Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.3

[Harmonov]

Olive Films is releasing Godard's Histoires du Cinema on December 6. Damn.

Was seriously hoping that Criterion would nab that. Did we know Olive had the rights to it? If I missed that somewhere before, I apologize for posting this now...

[swo17]

We've known for over a year.

[zedz]

Which will have two releases max

I'm not so sure, barring a surprise big set, we may have a december that's out of trend with three or four titles. They've been increasing their output steadily the last three years.

Dec 2008: 4 bluray upgrades, 2 new titles: 7 discs total
(avg #discs/month in 2009 was 8.75)

Dec 2009: 1 bluray upgrade, 1 new title, 1 giant set: 29 discs total
(avg #discs/month in 2009 was 12.25 or 10.17 if you don't count AK25)

Dec 2010: 1 new title, 1 dvd set : 11 discs total
(avg #discs/month in 2010 was 12.75)

You're just being disingenuous, aren't you? Surely the pertinent information in there, which everybody, including domino, was referencing, is this:

Dec 2008: 2 new titles

Dec 2009: 1 new title

Dec 2010: 1 new title

The BBS DVD set last year was a November title that they couldn't make deadline on - unless you think there was some mysterious, amazing strategic reason for releasing it one month later than the BluRay that has never applied to any other Criterion release.

In other words: don't get your hopes up. There is no precedent for a December stacked with new titles. There may well be a gift set or some Blu upgrades, but that's not what anybody was talking about when they were speculating about new 2011 titles.

[swo17]

Also, the four Blu-ray upgrades in Dec 08 were originally supposed to come out in November but got pushed back. In any case, I don't see why people are so eager to predict that this December is going to be huge, as it just sets you up for disappointment if/when it isn't. Just expect two new releases on the mainline like there typically are (including Blu-ray upgrades). Anything more than that would just be a pleasant surprise.

[HistoryProf]

i don't think anyone is necessarily eager to predict that it will be a bigger month than usual...more just curious to see if the uptick in upgrades continues into December as much as it has the last few months.

I'll settle for the new title being an Emigrants/New Land set to go with Wild Strawberries on blu

[Jeff]

I'm guessing Bitter Rice plus a Blu-ray upgrade of Wild Strawberries and nothing else. Wouldn't be terribly surprised if Y tu mamá también gets pushed to next year due to a very busy Alfonso Cuarón. I guess The Game is still a remote possibility to since it was supposed to come out in April.

[matrixschmatrix]

I've still got my fingers crossed that City Lights makes it, not least because I would like to give it as a gift to at least one person.

[swo17]

I don't know what others are basing a Bitter Rice prediction on, but TCM is airing it on the 15th. I'm pretty sure they also aired The Four Feathers right around the same time it was announced.

[Cash Flagg]

Wasn't Following supposed to be released this year as well?

[Jeff]

I don't know what others are basing a Bitter Rice prediction on

It is, along with Wild Strawberries and Y tu mamá también, the last of the titles from the New Year's clue (indicating, theoretically, that those titles were planned for 2011).

TCM is airing it on the 15th

The TCM airing could indeed indicate that there's a new master ready. Note that they're airing it on October 15, not September.

[beamish13]

Does anybody know if Criterion is able to license Channel Four films like RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO (which would make one hell of a double feature with the amazing documentary THE ARBOR)?

[Jeff]

Does anybody know if Criterion is able to license Channel Four films like RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO (which would make one hell of a double feature with the amazing documentary THE ARBOR)?

Maybe. They licensed the Channel Four doc A Very British Psycho for Peeping Tom.

[tavernier]

Does anybody know if Criterion is able to license Channel Four films like RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO (which would make one hell of a double feature with the amazing documentary THE ARBOR)?

The Arbor just came out from Strand, with no extras, of course.

[ianungstad]

The blu ray of Naked was licensed directly from Channel Four. They'll probably end up licensing An Angel at My Table from Channel Four Films too. If New Line didn't want to extend their rights to Naked, I doubt they would have any interest in doing so for the Campion.

[felipe]

I've still got my fingers crossed that City Lights makes it, not least because I would like to give it as a gift to at least one person.

Has there been any hint that the next Chaplin will be City Lights or are we just supposing?

[YnEoS]

I asked Criterion in an email when City Lights is to be released and i got a response saying it would be announced before too long.

I think that's all the evidence we have to go on (unless I missed something else).

[zedz]

City Lights is a biggie, but I would have thought that Criterion would want to start mixing the silents in so that they didn't end up with a whole lot of those sitting on the shelf awaiting release. In which case, The Gold Rush would probably be the next big hit.

But then, I would have thought the same about Ozu, and neither Criterion nor the BFI seem to agree in that instance!

[swo17]

City Lights isn't a silent?

[zedz]

I knew one of you would come to the party!

[knives]

My memory must be really fuzzy if it's not one? Isn't it a silent in the same sense that Tabu or any of those movietone films are?

[swo17]

It's more of a silent than Modern Times, but it still has a synchronized soundtrack, including moments where people are made to "speak" with whistles or kazoos.

[knives]

That's still silent to me.

[Tribe]

That's still silent to me.

From my viewpoint, claiming City Lights isn't a silent film because it has some synchronized sound, is like calling any number of early tinted movies color films.

[Michael Kerpan]

I call these films "transitional films", but I think I may have just made the term up. A very interesting group of survivors -- from lots of places around the world. And then you have the true hybrids -- like Barnet's Bluest of Seas -- with non-talkie section (with music and titles) alternating with talkie sections.

[knives]

In those early days there was a lot of weird experimentation. I remember almost fondly my initial reaction to watching M and discovering that sections were totally silent.