46 Eroica

Discuss releases by Second Run and the films on them.
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MichaelB
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46 Eroica

#1 Post by MichaelB » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:00 am

Eroica
A film by Andrzej Munk
Poland / 1957

Andrzej Munk's 'heroic symphony', set during WWII, presents two sardonic tales of courage and valoue which aim to demystify the archetypal image of heroism. The first movement focuses on a seemingly feckless and selfish man and his ironic route to finally taking up arms in the national struggle against the Nazis. The second movement is set in a POW camp whose Polish inmates cling to their hopes for an eventual escape, encouraged by the legendary escape of one of their number.

Both tales converge to create a blackly comic and perceptive satire; a provocative, powerful and potent anti-war poem considered amongst the most subversive films of the period.

• Presented from a superb new high-definition restoration of the film, supervised by the film's cinematographer Jerzy Wójcik.
• Andrzej Munk's prize-winning short A Walk in the Old Town of Warsaw (Spacerek staromiejski).
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• 16-page booklet featuring a new essay by author and film scholar Dr César Ballester.

Framegrabs uploaded here.
Last edited by MichaelB on Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:52 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Fiery Angel
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#2 Post by Fiery Angel » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:44 am

Great news! I have the Facets disc (which I think is actually a Polish label that they distributed), and while it's adequate, it could definitely use an upgrade.

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MichaelB
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#3 Post by MichaelB » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:50 am

As far as I can see, the Polart (Facets) release is a NTSC conversion of the same master released by Best Film Co in Poland.

Given precedents, it's probably quite likely that Second Run will use the same source, but it should be distinctly superior when it comes to subtitles and extras. And of course the transfer will be native PAL, giving it a built-in advantage over the Polart/Facets release.

(All this is educated guesswork, though)

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Fiery Angel
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#4 Post by Fiery Angel » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:15 pm

I also have the mediocre R1 discs of Munk's BAD LUCK and MAN ON THE TRACKS...would be nice to see Second Run jump on those, too.

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MichaelB
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#5 Post by MichaelB » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:34 pm

I've just updated the Andrzej Munk page in the Filmmaker Forum.

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zedz
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#6 Post by zedz » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:42 pm

MichaelB wrote:I've known about this one for some time, and it's shaping up to be a very impressive release, but I'll let Second Run confirm full details nearer the time as I don't know what's been formally contracted yet.
I'm going to be rash and assume that they'll try to provide the excised section in some form (fingers crossed). Great news, even if the Best Film Co transfer (the presumed source) is somewhat rough.

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menthymenthy
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#7 Post by menthymenthy » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:35 am

Bad Luck is my clear Munk favourite, and the one I would love a proper release of, though I like his other films also (though not Passenger).

It's good his work is going around. I do think if he lived, he could've become one of the greats.

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What A Disgrace
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#8 Post by What A Disgrace » Mon Feb 22, 2010 7:11 am

Up for pre-order on Amazon. May 24 release date.

I do love this company.

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lazier than a toad
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#9 Post by lazier than a toad » Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:23 am

The pre-order on amazon has dropped to £7.99 now.

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MichaelB
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#10 Post by MichaelB » Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:29 am

Erm... I wouldn't hold your breath for this one - last thing I heard, a restoration was being mooted in Poland by the people who revived the old Kadr film unit. And if this is the case, there's no point releasing it now, especially as existing masters are pretty ropey (I've seen the Polart and Best Film Co editions, so I know whereof I speak).

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lazier than a toad
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#11 Post by lazier than a toad » Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:27 pm

Damn! Thanks for the heads up. The only Munk film I've seen is "Passenger" which was an intriguing watch and have been wanting to get hold of some more since.

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MichaelB
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#12 Post by MichaelB » Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:32 pm

Virtually everything by Munk bar his film-school work and some very early documentaries is already out on English-friendly DVD - details here. The current editions of Eroica are pretty ropey, so it's probably worth waiting for the Second Run release, but the PWA set of the documentaries is outstanding, and I seem to recall the DVDs of Man on the Tracks and Bad Luck weren't too bad.

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lazier than a toad
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#13 Post by lazier than a toad » Sat Mar 13, 2010 2:37 pm

I haven't got the Munk PWA set yet but have been really impressed by the others I've seen. Loved Piwowski's "Psychodrama" (among others) and the Drygas film on the cosmonaughts in particular. Munk next perhaps, once I've built up a order big enough to justify the postage. I can't find the Polart eds. on merlin.pl though.

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MichaelB
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#14 Post by MichaelB » Sun Mar 14, 2010 4:02 pm

At the moment my recommendations would be:

• Documentaries/shorts: PWA (no alternative, but hard to imagine anyone else doing it better)
Man on the Tracks: Polart (the transfer is no better than adequate, and an obvious PAL-NTSC conversion job, but I think this is the only English-subbed edition)
• Eroica/Bad Luck: the second box in Best Film Co's 50 Years of the Polish Film School series. I think these come from the same lacklustre source as the Polart discs, but they're native PAL, and come with excellent booklets in Polish and English. You also get Jerzy Kawalerowicz' Night Train and two early Kazimierz Kutz films thrown in, and I think the price is more or less on a par with the two Polart discs.
Passenger: not sure - the Second Run is flawed by cropping, but I haven't checked out the French edition, and I think the Polish one is unsubtitled.

That said, the Second Run Eroica is probably worth waiting for - from what I hear, it was going to be one of their stronger discs in the extras department, and if the transfer is a marked improvement on existing ones (not difficult), that's even better.

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menthymenthy
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#15 Post by menthymenthy » Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:51 am

The image in the Best Film Co's 50 Years of the Polish Film School box set is definitely far too contrasty, and I believe I posted a comparison with the Polart release of Bad Luck. By contrasty, I mean they boosted the contrast to make it appear remastered, but the result is far too dark.

As for subtitles, the Polart seemed superior also.

Perkins Cobb
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#16 Post by Perkins Cobb » Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:43 am

The contrast problems are unfortunate, but minor compared to the standards conversion issues with the Facets/Polart releases. Trust me, the Best Film Co. edition of Eroica is a very watchable DVD, and superior to the alternative.

However ... Michael, maybe you can confirm this, but my feeling on watching the Best Film Co. Bad Luck is that some serious monkeying had been done with the audio -- either a poor attempt to remix it in stereo, or more likely some actual redubbing of sound FX a la Ruscico. Only one of the Best Film Co. discs (in any of the four sets) where I noticed this, but it was almost a dealbreaker for me.

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MichaelB
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#17 Post by MichaelB » Tue Mar 16, 2010 2:24 am

I've given away my Polart discs, so can't do a direct comparison, but I do remember glaring PAL-to-NTSC conversion issues.

I haven't watched the Best Film Co's Bad Luck, and for various domestic reasons I can't easily dig it out right now, but I'll give it a listen when I get the chance.

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What A Disgrace
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#18 Post by What A Disgrace » Sun May 02, 2010 6:24 pm

Odd, this seems to have disappeared from all the main stores. Has this been delayed indefinitely?

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MichaelB
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#19 Post by MichaelB » Sun May 02, 2010 7:22 pm

As I said above, a restoration has been mooted, so there's no point releasing it now.

The Kadr Film Unit, producer of many of the great Polish films of the 1950s and 60s, has recently been revived (Rewers is its highest-profile new production), and is undertaking major restorations of its classic titles. Going from the first three, just released on Blu-ray in Poland, the improvements are phenomenal - Night Train is almost unrecognisable from the Polart/Best Film Co releases, and Ashes and Diamonds and Austeria look almost brand new. And since the DVDs of Eroica currently look worse than any of those titles ever did, there's even more scope for enhancement.

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What A Disgrace
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Re: Heroism (Eroica)

#20 Post by What A Disgrace » Sun May 02, 2010 8:04 pm

Oh, whoops. Well, I guess that's somewhat good news.

Though I don't imagine there's much chance for Second Run to Blu-ray these films; or anything, any time soon.

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MichaelB
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Re: 46 Eroica

#21 Post by MichaelB » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:30 am

E-Film Blog (Michael Ewins)

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Bikey
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Re: 46 Eroica

#22 Post by Bikey » Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:39 am

Did we mention this was coming out as an individual release on August 6?
Available for pre-order

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Bikey
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Re: 46 Eroica

#23 Post by Bikey » Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:29 pm

4-star review from Cine-Vue

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Bikey
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Re: 46 Eroica

#24 Post by Bikey » Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:35 pm

EROICA is Time Out's DVD of the Week:
Image

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Bikey
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Re: 46 Eroica

#25 Post by Bikey » Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:45 am


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