92 / BD 9 M

[Bleddyn Williams]

After doing a comparison with the old Criterion this afternoon, I really felt I had to give the disc a spin tonight. I've just finished, and enjoyed it a great deal. There are some rougher parts from other sources, but the disc is sometimes truly striking in its clarity - seeing the images so clearly brings you closer to the film and it becomes less an artifact of the past.

I was truly wrapped up in this almost 80-year-old film for two hours. I can't ask for more.

[jamie_atp]

I think M, other than maybe a few chaplins, is still the easiest silent classic for modern viewers to watch. Can't wait to get the bluray.

[Der Spieler]

"M" is not a silent movie.

[jamie_atp]

This is why I need to get the bluray, and also why late night post pub posting is not recommended.

[manicsounds]

The Volume should be turned on when watching this movie.

[Svevan]

A heads-up: our forthcoming BD of M will be Region B to respect Criterion's wishes (we're using their master).

Not trying to start a war, but I've been thinking about this sentence while staring at the M Blu on Eureka's storefront; I do not have a region free player, but I do have Criterion's two-discer SD. I would love love love to get MoC's M to go alongside it, but I can't without considerable investment (plus the two major region free blu players I know of do not have Netflix streaming, a major source of my movie-watching diet). Anyways, sidetrack, here's my actual question: is Criterion going to region-lock their Blu? I assume the answer is no (they didn't region-lock the SD). I guess it's their prerogative since they are providing MoC with the master (though I'm guessing that was not free). I'm trying hard not to use the word unfair. I'll go with unfortunate, for now: since MoC's M is a worthy disc in its own right, isn't it unfortunate that its sales will be diminished by a region-free with Criterion branding?

I'm sure you guys at MoC will be gracious since you have a working relationship with Criterion, and it's possible I'm just having a sour grapes moment...

[zedz]

Criterion have so far region-locked all their Blus (and, for the last few years, all their DVDs, I understand - the M reissue might have been one of the last Region 0s to slip out.)

[Svevan]

That'll make my post irrelevant, fast.

[Florinaldo]

A Criterion SD that's not strictly region 1 is a very rare bird indeed these days. As for their Blu-Rays, I know of none that's not locked in region A.

[tenia]

A Criterion SD that's not strictly region 1 is a very rare bird indeed. As for their Blu-Rays, I know of none that's not locked in region A.

Well, for a starter, I own the Cassavetes boxset, and it's no R1... Short Cuts and the Fanny & Alexander boxset too.
I think there's a thread for that here, and there are much more CC SD non-R1 than just some few rare birds.

[MichaelB]

Criterion used to be mostly region-free. Now, for whatever reason, they're exclusively region-locked, and have been for at least two or three years. All the examples people are citing as "evidence" to the contrary, be they Brakhage or Cassavetes, are much older than that - what you need to find is a recent region-free Criterion release. I genuinely don't think that there is one.

[tenia]

Criterion used to be mostly region-free. Now, for whatever reason, they're exclusively region-locked, and have been for at least two or three years. All the examples people are citing as "evidence" to the contrary, be they Brakhage or Cassavetes, are much older than that - what you need to find is a recent region-free Criterion release. I genuinely don't think that there is one.

I agree with that. I thought it was looking for region free SDs in the whole collection. But I think you're quite right about the latest ones.

[Florinaldo]

Criterion used to be mostly region-free. Now, for whatever reason, they're exclusively region-locked, and have been for at least two or three years.

I was also thinking of titles in recent years in my previous post (now amended to reflect this nuance).

It may be because studios have become more restrictive when negotiating licensing agreements.

Whatever the reason, in this specific instance it means we get an edition of M on BR that is sufficiently different from the forthcoming CC one to make it more attractive to own if you already have the original CC SD.

[TMDaines]

It may be because studios have become more restrictive when negotiating licensing agreements.

I doubt it simply because other labels haven't suddenly had this problem. Criterion probably don't care anymore and most likely have the attitude that anyone who was going to import their releases will likely be region free anyway. I haven't seen anyone moaning about how such-and-such Criterion DVD is region locked anyway. It's usually the other way round with the yanks asking about MoC titles.

[triodelover]

Dragging things back to M finally had the opportunity to see the MoC last night. All I can say is =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> .

The office-building scenes where Schwänker and the syndicate hunt down Hans have always been a favorite visually. The detail on the fabulous Deco sets is amazing for a film eight decades old and becomes one more affirmation that older films may benefit the most from Blu. I probably should revisit the film more often to keep from forgetting how fine a performance Lorre turns in. Despite the horrors of what Hans has done, the whole "Kann nicht! Muß!" sequence is gut wrenching. Great film. Great package. Kudos again to Nick and the guys.

[Der Spieler]

DVD sales for this must be quite poor.

[triodelover]

DVD sales for this must be quite poor.

Why would you say that? It may be true, but drawing that conclusion based on comments about the BD on this forum suffers from both small sample size and confirmation bias. This is hardly a representative population.

EDIT: In addition, this now represents the only English friendly SD version available in R2 since the Eureka 2-disc set is OOP. Amazon Marketplace has new copies of the Eureka at roughly twice the price of the MoC DVD.

[Der Spieler]

I might be wrong. Just a feeling I had based on the fact that most cinephiles already own a copy of "M" in some form or another. I know for a fact that I wouldn't upgrade from Eureka's old 2-disc to another DVD version. I'd wait for the blu-ray. I own the Criterion 2-disc set and I feel no reason to buy the movie in DVD form ever again.

[triodelover]

I might be wrong. Just a feeling I had based on the fact that most cinephiles already own a copy of "M" in some form or another. I know for a fact that I wouldn't upgrade from Eureka's old 2-disc to another DVD version. I'd wait for the blu-ray. I own the Criterion 2-disc set and I feel no reason to buy the movie in DVD form ever again.

I think the problem is the phrase "most cinephiles". If companies depended on cinephiles for their success, we wouldn't have many choices of DVDs or BDs to purchase. While MoC is a niche label, there will be people who aren't "cinephiles" (and like the term "audiophile" I'm not sure whether that is a compliment or a pejorative) who will know of the film and be interested in viewing it. This broader group is less likely to have upgraded to Blu and may not be candidates for such an upgrade for awhile. Understand I'm not necessarily saying you are wrong. It's too early after the release date to know with certainty one way or another. It's just that I can see a rationale for making this available on DVD in R2. The advent of the DVD combined with the Internet has broadened my knowledge of film considerably, but M was a film I've been aware of for over 40 years, back when it was shown on TV here in the US in it's truncated version as a "horror" film.

[Shogo36]

I am really excited about the "M" blu-ray and was planning on ordering the MoC blu-ray version.
I am confused about the region locking going on. If most MoC blu-rays are region-free, does this mean that most blu-ray players are region free, such as my American PS3 (which is my bd player)? Would the PS3 then play "M", or would any blu-ray player that can be purchased in the U.S. play "M"?
I was just planning to begin my MoC blu-ray collection and was planning on grabbing "M" but if its locked and no way playable in the US, that would obviously change things. It is one of my favorite films and certainly Lang's masterpiece (though he obviously may have many!) I don't mean to be speculative, but if this is the case with "M" being region-locked, might it be indicative of future MoC bd releases?

[Svevan]

If most MoC blu-rays are region-free, does this mean that most blu-ray players are region free...?

Sorry, no, this isn't how it works. Most Blu-ray players are sold with region locking. Your PS3 is Region A, so it can play Region A and region-free Blu-rays, but not Region B or Region C. MoC's M is Region B, so it will not play on your American PS3.

[MichaelB]

You also can't extrapolate anything useful about MoC releases as a whole from one individual disc. In fact, most current MoC Blu-rays will play perfectly on all Blu-ray players worldwide -this is one of the exceptions. (Another is For All Mankind, also a Criterion release in Region A.)

The problem is that region-locking is out of MoC's hands - it's imposed on them by the rightsholder as a contractual condition. The same is true of BFI releases - again, the policy is to go region-free whenever possible, but it's not always possible.

[peerpee]

It's not always imposed on us by the rightsholders as a contractual condition and we're actively trying to make sure it isn't a contractual condition wherever possible.

[triodelover]

It's not always imposed on us by the rightsholders as a contractual condition and we're actively trying to make sure it isn't a contractual condition wherever possible.

Nick, I know you've said you would prefer to release everything region-free. If region-locking isn't imposed on you contractually, why would you feel the need to do it? I'm not trying to ask a "gotcha" or pick a fight (I can do that in the politics thread easily enough ). I'm curious as to what the business considerations would be that would lead to you taking the decision to lock. TIA.

[peerpee]

There is no other reason.

I was responding to Michael's comment:

The problem is that region-locking is out of MoC's hands - it's imposed on them by the rightsholder as a contractual condition.

I was pointing out that it's not always a condition of the contract, SOUL POWER being a classic example, and we're actively making sure it's not a part of future contracts. Where we have region-coded (twice so far), it's because Criterion have asked us to. Both Criterion's DVD editions of M were region-free - which presented a problem at first - but this particular release saw us using their master, and that was the primary reason it was region-encoded.

All of Criterion's BDs are region-coded and we're fully respecting that by region-coding ours wherever we have crossover. Despite us not agreeing with the fundamental principle of region-coding, we now fully understand and appreciate why they are doing it.

I'm just extremely grateful to have a region-free BD player so I can play their BDs!