Charlie Chaplin and Criterion

[Jeff]

Is Film Desk the US distributor?

The Film Desk still has U.S. theatrical distribution rights for Monsieur Verdoux, so until those rights expire, Janus is collaborating with them to include it in the retrospective. Criterion has the DVD rights for the film. That is the extent of The Film Desk's involvement.

[domino harvey]

Omigod omigod omigod! They got Kate Beaton to do the poster. Perfect match of subject to artist. I hope she does illustrations for all the eventual covers.

Would totally redeem the direction Criterion's covers have taken lately. IE: Won't happen

[Matt]

Yeah, it will be like that time Keiko Kimura did that cute illustration for Rialto's release of Masculine Feminine and then Criterion put [url=http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/1028/308_box_348x490.jpg]Chantal Goya's passport photo on the DVD cover[/url].

[jackford]

Countess from Hong Kong continues to get the shaft. The film is classic Chaplin, and whether or not the film has been continuously maligned since it's initial release(unfairly so) it still deserves a spot with these films, as it is still Chaplin's final work and Chaplin himself considered it his best film along with City Lights at the end of his life. Andrew Sarris also called it "the quintessence of everything Chaplin has ever felt."

Intrestingly, all of Chaplin's talking pictures are infused with a profound sense of pessimism. Not that it was a bad thing by any means. However, this (and the final sequence from Limelight with Keaton) is the only talking film which Chaplin was able to convey the magnificent sense of poetry from his Tramp pictures.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1967/ ... ng-palong/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This here is the article that made me revisit the film, and as a result, truly discover it for the first time. I think it's a masterpiece, and it distresses me on a small level to see it constantly passed over.

[domino harvey]

It would handily make a list of the ten worst films I've ever seen

[jackford]

Haha. Nevertheless it still warrents a place in this collection. I can't think of any other film that can raise my spirits so when watching it. It's really a companion piece to The Immigrant. At least look at again!

[knives]

It most definitely warrants a place next to Border Radio.

[captveg]

Whether it warrants a place in the collection or not, it would necessitate a separate license agreement from Universal, rather than the license agreement with the Chaplin Estate/MK2 that these other films are from.

[prokosch]

Omigod omigod omigod! They got Kate Beaton to do the poster. Perfect match of subject to artist. I hope she does illustrations for all the eventual covers.

I just about hit the roof when I saw that poster -- and her name -- in the Criterion newsletter, not least because I went to university with her and, yeah, that's just weird. WEIRD, I tells you. That's the poster. If that ends up being the artwork for the DVDs... well, we're through the looking glass here, people.

[matrixschmatrix]

Omigod omigod omigod! They got Kate Beaton to do the poster. Perfect match of subject to artist. I hope she does illustrations for all the eventual covers.

I just about hit the roof when I saw that poster -- and her name -- in the Criterion newsletter, not least because I went to university with her and, yeah, that's just weird. WEIRD, I tells you. That's the poster. If that ends up being the artwork for the DVDs... well, we're through the looking glass here, people.

Yeah, she used to post on a board I frequented, until she blew up and then got run off by creepy fanboys. It's bizarre to have someone you know, even in the incredibly slight 'chatted with on the internet' kind of way, spill into something like this.

[Matt]

I've been cringing for 15 minutes after looking at this picture of Criterion's Fumiko Takagi handling the original camera negative of The Kid without gloves.

[Jeff]

I've been cringing for 15 minutes after looking at this picture of Criterion's Fumiko Takagi handling the original camera negative of The Kid without gloves.

Yes, it should be handled with Kid gloves. To be fair, it looks like she is only touching the edge and tilting it back to get a better view. Surely the Criterion staff are generally very careful with such things. I guess this article ("we are working with the Cineteca (and the Charlie Chaplin estate) on restorations of some Chaplin films that we will be releasing over the next couple of years") and picture should alleviate any concerns about Criterion using the same compromised masters as Kinowelt and Park Circus.

[dadaistnun]

"This new high definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from the original 35mm camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, flicker, and Fumiko Takagi's fingerprints were manually removed using MTI's DR5 system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system."

[Finch]

Fumiko Takagi's fingerprints were manually removed using MTI's DR5 system and Pixel Farm's PFClean system."

LOL

[Brianruns10]

I've been cringing for 15 minutes after looking at this picture of Criterion's Fumiko Takagi handling the original camera negative of The Kid without gloves.

At least she's not smoking a cigarette while she's doing it!

If you wanna see horrors, see the "making of" video for the History Channels' recent series "World War II in HD." It shows how those filmmakers handled archival films donated to them from private owners. They were absolutely incompetent, running one of a kind reversal film through projectors, and being very careless in handling. They even admitted damaging one of the films in the process of making the transfer!

[manicsounds]

No, worse is on Monty Python's Meaning Of Life restoration documentary, where Terry Jones puts the negative through a wash and rinse cycle...

[Jeff]

Criterion has got their full Chaplin site up now. There are screening dates, publicity photos, and more. They've got Monsieur Verdoux listed as a 1927 film instead of 1947, but overall it's pretty useful and each page of the site features a few of those cool Kate Beaton illustrations in a little more detail.

[Finch]

Anyone know where that screenshot on the first page is from?

[broadwayrock]

If you right click the image its labeled 'Pilgrim'. There's a massive version of the image if you click the link of the film at the top.

They probably got the photo from here:

http://photo.charliechaplin.com/assets?tag=prison" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Finch]

Thanks

[aox]

This might be better for this thread, but Criterion just posted this on Facebook under "Coming Soon"

[AtlantaFella]

... although as a few people have noted, it appears to only be a poster for the theatrical tour.

[Flike]

I always ask, if Criterion struck new prints for all these films, what are we to expect this year? Wouldn't they want to tour pretty much all the features for much longer before they unveil DVDs?

[Tribe]

It might appear from The Gold Rush page that the 1942 re-release (with the dreaded voice over) might be the default version. I hope it isn't so.

[Tom Hagen]

Now that we know the films in play, the next great question will be single releases or one ridiculously-priced, huge set?