Czech movie – BEAUTY AND THE BEAST – issued on Blu Ray

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (15) 1978 CZECHOSLOVAKIA HERZ, JURAJ DVD – £12.99 BLU RAY £19.99
Herz’s Beauty and the Beast (also known more provocatively as The Virgin and the Monster) follows the familiar story – innocent girl presents herself as sacrifice to a cursed man-beast hiding in exile, and learns to live with, and eventually love her captor – but is transformed into something entirely more twisted and terrifying in Herz’s macabre re-imagining.

Aided by wonderful set and costume design, superb cinematography and evocative score, this is a fairy-tale-turned-horror story from Czechoslovak cinema’s most wryly subversive artist.

In Czech with English subtitles

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• Beauty and the Beast (Panna a netvor, 1978) presented complete and uncut from a new HD transfer from original materials by the Czech National Film Archive

• A newly-recorded Projection Booth audio commentary with Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger

• František Hrubín (1964): a short film on the Czech writer and poet, and co-screenwriter of Beauty and the Beast

• 20-page booklet with new writing on the film by author Jonathan Owen

• New and improved English subtitle translation

• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C)

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Jindrich Polák’s -TOMORROW I’LL WAKE UP AND SCALD MYSELF WITH TEA – released on dvd and Blu Ray

TOMORROW I’LL WAKE UP AND SCALD MYSELF WITH TEA (12) 1977 CZECH POLÁK, JINDRICH DVD – £12.99 BLU RAY – £17.99
Deliciously demented time-travel romp that manages to be both hilariously silly and impressively ingenious at the same time.

In the near-future, time travel has become a possibility, and a group of neo-Nazi’s hijack a time-ship in order to go back to 1944 to deliver a hydrogen bomb to Hitler and thus secure victory in WWII…

In Czech with English subtitles.

DVD available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

Classic Czech film – INVENTION FOR DESTRUCTION – out on dvd and Blu Ray

INVENTION FOR DESTRUCTION (12) 1958 CZECHOSLOVAKIA ZEMAN , KAREL DVD – £12.99 BLU RAY – £19.99 (BOTH FORMATS REGION FREE)
One of the most commercially successful Czech films. The film is a combination of live-action and animation and is a heartfelt homage to Jules Verne’s tales of science and adventure.

Languages option Czech or English
Subtitles: English

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Presented from a brand new 4K restoration of the film from original materials.

• The Fabulous World of Jules Verne – the alternative full-length English-dubbed version of the feature film.

• A new appreciation by filmmaker and animator John Stevenson, director of Kung Fu Panda and Sherlock Gnomes.

• Two of Karel Zeman’s exquisite short films – Inspiration (1949) and King Lavra (1950) (BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE)

Featurettes:

• Why Zeman Made the Film

• Zeman’s Special Effects

• Restoring the World of Fantasy

• About the Restoration

• Trailer

• Museum Karel Zeman promo

• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by film critic and historian James Oliver

• New and improved English subtitle translation.

• Available for the first time ever in the UK

• Region free Blu-ray and DVD
Directed and designed by Karel Zeman

Screenplay – Karel Zeman, František Hrubín
Adapted from the novel ‘Facing the Flag’ by Jules Verne
Director of Photography – Jirí Tarantík
Editor – Zdenek Stehlík
Sound – František Strangmüller, Hanuš Silvera
Music – Zdenek Liška
Costumes – Karel Postrehovsky
Set Construction – Zdenek Rozkopal
Animators – Arnošt Kupcík, Jindrich Liška, František Krcmár

Main Cast
Lubor Tokoš – Simon Hart
Arnošt Navrátil – Professor Roch
František Šlégr – Captain Spade
Miloslav Holub – Count d’Artigas
Václav Kyzlink – Mr Serko
Jana Zatloukalová – Jana

DVD available to buy at –

www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

 

Czech surreal odyssey – MIRACULOUS VIRGIN – issued on dvd and blu ray

MIRACULOUS VIRGIN (12) 1967 CZECHOSLOVAKIA UHER, STEFAN DVD – £12.99 BLU RAY – £19.99
This surreal odyssey is based on a 1944 novella by Dominik Tatarka, but is now set in the 1960s. Mysterious Anabella inspires a group of young artists and challenges the material world.

Also includes the short – Marked by Darkness
Available on region-free Blu-Ray and DVD and presented from a brand new restoration, the legendary The Miraculous Virgin is one of Slovak’s cinema’s most admired and controversial works.

In Czech with English subtitles

Special Features

• Presented from a brand new 2K restoration of the film from original materials by the Slovak Film Institute.

• Marked by Darkness (Poznacení tmou) – Štefan Uher’s breathtaking 1959 short film.

• The Story of ‘The Miraculous Virgin’: an all new documentary on the film, the talents behind it and its legacy, produced by the Slovak Film Institute.

• Looking for Anabella: an archival documentary on the search for the titular lead.

• Trailer.

• 16-page booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michal Michalovic.

• New and improved English subtitle translation.

• World premiere on Blu-ray.

• Region Free (A/B/C) Blu-ray.

• Region Free (Region ‘0’) DVD.

DVD available to buy at –

www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

 

Milos Forman’s debut movie – BLACK PETER – issued on dvd and Blu Ray

BLACK PETER (12) 1964 CZECHOSLOVAKIA FORMAN, MILOS DVD – £12.99 BLU RAY – £19.99
Forman’s debut feature is a wry and provocative comedy about 17-year-old Petr, who gets a job as a security guard at a busy local shop. However he struggles with the job and his boss, in this portrait of everyday life under totalitarianism.

Full of charming performances, the mainly non-professional actors are witty, youthful and spontaneous.

Black Peter helped launch the internationally acclaimed Czechoslovak New Wave.

In Czech with English subtitles

SPECIAL FEATURES

Special Features
• Presented from a brand new 4K restoration of the film from original materials by the Czech National Film Archive.
• Life As It Is: Miloš Forman on his Czech films:
part one of an archival film-by-film interview, newly edited for this release with never-before-seen footage.
• All-new audio commentary by film historian Michael Brooke.
• New filmed interview with actor Pavla Martínková.
• 20-page booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jonathan Owen.
• Trailer.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• World Premiere on Blu-ray.
• Region Free (A/B/C) Blu-ray.
• Region Free (Region ‘0’) DVD.

DETAILS

Blu-Ray (24fps): 90 minutes
DVD (25fps): 87 minutes
Length / Special features: 49 minutes
Sound / Blu-Ray:
2.0 Dual Mono LPCM (48khz/24-bit)
Sound / DVD: 2.0 Dual Mono
Black and white
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Blu-Ray: BD50 / 1080 / 24fps / Region ABC
DVD: PAL / DVD9 / 25 fps / Region 0

 

DVD available to buy at –

www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

Classic Czech fairy tale -THREE WISHES FOR CINDERELLA – out on dvd

THREE WISHES FOR CINDERELLA (PG) 1973 CZECHOSLOVAKIA/GDR VORLÍCEK, VÁCLAV £12.99
Classic fairy tale, beautifully filmed in Dresden and Prague, about a poor girl whose magic hazel nuts transforms her so that she can attend the ball and meet the prince.
This magical, colourful , feel-good fairy tale is seen as a classic in much of northern Europe and get regularly shown at Christmas in the same way as “It’s a Wonderful Life” does in the US.

In Czech with English subtitles

DVD available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd

 

Vera Chytilová’s SOMETHING DIFFERENT/A BAGFUL OF FLEAS out on dvd

SOMETHING DIFFERENT/A BAGFUL OF FLEAS (PG) 1963 CZECHOSLOVAKIA CHYTILOVÁ,VERA £12.99
‘Something Different’ (1963) follows the lives of frustrated housewife Vera (Vera Uzelacová) and gymnast Eva (Eva Bosáková). While Vera struggles to get her husband to appreciate her and her domestic  work, Eva has a gruelling training schedule preparing for  her last competition.

‘A Bagful of Fleas’ (1962) depicts a young girl’s rebellion against those in charge of her all-girl school dormitory.

In Czech with English subtitles

DVD available to buy at –

http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/russian-and-eastern-european-films-on-dvd