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Thr Russian Cinema Council has released the 1974 ballet film Anna Karenina w/ Plisetskaya & Gudunov on DVD:

http://www.ruscico.com/detail_eng.php?link=149

I think it's ALL Regions, but check to make sure. They also seem to have it on PAL VHS, but not NTSC.

They also have released a DVD of the major bio-pic of Tchaikovsky from 1970 which has some added features, including what appears to be an interview? with Plisetskaya.

This appears to be only Region 2

http://www.ruscico.com/detail_eng.php?link=118

Gosh I wish they'd DVD more ballet! I'll bet they have not hours, but DAYS of it rotting in film cans and oxydizing on old vhs masters. When I think of what's being lost I could just cry...

What an irony that it was the horrendous Soviet sytem that preserved Russian Ballet (because of its rampant failures in almost all other endeavors, excluding Space, it had to), but now the new capitalists need to know there's a market before preserving these pieces of ballet history. Meanwile, the clock keeps ticking, and the image vanishes...

Maybe if a few of us buy the Anna K...?

Watermill

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DVD Players are down to $89, so your excuses are running out, dirac!

Seriously, I resisted my braying children for years before buying one and now I knock them out of the way to get the best seat.

I especially enjoy the letterboxing and the added features. I mostly borrow from our library so I don't spend much aside from occasional rentings.

Kosintsev's Hamlet with Smoktunovsy in the title role is one of the greatest film adaptations of that great play. I saw a restored print on a big screen and was nearly overwhelmed by the power of it. One of the reasons I'd love to see this Tchaikovsky film...

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tho' no techo-anything here, i have heard that low-end DVD players CAN have problems w/ the load-in/out tray and thus malfunction. this was noted in an article about the kinds of players given away w/ some promotions, so i assume they'd be the low-end ones. so i'd ask around when looking into acquiring a player. as for the dvd form itself i cannot say enough in its favor. it seems too that recordable players or at least those that are capable of transferring one's videotapes to disk are now becoming affordable, or nearly so. meanwhile just this weekend i learned that a NEW technology is around the bend, that will do this sort of transfer more smoothly, who knows. for now, we DVDs multiplying like shades out of a petipa underworld, tho' as has been pointed out here not nearly enough DANCE disks, a dvd player is a good investment. i gather btw re: the newer technology on the horizon that this will not make dvds obsolete, only make transference of videotape to disk more efficient.

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Sigh. I know DVDs are definitely superior to VHS – I just don't run out and buy any new gizmos until I absolutely have to.

One thing I don't like about DVD versions of movies, however, is this Director's Cut thing – interpolating scenes omitted from the theatrical release. Sometimes it's better, sometimes not (usually not, because directors hate to cut anything no matter how superfluous), but I do think that it's important for viewers at least to have the option of seeing what people in theatres saw originally.

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They usually do offer the "theatrical" version of the film, sometimes a separate disc, sometimes you just flip it over.

I have to admit, I spent way too much money on my DVD player, but I got one when they first came out.

I've upgraded to the machine that has both a vcr/dvd on one machine.

I'd rather have my disc tray get jammed, or stuck than my tape eaten and lost forever.

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You're right rg, the low end DVD players should probably be avoided. I bought my Toshiba SD-1700 for $125 & it works quite well.

dirac, you are very amusing: these "new gizmos" have been out for 12 years (...and I though I was bad!)

Know what you mean about the director's cut: often a showcase of indulgence. (Ex: Apocalypse Now)

But sometimes the corporate studios hack things to death and you don't get to see the REAL film until the director's cut. (EX: Once upon a Time in America.)

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