[REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

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Night457
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[REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by Night457 »   1 likes

AKA Между релсите
The horrors of war seen through the eyes of a sensitive twelve-year-old girl who loses everyone she loves.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277893/
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pillowbaker
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[REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by pillowbaker »   33 likes

[Image]

[Image]
Young actress Margarita Chudinova.

pillowbaker wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:21 pm Yeah, strange how one comes across these exhaustive compilations on the net. Makes me wonder who the enthusiast was and what kind of site it is that hosts it. Just a heads up to anyone who's curious about the list, there's A LOT that will not be of interest. With thorough lists like this, it will include just about anything that touches its parameters. So lots of coming of age films involving girl still going through this process even in the young 20s. Myself, I was a late bloomer too, so what can you say?

That said, I neglected to mention, the scope of the list seems to narrow down to those only films either written or directed by women. That may explain why there's a lot you won't find there.

However, it isn't entirely a toss-away list either! For those willing to comb the desert, there are quite some interesting finds. Take for example this Bulgarian pick from 1964 called Между релсите (Between the Rails).

The ONLY place I could find this film was youtube or a Bulgarian streaming site tubeBG. They both appear to the be exact same video, with original audio. There is a lot of French spoken, as it takes place in Brussels, but I cannot honestly tell if Bulgarian is spoken during those non subtitled parts. There are subtitles, I'm assuming in Bulgarian, for all spoken French (edit: damn! ok, only most spoken French is subbed -- the girl appears to not understand or is unwilling to listen to Bulgarian, take for example at 7:42, her uncle says something to her in Bulgarian, she responds "Quoi?" (What?). He repeats in French, "Le chat pas à l'école." (No cats at the school), and she responds, "Oui and sets down the cat.") Things of interest: Bulgarian uses the Cyrillic alphabet and is a lovely sounding language, at least to my ears. The main girl has a lot of screentime and is cute in a sort of peasant sort of way.

Here's the yt link.

Edit: new edk link for higher quality file below.

Elitza, our main girl, has the large majority of screentime. There are some adorably cute scenes.

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Edit: previous file ripped from youtube. I have found what I believe is the original file that was uploaded to youtube, thus we can have this file without the youtube compression.

Like this post to see ed2k links  [581.42 Mb]
Last edited by pillowbaker on Thu Apr 20, 2023 3:26 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: [REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by Night457 »   0 likes

Thank you for this rare find pillowbaker!

pillowbaker's mentioned tubeBG link: https://www.tubebg.com/%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0% ... %BE_128291
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Re: [REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by pillowbaker »   1 likes

Night457 wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:06 pm Thank you for this rare find pillowbaker!
Heh thank you!

More info about Mezhdu relsite.

I was curious about the random French words I heard in the beginning of the movie. Turns out, much of the dialogue is originally in French, thus the Bulgarian subtitles in many part of the film. So, the film is much easier to follow along even to those with a little knowledge of the language. There's some "c'est ta grand-mere" and "et c'est moi, Hristo. Ton oncle." and "Bonjour grand-mere, bonjour mon oncle".

To me, the French sounds accented, of course in a not-from-France sort of way, and I am curious to those who speak French, can you tell? Am I full of crap? If not, does the accent sound like it might be from Slavic actors? The actor names look Slavic. (is it ok to say it that way? I do not wish to offend anyone.)

Also of note, the film's poster has been noted by several reviewers on the internet to be a somewhat interesting work of art. Here's a link to a better quality image.

As the film has no subtitles, here is basically the whole plot with some details of the film:
Spoiler:

Posted by —Georgi Djulgerov on imdb:
At the Brussels railway station, a Bulgarian antifascist bids farewell to his daughter Elitza. Yannis, his Greek comrade, will take her home. The train pulls out, and the little girl waves a last goodbye to her father. He is remaining in occupied Belgium to fight the Nazis. At Sofia railway station two passengers part.

Elitza goes to her grandmother and to her uncle Hristo. They surround her with loving care and tenderness. Every morning, Uncle Hristo takes her on his bicycle to the best French college, where her grandmother has enrolled her. At the college, the child befriends a small Jewess Greta, who soon leaves for Egypt together with her parents. Elitza leaves alone. Uncle Hristo is arrested for subversive activities, and her grandmother is sent into internal exile to a small town near the country's southern border.

Elitza is taken ill and is sent for a treatment to a seaside sanatorium. There a sailor brings her a letter from her father and a gift: a tiny ballerina pirouetting on top of a musical box. The police interrogate Elitza and she runs away from the sanatorium. No matter where she is, however, the girl never abandons the hope that her father will return, brought back by the "crystal train of freedom", and they both will set out around the world all their own...

When Elitza joins her grandmother in a southern town, the German have already arrived in Bulgaria and fight at the Metaxas Line. Yannis is among the Greek prisoners of war brought to the town. This is the last Elitza sees him, as the German kill him before her eyes. One day the police told her that Gestapo has been executed her father as a resistance leader in Belgium. Hristo escapes from prison and comes to the town. Elitza helps him hide on the abandoned Metaxas Line. On his way back, she learns from the interrogators that Uncle Hristo has been killed. The slender girl survives all these experiences, like a blade of grass, which has taken root between the railway tracks. She keeps seeking escape in an imaginary world where people are good.[/quote]

I'm hoping someone out there is able to find this in higher quality.
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Re: [REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by pillowbaker »   2 likes

Pardon the double post.

I have dug around a little more and found a stream or perhaps slightly higher video quality but with Russian dubbing at ok.ru. Here's the stream, captured by yt-dlp.

Original link
https://ok.ru/video/945364273800

EDIT: Edk link removed, Russian version obviously cut! I can't really say who's to blame, but it's odd to see a Russian dubbing have such obvious cuts to a film. There is an ADORABLE semi-bathing scene with Elitza and her uncle. She is fully "knickered" and covered up where it counts. But nearly the entire part is cut out. The length of the originally posted video is 1h30, and the Russian dubbing at ok.ru is 1h11, and it is definitely not [just] an fps thing. There are other cuts before and after this scene as well.

This link should really be of no interest to anyone except Russian speakers, but it's there. I am going to try my hand at adding the older audio stream. It's odd though: the original audio sounds like it's coming through more clearly in this Russian dub version. I should note, the overall dubbing of this film is a classic Russian dubbing, however in the beginning, they keep the original French and voiceover it with Russian.
Last edited by pillowbaker on Thu Aug 11, 2022 4:51 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: [REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by Night457 »   0 likes

But (UH OH) the Russian dub version is 19 minutes shorter! It has the same ending, so apparently the Russian censors at the time went scissor happy. Must have been some seriously politically problematic scenes in the original.

Naturally you will never be able to mux in the other soundtrack and have it match up.
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Re: [REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by pillowbaker »   0 likes

Night457 wrote: Thu Aug 11, 2022 4:48 am But (UH OH) the Russian dub version is 19 minutes shorter! It has the same ending, so apparently the Russian censors at the time went scissor happy. Must have been some seriously politically problematic scenes in the original.

Naturally you will never be able to mux in the other soundtrack and have it match up.
Lol you beat me. I noticed this just a bit ago and edited my previous post. Wow you're fast!
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Re: [REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by Night457 »   0 likes

I just noticed the length and it seemed short, since I had just been watching bits of the original a few minutes before.
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Re: [REL] Mezhdu relsite AKA Between the Rails (1964) [Bulgaria]

Post by pillowbaker »   0 likes

I didn't even think to compare the runtimes. What a newb mistake! :shock:

I was excited, because I had just found an even higher quality file than the upgrade from a torrent tracker. It was the exact same version, minus the streaming compression. I was trying to make comparison screenshots and kept coming up short.

In the scene I mentioned above, in my mind, I thought he was teaching her Bulgarian language before her little bath. She responds well, being an apt pupil, and in their delight, she does a cute ballet "arabesque". Then in POPS Greta and then it's off to the carnival!

The video quality of the Russian dubbing is obviously better and more detailed, but does not have that that purplish sepia hue to it, which I found kinda relaxing. If anyone can think of a way to acquire a higher quality version, I'd be interested.
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