Alice (Jan Švankmajer, 1988)

[MichaelB]

Alice Blu-ray

The BFI's upcoming Dual Format release of Jan Švankmajer's Alice was announced by the film's executive producer Keith Griffiths at last night's London Film Festival screening of Švankmajer's Surviving Life.

At this stage, I can confirm that it will have the original Czech soundtrack, which has never previously been released in Britain (or the US, or indeed most other places) alongside the familiar English dub. The transfer will be sourced from a brand new HD telecine from the original 35mm interpositive, which was examined along with the original camera negative and judged the highest quality element available for transfer. The initial transfer was carried out in Prague under the supervision of both the BFI's James White and Švankmajer's long-term producer Jaromír Kallista, with additional picture grading and picture and sound restoration being carried out in London as we speak. The Czech audio came from the original mag tracks, and the English dub from Channel 4's materials.

It's still in the very early stages of development, so it won't be out until some time next year - and while I've certainly recommended various extras to the production team, I'd better not mention them here as there's no guarantee that they'll be available/affordable. But as soon as I have any more concrete info, I'll let you know.

[Aristide Massaccesi]

Great news! I've been anxiously waiting for the release of Švankmajer's films ever since I got into blu-ray.

[Eidolon]

brilliantly. Hopefully FAUST will be released sooner than later as well.

[pro-bassoonist]

Great news, indeed.

Pro-B

[manicsounds]

After seeing clips of this on Japanese TV recently, I've been searching for a good version of it, and this announcement makes it worthy.

[MichaelB]

The specs are now pretty much locked down, so here you go:

• Brand new HD telecine from the original uncut 35mm interpositive, created by the BFI in Prague last summer under the supervision of Švankmajer's regular producer Jaromír Kallista;
• Original Czech soundtrack with optional English subtitles;
• Alternative English soundtrack (the familiar Channel Four dub);
• Five short films, all with an Alice-inspired theme, namely:
- Alice in Wonderland (1903), the recent BFI restoration of the only surviving print of the first ever screen adaptation;
- Elsie and the Brown Bunny (1921), an eight-minute ad for Cadbury's Chocolate that was heavily inspired by Lewis Carroll;
- Alice in Label Land (1974), a witty government-sponsored animation using Alice in Wonderland characters to explain 1970s food labelling regulations;
- Are We Still Married? (1992) and Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993), the Quay Brothers' strongly Alice-influenced music videos for His Name Is Alive.
(Four of these will also be presented in high-definition; Elsie and the Brown Bunny is SD-only and restricted to the DVD);
• 36-page booklet with two essays on the film (Clare Kitson on the production, Philip Strick on the content), an interview with and biography of Jan Švankmajer, notes on all five extras, technical info and lots of stills (many in colour);
• Region-free.

[Der Spieler]

Superb!

[chip75]

Looking forward to this! I'm a big admirer of Jan Švankmajer's it would be nice to start a modest collection and maybe some Quay Brothers as well.

[MichaelB]

There's no more Švankmajer on Blu-ray at present (the reason why there are no Švankmajer shorts as extras on Alice is that no HD masters currently exist), but the Quays' first feature Institute Benjamenta is already out on region-free Blu-ray (also from the BFI) with a selection of their shorts in support - The Comb, Songs for Dead Children, Eurydice - She So Beloved.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

There's no more Švankmajer on Blu-ray at present (the reason why there are no Švankmajer shorts as extras on Alice is that no HD masters currently exist), but the Quays' first feature Institute Benjamenta is already out on region-free Blu-ray (also from the BFI) with a selection of their shorts in support - The Comb, Songs for Dead Children, Eurydice - She So Beloved.

Thanks Alice and Institute Benjamenta are probably top of my list!

[Mithrandir-Grey]

really can't wait for this. i've not seen it but i've heard lots of good things. i saw little otik and i thought that was great. i'm also a big alice in wonderland fan.

[DarknessBDJM]

I would love to see his short films collected again on Blu-Ray, his The Pit and the Pendulum and House of Usher shorts are amazing.

[MichaelB]

I fear we're going to have a very long wait for the shorts on Blu-ray, if indeed they ever make it to HD at all. The rights situation is by no means clear-cut with most of the pre-1989 titles, and until that's definitively resolved, I doubt anyone will be commissioning HD telecines.

[Schonfelder]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

The specs are now pretty much locked down, so here you go:

• Brand new HD telecine from the original uncut 35mm interpositive, created by the BFI in Prague last summer under the supervision of Švankmajer's regular producer Jaromír Kallista;
• Original Czech soundtrack with optional English subtitles;
• Alternative English soundtrack (the familiar Channel Four dub);
• Five short films, all with an Alice-inspired theme, namely:
- Alice in Wonderland (1903), the recent BFI restoration of the only surviving print of the first ever screen adaptation;
- Elsie and the Brown Bunny (1921), an eight-minute ad for Cadbury's Chocolate that was heavily inspired by Lewis Carroll;
- Alice in Label Land (1974), a witty government-sponsored animation using Alice in Wonderland characters to explain 1970s food labelling regulations;
- Are We Still Married? (1992) and Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993), the Quay Brothers' strongly Alice-influenced music videos for His Name Is Alive.
(Four of these will also be presented in high-definition; Elsie and the Brown Bunny is SD-only and restricted to the DVD);
• 36-page booklet with two essays on the film (Clare Kitson on the production, Philip Strick on the content), an interview with and biography of Jan Švankmajer, notes on all five extras, technical info and lots of stills (many in colour);
• Region-free.

Beautiful ! Can't wait for this one.

[DarknessBDJM]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

I fear we're going to have a very long wait for the shorts on Blu-ray, if indeed they ever make it to HD at all. The rights situation is by no means clear-cut with most of the pre-1989 titles, and until that's definitively resolved, I doubt anyone will be commissioning HD telecines.

That's too bad, but at least the dvd collection is nice. Svankmajer's shorts are my favorite works of his along with Alice.

[zombeaner]

Looks awesome!

[AlbinoPriest]

Jesus Christ! I might need to grab a multi-region player. I really, really, really want this film on Blu. Also, how the hell did I not know about Institute Benjamenta? That one being Region Free gives me some hope of it not being Region B. Amazing. Ordering ASAP.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by AlbinoPriest

Jesus Christ! I might need to grab a multi-region player. I really, really, really want this film on Blu.

This one has already been confirmed as region-free.

[AlbinoPriest]

Excellent! Ordering ASAP. Damn, I'm so excited, about this one. I'll preorder maybe a week before release, so I can get that one and Institute Benjamenta. It usually takes stuff from the UK around a month to arrive here, though. Gonna be one awful long wait.

Edit. Yeah, just read that on MichaelB's post with all the specs. I don't know how I missed it. I thought I'd read it carefully. Looks like I can't read. Anyway... thanks a lot, McCrutchy!

[Mithrandir-Grey]

Really can't wait for this. Hopefully I'll have it for next weekend.