Satyajit Ray on DVD

[kekid]

Facet's recent catalog shows DVDs of Satyajit Ray's The Adversary and Nayak coming out within the next 4 weeks. I called them to find out what label they were on. It is "New York Films". Does anyone have experience with this label? It would be a cause for celebration if New York Films produced decent quality DVDs of these films.

[bunuelian]

Hopefully they're going to be good, but I'm not holding my breath. Ray seems doomed to the nether-region of R1 releases. I remember really enjoying The Adeversary, though, and would love to have it in my collection. Any feelings about Nayak? I think I missed it during the Ray festival at Stanford a couple years ago. That, or I just don't remember it.

I'm most hoping for The Middleman and Charulata, but more Ray is always welcome.

[davida2]

These would be welcome, though I don't know if I'm holding my breath. I don't know what the issue with Ray's availability is - Sony doesn't have them anymore, Criterion still can't it seems...

He would be far more appreciated if the films were simply more available; seeing most of them is very very tough at this point. I have been eager to see both of these, so even in lousy quality I still will probably order them if they in fact gain a release.

[kekid]

I saw "The Adversary" (Pratidwandi) when I was a student about the age of its protagonist, and the movie had a special resonance for me. Although his movies always retained unmistakable humanity, the later ones are darker, more pessimistic. To this category The Adversary belongs. Martin Scorsese and Ismail/Merchant team were responsible for the theatrical release of 9 of his films (which did not include Pratidwandi or Nayak) in eminently watchable prints. All nine of them got VHS releases. (I am glad I picked up all of them). As to what keeps whoever has the rights from putting them on DVD I do not understand. The most likely explanation is that they are not the most attractive commercial propositions. If Sony, like Warner, were to put them out for a popular vote, they would never make it. Democratic processes have their limitations.

[davida2]

The most likely explanation is that they are not the most attractive commercial propositions. If Sony, like Warner, were to put them out for a popular vote, they would never make it. Democratic processes have their limitations.

Very true, though I would note Criterion's success with many of the non-Kuorsawa Japanese DVDs, the Ozu films especially - a new audience for films and directors can be built with proper planning and marketing, and with work as good as Ray's it would definitely be doable.

Of the later films, I'm only familiar with The Middleman, which is remarkable. Restored prints of several additional films are being stored in California - the entirity of Three Daughters, along with The Adventures Of Goopy & Bagha, The Adversary and Kanchenjungha, all of which I would love to see.

[kekid]

I truly hope you are right. However, I would make two observations. First, Criterion stands alone (at least in the R1 world) in making DVDs of great films of narrow popular appeal. If they do not have access to Ray, we have to count on one of the mainstream labels to take his cause up, and this, while not impossible, is improbable. Secondly, do we know if Criterion did well with its Ozu releases? Perhaps limited sales of what they have issued (with possible exception of Tokyo Story) account for the delay in releasing the rest.

[kekid]

A DVD version of Satyajit Ray's "Jalsaghar" is available from Amazon.com. The quality is equivalent to a VHS version. Subtitled in English.
As I viewed this film again (I have seen it many times in the past), I was somehow reminded of Visconti's The Leopard. Both films portray fading aristocracies, and express deep nostalgia for the vanishing times. Music is a central element of their design. The mis-en-scenes of both include grand architectures (though Ray's low-budget black-and-white effort cannot compare with the resplendent colors of the Visconti). The protagonists of both are aging men seeing the approach of the end (Here, however, there is a difference: Visconti's Prince recognizes the change, Ray's impoverished aristocrat forever lives in a changeless past).
For admirers of Ray a must-see, despite less than ideal presentation.

[Gary Tooze]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/Reviews/jalsaghar.htm

[spencerw]

One good piece of news on the Ray front is that the 2006 Masters of Cinema paper catalogue says that their release #27 in March 2006 will be Ray's 1964 film Abhijan [The Expedition]

[davida2]

This is good to hear - I haven't seen this one, but have heard a bit. Apparently Ray wrote a screenplay, it was intended to be a somewhat more commerical film, to be directed by someone else. And some sort of crisis occurred during the pre-production, and Ray was brought in to direct... It (according to the Andrew Robinson's bio of Ray) was fairly successful in India, but rarely seen abroad.

I couldn't begin to guess how representative of other work it is, but MoC is quality so I'll have to order. I wonder if they have access to anything else - if this one is a starting point, it would be interesting to see them go after the films that haven't been well-distributed in the West.

[stroszeck]

Wow, great news. Now if only Sony Pictures could get off their stinkin fat asses and redo the Apu Trilogy and present them in AT LEAST a mediocre release (which may be asking TOO much of them, all things considered) I'd feel a little bit better. More whole, somehow.

[FilmFanSea]

Wow, great news. Now if only Sony Pictures could get off their stinkin fat asses and redo the Apu Trilogy and present them in AT LEAST a mediocre release (which may be asking TOO much of them, all things considered) I'd feel a little bit better. More whole, somehow.

Sony no longer has the rights to the Apu trilogy--which is why the previous discs are OOP.

[stroszeck]

So who owns the Apu rights? And will they be re-releasing a newly restored transfer?

Also info on Devi, Charulata and Jalsaghar would be appreciated.

[FilmFanSea]

So who owns the Apu rights? And will they be re-releasing a newly restored transfer?

Also info on Devi, Charulata and Jalsaghar would be appreciated.

To my knowledge, no other company has admitted to having the rights to Satyajit Ray's great films (Criterion has denied it; my money would be on either Koch Lorber or Kino). AFAIK, Sony doesn't currently own the rights to any Ray films.

[Donald Brown]

Doesn't Merchant-Ivory own several Ray films, including the Apu trilogy, or at least did so at one point?

http://satyajitray.ucsc.edu/faq.html

[Mysterypez]

Merchant Ivory certainly provided funding to have many of the Ray films preserved to film. The preservation work was done... is still being done.... at the Academy Film Archive. Who is now footing most of the bill.

http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2005/may/12ray.htm

It is a fascinating restoration story.... particularly as many of the original negatives were lost in a London fire in 1993.

[LightBulbFilm]

I love to read and hear stories of people restoring great film maker's work. I find it so sad when a film is lost forever, or even parts are lost. There have been times when I almost teared up. I find it great that America's institutions take the problem of foreign filmmakers films under their wind and restore them. Film restoration is one of my biggest facsinations and it probably equals out with the making of the film. Preserving someones art allows future generations to see it, promising that that filmmaker, who worked SO hard on his/her films will never be forgotten. I just hope they come out with some DVDs of Ray's films too, though. Because I am feeling the preverbal itch.

[davida2]

Merchant Ivory certainly provided funding to have many of the Ray films preserved to film. The preservation work was done... is still being done.... at the Academy Film Archive. Who is now footing most of the bill.

http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2005/may/12ray.htm

It is a fascinating restoration story.... particularly as many of the original negatives were lost in a London fire in 1993.

Thanks for the link - this clears up a little of the mystery around rights. I'd still love for Criterion to get these all...

[LightBulbFilm]

We all no about the Apu Trilogy. Well no we have: The Chess Players[/url]

[exte]

I just read this at Wikipediaabout E.T.:

Indian director Satyajit Ray wrote a script entitled "The Alien" in 1967 with many similarities to E.T., and attempted to raise funds for its production in the late 1960s. After a falling out with a prospective producer, he lost interest in the project, and rejected later interest from Hollywood in the script. After E.T.'s release, Ray stated that "ET would not have been possible without my script of 'The Alien' being available throughout America in mimeographed copies." Spielberg claimed to be unaware of Ray's work, stating "I was a kid in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood" when questioned about it in the press in 1982.

And read the following here...

In 1967 Ray wrote the script to a science fiction film he wanted to make called The Alien. Peter Sellers was interested in the lead role, and Marlon Brando in the second lead. With those two stars on board, Columbia Pictures contracted to do the picture, but things did not go well from the start. Ray was alarmed to discover that producer Mike Wilson had copyrighted the script Ray had written in both their names.

When Ray went to Columbia's London offices for further negotiations, he found Wilson hosting lavish parties in his hotel suite for rock stars and assorted glitterati. Brando soon dropped out of the project and if Ray found Wilson's tactics disturbing, Columbia executives exacerbated the situation by suggesting that Wilson had appropriated his script fee. An attempt was made to bring in James Coburn to replace Brando, but by then Ray had had enough of the Hollywood machine and maneuverings.

He returned to Calcutta and abandoned The Alien project. Columbia tried to persuade him to take on the project again in the '70s and early '80s, but nothing came of it.

In 1982, when Steven Spielberg's blockbuster E.T. was released, the plot bore a striking similarity to Ray's script for The Alien, and was produced by the same company that had contracted with Ray in 1967. The similarity was considered by some, including Ray, to be more than mere coincidence. He told the Indian press that E.T. "Would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout America in mimeographed copies."

For his part Spielberg has denied plagiarizing Ray's script. "I was a kid in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood," Spielberg told the press in 1982, when the issue was first raised. Whatever the truth may be, The Alien, if it had been made, certainly would have upstaged E.T., and probably Spielberg's previous effort, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as well--not to mention forced Ridley Scott to seek another title for his 1979 production, Alien.

And from Ray's wikipedia bio:

In 1967, Ray wrote a script for a movie to be entitled "The Alien," with Columbia Pictures as producer for this planned US/India co-production, and Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando as the leading actors. However Ray was surprised to find that the script he had co-written had already been copyrighted and the fee appropriated. Marlon Brando dropped out of the project and though an attempt was made to bring James Coburn in his place, Ray became disillusioned and returned to Calcutta.[11] Columbia expressed interest in reviving the project several times in the 70s and 80s but nothing came of it. When E.T. was released in 1982, many saw striking similarities in the movie to Ray's earlier script - Ray discussed the collapse of the project in a 1980 Sight & Sound feature, with further details revealed by Ray's biographer Andrew Robinson (in The Inner Eye, 1989). Ray believed that Spielberg's movie "would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout America in mimeographed copies."[12]

Does anyone have the script? Has anyone at least read it? Has anyone heard this before?? Thanks!

ALSO: Supposedly more can be read about it in this book: Satyajit Ray: Beyond the Frame. Does anyone have this, too? What can you tell us? Thanks...

[exte]

I also found the following...

Before Wilson had completed the post-production of Jamis Banda, Clarke told him of an idea Satyajit Ray had for a vedic science fiction film. Wilson was intrigued by the idea and interested in raising international finance for the project, so he wrote inviting Ray to come to Colombo to discuss matters. Ray was too busy to leave Calcutta, and instead invited Wilson to come there, which he did.

Over a period of a fortnight, Wilson waited while Ray wrote a first draft screenplay. Wilson then sprung into action, setting up a meeting for Ray with Peter Sellers in Paris, and a few months later with Columbia Pictures in Hollywood, who were keen to back the film. Stupidly, however, Wilson copyrighted the script in his name as well as Ray's, an action that sowed the seeds of mistrust in the mind of the director.

The project was transferred to Columbia Pictures in London, to where Ray and Wilson subsequently travelled to try to clinch the deal. This trip ended disastrously, though, with Ray his mistrust fanned by Columbia executives eager to ease Wilson out of the project. For Ray the final blow came when Sellers announced his withdrawal, because he felt his role was not developed enough.

Later Wilson was persuaded to relinquish the copyright, and Columbia and others encouraged Ray to take up the project once again. This he never did, instead preferring to blame Wilson for the fact that the film remained unmade. The history of cinema is punctuated by a number of great 'might-have-beens', such as Sergei Eisenstein's Que Viva Mexico!

There is little doubt that The Alien falls into this category. The story behind it is a fascinating one - one I have attempted to piece together in my forthcoming book,The Wrecking : The story of Satyajit Ray's ill-fated science-fiction fllm project, The Alien.

[hearthesilence]

WOW. That's my favorite Spielberg flick, and now it's marred by possible plagiarism (or a rip-off of some kind).

[solaris72]

The screenplay for The Alien can be found in this book.
I did a little research on this script about a year ago, though I never got around to actually reading it (this thread reminds me that I should). I found out in the process that Satyajit Ray also wrote some science fiction short stories, about a space traveler named "Professor Shonku."

[Adam]

How is the quality of the Artificial Eye Apu Trilogy?

As far as I know, the Ray restorations at the academy still sit on shelves, untouched. The rights holders want too much money up front, not believing in royalties, and no DVD company will pay the asking fee.

[reno dakota]

How is the quality of the Artificial Eye Apu Trilogy?

I think the quality of the AE Apu Trilogy is very good. To my eye, the image looks clear and has good contrast, though there are occasional instances of scratches, debris and damaged frames. The image is certainly not Criterion or MoC quality, but is quite watchable nonetheless. DVDBeaver has a few screencaps from "Pather Panchali" and "Apararjito" (though, sadly, none from "Apur Sansar"), which may give you a better idea of the quality.

The only thing about the set that bothered me (and, really, it did not bother me that much) was that there are a few subtitle problems. Specifically, several conversations in both "Pather Panchali" and "Aparajito" are not subtitled, and there are quite a few instances where the subtitles contain typos. For some reason, words that begin with "i" often have the "i" omitted--"in" becomes "n" and "if" becomes "f"--but I had no trouble following along despite these errors.

I just purchased this set last week and watched all of it over the weekend. All three films are wonderful, but the cumulative effect is almost overwhelming. I cannot recommend it enough.