Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.3

[Perkins Cobb]

I'm very happy for all the upgrades, but surely it's understandable that people are disappointed by a month in which every single release has already enjoyed a good R1 release?

Exactly.

[MoonlitKnight]

I already have the MGM copies of "Sweet Smell," "Something Wild," "Mystery Train," "French Lieutenant's Woman," the Polygram copy of "Topsy-Turvy," the Fox copies of "Paris Texas," "Darjeeling Limited," etc., and they were all perfectly fine the first time around.

Well, some of those were more "perfectly fine" than others. MGM's release of Sweet Smell, for example, while sourced from a decent-looking element was non-anamorphic, featureless, and plagued by tramlines. That's pretty shoddy treatment for one of the great American films. The other films you mention, save Paris Texas, were mostly featureless mediocrities on their studio releases too. As has been mentioned, if nothing else, this month represents the first Blu-ray releases of any of these films.

I could've sworn "Sweet Smell" was also anamorphic, but it's been a while since I watched it... and I can't remember if I had my HDMI player yet or if it was still on my old DVD player (in which case I would've used the TV's 'Zoom' option for the picture). :-k

[lacritfan]

I refuse to film watches from Asia

The Casios can be quite pedestrian but I really think you're missing out on some of the Seikos. Not everything can be a Rolex.

[domino harvey]

Sooo sick of indie Swatches. Like, give the quirkiness a wrist all ready!

[matrixschmatrix]

I don't know if being put into Criterion's Hulu page necessarily means anything (the Zatoichi titles would certainly argue against it), but Criterion has put movies up on hulu that haven't been released by Criterion (along with all the Chaplin features):

Michael Powell's The Spy in Black
Edward Dymtryk's Obsession
Peter Weir's The Plumber
Tim Whelan's The Divorce of Lady X (starring Lawrence Olivier)
Luis Trenker's The Challenge (co-written by Emeric Pressberger)
Zoltan Korda's The Four Feathers
Peter Weir's The Car that Ate Paris
Alexander Korda's An Ideal Husband
Kurosawa's Madadayo
John Elias Michalakis' I Was a Teenage Zombie

I know the Four Feathers has been floating around as a rumor for a while, and obviously Madadayo was in the AK100 box, but most of the rest of this seems like the contents of one or two unannounced Eclipse sets- maybe some sort of 30s-40s British one, and something related to the two Weirs?

edit: Oops, missed William Cameron Menzies' Things to Come. I'll be disappointed if that winds up in an Eclipse, particularly because the BFI book was written by Christopher Frayling

[JMULL222]

I'd be suprised/unhappy if some unreleased Powell got thrown into a generalized eclipse. Maybe they've got enough Archers stuff to do their own set though?

[ianungstad]

Criterion released Car That Ate Paris/The Plumber through Home Vision. The dvd still seems to be in print.

I was a Teenage Zombie was also released through Image but seems to be long out of print. (Can't imagine it sold many units)

[Tribe]

Weir's The Cars That Ate Paris and The Plumber (as an extra) were released through Home Vision Entertainment, back in the day. In fact, the Spine had a Janus logo for, what was then, The Classic Collection. In light of the recent release of Shinoda's Pale Flower and Dearden's Victim, eventually a lot of those HVE releases that Janus/Criterion still retains rights for will be released through the main line or Eclipse in some configuration or other.

EDIT: Sorry, Ian, I didn't see your post while I was typing mine.

EDIT: And where did this news about I Was a Teenage Zombie come from? I've seen a few postings referring to it, but I missed wherever the news was sourced from.

[knives]

EDIT: And where did this news about I Was a Teenage Zombie come from? I've seen a few postings referring to it, but I missed wherever the news was sourced from.

It's on Hulu and I couldn't be happier.

[Jeff]

Michael Powell's The Spy in Black
Tim Whelan's The Divorce of Lady X (starring Lawrence Olivier)
Luis Trenker's The Challenge (co-written by Emeric Pressberger)
Zoltan Korda's The Four Feathers
Alexander Korda's An Ideal Husband
Things to Come

These are all part of the London Films/Korda library that Janus picked up U.S. distribution for a few years ago.

Edward Dymtryk's Obsession

part of the Eagle-Lion (Rank) library which Janus mostly distributes in the U.S.

Peter Weir's The Plumber
Peter Weir's The Car that Ate Paris
The Zatoichi films

all long-time Janus properties previously released in conjunction with Home Vision

Kurosawa's Madadayo

long time Janus property available in Kurosawa box

John Elias Michalakis' I Was a Teenage Zombie

no fucking clue how this might have happened

[matrixschmatrix]

Hmm, does that mean that these are all things Criterion has been sitting on for a while? If so, it's certainly possible that they're putting them up on hulu as an alternative to a disc release, not as a prelude to one- that would be disappointing news about a couple of these.

Reading more about the hulu deal, it does sound like part of Criterion's sales pitch is that it's going to have exclusive content: according to the faq, "It gives viewers a chance to [...] see films so rare that they would never see the light of day in disc editions."

[perkizitore]

Probably guilty pleasures will never get a physical release, but obscure titles that are proven successful on Hulu might have a chance. I think the deal with Hulu is more about Criterion getting new customers and preparing themselves for the 4K streaming digital era, than being a laboratory for unreleased titles.

[Minkin]

Truffaut’s Soft Skin is making the Janus rounds.

[James]

Truffaut’s Soft Skin is making the Janus rounds.

While I'm definitely intrigued by more "lesser Truffaut" (The Last Metro ended up being my favorite of his), I'd definitely prefer seeing Mississippi Mermaid which toured last year and is only available in a horrific transfer.

[mteller]

The Soft Skin is one of my favorite Truffauts.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I watched the MGM disc last night and it'd be great if Milos Forman's Valmont entered the collection.

[zonk]

I second the motion on Valmount!

[perkizitore]

Someone said that the number of releases for May was unprecedented, but this is true in sheer size only, considering that for many titles the extras are ported over from DVD and in the case of Something Wild the extras are slim (not to mention that they probably had a HD master ready in the case of Sweetie).

[Sam T.]

I watched the MGM disc last night and it'd be great if Milos Forman's Valmont entered the collection.

This would make a really interesting boxed set paired with Roger Vadim's Les Liaisons Dangereuses (which is out of print, no?). Both movies risk a certain amount of campiness, but they're serious enough when they need to be, and Valmont especially is just totally fun. Loads more fun than the 1988 Dangerous Liaisons, though in some respects not as satisfying.

I'd be worried that the sheer hotness of Meg Tilly and Colin Firth being on screen at the same time would cause many older TVs to catch fire.

[oldsheperd]

Little Murders! Little Murders!

[tavernier]

the sheer hotness of Meg Tilly

That may be the first time I've ever seen those words

[domino harvey]

Proto-Cobra Snake, really

[tavernier]

I rescind my comment

[Sam T.]

the sheer hotness of Meg Tilly

That may be the first time I've ever seen those words

Hmmm. That's weird. I mean, I can see how she's not everybody's ideal of feminine beauty, but she certainly has her fans. Roger Ebert, for one, always struck me as quite smitten with her (almost more than appropriately so) when discussing her (at least on his tv show). And surely Colin Firth had his choice of lady friends in the 1990s -- he must have seen something he liked.

I mean, to each his or her own. I just would have thought the hotness of Meg Tilly, though not the only valid opinion, the prevailing one.

[felipe]

Criterion has announced Smiles on a summer night and hinted at Wild Strawberries. Does that mean it will take a while till we get Fanny and Alexander or it may be that they've planned 3 Bergman's for 2011?