Jan Svankmajer: The Complete Short Films 1964-1992

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Film Description

The most comprehensive DVD edition ever assembled of the short films by the legendary Czech Surrealist filmmaker-animator Jan Svankmajer. Technically and conceptually astonishing in their own right, together they add up to a body of work as remarkable for its philosophical consistency as for its eye-popping imagery. Spanning The Last Trick (1964) to Food (1992), all the classics are included (Punch and Judy, The Flat, Jabberwocky, Dimensions of Dialogue, Down to the Cellar, both versions of The Ossuary) alongside many British premieres.

Film Information

DVD Extras

3 disc digipack; Bonus features: Johannes Doktor Faust (Radok, 1958); Excerpts from Nick Carter in Prague (Lipsky, 1977); The original 54 minute version of The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer (Griffiths, 1984); Les Chimeres des Svankmajer (Schmitt & Leclerc, 2000); The History of Painting and Sculpture extract (Kisil, 2001); Trailer for Lunacy; Booklet with comprehensive notes on each film.

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Review by Michael Brooke on 21st May 2007

Over three years in the preparation, the BFI's triple-disc box set is the definitive DVD collection of short films by the great Czech filmmaker-animator. One of cinema’s most extraordinary talents, he has had a colossal influence on contemporary animation. His imagery, full of unexpected, outrageous conjunctions, comes from a consistent philosophy of militant Surrealism that underpins his work, in which he remains absolutely committed to the themes of dream, eroticism, revolt and freedom.
“Complete” here means complete: all 26 films in the official short filmography, including a music video for Hugh Cornwell and two "art breaks" for MTV. These run alongside the familiar classics: Punch and Judy, The Flat, Jabberwocky, Dimensions of Dialogue, Down to the Cellar, Virile Games, both versions of The Ossuary and many others. Extensive digital restoration ensures that this is the best they've ever looked on a domestic format. A whole disc of extras includes many fascinating rarities. Johanes Doktor Faust is a puppet film containing Švankmajer's first screen credit, while excerpts from Nick Carter in Prague show that his imagination was just as wild when devising special effects for mainstream commercial features. Two documentaries provide a comprehensive survey of his work, starting with the full-length version of The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer, the Quay Brothers' famous animated sequences now interspersed with clips and in-depth analysis. The French documentary, Les Chimères des Švankmajer offers a delightfully candid look at the creative partnership of Švankmajer and his wife, the painter, poet and ceramicist Eva Švankmajerová. Švankmajer also discusses his fine art in an interview with Czech TV, and the trailer for his fifth feature Lunacy brings his work right up to date. Everything but the kitchen sink? There's one of those, too, licked clean by an animated severed tongue in A Quiet Week in the House – one of dozens of mind-boggling images that are distressingly hard to forget.

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Article - "Shame On Me (or The Dubious Benefits of ‘Guilty Pleasures’)" by Anonymous
Friday 29th June 2007

A funny thing happened to me the other day: I had one of them existential crises. Took me completely by surprise, it did. After all, I’m not French. Yet there I was, having my fundamental assumptions turned upside down.

It happened not too far from where yo...  View article in full

Article - "Stille Nacht 1: Dramolet - The Quay Brothers" by Graeme Hobbs
Friday 11th May 2007

One of the Quay Brothers’ shortest films, Stille Nacht 1: Dramolet, was made, somewhat improbably, for MTV in 1988 as an ‘art break’. According to the Quays, its ‘secret scenario’ – and one which would have been fruitless to have included in any pitch about th...  View article in full

Article - "Some Notes on Jan Švankmajer" by Graeme Hobbs
Friday 24th August 2007

By the time you get to the very end of the very last film on the BFI’s Jan Švankmajer collection, Food, it’s hard not to raise a wry smile when the credits state ‘made with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture’.
After decades of intemittent enforced brea...  View article in full

Collections & Lists

This film is part of the following Film Collections

Surrealism on Film

Including: A Hard Days Night, A Snake Of June, Brazil, Celine And Julie Go Boating, Cinema Dada, Dreams That Money Can Buy, Fantômas, Inland Empire, Jan Svankmajer: The Complete Short Films 1964-1992, L'Age dOr / Un Chien Andalou.

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David Parkinson's Films of the Year 2007 by David Parkinson

Forget the extras, the key feature of DVD is the opportunity it affords to see films that no longer reach our TV screens now the major channels have abandoned proper cinema in favour of blockbusters and teleplays. The following are compilations of pictures that have too long been inaccessible. More of the same, please.

Graeme Hobbs's Films of the Year 2007 by Graeme Hobbs

With outstanding releases this year of films long absent or never before seen on dvd (Masters of Cinema and Second Run deserve particular commendation here), as well as some fine additions to silent cinema on dvd (such as the BFI’s A Throw of the Dice), 2007 has been a really gratifying year for those who appreciate quality films on dvd, not least because of wonderful titles that seem to have appeared out of the blue – Gary Tarn’s Black Sun is an example of this. Also, I must mention the latest in the American Folk Blues series of dvds, the British Tours 1963-66. It’s incredible to have this footage at all and I’m very grateful.

MovieMail's Films Of The Year 2007 by MovieMail

As well as our own favourite films of the year, we also compiled MovieMail Customer's Favourite Films of 2007 and present our contributor's favourites - David Parkinson, Julian Upton, Michael Brooke, Graeme Hobbs, Mike McCahill, Pasquale Iannone, Pasquale Iannone and Alex Davidson.

As ever it has been tough. Strong contenders demoted at the last minute, personal favourites discarded, some coarse language exchanged, but here we are - twelve sterling examples of filmmaking that, as a whole, represent our, and hopefully your, taste in cinema.

Needless to say, they are all highly recommended - if there are any in the list that you don't own, don't hesitate to get them. Once you've finished with the final twelve, have a look at the nine Runners Up that we couldn't bear not to mention...

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