“Classical Romanian films on BluRay”: ”The Haidouks” and ”The Kidnapping of the Maidens”

    The two films directed by Dinu Cocea, in 1965 and 1967 are the first ones of a series with outlaws stories, which were very popular back in their time, but also now when they are being broadcasted on TV. The scripts written by Eugen Barbu and Mihai Opriș follow the legends of well-known heroes, but they also create dramatical or funny moments that do justice to the actors. Made with big budgets and impressive casts, these films deserve their place in the Romanian cinematheque.
 The project „Classical Romanian films on BluRay”, managed by Andrei Enescu intends to bring back the Haidouks series and not only. The films are remastered and brought to the quality of  being put on a high definition support, which means money and time, with the help of the Romanian National Film Center. The first two films are out now on DVD and BluRay, together with interviews with Dinu Cocea and Ion Besoiu, and other footages about the making of the films in the `60s. 
  
 The launch took place at the Romanian Peasant Cinema hall and one of the guests was the actor Ion Besoiu, who played the outlaw Amza in the 1965 film. Especially for this film the actor learned how to ride a horse. The Outlwas was shot on black and white film by George Voicu, with many extras and stunts.
  
  In The Abduction of The Maidens, from 1967, the main part is played by Emanoil Petruţ who actually was supposed to be in The Haidouks as well, but because at that time he had a broken leg, he suggested his friend Ion Besoiu to the filmmakers. The rest of the team was the same: Amza Pellea, Marga Barbu, Toma Caragiu, Marin Moraru, Jean Constantin, Colea Răutu. George Constantin also joins this film series and also a young and beautiful debutant - Aimée Iacobescu.
The way the great American studios do now, when they shoot two feature films of the same series at the same time, the „Bucharest” Cinema Studio produced The Abduction of The Maidens and The Revenge of The Haidouks at the same time, and they were released both in 1967.
This film series on BluRay is distributed by E-MEDIA, of the E-Multimedia Distribution. The next feature from the „Romanian Classical Films on BluRay” series is No Trespassing, directed by Doru Năstase, and it will be released by the end of 2015.