Kinoblog

For a tiny DVD label that’s so obviously run on a shoestring, Second Run has always punched well above its weight when it comes to creating a distinctive brand identity. Even in the very early stages, when they’d source the artwork from a single still, they had an admirably consistent approach to layout and typography - and, pretty much uniquely for a UK label, they also made a point of presenting the film’s original title in exactly the same size and typeface as the English version, with only a differing colour separating the two.

In mid-2006, before their first anniversary, they started getting more adventurous, firstly with the daringly minimalist treatment of Miklós Jancsó’s The Red and the White on the left, and then with the slightly more visually eloquent but still stripped-down Knights of the Teutonic Order and The Party and the Guests:

I particularly like the Party and the Guests cover, as the missing man neatly alludes to a crucial part of the plot, but in an incredibly simple and entirely spoiler-free way. And since then, Second Run’s covers have become more visually elaborate while still maintaining a highly distinctive and very consistent graphic approach:

(If these whet the appetite, you can see a permanent display of the entire line-up on the Second Run website)

Anyway, earlier today they unveiled their latest effort, for Jaromil Jireš’ Valerie and her Week of Wonders:

And, by way of comparison, these are the other two English-friendly releases:

I haven’t seen the new transfer yet, but I have been treated to a new trailer that was sourced from the master, and it looked absolutely gorgeous. This film has undergone all manner of indignities over the years - when I last saw it in the cinema, it was on a 16mm print so atrocious that it was barely watchable (it certainly wasn’t anything like as bad when I first caught it in 35mm in the 1980s). I haven’t seen the Facets release, but by all accounts it’s down to their usual dreadful standards - analogue-sourced, and with a very soft, faded image - but the Redemption release isn’t much to write home about either, as the source print is in appalling condition for a film that’s younger than I am. In fact, there’s one shot that’s so riddled with splices that it almost looks like deliberately quirky editing, were it not for the stylistic incongruity. (Damning frame-grabs from both can be found in this DVD Beaver comparison). It’s been so hard to see a decent print of Valerie in recent years (outside screenings that accompanied Valerie Project performances, with a replacement live soundtrack) that there’s even a thread on the IMDB discussion board wondering whether it was shot in 16mm - so the new Second Run disc should be a welcome corrective on that score.

I should perhaps come clean here and admit that I have a personal interest in this disc, though only in the sense that I popped up to north London one Sunday afternoon a couple of months ago to film a general-purpose introduction. I hear it’s 20 minutes long in the final edit, and they’ve thankfully taken my advice and overlaid my wibblings with suitably distracting clips. Far more eye-catching will be a shorter interview with the film’s star Jaroslava Schallerová, taken from the Czech DVD but with added English subtitles, and the booklet promises to be the usual substantial read, with an essay from Peter Hames and a piece by Valerie Project founder Joseph A. Gervasi. The last is a nice touch - obviously, we’d all have loved an alternative soundtrack on the actual DVD, but I’m not surprised that this turned out to be unfeasible for all sorts of contractual, financial and technical reasons.

It’s out on August 25th, and can be ordered from Amazon, Play and the other usual suspects - at the time of writing for less than a tenner, so it’s probably just as well that I don’t get royalties.