On Five: Criterion Collection Blog

[Cinesimilitude]

I don't see any reason to speculate about reissues from his personal favorites list... I doubt he would mention Lady Vanishes just because they are reissuing it.

[starmanof51]

Yeah, I don't think this blog is intended to be as hint-laden, cryptic or otherwise, as some might wish it to be.

[Musashi219]

[quote]Mission Accomplished (gulp)
Well, it's not exactly writer's block, but it's related. I've been trying to get this blog entry posted since Tuesday afternoon, but there's always something that takes me away from the task at hand. I'm procrastinating, and I know why: it's really kind of a momentous occasion. We are launching a new line. The news will be official on Friday when we ship out PDFs of the first sell sheets for Series 1: Early Bergman. For the past couple of days we've been ironing out the last details of the packaging and finalizing the twenty-six words that will appear on the back of every cover: “Eclipse presents a selection of lost, forgotten, or overshadowed films in simple, affordable editions. Each series is a brief cinematheque retrospective for the adventurous home viewer.â€

[Tribe]

Very interesting. It sure looks like Eclipse is not going to be simply a label hawking "cultish" or genre movies. The more I hear about Eclipse, the more it looks like it's going to serve the same function as the old Home Vision Entertainment, without the price bump.

Tribe

[montgomery]

Sounds fucking awesome.

[godardslave]

There is so much great information in here I was surprised that nobody had posted about it yet. 12 releases per year clearly looks to be translating into 12 SETS per year, each month a different focus. This is a brilliant idea, and I love the mention of there being a subscriber/club discount. Early Bergmans, Malle docs, collected works from Mizoguchi/Naruse/Imamura, I see a great future ahead for all cinephiles, not to mention everyone on these boards who raves "Why hasn't XXXX been released yet???"

I agree completely. I can only applaud criterion once more for yet another superb idea, they really do just keep raising the bar in the dvd market, we have all been spoiled by them for at least 4 or 5 years now.

And they just keep doing great things. Whoever thought of the themed set every month, i am eternally grateful to you already.

Now criterion, exceed all our expectations once more!

[Tribe]

And they just keep doing great things. Whoever thought of the themed set every month, i am eternally grateful to you already.

Now criterion, exceed all our expectations once more!

It seems like they are making a point NOT to exceed expectations by warning that they aren't going to go hog wild with pristine transfers.

Tribe

[justeleblanc]

Oops, I crapped my pants!!! The Malle docs!!!!

I wonder if Eclipse would release some of the Lubitsch musicals I've been so skeptical of as well. Do we have a Random Speculation Eclipse thread yet?

And just to clarify, I didn't really crap my pants.... I literally crapped my pants.

There will be no supplements and the master materials will be the best we can find, but they won't be full Criterion restorations... to make sure that Criterion's own work style doesn't contribute to the continuing unavailability of these films.

Or maybe I should say "Oops, they crapped a label."

[tryavna]

Series 1: Early Bergman

Looks like the cartoon from the past newsletter was interpreted correctly by Zedz. Five pre-Seventh Seal Bergman films coming out on Eclipse!

[montgomery]

Ahem, I'll take credit for that interpretation.

[zedz]

Series 1: Early Bergman

Looks like the cartoon from the past newsletter was interpreted correctly by Zedz. Five pre-Seventh Seal Bergman films coming out on Eclipse!

Not me. I was second on the scene and somebody had already cleaned up the mess.

EDIT: It was montgomery. Take a bow, monty.

Anyway, Wow! This last week probably represents the greatest dump of actual new information from Criterion in their history. And it's all good! Naruse! Mizoguchi! Ozu! Imamura! How many mantras we can now lay to rest.

[tryavna]

Ahem, I'll take credit for that interpretation.

Whoops! My apologies, Montgomery. That's what I get for not going back through that thread to make sure....

All hail Montgomery and his incredible riddle-solving abilities!

[Cinesimilitude]

If the club happens I will be STOKED. I think I'll stop buying every noshame dvd and buying every eclipse set instead.

[godardslave]

If the club happens I will be STOKED. I think I'll stop buying every noshame dvd and buying every eclipse set instead.

why? whats so exciting about it being a club?

[ByMarkClark.com]

I withdraw my previous apprehensions. Now that we understand the whole shape of the concept -- 12 SETS per year, with a different focus -- I see the purpose and the plan. Brilliant!

[porquenegar]

I'm going to need some additional shelving.

[fliggil]

I think it's a great idea, but does anyone else think that they might run out of material somewhat quickly? If Eclipse ran for the same 9 years as Criterion has, that'd be 108 boxes, seems like it might be rather difficult after a while to be able to put these sets together

[skuhn8]

I really wouldn't worry about that, what with all the so-and-so Volume II and Volume III potential; and besides, who knows what's going to happen with that label in five years let alone in ten?

[Arn777]

"Friday when we ship out PDFs of the first sell sheets"

Any idea who they may ship this to? Retailers, press? I'd like to see it.

[kekid]

I am absolutely thrilled by the concept of Eclipse as presented on the Criterion Blog. While always admiring the work they did, I was unhappy about the limitation their exacting standards placed on their output. Criterion was a company only of super-premium brands. Eclipse addresses two issues. One is the price point. I think their market penetration will expand significantly with the lower price point. The second (and this is what excites me) is that they can now release a lot of material we are all waiting for without people feeling they have lowered their standard. It was a brilliant move, I applaud their decision, and wish them success.

[skuhn8]

I really hope they don't lower the bar too low on A/V quality. I know they're not going to go Facets on us, but still, when you're talking about 50-year-old Japanese classics from Ozu, Mishima et al. hitting the shelves without restoration that's going to turn sour pretty quick. But, lower price point for barebones editions? I'm all over that.

[Narshty]

I really hope they don't lower the bar too low on A/V quality. I know they're not going to go Facets on us, but still, when you're talking about 50-year-old Japanese classics from Ozu, Mishima et al. hitting the shelves without restoration that's going to turn sour pretty quick. But, lower price point for barebones editions? I'm all over that.

I'm sure they'll clear up the major damage (tears, splices, blotches) but the picture will probably have a few more speckles than usual. I can live very happily with moderate print damage as long as the essential quality (detail, grain, etc.) of the original elements is intact.

[montgomery]

As someone who is wary of Criterion's "restorations", I have a feeling I'm going to prefer the Eclipse's. My guess is that the quality will be comparable to Criterion's LD's (or early DVDs), or Home Vision's VHS's, which everyone thought looked great until we entered this era when no one can stand any hint of film artifacts or patina. I do hope that they offer improved subtitles over the old editions, though.

[fdm]

I really hope they don't lower the bar too low on A/V quality. I know they're not going to go Facets on us, but still, when you're talking about 50-year-old Japanese classics from Ozu, Mishima et al. hitting the shelves without restoration that's going to turn sour pretty quick. But, lower price point for barebones editions? I'm all over that.

I'm sure they'll clear up the major damage (tears, splices, blotches) but the picture will probably have a few more speckles than usual. I can live very happily with moderate print damage as long as the essential quality (detail, grain, etc.) of the original elements is intact.

I dunno, as an example of too much speckling, I found #III of the Samurai Trilogy to have way too many speckles (especially when compared to #I and #II). Hope that would not be typical for Eclipse.

[CSM126]

Using the Samurai Trilogy as something to compare against to determine acceptable A/V quality is kinda silly - everyone who has watched those discs knows the prints used were wretched to begin with.