Bitchy Widows of Famous Directors Syndrome

[Lino]

Preminger's widow must be friend with Welles'. From here:

Last week here in Chicago I went to a screening of SKIDOO ( which atrracted a rather large crowd) with Mr Hirsch introducing the film and after the film a question /answer session. The movie is a fascinating train wreck of a movie!!!!
Mr Hirsch said that we were seeing the only print in existence and it was flown in from London from the BFI.
He also said that Mrs Preminger hates the film and wants it destroyed. Additionally for the upcoming "Otto Preminger Film Retrospective" in New York, she refuses for SKIDOO to be shown there as she lives in New York.
Very interesting!!
I told Mr Hirsch about SKIDOO on TCM in January. He was pleased to hear about it.
I also think those Paramount Preminger films should be a part of an Eclipse Collection. As bad as a few of those films are....they would fascinating fun to watch and own!

[domino harvey]

Ray Carney to thread.

[Cinephrenic]

Mrs. Kubrick, and her defending of her husband's wish to not release his early shorts (Flying Padre, Day of the Fight & The Seafarers) and first feature attempt, Fear and Desire. I don't know why, they are shorts and early work afterall. They are not masterpieces, but what do you expect from a perfectionist master. I mean look at how neat his filmography is.

[Knappen]

Skidoo is on Youtube.

I am watching the film for the first time right now.

To think that this was made by the same guy that directed Laura...

[zedz]

Mrs. Kubrick, and her defending of her husband's wish to not release his early shorts (Flying Padre, Day of the Fight & The Seafarers) and first feature attempt, Fear and Desire. I don't know why, they are shorts and early work afterall. They are not masterpieces, but what do you expect from a perfectionist master. I mean look at how neat his filmography is.

Though this is surely a clear case of the surviving spouse perpetuating what was explicitly her partner's wish? I don't know if the same can be said for Mylene's suppression of Les affaires publiques.

In many cases it seems clear that the actions of the heirs aren't doing the legacies they're overseeing any favours, but shouldn't we respect Kubrick's wishes, even if we'd personally love to see the suppressed films? I remember being appalled by Crispin Glover's response ("wow, I'd love to see that, that sounds cool!") on a Herzog commentary to Herzog's very serious explanation that he never wants Game in the Sand to be shown.

But going back to the Beatrice end of the scale (Mrs Kubrick scoring only a single Beatrice, in my opinion), Oshima's sister is apparently also rather unhelpful when it comes to official releases of the titles over which she has control (the ATG ones, I believe), so we're seeing one of the great modern film careers slowly sink into obscurity, or worse, into understandable "what was all the fuss about" confusion when somebody finally sees Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. (6 Beatrices)

And, to pip MichaelB at the post, Zdenek Liska's widow seems determined to frustrate any chance of her husband being acknowledged as one of the greatest film composers of all time. (7 Beatrices, 10 being the maximum, except for Beatrice herself, who goes up to 11)

[Jeff]

To be fair, it's Welles' daughter, not his widow, that is a bitch.

As is alluded to in the quote from the first post, Skidoo will air on TCM on January 4, at 2:00 A.M. Eastern Time.

[MichaelB]

And, to pip MichaelB at the post, Zdenek Liska's widow seems determined to frustrate any chance of her husband being acknowledged as one of the greatest film composers of all time.

Indeed - and a friend of mine even doorstepped her once just to make sure it was really her saying "no" to everything and not some overzealous agent...

...but it definitely was - all he'd say about the encounter was that "she was quite unpleasant about it".

Which is why I plug LiÅ¡ka's music every time I get the opportunity, be it Sight & Sound reviews of The Cremator and Marketa Lazarová, or a special feature on the BFI's Å vankmajer DVDs that lets you play just the LiÅ¡ka-scored films. It's not much, but hopefully it helps get the word out.

[malcolm1980]

Mrs. Kubrick, and her defending of her husband's wish to not release his early shorts (Flying Padre, Day of the Fight & The Seafarers) and first feature attempt, Fear and Desire. I don't know why, they are shorts and early work afterall. They are not masterpieces, but what do you expect from a perfectionist master. I mean look at how neat his filmography is.

She's following her late husband's wishes. I think she would happily release the films if her husband didn't tell her not to. She did consent to a few seconds of Fear and Desire and Day of the Fight to be featured in that Kubrick documentary. Kubrick is a well-known perfectionist. He probably looked back at his early work and didn't want people to see it. So him asking his wife not to release his early work isn't far-fetched.

I don't think she qualifies as a 'bitch'.

[MichaelB]

Kubrick is a well-known perfectionist. He probably looked back at his early work and didn't want people to see it. So him asking his wife not to release his early work isn't far-fetched.

I took some flak for the BFI's Quay Brothers DVD not being a complete edition - but when the filmmakers themselves don't want work included, what can you do? (In fact, they wanted their oldest surviving film Nocturna Artificialia suppressed too, but they had no control over the rights - though I did agree to tuck it away on the extras disc)

I don't know if the same can be said for Mylene's suppression of Les affaires publiques.

For the record, this was screened as part of the NFT's complete Bresson retrospective in late 1999, which is where I saw it - but Bresson was still (just) alive at the time.

[tavernier]

She's following her late husband's wishes.

But didn't he also want his films released on home video in full-frame versions without any accompanying bells and whistles?

I guess she's only selectively following her late husband's wishes: special editions of 2001, et al, are more lucrative than a release of Padre or Flight would be. If she and her brother thought that a set of the shorts and Fear and Desire would make money, I'm sure they'd put them out too.

But I wouldn't call her a "bitch" either.

[Solaris]

Les affaires publiques recently screened at a BFI Bresson retrospective. http://www.mastersofcinema.org/bresson/TheNews.html

The most thrilling moments, away from Bresson's films themselves, revolved around Mylene Bresson's gracious and deeply illuminating introductions to Le Procès de Jeanne d'Arc and Lancelot du Lac. She peppered fascinating anecdotes with powerful insights into Bresson's process and intentions. Perhaps the most memorable concerned her discussion of Lancelot as Bresson's most enigmatic character.

May I ask how old is Mylene? Is there a website or something with information on her?

[domino harvey]

In many cases it seems clear that the actions of the heirs aren't doing the legacies they're overseeing any favours, but shouldn't we respect Kubrick's wishes, even if we'd personally love to see the suppressed films?

No.
Once a film is released, it ceases to belong solely to the artist, and should not be suppressed down the line when the greater good is served by having it made available.

[MichaelB]

Once a film is released, it ceases to belong solely to the artist, and should not be suppressed down the line when the greater good is served by having it made available.

This depends on how you define "belong". Clearly, in this day and age it's next to impossible to prevent physical copies from circulating (especially if they've been telecined and digitised), but in a legal sense the rights remain the property of the copyright holder, and anyone seeking to do anything with the films legally has to respect this.

(True, the copyright holder usually isn't the original artist, but that's another issue altogether!)

[domino harvey]

Legality has nothing to do with my argument.

[David Ehrenstein]

Mylene Bresson OWNS this thread!

She may have faked graciousness at the BFI but she has no interest in bringing Quatres Nuit d'un Reveur and Le Diable Probablement to home video.

As you might expect she's been apoplectic about Anne Wiazemski's roman a clef, Jeune Fille

[kaujot]

Any backstory to Mylene Bresson?

Like, what's she done that's so bitchy (beyond refusing certain films get released to video)?

[domino harvey]

What more could you possibly want her to do

[kaujot]

I like more drama than that.

[MichaelB]

She may have faked graciousness at the BFI but she has no interest in bringing Quatres Nuit d'un Reveur and Le Diable Probablement to home video.

So it's just as well Artificial Eye is taking on the latter - out on R2 in April.

[knives]

Oshima's sister is apparently also rather unhelpful when it comes to official releases of the titles over which she has control (the ATG ones, I believe), so we're seeing one of the great modern film careers slowly sink into obscurity, or worse, into understandable "what was all the fuss about" confusion when somebody finally sees Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. (6 Beatrices

What's the story behind this? Oshima seems alive, and the films are finally coming out.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

From what I've always understood, the ATG films have been a pain to get as ATG was a coalition of directors and artists that had their films distributed via Toho, so clearing the rights was a very difficult issue.

[zedz]

Oshima's sister is apparently also rather unhelpful when it comes to official releases of the titles over which she has control (the ATG ones, I believe), so we're seeing one of the great modern film careers slowly sink into obscurity, or worse, into understandable "what was all the fuss about" confusion when somebody finally sees Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. (6 Beatrices

What's the story behind this? Oshima seems alive, and the films are finally coming out.

This is all just idle gossip of course, but after a series of strokes Oshima probably isn't much involved, and I believe it's his sister who's administering things. The films we're seeing finally being released are the non-ATG ones, licensed from studios.

The Art Theatre Guild was, as the Elegant Dandy Fop notes, an artist's collective, and when it disbanded I understand the rights for individual films returned to their makers (though maybe Toho still has a finger in the pie?). The Oshima ATG films were: Death by Hanging, Boy, The Man Who Left His Will on Film, The Ceremony and Dear Summer Sister. By any measure, that's a massive chunk of Oshima's legacy in limbo. I think New Yorker may have had R1 rights to some of these before they crashed. Now, who knows?

Only a tiny handful of ATG titles are currently available with English subs (Funeral Parade of Roses, Double Suicide - is that it?), and I'd argue that it represents such a concentrated body of crucial work that it's impossible to understand modern Japanese cinema without seeing those films, so the sooner somebody - anybody - gets those missing Hanis, Imamuras, Terayamas, Tsukomotos, Okamotos and Jissojis out the better.

[knives]

Thanks very much both. That is a real rough situation, hate the idea of missing Imamuras in my life. Hopefully things get better though.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Oshima's sister is apparently also rather unhelpful when it comes to official releases of the titles over which she has control (the ATG ones, I believe), so we're seeing one of the great modern film careers slowly sink into obscurity, or worse, into understandable "what was all the fuss about" confusion when somebody finally sees Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. (6 Beatrices

What's the story behind this? Oshima seems alive, and the films are finally coming out.

This is all just idle gossip of course, but after a series of strokes Oshima probably isn't much involved, and I believe it's his sister who's administering things. The films we're seeing finally being released are the non-ATG ones, licensed from studios.

The Art Theatre Guild was, as the Elegant Dandy Fop notes, an artist's collective, and when it disbanded I understand the rights for individual films returned to their makers (though maybe Toho still has a finger in the pie?). The Oshima ATG films were: Death by Hanging, Boy, The Man Who Left His Will on Film, The Ceremony and Dear Summer Sister. By any measure, that's a massive chunk of Oshima's legacy in limbo. I think New Yorker may have had R1 rights to some of these before they crashed. Now, who knows?

Only a tiny handful of ATG titles are currently available with English subs (Funeral Parade of Roses, Double Suicide - is that it?), and I'd argue that it represents such a concentrated body of crucial work that it's impossible to understand modern Japanese cinema without seeing those films, so the sooner somebody - anybody - gets those missing Hanis, Imamuras, Terayamas, Tsukomotos, Okamotos and Jissojis out the better.

Did New Yorker ever release any of the post-Shochiku Oshima works? I'm not sure, but I thought I read that they put out "Dear Summer Sister". I could always be wrong.

Geneon has released a great output of ATG films in Japan including Okamoto's "Nikudan", the Oshima films, Yoshishige's films and a few more. Finding fan subs for those releases aren't too difficult and the transfers are decent (they could certainly be improved), but they suffice in the mean time.

The only other ATG films that I can think of are Mishima's "Patriotism" (and they only distributed it, not produced it so the rights reverted to his estate) and Juzo Itami's "The Funeral".

I know someone who works for a DVD company that's been struggling to get the rights to the Terayama films, but he said the main problem is coming from Toho.

[Peacock]

Call me out on this if i'm wrong, but I presumed New Yorker only had the theatrical rights to the ATG Oshima's (the same, I'm guessing, goes for the Eustache films) with the home video rights being too complicated to get?

Anyway hasn't New Yorker restarted again, which makes it unlikely that if the home video rights of these titles do get sorted out that Criterion will get them.