MoC Forthcoming, Wishlist, and Random Speculation

[Tommaso]

Yeah, that would be great. And ideally they should release it together with a badly needed new disc of "The Quiet Man".

[Jonathan S]

I never realised The Sun Shines Bright was regarded as rare, as (like most Republic titles) it crops up fairly often on UK TV. The YouTube copy mentioned in the article may well derive from one of the Film Four showings over the last year or two.

[Peacock]

The only DVD copy of the film has a bad transfer and lots of missing frames, not sure about the youtube upload but the only version floating around online that I know of which is the full film, is a rip from a VHS. This film BADLY needs a decent release, a MoC Blu would be insane. Fingers crossed!

[Jonathan S]

The Republic catalogue generally seems to be the most inconsistent in terms of availability and transfers, perhaps because of different ownership across various media and territories. Even within the UK, I believe TV and DVD rights are split and of course the US is different again.

On UK TV they are (along with the BBC-owned RKO package) the only group of - mainly - black & white films still shown regularly. You're far more likely now to see an obscure Republic film than almost any Warner or MGM title of the 1940s. Even Borzage's Moonrise (with no DVD I gather) had countless transmissions in a nice copy a few years ago. But the transfers that are broadcast can be anything from stunningly crisp (e.g. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - far better than US or UK DVD - and Endfield's The Sound of Fury) to heavily scrubbed tape-sourced copies, sometimes even in NTSC-PAL conversions, that look far worse than the real 16mm prints they used to televise 30 years ago.

[swo17]

Shortly we will be announcing all of our forthcoming releases up to and including September. Keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter over the next week for live commentary as the announcements happen and of course, we'll have details coming in our next newsletter.

[TheGodfather]

Nice, looking forward to see what we`re going to get

[antnield]

EUREKA will be announcing their releases incl. MASTERS OF CINEMA titles for July, August & September on Monday 30 Apr at around 2.30pm UK time via their @eurekavideo & @mastersofcinema twitter feeds and on this very page! So what films and which directors would you like to see join the Masters of Cinema Series?

[Calvin]

Seems like Amazon have outed some of MoC's upcoming titles:

Spoiler

July 23rd - Pigsty + Hawks and Sparrows
August 27th - Rumble Fish
September 24th - Das Testament Des Dr Mabuse

[TMDaines]

If you know my interests, it's no surprise which of those I'm buying!

Mabuse is getting a steelbook too it seems. Pity it's not the whole boxset getting a Blu-ray upgrade but maybe MoC can bring over some of the Criterion extras? Specs on the Amazon site seem erroneous, however, as Mabuse is listed as having original German language intertitles, even though it's a sound film.

Uccellacci e uccellini and Porcile are both listed as DVD only though, with only a trailer as extras. Could be erroneous again but perhaps not?

[eerik]

DeMille's Cleopatra and Pasolini's Oedipus Rex are also coming.

[Calvin]

Pigsty and Hawks and Sparrows are DVD-only

[TMDaines]

MoC are now announcing on Twitter too, so the horse has bolted by this point!

[TMDaines]

DeMille's Cleopatra and Pasolini's Oedipus Rex are also coming.

I hope so because I want to have a Pasolini marathon and that's his sole feature length narrative work that'll be missing a great in print release!

[HJackson]

Uccellacci e uccellini and Porcile are both listed as DVD only though, with only a trailer as extras. Could be erroneous again but perhaps not?

HAWKS AND SPARROWS is DVD-only (they're tweeting as I type). Shame, because I thought MoC and BFI would get all of Pasolini's oeuvre out in HD (except MAMMA ROMA which is tied up with Bongo), but I guess the materials weren't up to it.

[TMDaines]

Moroder's Metropolis release upcoming too. Seems to be DVD only though: steelbook and vanilla version.

[eerik]

Moroder's Metropolis Dual release upcoming too! Steelbook and vanilla version.

DVD only.

[TMDaines]

I got a bit excited.

[TMDaines]

Uccellacci e uccellini @ MoC
Porcile @ MoC
#109 is presumably Edipo re

[Calvin]

I'm sure it'll be explained but it's odd that two DVD-only titles are from "new HD masters"

[MichaelB]

I'm sure it'll be explained but it's odd that two DVD-only titles are from "new HD masters"

Not when you factor in the still outrageous extra cost of producing Blu-rays compared with DVDs. If the discs aren't likely to sell well, this is likely to be a major stumbling block.

[TMDaines]

#109 is presumably Edipo re

Oops...Edipo re is a Dual in September!

[Peacock]

Who cares if the Moroder Metropolis is DVD-only, if you want it in HD you can import the Kino.

Crazy how many people want each company to release the same films on the same format.

[TMDaines]

If that was aimed at me it was more disappointment at my mistake, not at Eureka's decision. I don't think it's an MoC release anyway.

[Adam X]

I'm sure it'll be explained but it's odd that two DVD-only titles are from "new HD masters"

Not when you factor in the still outrageous extra cost of producing Blu-rays compared with DVDs. If the discs aren't likely to sell well, this is likely to be a major stumbling block.

It could well be that it's for the same stated reason for releasing 'A Man Vanishes' on DVD-only: that there wasn't significant enough a difference in picture quality to justify releasing it on Blu Ray.

[Calvin]

I'm sure it'll be explained but it's odd that two DVD-only titles are from "new HD masters"

Not when you factor in the still outrageous extra cost of producing Blu-rays compared with DVDs. If the discs aren't likely to sell well, this is likely to be a major stumbling block.

It could well be that it's for the same stated reason for releasing 'A Man Vanishes' on DVD-only: that there wasn't significant enough a difference in picture quality to justify releasing it on Blu Ray.

Perhaps. They could have made a double or triple feature with Oedipus Rex but they obviously didn't want to go down that route either.