pro-bassoonist

A quick note that Ruscico now offer Grigori Chukhrai's (Ballad of a Soldier) epic drama THE FORTY FIRST (SOROK PERVY). The film was released three years before Ballad of a Soldier and went on to win the Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957. Unfortunately I can not comment on the quality of the DVD as I cirrently do not own it but I've had this film for years on a dusty VHS and this DVD release is a spectacular news for English-speakers. Very Highly-Recommended!

Ok, Ciao,
Pro-B

flixtime

"Ballad of a Soldier" is a great film so I'm definitely going to pick up "The Forty-First". Who's the preferred vendor for this....russiandvd (seems to be the best price-wise), directly from Ruscico, or another option? I can't find it yet at alldvd.ca, xploited, etc.

pro-bassoonist

I would assume that alldvd will most likely have it at some point in the future but as of today Russiandvd is indeed the most affordable option. Also, when choosing a format I would opt for the PAL version as RUSCICO's NTSC products are usually improperly converted PAL-NTSC ports.

Ciao,
Pro-B

flixtime

Thanks for the confirmation. I'm not certain, but there doesn't seem to be a PAL version in this case, so the NTSC release might be the only game in town. For those interested, russiandvd.com has a 4+ minutes clip from the movie, just go to the item and to the right of the cover art and below the price, you'll see a "preview" link (unfortunately, for the clip audio, they chose the English voice-over audio option).

Tutut

This one is NTSC only, the same with Mikhail Kalatozov's "The cranes are flying".

flixtime

Thanks Tutut, might as well go ahead and pull the trigger on the NTSC release then. But before I do so, anyone have thoughts on any of the following (listed at Russiandvd.com):

1) "White Sun of the Desert"

2) "At Home Among the Strangers, A Stranger At Home"

3) "There Were Two Comrades in the Army" - listed for sale but noted as "not available for sale in the U.S./Canada"....I suppose Criterion or someone else has North American rights.

Tutut

I've seen it many times ago, a russian great classic.

28$ at ruscico.com .

sandman1

"White Sun of the Desert" and "At Home Among the Strangers" are brilliant and very stylish (especially for their time) movies set in post-revolutionery Russia torn by the Civil War. They are hugely influenced by US type westerns, but nevertheless they are jewels in their own ligue.

"Two Comrades" is an excellent war buddies movie from the same period but it's a much darker tale. It also stars Vladimir Vysotsky - an icon for many generations of Russians - in his best movie role ever, IMHO.

All of those films carry suprisingly little propaganda and whole lot of heart and talent. Can't recommend them highly enough!

flixtime

I've picked up a couple as of now....I'm very happy with the service from RussianDVD. I'll go back for the other two, plus I've also found some more which I've slated for probable/possible purchase from either RussianDVD or Ruscico (I'll check alldvd.ca too): "Quiet Flows the Don", "At Dawn It's Quiet Here", "They Fought for Their Motherland", "Officers", "Destiny of a Man", "Father of the Soldier", "The Commissar", "Ivan's Childhood", etc.

pro-bassoonist

An all time classic which should be a mandatory part of every collection.

Ciao,
Pro-B