Deaf Crocodile

[TechnicolorAcid]

What extensive discussion of the films the VS offshoot labels release is occurring that merits dedicated threads? Legit question, as I don’t believe I’ve missed a glut of movie discussion about most of the titles they’ve released or announced

There’s an obvious reason Radiance got preferential treatment: they initially announced and have continued to release films that are more in line with the tastes of this forum and more likely to generate discussion. And I say this as someone who hasn’t been as wowed with their slate personally

I understand your frustration with the mods, but I assure you that if I was allowed to impose moderator fascism on the board, I’d ban anyone weighing in on technical aspects without giving equal time to actually talking about the film being presented. So until that happens, try believing both sides are stuck with compromise solutions such as how it’s set up now and that perhaps things will change in a direction you prefer and perhaps not but don’t let’s get conspiratorial. If there’s a need and a desire within the membership for a certain thread, generally it gets created or directed towards if a suitable alternative already exists

I mean there's more discussion about Deaf Crocodile on there more than there is on Vinegar Syndrome so that's why I asked

[swo17]

Give me a bit and I'll create a Deaf Crocodile thread, as I believe there's been enough discussion to merit it

[TechnicolorAcid]

This Thread is to honor the tremendous effort of Craig Rogers and Dennis Bartok's label, Deaf Crocodile, formed out of their love of cinema and preservation who consistently pull out films and releases of quality and care.

Mission Statement:
“Deaf Crocodile's mission is restoring and releasing Independent, Lost/Unseen and World Cinema with a focus on World Animation, LGBT+ films, Genre Cinema, and the work of neglected and underrepresented Filmmakers from across the spectrum.”

Films released:
The Unknown Man of Shandigor
Delta Space Mission
Ilya Muromets
The Time Bending Mysteries of Shahram Mokri
Sampo
ZeroGrad
Solomon King
The Son of the Stars
The Assassin of the Tsar
Time of Roses
The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Prague Nights
The Pied Piper
Heroic Times
Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy
Cat City
Benny’s Bathtub
The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians
The Tune
Bubble Bath
World War III (Forthcoming)
Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet (Forthcoming)
Kin Dza-Dza (Forthcoming)
Savage Hunt of King Stakh (Forthcoming)
Ruslan & Ludmila (Forthcoming)

Digitally Released Catalogue:
Boomba Ride
Children of the Sun
Dhuin
Lalanna's Song
The Village House

[MichaelB]

There’s an obvious reason Radiance got preferential treatment: they initially announced and have continued to release films that are more in line with the tastes of this forum and more likely to generate discussion.

For me, Deaf Crocodile has become pretty much a perfect complement to longstanding forum favourites Second Run, in that they generally favour central/eastern European titles, but whereas Second Run tends to take a strongly auteurist approach and go for the recognised canonical classics, Deaf Crocodile's tastes are weirder and wilder, with much more focus on genre films from the more fantastical end of the spectrum and a very welcome focus on animation. (There's still a ton of central/eastern European animation that hasn't had a decent edition, and they've now tackled two of the films that Jan Švankmajer worked on as part of his day job as a Barrandov Studios visual effects supervisor).

I could see Deaf Crocodile putting out Ikarie XB-1 or Tomorrow I'll Wake Up And Scald Myself With Tea from the Second Run catalogue, but otherwise there's surprisingly little overlap in terms of their tastes. So they're doing genuinely valuable work.

[MichaelB]

This is a perfect excuse for me to start working through the Deaf Crocodile catalogue properly (I have all the above up to and including Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy), and when I'm less insanely busy with commentaries I'll be taking full advantage of this very welcome thread.

[TechnicolorAcid]

There's also the Karel Zeman films which are basically the Czech equivalents of Aleksandr Ptushko's films which I'm very fond of. And what I love about Deaf Crocodile's work is that they're willing to deal with countries very few labels want to deal with, what comes to mind especially is the Shahram Mokri boxset which, according to the Disc-Connected interview advertising Arkana Galaxy, they actually, if memory serves correct, had USBs delivered to them with false inscriptions on them, again if memory serves correct. There's also their current deal with Mosfilm which is great to see because there is so much Russian cinema that's been lost to time and memory that needs to be remembered. One great moment I remember that confirms this was in the Blu-ray Forum when someone kept babbling on about Russia and it's politics or something and after told them to take politics to PMs, Craig said this:
"Thank you.

Let's all just enjoy some movies."
You can tell he doesn't care for politics and what not, just that he loves movies and his and Bartok's label show that.

[ryannichols7]

What extensive discussion of the films the VS offshoot labels release is occurring that merits dedicated threads? Legit question, as I don’t believe I’ve missed a glut of movie discussion about most of the titles they’ve released or announced

There’s an obvious reason Radiance got preferential treatment: they initially announced and have continued to release films that are more in line with the tastes of this forum and more likely to generate discussion. And I say this as someone who hasn’t been as wowed with their slate personally

I understand your frustration with the mods, but I assure you that if I was allowed to impose moderator fascism on the board, I’d ban anyone weighing in on technical aspects without giving equal time to actually talking about the film being presented. So until that happens, try believing both sides are stuck with compromise solutions such as how it’s set up now and that perhaps things will change in a direction you prefer and perhaps not but don’t let’s get conspiratorial. If there’s a need and a desire within the membership for a certain thread, generally it gets created or directed towards if a suitable alternative already exists

if anything most releases are getting a post or so once announced. Resnais' La guerre est finie or Egoyan's Speaking Parts (some of the only releases I have from VS and their gang) only generated a few posts here and there. if Radiance, for example, released either of those films I'm sure we'd see much more discussion (and I'd sell off both editions, as long as extras were ported)

on top of that, the other thing that's pretty obvious to me as to why Radiance got the treatment they did is that the founder has literally been on this board for years and was posting even before Arrow was much of a thing. the VS brigade are largely a bunch of film twitter people who are not on this board, with some exception

[MichaelB]

There's also the entirely reasonable perception that Radiance is basically Arrow Academy V2.

[What A Disgrace]

Aside from Radiance, Deaf Crocodile is my favorite of the recent bunch of new labels, well deserving of their own thread and frankly more than a match for stalwarts like MoC and Second Run. Film Desk will doubtlessly join them soon; all three of their releases so far have been bangers and two are major works from well established auteurs, and lack of discussion is the only thing keeping Canadian International and Kani Releasing from getting their own threads (they certainly deserve more discussion).

[therewillbeblus]

I haven't seen most of their catalogue yet, but my favorite release from them so far is easily The Unknown Man of Shandigor - are any of the others more in this vein?

My thoughts (not yet ported over here - probably still over in the VS thread, spying on the other labels):

Shandigor is a pretty cool, unconventional take on a spy film

Loved this, and "unconventional" is an understatement. There's a transparency to the type of satire being pitched at cold-war espionage and spy films in general, but there's also a less-obvious bit of prodding going on. I'll concede that characters come and go in the most slapdash and subversive ways in part because the film is zany and uninvested in organizing long-term payoffs vs impulsively delivering pleasures as they pop into mind (there are a few punchlines - like the vehicle of the pool monster - that arrive comically early and actionably pruned). But, the switching-up of thinly-decorated narrative arcs seems to also be having fun with the unadaptability of the spy novel plotting - where a deep section of a Le Carré story is at-best a behaviorist glance at iceberg-tip characterization, even in miniseries form, and often at worst a convoluted plot with zero characterization. I could barely figure out who was who and what was happening, but as a reader of spy books and a witness to almost-universally horrible adaptations, this was even more fun on a reflexive level, and it's plenty fun without that context.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I haven't seen most of their catalogue yet, but my favorite release from them so far is easily The Unknown Man of Shandigor - are any of the others more in this vein?

My thoughts (not yet ported over here - probably still over in the VS thread, spying on the other labels):

Shandigor is a pretty cool, unconventional take on a spy film

Loved this, and "unconventional" is an understatement. There's a transparency to the type of satire being pitched at cold-war espionage and spy films in general, but there's also a less-obvious bit of prodding going on. I'll concede that characters come and go in the most slapdash and subversive ways in part because the film is zany and uninvested in organizing long-term payoffs vs impulsively delivering pleasures as they pop into mind (there are a few punchlines - like the vehicle of the pool monster - that arrive comically early and actionably pruned). But, the switching-up of thinly-decorated narrative arcs seems to also be having fun with the unadaptability of the spy novel plotting - where a deep section of a Le Carré story is at-best a behaviorist glance at iceberg-tip characterization, even in miniseries form, and often at worst a convoluted plot with zero characterization. I could barely figure out who was who and what was happening, but as a reader of spy books and a witness to almost-universally horrible adaptations, this was even more fun on a reflexive level, and it's plenty fun without that context.

I think the only other parody in the catalogue is Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy which is a parody of sci-fi and horror, culminating in the famous Mumu scene (designed by Jan Svankmajer) which I recommend you check out before you watch it to set up your expectations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfQugOYHGjE

[What A Disgrace]

Completely on a lark, I decided to rank the Deaf Crocodile films (including the ones I've only seen the trailers for*) not by their quality, but by their general vibe towards either Second Run (top) or Mondo Macabro (bottom). This is completely arbitrary.

SECOND RUN
The Pied Piper
The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians*
Heroic Times
Shahram Mokri box
Assassin of the Tsar
Zerograd
The Tale of Ruslan and Ludmilla*
Prague Nights
Time of Roses
The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Ilya Muromets
Sampo
The Savage Hunt of King Stakh*
The Unknown Man of Shangidoor
Cat City*
Kin-Dza-Dza*
Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy*
The Son of the Stars
Delta Space Mission
Solomon King
MONDO MACABRO


With Benny's Bathtub and The Tune being the least classifiable of those present.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I know I’ve only seen the trailer for it, but Time of Roses and ZeroGrad (which I have seen) seem more like a Second Run title than Ruslan and Ludmila or The Pied Piper in my opinion.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I haven't seen most of their catalogue yet, but my favorite release from them so far is easily The Unknown Man of Shandigor - are any of the others more in this vein?

My thoughts (not yet ported over here - probably still over in the VS thread, spying on the other labels):

Shandigor is a pretty cool, unconventional take on a spy film

Loved this, and "unconventional" is an understatement. There's a transparency to the type of satire being pitched at cold-war espionage and spy films in general, but there's also a less-obvious bit of prodding going on. I'll concede that characters come and go in the most slapdash and subversive ways in part because the film is zany and uninvested in organizing long-term payoffs vs impulsively delivering pleasures as they pop into mind (there are a few punchlines - like the vehicle of the pool monster - that arrive comically early and actionably pruned). But, the switching-up of thinly-decorated narrative arcs seems to also be having fun with the unadaptability of the spy novel plotting - where a deep section of a Le Carré story is at-best a behaviorist glance at iceberg-tip characterization, even in miniseries form, and often at worst a convoluted plot with zero characterization. I could barely figure out who was who and what was happening, but as a reader of spy books and a witness to almost-universally horrible adaptations, this was even more fun on a reflexive level, and it's plenty fun without that context.

Also forgot to mention this but Cat City is a delightful little animated Hungarian spy parody from the looks of it, though don’t except the deadpan cool darkness of Shandigor.

[DeafCrocodile]

Hey all...thanks for all the kind words. 2024 is shaping up to be a huge year for us, so do please stay tuned.

[What A Disgrace]

Can't wait for that big boxed set of every movie I ever wanted to see but didn't know existed.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Going into suggestions… If there’s one film that I want out of all of every film ever to be released under this label it’s Jens Ravn’s The Man Who Thought Life, a criminally unseen masterpiece with Shandigor style cinematography, dark philosophical themes on identity/creation that are excellently executed, great little subtle effects, fantastic acting, and an occasional darkly comic edge to it at moments. Keep up the superb work Mr. Crocodile, it’s greatly appreciated in this community.
Here is the link if anyone wants to check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUfqfoPyGlM

[Finch]

Deaf Crocodile announces acquisition of BUBBLE BATH and WORLD WAR III
Another month, another beautifully strange film announcement!
(TWO actually!)



BUBBLE BATH (HABFÜRDÖ) – 1980, 69 min. Hungarian director György Kovásznai’s wildly idiosyncratic animated musical is one of the most indescribably strange, personal and totally irresistible cartoon features ever made. A walking ball of anxieties, shop window decorator Zsolt (voiced by Kornél Gelley, with Albert Antalffy singing) bursts into the apartment of his fiancée’s best friend Anikó (voiced by Vera Venzcel, with Kati Bontovits singing), paralyzed with fear at his impending marriage. Zsolt is like a stoned hippie alleycat, or an Eastern European Frank Zappa in a tux; medical student Anikó a more curvaceous and leggy post-modern Betty Boop – and both unsure of their attraction to each other, of the choices they’ve made, of what life has in store for them. A truly insane mash-up of styles, from 1920s Art Deco to 1960s Psychedelia to late 1970s louche Roxy Music decadence, BUBBLE BATH is incredibly restless and creative, the bohemian love-child of Bill Plympton’s off-kilter individualism and Ralph Bakshi’s wonderfully warped, rubbery visual style. In other words: it’s not quite like any animated film you’ve ever seen before. Sadly, this was director and animator Kovásznai’s only feature film -- he died of leukemia in 1983. BUBBLE BATH has been beautifully restored by the National Film Institute in Hungary for its first-ever U.S. release by Deaf Crocodile. In Hungarian with English subtitles.

“A gallopingly neurotic modernist-psychedelic musical from 1979 that bubbles and pulsates with anxieties about modernity … With characters and settings constantly warping, tilting and transmogrifying, BUBBLE BATH is visually something special; like Van Gogh, Fleischer Studios, Robert Crumb, YELLOW SUBMARINE and the abstract-thought section of Pixar’s INSIDE OUT smooshed into a great lysergic battenberg cake.” – Phil Hoad, The Guardian.

trailer on Youtube



WORLD WAR III – 2022, Iranian Independents, 107 min. The official Iranian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2023 Academy Awards, and the Winner of the Orizzonti Awards for Best Film and Actor at the Venice Film Festival 2022, director Houman Seyedi’s savage, mysterious thriller/drama WORLD WAR III is one of the darkest, most enigmatic portraits of class inequality, desperation and murder since Lee Chang-dong’s BURNING and Bong Joon-ho’s PARASITE. Mohsen Tanabandeh delivers an unforgettable performance as Shakib, an anonymous day laborer still grieving the deaths of his wife and son who’s given a job guarding the set of a film about the Holocaust. When the lead actor playing (yes) Hitler is struck ill, Shakib is enlisted to wear the costume and mustache – and for the first time in his life, he has a little money, respect and a place to sleep. Unexpectedly, his sex worker “girlfriend” (Mahsa Hejazi) shows up, threatening to upset his tenacious hold on prosperity. What starts out as a dark satire of the Iranian film industry quickly evolves into a near-Hitchcockian thriller of the underclass struggling violently to be heard, to be seen – with an apocalyptic ending that is truly something to behold. Rated 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. In Persian with English subtitles.

“Houman Seyedi’s sixth feature starts out as jet-black comedy before darkening still further into tragedy, a journey embodied in an absorbing and extraordinary central performance by Mohsen Tanabandeh as the film’s downtrodden hero. … Times may change, Seyedi is telling us, but the ways in which power is exercised remain the same, and there’s always someone at the bottom of the pyramid who will refuse to be forgotten.” – Jonathan Holland, Screen Daily

trailer on youtube

[Finch]

December's title, MYSTERIOUS CASTLE IN THE CARPATHIANS, is up for pre-order.



THE MYSTERIOUS CASTLE IN THE CARPATHIANS (TAJEMSTVÍ HRADU V KARPATECH), 1981, Czechoslovakia, 97 min. A unique and almost indescribable mix of Gothic fiction, steampunk gadgetry (designed by Czech animation wizard Jan Švankmajer), slapstick comedy and romantic opera, director Oldřich Lipský’s wonderfully bonkers delight has elements of THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, Terry Gilliam, Mel Brooks and “The Benny Hill Show.” Based on an 1892 Jules Verne novel The Carpathian Castle (which partially inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula), the film follows Count Teleke of Tölökö (Michal Dočolomanský) on the trail of the count’s lost lover, opera singer Salsa Verde (Evelyna Steimarová) – only to discover she’s been abducted by fiendish Baron Gorc of Gorceny (Miloš Kopecký), whose castle home is filled with the bizarre inventions of mad scientist Orfanik (Rudolf Hrušínský). Littered with puns, sight gags and non-sequiturs – “Later, in Werewolfston”, an invented dialect, a detached golden ear for eavesdropping, a staff topped by an enormous TV eyeball – MYSTERIOUS CASTLE was the third fantastical film from the team of director Lipský and writer Jiří Brdečka after their much-loved musical western spoof LEMONADE JOE (1966) and their detective/horror satire ADELA HAS NOT HAD SUPPER YET (1977), both major Czech cult hits. (Note that actor Miloš Kopecký and Jiří Brdečka worked on the supernatural anthology PRAGUE NIGHTS, also released by the Národní filmový archív, Deaf Crocodile and Comeback Company.) In Czech with English subtitles.

directed by: Oldřich Lipský
starring: Michal Dočolomanský, Jan Hartl, Miloš Kopecký, Rudolf Hrušínský

1981 / 98 min / 1.37:1 / Czech DTS-HD MA 2.0 (mono)

Bonus Features:
New Restoration of MYSTERIOUS CASTLE by Craig Rogers for Deaf Crocodile.
New video interview with Czech film critic and screenwriter Tereza Brdečková on her father, Jiří Brdečka, writer of MYSTERIOUS CASTLE. (In English).
New essay by film historian and expert on Eastern European cinema Jonathan Owen.
New audio commentary by Tereza Brdečková and Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company.
Two eerie and stunningly beautiful Jiří Brdečka animated short films: Vzducholoď a láska (Love and the Dirigible) (1948, 9 min.) and Třináctá komnata prince Měděnce (Prince Copperslick aka Prince Měděnec’s Thirteenth Chamber) (1980, 9 min.) Both in Czech with English subtitles.
UNIVERSUM BRDEČKA (2017, 84 min., dir. Miroslav Janek), a feature length documentary on the life and career of filmmaker, animator, screenwriter and illustrator Jiří Brdečka, covering his childhood, his work as a screenwriter with Jiří Trnka, Karel Zeman and Oldřich Lipský, and his own acclaimed work as an animator and director. In Czech with English subtitles.
Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion.

[MichaelB]

The VHS tape that I bought in Prague in the 1990s (because of the Švankmajer connection) is now definitively redundant.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Does anyone know if World War III will be a digital title or a Blu-Ray title so I can edit the catalogue data accordingly.

[Finch]

Cat City was the most fun I've had with a Deaf Crocodile release yet. It's a beautiful looking film, and bonkers in the best possible ways (Mexican vampire bats!). It makes fun of Disney, Danger Mouse, Bond and Hungarian politics, it doesn't take its own hero and villains too seriously and I liked how compassion for the losing side wins the day. The belief that we really can all get along if we find in ourselves the ability for forgiveness and faith in the other side's kindness. It was just the uplift I needed after a long, stressful week. My favorite discovery of this year with Mexico Macabre and Vinegar Syndrome's Mexican chillers, and quite possibly Radiance's yet to be released World Noir selections.

[What A Disgrace]

I agree, though I also feel that the movie deserves a really good dub. Some of the dialogue, and almost all of the songs, I had to go through three times, just because the dialogue and lyrics come and go so quickly that it's hard to keep up with both the words and the images. That said, it was well worth it to do so. I've probably been thinking about this movie more than any other film I've seen this year, just because of what a unique experience it was. I'm very much on board with any more Pannónia releases, and I'm thoroughly convinced that they are worth discussing in the same light as Pixar or Ghibli.

[Finch]

I can't remember what Craig's response on the other forum was when asked about an English dub but I seem to recall that one exists.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I can't remember what Craig's response on the other forum was when asked about an English dub but I seem to recall that one exists.

I think he said along the lines of not being able to include the English dub as it cut stuff out so it wouldn’t be possible to put it as an overlay over the original Hungarian cut.