RUSCICO e-shop 'nearly' open....

[John Mardaljevic]

The RUSCICO (http://www.ruscico.com/) website now lists what I assume can only be the on-line price in $ (alongside the subscription price). There is also an "Add to basket" button which I hope will soon be working - "Under construction" is what you get at the moment. Listed prices for released movies are 20-22$ (single) and 33-35$ (doubles e.g. Solaris). No mention of shipping costs yet as far as I can see. OK, they seem to have missed the Xmas rush (or maybe they're aiming for the Orthodox date of Jan 7th), but at least it looks like they are close to (finally) opening shop. Helpfully, the webpages list the number of PAL (& NTSC) in "Store" for each title.

P.S. Provided shipping is not too much, the prices look reasonable to me. Note - a little arithmetic shows that MB has saved quite a bit by taking out a subscription - looking forward to those reviews.....

[Snuffy]

This is disappointing. Prices are are not what we were led to expect. We knew subcribers would get subtantial discounts but this is a considerable difference. I can't see any reason to go with the Ruscico versions of Rublev and Solaris in comparison to the imminent Artificial Eye releases in January.

If someone can tell me the precise differences, other than £15 then I would be grateful. With postage I'm assuming Ballad of a Soldier will top the £20 mark. With the rumours of a less than pristine transfer, I will wait for the criterion and pay a similar amount then for a top notch job.

[Michael Brooke]

<B>With the rumours of a less than pristine transfer</B>

For the record, this is what I said in full:

<I>This is a frustrating transfer to rate accurately, because at its best it boasts one of the best black-and-white pictures I’ve seen on a DVD, and there are passages that are not far short of that offered by that other 1959 classic North By Northwest, still the benchmark for DVD transfers of films from this era. The source print is in astonishingly good condition given its age - there are a few spots and scratches, but far fewer than one would expect or be prepared to forgive, and the image runs the gamut from brilliant whites to deep, rich blacks (while still retaining more than enough shadow detail), and grain is mostly absent, bar one or two shots - and even in those it’s never a problem.

The transfer, too, is mostly excellent - very sharp, clear and detailed, and individual sequences are often state of the art. Unfortunately, though, it occasionally suffers from the same problem that I noted with Ruscico’s Viy, in that static parts of the image have a tendency to freeze in a somewhat artificial way that, when noticed, can’t help but be slightly distracting. This is a fairly minor problem, and is probably much more noticeable on the large 43” TV used to review this disc, but nonetheless it’s disappointing, as the source print is good enough for this transfer to be demonstration quality. Incidentally, it’s framed at 4:3, the original aspect ratio, so anamorphic enhancement isn’t necessary. </I>

I'd certainly read detailed write-ups of the Criterion disc before ordering, as subjectively the Ruscico <I>Ballad of a Soldier</I> offers a more satisfying viewing experience than many Criterions of that vintage (for instance, <I>Closely Observed Trains</I>), and the defects are very minor compared with the overall virtues (and, as I said, my system is far less forgiving than many).

Crucially, the source print is absolutely superb - will Criterion's be as impressive, bearing in mind that other Ruscico discs (<I>Andrei Rublyov</I>, for instance) have come up with better prints than the Criterion alternative? And will the Criterion offer extras as good as the 35-minute director's interview?

[Snuffy]

Thanks Michael wise words indeed. Never listen to gossip. Granted Criterion are not the most reliable within the sphere you refer to and have a price banding system that stretches my budget further.

For Rublev and Solaris though I'm still drawn toward the AI releases. Financially I can't really stretch to the undoubtedly well received Ruscico discs. More is the pity.

[Joe91]

For Rublev and Solaris though I'm still drawn toward the AI releases. Financially I can't really stretch to the undoubtedly well received Ruscico discs. More is the pity.
The AI release of "Andrei Rublev" will almost certainly be cut to remove a scene of a horse fall.

I understand that the Ruscisco print of "Rublev" runs for around 180 mins, substantially shorter than the full 204 min version released by Criterion, although the Rusisco disc evidently has a better transfer than the Criterion (which was one of their early releases).

[Michael Brooke]

I'll be tackling this in more detail in my review, but essentially the Ruscico disc contains the Tarkovsky-approved final cut (186 minutes, give or take PAL speedup issues), while the Criterion disc contains a longer cut whose <I>bona fides</I> are rather less certain - if I remember rightly, it came to light somewhere in Mosfilm's vaults and was screened in the late 1980s as part of a posthumous Tarkovsky tribute. I'll do more digging before I write the final version.

Neither of these versions should be confused with the Soviet-censored cut that ran 140-odd minutes and which was the only version available internationally for many years - the 186-minute cut is perfectly legitimate (and in fact I prefer it in many ways: that inexplicably haunting slow-motion shot of the horse rolling over onto its back just after the balloonist has met his death goes on a bit too long for my taste in the 204-minute version, so I suspect it's an early cut that Tarkovsky subsequently trimmed).

Choosing which DVD to go for is a tough one, as both have advantages and disadvantages. The Ruscico is very comfortably the winner for transfer quality (anamorphic PAL compared with non-anamorphic NTSC, and the Ruscico print is in better condition to begin with), but I'd miss some of the Criterion extras, most notably Vlada Petric's critical commentary and the Tarkovsky documentary materials - quite apart from there being about twenty minutes' more footage of the main feature!

You're absolutely right about the Artificial Eye version - all previous UK releases of the film have had that shot cut, and I can't imagine a new version will be any different, since the BBFC's hands are tied by the law. Amusingly enough, that shot was included on the <I>Andrei Rublyov</I> trailer included on Ruscico's <I>Solaris</I> DVD...