Jeff wrote: Here is a great piece that Gitt wrote for The Guardian, telling about discovering the footage, and spending 20 years going through it. I'm hoping that Gitt is heavily involved with the transfer and supplements, and that the film is correctly presented at 1.66. The Criterion laserdisc was unfortunately opened up (and occasionally cropped) to 1.33.
....This has the potential to be one of your most well-appointed, Stagecoach-level discs, Criterion. Don't blow it.
From the Guardian piece:
The Night of the Hunter is the only classic film of its era for which the original rushes survive,
They HAVE to be utilized in this, don't they? such a rare opportunity!
\Of the two longer books on the film, which would folks recommend as superior? Couchman ("Biography of a Film") or Preston Jones ("Heaven and Hell to Play With")?
The Night of the Hunter is the only classic film of its era for which the original rushes survive,
They HAVE to be utilized in this, don't they? such a rare opportunity!
If they really have a heap of audio of Laughton on the set talking to the actors, then surely they could construct a Laughton commentary track by adding his comments to the relevant scene. Of course they would need to clear it with his estate.
The Night of the Hunter is the only classic film of its era for which the original rushes survive,
Well, there is (from an earlier decade) Renoir's Partie de campagne, admittedly a special case due to the circumstances of its production. Are there any others?
Don't forget the remarkable Chaplin material Brownlow used for The Unknown Chaplin. With its successive, constantly revised takes of a particular gag sequence, it was like watching Chaplin's mind at work.
HistoryProf wrote:Of the two longer books on the film, which would folks recommend as superior? Couchman ("Biography of a Film") or Preston Jones ("Heaven and Hell to Play With")?
I haven't read the Couchman, but Heaven and Hell to Play With is great. It's more like an oral history of the film, told through lengthy interviews with many of the principals, including Mitchum, Gish, and Cortez. I have a feeling that the Couchman focuses mainly on Agee and the script development.
So here is my fantasy-world take on what your spec list should say, Criterion. At minimum.
Jeff's Fantasy wrote:SPECIAL EDITION 3-DISC DVD, 2-DISC BLU-RAY SET FEATURES:
• High-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound and presented in the original 1.66 aspect ratio (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
• Introduction to the film by Martin Scorsese on influences and legacy of The Night of the Hunter
• Audio commentary by Preston Neal Jones, author of Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of The Night of the Hunter, featuring extensive audio interviews with the cast and crew recorded between 1974 and 1977 (including Robert Mitchum, Lillian Gish, novelist Davis Grubb, producer Paul Gregory, and cinematographer Stanley Cortez)
• Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter: A three-hour compilation of the film’s original rushes, including outtakes, deleted scenes, and extensive footage of Laughton working with the cast, with scene introductions and optional audio narration by Robert Gitt of The UCLA Film and Television Archive.
• A new featurette on the discovery of eight hours of behind-the-scenes material on the film, and the 20-year journey to restore and archive this material
• Video interview with Simon Callow, author of BFI Monograph: The Night of the Hunter and Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor, on Laughton’s experience directing the film and its impact on his career
• Video interview with professor Jeffrey Couchman, author of The Night of the Hunter: A Biography of a Film, on screenwriter James Agee, his lengthy adaptation of Davis Grubb’s original novel, and its extensive reworking by Charles Laughton
• New video interviews with Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce, who played the children in the film
• Original theatrical trailers and other promotional materials
• Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes production photos, sketches, and correspondence regarding the film
• PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by film critics David Ehrenstein and F.X. Feeney
• More!
HistoryProf wrote:Of the two longer books on the film, which would folks recommend as superior? Couchman ("Biography of a Film") or Preston Jones ("Heaven and Hell to Play With")?
You can listen to this interview with Jeffrey Couchman to help decide if his book is suitable for you.
And of course the booklet will feature a screenshot from her best scene. They'll save Gish carrying heat in her rocking chair in silhouette for the actual cover.
Kidding aside, an inclusion in some form of the Charles Laughton "audiobook" (for lack of a better phrase) in some form would be wonderful. Accompaniment to a stills gallery, perhaps?
I'm feeling especially prescient, but Criterion has surpassed even my wildest expectations. Easily one of the best supplement packages they've ever assembled. It's perfect.
My god this set is possibly the single most packed criterion title since Seven Samurai was reissued. It also becomes the fourth two-disc bluray title, joining Seven Samurai, The Leopard and Benjamin Button, I presume it's packaging will be ala the Leopard.
I'm blown away by the release, they're knocking it out of the park.
Jeff wrote:I'm feeling especially prescient, but Criterion has surpassed even my wildest expectations. Easily one of the best supplement packages they've ever assembled. It's perfect.
I was going to make that very crack. This is probably the title I'll most quickly pick up, though I'm in no rush having the MGM and all.
I want this! Yes, one of the most packeged intensive release in the history of CC. I can't wait to see the mail man knocking on my door with the delivery of the bluray release of "The Night of the Hunter." \:D/
I've said this before, but i'll say it again; Thank you very much Criterion. In the worlds of a James Bond movie....nobody does it better....
foofighters7 wrote:I just don't get WHY it's a 2 disc blu when it is also a 2 disc dvd. Unless I missed something, I don't see the need for a 2nd blu disc.
The outtakes compilation (Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter”) is two and a half hours long, so I imagine that, being an HD supplement, will take up the lion's share of the second BR.
