Charlie Chaplin and Criterion

[Cinephrenic]

Knowing Criterion's record on getting silent work out, I wouldn't expect a whole lot this year.

[captveg]

Criterion's record in regards to silent film has been severely limited by not having the rights to silent films. While I don't expect all the releases right away - and I fully expect them to be spread out over perhaps a couple years - I would expect 3-4 titles to be released throughout 2010.

[Cinephrenic]

Criterion's record in regards to silent film has been severely limited by not having the rights to silent films. While I don't expect all the releases right away - and I fully expect them to be spread out over perhaps a couple years - I would expect 3-4 titles to be released throughout 2010.

Unless it is a set, it's not gonna happen. The only time I remember Criterion releasing multipe titles (not a set) from a single director was Suzuki way back in the early DVD days. Most probably would be two or a whole set. I would love to be mistaken though.

[captveg]

Why couldn't they release one title in June, one more in August, one more in October, etc? They've done single releases over several months for many director's, such as Kurosawa, Godard, etc. They also released two Godard titles at the same time (Made in USA and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her) without packaging them together this past July.

I'm not sure I'm following your logic here...

[What A Disgrace]

I think they should create an entire sub-line for the Chaplin releases, akin to the Merchant Ivory Collection.

[Flike]

No more diffusion lines!

If Park Circus is doing transfer work in-house, then it's very possible we'll get different titles from Criterion first, correct? I'm holding out for City Lights...

Chaplin in 2010. Really don't know how Criterion's going to manage to get everything announced for '10 out in '10.

[Highway 61]

Criterion's record in regards to silent film has been severely limited by not having the rights to silent films. While I don't expect all the releases right away - and I fully expect them to be spread out over perhaps a couple years - I would expect 3-4 titles to be released throughout 2010.

Unless it is a set, it's not gonna happen. The only time I remember Criterion releasing multipe titles (not a set) from a single director was Suzuki way back in the early DVD days. Most probably would be two or a whole set. I would love to be mistaken though.

While I don't think we'll see 3-4 Chaplin titles in a year in which Criterion has already made a number of big promises, they have done directing pairings since those Suzuki releases: the aforementioned Godards of last year, Malle's The Lovers and The Fire Within, Melville's Le Doulos and Le Deuxieme Souffle, etc. There's also the nixed Ophuls set that saw three titles released, only for Lola Montes to follow this year.

[Cinephrenic]

This doesn't contradict what I said, yes two the most, but not like 3-4 single titles...

[knives]

The Ophuls, which were mentioned before, were three single titles. And have had four separate Rossellini releases, amounting to eight films, in the past year.

[Cinephrenic]

I think the Ophuls was suppose to be a set originally. We probably will get 8-9 Oshima this year, but i'm talking mainline, not with Eclipse. Do you think they will release Chaplin on Eclipse?

[agnamaracs]

The first thing that popped into my mind was AK 100.

[Highway 61]

Do you think they will release Chaplin on Eclipse?

I could see them giving The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator the royal treatment, and then giving the less famous titles an Eclipse box.

[captveg]

The time frame will no doubt be partly determined by the length of the license from MK2.

[CSM126]

Do you think they will release Chaplin on Eclipse?

They're not retards, so no. What sense would that even make? Here's this legendary filmmaker who's films used to have special editions, so let's downgrade them to bareboned budget discs? Jiminy Christmas, dude.

[captveg]

Yeah, they're almost bound to release them all in the main line. Even the "lesser" titles of Monsieur Verdoux and A King in New York had notable bonus content on the Warner 2003 DVDs.

[movielocke]

I think we'll get the chaplins in pairs: City Lights and Modern Times as the first pair of individual releases before the end of fall

Maybe the Kid (and shorts) and the Great Dictator as the second pair of releases 4 to 6 months later

The Gold Rush and The Circus as another pair.

these will all be individual 1 disc (blu) sets (2 discs on SD) releases with a single spine number per title, 39.95 each. For example, number 540, City Lights, number 541 Modern Times.

the model would be the Godards or Oshima's released last year.

Why package them in a set when Chaplins are high profile enough to sell individually at a much higher per unit price?

[Jeff]

I think we'll get the chaplins in pairs...these will all be individual 1 disc (blu) sets (2 discs on SD) releases with a single spine number per title, 39.95 each. For example, number 540, City Lights, number 541 Modern Times...the model would be the Godards or Oshima's released last year.

This seems to be by far the most likely scenario to me too. It makes sense fiscally, and they can stagger the paired releases enough to maintain buyer interest and awareness.

Why package them in a set when Chaplins are high profile enough to sell individually at a much higher per unit price?

Exactly. Even the "minor" Chaplins are major titles for Criterion and should be money makers.

[captveg]

The pairs would make sense. 2 every 6 months is in line with what I was expecting, though I would hope for the first titles this summer rather than in the Fall.

[Oggilby]

My predictions:

The Kid, The Chaplin Revue (if it has the original cuts as well), The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, and The Great Dictator are all 2-disc $39 MSRP releases. A Woman of Affairs, The Circus, Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, and A King in New York are $29 MSRP single discs.

[Tribe]

I suppose any edition of The Gold Rush will also include the version with Chaplin's voice over. As much as I dislike that version at this point it seems it's become a part of Chaplin, a side of him that supplements his work. Does anyone know if the Estate insists on the voice over release when licensing?

[Finch]

Beaver has caps from the German City Lights Blu:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/citylights.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Kinowelt Blu has signficantly more info on the left but appears even more (if only very slightly) cropped on the right and the top than the Warner (the statue is almost headless on the Kinowelt etc). Hopefully Criterion's release will be closer to the framing of the OOP Image.

[captveg]

Seems the Kinowelt may have cropped a bit too much on the top. This film was of the era where the soundtrack encroached on the real estate of the 1.37:1 academy ratio frame, so the OAR should actually be 1.20:1, with slight pillarboxing on the sides (which would make the pillarboxing of the HD 1.78:1 encode slightly wider on each side). Perhaps the slight cropping on the top is due to making a 1.20:1 image fit a 1.37:1 framing?

Hopefully Criterion's is a bit more accurate in this regard.

[Jeff]

The licensees in all territories will probably get the same master supplied to them by Mk2, so there may not be much they can do about the framing, though I suspect they'll do a little digital cleanup.

[captveg]

Why would MK2 not want to have it in 1.20:1 instead of a slightly cropped 1.33:1? Since you get prominent side bars in both ARs within the 1.78:1 HD image it makes little sense to artificially make the film wider.

Obviously DVD versions won't be in a 1.78 framing, but overscan concerns would likely conceal the difference between 1.20:1 and 1.33:1 on 4x3 monitors anyway.

[peerpee]

I don't think the Kinowelt BD looks very good at all. It doesn't bode well at all for the Park Circus BD.

Surely Criterion are going to do their own pinsharp new HD transfer and finally nail the 1.19:1 AR?