"The need for context arises from the dense web of reference that surrounds Happiness. Whilst this is, ostensibly, a silent comedy it also plays as political satire and an elaborate riff on Russian folklore and fairy tales."
"In the case of Happiness this means a wealth of information to be accessed whilst viewing, ranging from notes and illustrations to film clips and facsimiles of relevant documents."
"To complement the images we find a pleasing simple score, consisting for the most part of either piano or light percussion. It never intrudes, which is as it should be. As far as I can tell this is the same accompaniment which adorned the Marker restoration, though it should be noted that the version here has one key difference. Whereas Marker constructed his own French intertitles, the Ruscico disc retains the original Russian designs. As the annotations make clear, their design and usage does more than merely forward the narrative, rather they play a key role in creating a very specific tone. Once again, such occurrences didn’t even register with me on an initial viewing, which only goes to demonstrate just how valuable these Hyperkino editions. Happiness is a terrific piece of cinema under whichever circumstances you happen to view, but any appreciation can only be enhanced with this disc’s additions. There is a genuine richness to its many undercurrents and reference points and, consequently, that makes this set just as rich an education."
