From what I can tell from DVD Beaver and other lesser sources, Spectrum (Region 3) and Kino (Region 0) are about the same in picture quality.
I’m sure a lot of films original prints and negatives are in poor shape at Mosfilm, I mean look at the state of almost every Russian film on DVD in any region.

Thanks for the info, Ben!

It’s really a shame about Russian films. There is so much there that should be saved.

You’re welcome, Vili! Really DVD Beaver is one of the best sites to compare different versions of films on DVD. The have screen caps for the majority of versions and bit rate info and other stuff. Really great!

It is a crying shame. I started enjoying Russian film about five years ago, so I have alot to catch up with. I wish some good capitalist would go ovwer there with the equipment and start transferring the original 70mm stock. Are they better with their early stuff, like the Eisenstein?

Some of their earlier films are in better shape to my understanding.

But for the most part all the Tarkovsky, Klimov, Shepitko etc. are all in pretty terrible condition. Although I think some of that has to do with the original stock they shot on and how poor some of it was in the first place, and then that was mis-treated in labs and such.

That sucks, almost as much as my ability to separate the word “a” from the word “lot.”

I have the French version on order, so I will let you know what it is like when it arrives later this month.

I didnt know that a America account on Amazon will work with Amazon-UK, should of been obvious I suppose.
I’ve been holding out on this DVD because I was too lazy to setup a UK account.

For those who dont know, now you do

I didn’t know that, either! Us Amazon Affiliates, we need separate accounts for each regional store. Which is a bit of a bummer, as that also means that the money from sales is pretty much scattered around the world.