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Anna Pavlova film


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It seems to be a Soviet production with some British involvement and support- it’s written and directed by Romanian-Soviet director Emil Loteanu.

 

Michael Powell (one of the co-creators of the film The Red Shoes) was one of the producers and edited the (shorter) English version of the film. British actors James Fox and Roy Kinnear had roles in the film, tv presenter Bruce Forsyth took a minor role, Martin Scorsese had a cameo in it.

 

Most of the actors were Soviet actors (Loteanu’s wife Galina Belyayeva played Pavlova and Fox portrayed Victor Dandré) . I’ve never seen it nor seen it scheduled for recent broadcast. Loteanu also directed A Hunting Accident, and forum members who watch figure skating might recognise the Waltz from that film as it’s popular among figure skaters. The ballet sequences were all performed by members of the Mariinsky Ballet (then called Kirov Ballet). 

 

I think the fact that the rights belonged to a company in the Soviet era (with the government even interfering with/approving the final casting) means that releasing it as a DVD may be too complicated to attempt- probably easier and cheaper to make a new film! 

 

There’s a very good documentary of Pavlova where solos and pas de deux of the ballets she danced in were performed by National Ballet of Canada and ABT stars Frank Augustyn, Nadia Potts, Amanda McKerrow etc, and old film recordings of her dancing in The Dying Swan, and The Mute Girl of Portici were included. Can’t remember the exact name of the documentary but it’s from the 1980s.

 

Pavlova is also written into the plot of the recent tv drama series Mr Selfridge as a guest star character who visits the Selfridges store and is warmly feted by Harry Gordon Selfridge (played by Jeremy Piven). It’s completely fictional but the style of dancing and her dialogue seem consistent with historical records of her. Natalia Kremen, Russian born and Bolshoi trained ENB dancer, portrayed Pavlova.

 

Not a huge number of films featuring Pavlova, despite her dramatic and interesting career and life story.

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11 hours ago, Emeralds said:

i think the fact that the rights belonged to a company in the Soviet era (with the government even interfering with/approving the final casting) means that releasing it as a DVD may be too complicated to attempt


The opposite is in fact probably the case Emeralds: happy for other barroom IP lawyers to disagree but I think there is no copyright in Soviet material of any kind. So unless a western company has gone through a process of somehow registering the production in a western country - and I am not even sure how that would or could work - its free and clear, analogous but different to so-called ‘orphan works’ in the US or UK.

 

In any case it’s a fascinating enquiry. I will ask people in film archives and see what they know. 

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First response from a friend about a film which does not seem to be that obscure:—

 

>>Amazon has the Pavlova film listed but it appears to be unavailable on dvd at present. I bought my copy back in 2013.

 

>>It's a sad mess. Michael Powell didn't really have a lot to do with the filming, but worked with Thelma Schoonmaker to edit the feature in a London cutting room.

 

>>As to rights I recall back in 2001 obtaining Soviet footage of a Russian composer from a StPetersburg archive, and that involved getting cash to a fixer to pay them for a tape. Once that was done they said we could do what we liked with the material.

 

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1 hour ago, Sebastian said:

First response from a friend about a film which does not seem to be that obscure:—

 

>>Amazon has the Pavlova film listed but it appears to be unavailable on dvd at present. I bought my copy back in 2013.

 

>>It's a sad mess. Michael Powell didn't really have a lot to do with the filming, but worked with Thelma Schoonmaker to edit the feature in a London cutting room.

 

>>As to rights I recall back in 2001 obtaining Soviet footage of a Russian composer from a StPetersburg archive, and that involved getting cash to a fixer to pay them for a tape. Once that was done they said we could do what we liked with the material.

 

 

On 17/01/2023 at 18:59, SplitSoul said:

Has anyone seen the 1983 film about Anna Pavlova? It doesn't seem to be for sale anywhere. 

 

Are there any other films that involve biographical information about this amazing woman?

Good points, Sebastian- I should have clarified “getting the rights for it now”. I think back in the late 80s till 2000 when the government was vastly different to today’s it would have been much easier. Maybe production just stopped due to lack of demand.

 

 It did have a cinema release in Britain according to the information and being technically a co-production they should have been able to issue videos of it in the UK if there was enough of a market. Glad your friend found a copy in 2013- maybe SplitSoul and you/your friend could confer about whether it can be found on eBay, Amazon in other countries or other sites. 

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No conferring needed: there is currently a new dvd copy of the film available on Ebay. 
 

As to the rights question, no Soviet era production magically acquired “rights” on the fall of the regime, that is not how international copyright works. The nature of this particular work would however need examination, precisely because it was a western/Soviet co-production. A complete print of the film (presumably what was used to produce the dvd) should make the position clear. 

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