I second your request wholeheartedly! As a student at the university (a hundred years ago) I had the luck attending a lecture on Russian silent cinema, where his Gogol adaption of "The Overcoat" was shown, and ever since I was searching for good versions of Kozintsev's works. He's totally original, sometimes dark and gloomy, sometimes bordering on the surreal. A genius of characterization through symbolism and lighting.Everyone goes on about Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Pudovkin, and so on but I'm really surprised at the neglect suffered by one the greatest Russian directors of the Soviet era, Grigori Kozintsev. His cause certainly hasn't been helped by the scarcity of his films available on DVD. I have old VHS tapes of Maxim's Youth and The Overcoat and DVDs of Hamlet and his last film, King Lear. His King Lear is one of my favorite films and I think it's fair to say that it's one of the greatest films ever made. No less a Shakesperean than Sir Lawrence Olivier claimed that he believed Kozintsev's King Lear to be the greatest adaptation of Shakespeare he had ever seen on film.
Hopefully, Criterion will turn their attention to this neglected corner of cinema some day. For now, the only DVDs available of Kozintsev's films are the aforementioned Shakespeare films and they can be found at the Russian Cinema Council's website. I heard they might be releasing his Don Quixote soon, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Another overlooked master!
Nick, are you listening?
Here`s the link to Kozintsev on Ruscico's website