Rivette, and more!
- Awesome Welles
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:02 am
- Location: London
I am really looking forward to this release, a look at screengrabs from the Cahiers disc here and both films look great!
With regards to supplements will anything be ported over from the Cahiers disc?
With regards to supplements will anything be ported over from the Cahiers disc?
- TheGodfather
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- Location: The Netherlands
- sidehacker
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- Donald Trampoline
- Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:39 pm
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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- Tommaso
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:09 am
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- Joined: Sat Nov 06, 2004 2:38 pm
Very good news indeed, but the package is missing two more DVDs to include the 8 x 52' TV mini-series L'HOMME SANS VISAGE, filmed by Franju at the same time as the feature film NUITS ROUGES, using the same actors playing the same characters. I've only seen the feature film (many, many years ago) and would love to see the TV series.
In fact I'd favor a stand-alone for JUDEX (plus JUDEX-related extras) and a 3 or 4 disc box for NUITS ROUGES / L'HOMME SANS VISAGE.
For more info on the TV series, see here (in French)
In fact I'd favor a stand-alone for JUDEX (plus JUDEX-related extras) and a 3 or 4 disc box for NUITS ROUGES / L'HOMME SANS VISAGE.
For more info on the TV series, see here (in French)
- HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am
- Donald Trampoline
- Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:39 pm
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
D'oh! A little voice told me not to comment. I should have listened to it!Tommaso wrote:Flicker Alley = Feuillade, 1916
MoC= Franju, 1962
But a good reminder that I still have to see the silent version. I hope (nay, I'm sure) MoC will include a nice essay about the relation between the two versions and Franju's motivation and ideas about this hommage to Feuillade.
Franju is fabulous. I have watched Tete Contre les murs and Sang des betes that I especially liked (along with others), so this is good news. Bringing it all back to Flicker Alley I have to watch Franju's Le Grand Méliès (1952) that is on their Méliès set. I want to wait until I have finished all the actual Méliès and then watch that, but maybe I'm being silly. Anyway, Franju is always fantastic release news!
- MichaelB
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
- Location: Worthing
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Well, there must be a reason for Flicker Alley programming Le Grand Méliès so that it's the first thing that you see when you watch the entire set...Donald Trampoline wrote:Bringing it all back to Flicker Alley I have to watch Franju's Le Grand Méliès (1952) that is on their Méliès set. I want to wait until I have finished all the actual Méliès and then watch that, but maybe I'm being silly.
- NABOB OF NOWHERE
- Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:30 pm
- Location: Brandywine River
Carping about artwork aside, this is a magnificent release and here's hoping for a boatload of extras that exceed the Cahiers release. Thanks Nick and co.
- HerrSchreck
- Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am
D.I.T.T.O.
I've never seen comments about covert art so completely subvert the ecstasy over a release so sorely needed for so long in the English speaking world. He could package the thing in a brown paper bag or a bukkake grand finale frame and I'd still whoop-de-freak in rampant joy. The English speaking world has one feature and one short by the man (perhaps CC's greatest release) as it stands. Instead of duplicating the CC, Wrigley & Keller et al push out two glorious titles in one trigger pull-- major props to MoC!
And to all who have held back from the Feulliade-- do Flicker Al & yourself a favor and treat yourself to a freaky phantasmatic release. The original superhero!
I've never seen comments about covert art so completely subvert the ecstasy over a release so sorely needed for so long in the English speaking world. He could package the thing in a brown paper bag or a bukkake grand finale frame and I'd still whoop-de-freak in rampant joy. The English speaking world has one feature and one short by the man (perhaps CC's greatest release) as it stands. Instead of duplicating the CC, Wrigley & Keller et al push out two glorious titles in one trigger pull-- major props to MoC!
And to all who have held back from the Feulliade-- do Flicker Al & yourself a favor and treat yourself to a freaky phantasmatic release. The original superhero!
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- Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:49 pm
- jbeall
- Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:22 am
- Location: Atlanta-ish
As long as I know about the bukkake finale (hey, it rhymes!) in advance, I can hit the "stop" button before my movie-watching club gets a helluva unpleasant surprise!!HerrSchreck wrote:He could package the thing in a brown paper bag or a bukkake grand finale frame and I'd still whoop-de-freak in rampant joy.
So what's the time between announcement and actual street-date for MoC? Is it approx. three months (like Criterion) or usually longer?
- Awesome Welles
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:02 am
- Location: London
The Eureka website lists it as August. So along with Vampyr, a pretty exciting month for MoC to say the least.
- Steven H
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:30 pm
- Location: NC
- starmanof51
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- What A Disgrace
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
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Specs according to MovieMail.
- Gorgeous new transfers in their original aspect ratios
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- Video interviews, for both films, by Franju-collaborator Jacques Champreux
- 40-page booklet containing newly translated interviews with Georges Franju; newly translated writing by Jacques Rivette, and more!
- Gorgeous new transfers in their original aspect ratios
- New and improved English subtitle translations
- Video interviews, for both films, by Franju-collaborator Jacques Champreux
- 40-page booklet containing newly translated interviews with Georges Franju; newly translated writing by Jacques Rivette, and more!
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- Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 1:11 am
- Location: Netherlands
It can be preordered from Play.com!
- sevenarts
- Joined: Tue May 09, 2006 7:22 pm
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