Criterion Random Speculation Vol.4

[Tribe]

That's just one retailer (with two separate storefronts) and there are a lot of titles they don't stock. Did they ever carry Epidemic?

Yes.

That is unusual, then, because normally they would still have a listing for it but it would say "out of stock." It is in stock at DVDPacific, DVDEmpire, Buy.com, Amazon, BestBuy.com, CDUniverse, BestPrices.com, DVDBoxOffice, Newbury Comics, Barnes and Noble, etc.

DVD Empire had one in stock.

[criterionaficionado]

if you want a copy of epidemic just buy it already at one of the retailers listed by gregory, otherwise please stick to the topic in the thread. no hard feelings of course.

switching gears...what's the likelihood of paul thomas anderson's hard eight making it to CC along with his early short films? also, sweet smell of success, night of the hunter and kiss me deadly would be AWESOME. but it sounds too good to be true at this point.

[jaredsap]

switching gears...what's the likelihood of paul thomas anderson's hard eight making it to CC along with his early short films?

The Sony disc is top-notch. As I've said before, PTA doesn't want his formative shorts on DVD.

But I can tell you HARD EIGHT's home video rights could be up for grabs in 2010.

[kaujot]

The Sony disc is top-notch. As I've said before, PTA doesn't want his formative shorts on DVD.

But I can tell you HARD EIGHT's home video rights could be up for grabs in 2010.

I may be completely wrong on this, but isn't Hard Eight somewhat heavily edited away from PTA's Sydney?

[jaredsap]

I may be completely wrong on this, but isn't Hard Eight somewhat heavily edited away from PTA's Sydney?

Nope. HARD EIGHT is PTA's director's cut. The only battle he lost is that he didn't get to call it SYDNEY.

[kaujot]

Nope. HARD EIGHT is PTA's director's cut. The only battle he lost is that he didn't get to call it SYDNEY.

Ah hah. Many thanks.

[domino harvey]

I may be completely wrong on this, but isn't Hard Eight somewhat heavily edited away from PTA's Sydney?

Nope. HARD EIGHT is PTA's director's cut. The only battle he lost is that he didn't get to call it SYDNEY.

And he couldn't start the film without opening credits because one of the listed names wouldn't sign off on it, even though every other person was okay with it

[kaujot]

Any idea who it was?

[domino harvey]

Any idea who it was?

He didn't name names but I believe the impression was that it was one of the producers

[criterionaficionado]

thanks for feedback on my inquiry regarding hard eight's chances of making the CC. i have the sony dvd and it is prety good although not as good as stated earlier.

i was going through the xploitedcinema.com site and i ran across a movie called "the boys in company c". i was thinking of picking it up but have no information on it. it's said to be an influence on kubrick's "full metal jacket". the movie does sound very intriguing. might it be a good CC candidate?
another excellent, worth-while movie (way ahead of its time) i watched several months ago on TCM which would be a cool addition to CC (not just for its social impact as an early example of open homosexual relations being depicted on film) is "the boys in the band". anybody have any info and/or feedback/opinions?

[ianungstad]

I could see Boys in the Band as a potential title Criterion acquired from Paramount...I don't think anyone has asked Criterion about the title that I know of.

[Tribe]

if you want a copy of epidemic just buy it already at one of the retailers listed by gregory, otherwise please stick to the topic in the thread. no hard feelings of course.

I have a copy of Epidemic. And the topic in this thread is speculation...which is what I was doing.

No hard feelings.

[criterionaficionado]

epidemic is a cool flick and i would welcome a boxset of lars von trier films on CC, the sooner the better. too bad the kingdom parts 1&2 were already released recently on dvd by another company.

to switch gears, thanks ianungstad for your response on my earlier question about boys in the band. I do hope this movie is 1 of the films CC purchased from paramount.

I know this is not the proper forum thread for this, but i have to mention it due to my excitement. i just ordered a dvd copy of 'la roue' (abel gance) which is due to be released early next month. great news for sure. now, i wish napoleon would follow asap.

[starmanof51]

if you call asking if a movie is oop or not "speculation" than i stand corrected. perhaps you should do a quick search in the proper thread before commenting on the "rumors thread" if a movie is oop or not? just a suggestion.

Oh come on, how is what he said below (the whole point of bringing up the oop title) not speculation? See, he's observing that something looks OOP from one publisher and speculating that Criterion might well box it up. It's pretty obviously in the right thread. (and I'm not going to end with some "just a suggestion" snark)

It's likely that we'll be seeing a box set from Criterion of von Trier's E Trilogy with those two and Element of Crime.

[Dylan]

i was going through the xploitedcinema.com site and i ran across a movie called "the boys in company c". i was thinking of picking it up but have no information on it. it's said to be an influence on kubrick's "full metal jacket". the movie does sound very intriguing. might it be a good CC candidate?
another excellent, worth-while movie (way ahead of its time) i watched several months ago on TCM which would be a cool addition to CC (not just for its social impact as an early example of open homosexual relations being depicted on film) is "the boys in the band". anybody have any info and/or feedback/opinions?

I've read a few reviews of Full Metal Jacket that discuss R. Lee Ermey's famous performance and how it strongly mirrors his earlier performance in The Boys in Company C. It also sounds like an intriguing film. I remember it being on AMC early last year, but being a 2.35:1 film (and being AMC of course it was pan/scan) I decided to wait.

[colinr0380]

From the comments on Glenn Kenny's blog about wished for DVDs:

Lazarus, a little while ago I attended a Los Angeles screening of "Bluebeard's Castle" and "The Tales of Hoffman" -- Thelma Schoonmaker, Michael Powell's widow, was in attendance.

During the Q&A, she did say that "A Matter of Life and Death" was forthcoming on Criterion. I think I recall her saying that it's being held up until Martin Scorsese can schedule time to record a commentary track.

Fantastic if it happens! =D>

[kaujot]

If true, I wonder what they did to get the rights.

[HerrSchreck]

I've had the Columbia VHS of the complete cut of the film (w nude boy in the dunes) for years. I'm surprised it's taken this long to get Stairway (my preferred title) out... although I must say I love the film most for

1) it's avant conception-- visuals, trippy ideas & toggling between B&W and color (I wonder how many times this had been done in sprawling feature films prior to this.. not counting silents like Ben-Hur, Ten Commandments or King of Kings with 2-strip technicolor scenes used as prestige & punctuation in these 90% b&w films),

2) another peek at the wonderful Roger Livsey.. and his cool roofcam.

3) The melodrama and story up to

The coutroom scene, which is one of the rare moments in my own aching opinion (every time I watch it I want it to work like it did when I saw it on PBS as a young kid) that a gloriously executed piece of key P&P cannot be saved by their magnificent mise-en-scene. Very rare moment in prime P&P where the piece de resistance has not dated well with age. Also rare in that I have no use for Massey in a performance, a man who I enjoy for his strangely warm & dapper cold elegance and very surely felt performances, from most anything like The Old Dark House to Things To Come to pop-ins like Langs excellent Woman In The Window. The whole concept of the love story, and the "technicality" that Niven is trying to slip thru viz Marius Gorings character/heaven's goofup to stay alive, suddenly klunks into the anglo-american to & fro, which today doesn't seem to flow with much sense. Even back then, with the circumstances of strained relations (the motive behind the film, in a sense) due to the presence of huge numbers of US servicemen, the segue into that topic in the courtroom... with the film suddenly being "about" US/anglo relations without any warning... must have seemed rather abrupt.

That complaint aside, it's still such a sentimental favorite of mine there'd be no way I could resist owning it in digital on a CC (I'm pretty sure it's the first P&P I ever saw.. and I recall always scanning the tv guides as a kid hoping and praying it'd come on again so I could see that way cool staircase once more and dig that spaced-out plot in the first 2/3rds; I recall asking my all parents and uncles & grandparents afterwards "Did you ever hear of a really wild movie called.."). Many CC releases may be up for grabs via other PAL releases from other fine labels around the world... but for me once CC releases a P&P, you've gotta own it. Red Shoes, Blimp, IKWIG, Canterbury Tale... some of the finest dvd's out there. I'm sure Stairway won't disappoint.

[kaujot]

The courtroom scene, which is one of the rare moments in my own aching opinion (every time I watch it I want it to work like it did when I saw it on PBS as a young kid) that a gloriously executed piece of key P&P cannot be saved by their magnificent mise-en-scene. Very rare moment in prime P&P where the piece de resistance has not dated well with age. Also rare in that I have no use for Massey in a performance, a man who I enjoy for his strangely warm & dapper cold elegance and very surely felt performances, from most anything like The Old Dark House to Things To Come to pop-ins like Langs excellent Woman In The Window. The whole concept of the love story, and the "technicality" that Niven is trying to slip thru viz Marius Gorings character/heaven's goofup to stay alive, suddenly klunks into the anglo-american to & fro, which today doesn't seem to flow with much sense. Even back then, with the circumstances of strained relations (the motive behind the film, in a sense) due to the presence of huge numbers of US servicemen, the segue into that topic in the courtroom... with the film suddenly being "about" US/anglo relations without any warning... must have seemed rather abrupt.

It's been several years since I first saw it, and I don't remember any faltering in the court scene. Though, in truth, I was lucky enough to see it projected onto a screen and may simply have been saved by the mise-en-scene.

All that said, regardless of whether the courtroom segment holds up or not, I'll be buying this no matter who puts it out. I'd buy a movie if it starred Roger Livesey peeing against a wall whilst reciting his grocery list. (Incidentally, wasn't this his last P&P film? There was Blimp, IKWIG, and Stairway to Heaven, but I can't come up with any more.)

[HerrSchreck]

So this thread doesn't devolve, more discussion on a Stairway/Matter of.. thread, with more discussions of the political issues resident in the film, w contributions from others who have problems w the "court in heaven" sequence.

How about Livsey peeing on his grocery list while reciting "The Wall" by Floyd? It is, after all, some of the least intriguing of Pink Floyd albums...

[jaredsap]

During the Q&A, she did say that "A Matter of Life and Death" was forthcoming on Criterion. I think I recall her saying that it's being held up until Martin Scorsese can schedule time to record a commentary track.

At LACMA, Schoonmaker mentioned that Sony's A Matter of Life and Death is done but that they're waiting on Scorsese to record a commentary.

Huh?

[colinr0380]

Hmmm...perhaps they got the company wrong and just assumed it would be Criterion?

[jaredsap]

Hmmm...perhaps they got the company wrong and just assumed it would be Criterion?

Quite possibly.

Apparently Schoonmaker did say that THE SMALL BACK ROOM is coming from Criterion so perhaps the person on Kenny's blog just confused the two.

[Tommaso]

Apparently Schoonmaker did say that THE SMALL BACK ROOM is coming from Criterion so perhaps the person on Kenny's blog just confused the two.

Or they come together on a double-disc-set? Wouldn't be the first time, considering "Thief of Bagdad"/"Lion has wings" and "49th Parallel/"The Volunteer".

[souvenir]

Someone at the Turner Classic Movies message board is reporting that Sirk's Magnificent Obsession is headed to Criterion:

Just picked up an interesting piece of information. Criterion has licensed the Douglas Sirk classic drama MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION from Universal. This one stars Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. One wonders why Universal has not released this popular title on its own. But then Universal is very strange about releasing titles from their vast Paramount-Universal library. The Criterion DVD is rumored for release next year.