Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 4

[eerik]

Looking back at that 2012 schedule picture

Where might one see this picture you speak of?

Facebook

[ianungstad]

I noticed on Mike Carver's movie database that Fox just discontinued their dvd of Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Anyone think there is a decent chance they'll let Criterion have the rights? I don't remember the specifics but I think the story is that Fox licensed the film to Criterion and Criterion produced a boatload of supplements. Fox then changed their minds and decided to release the dvd themselves and Criterion let Fox use all the extras they produced. Considering all the work Criterion put into that release, you would think it's a sore point for them and that they would like to properly reissue it in the collection. Now that Fox discontinued their dvd, maybe that can finally happen?

Now if Criterion could only convince that crazy woman who has the rights to most of his films that she'll make more money with real dvds/blus besides what she's selling on her shitty website. (Yeah, I know there's a great and cheap R2 box)

[Noiradelic]

This probably doesn't have any direct bearing on Criterion and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, but mcarver announced it as being OOP well over a year ago. However I was never quite sure because Amazon has had new copies available directly from them ever since, as apparently has B&N.

[Askew]

I noticed in the last week that the screenshot on Criterion's page for Bergman's The Magic Flute has been changed. I don't know how often Criterion has done this for other films, but this might be an indicator that it will be upgraded sometime in the near future.

[FilmFanSea]

Does anyone know why bluray.com has six Criterion titles listed with release dates TBA: Kwaidan, Badlands, Brazil, and Inagaki's Samurai trilogy? (This may be completely old news, but I searched & didn't see it mentioned on the site.)

[eerik]

Does anyone know why bluray.com has six Criterion titles listed with release dates TBA: Kwaidan, Badlands, Brazil, and Inagaki's Samurai trilogy? (This may be completely old news, but I searched & didn't see it mentioned on the site.)

Because anybody can submit/edit the information (and their moderators don't bother to confirm it and just accept it). Samurai trilogy is there because the boxset is coming out next month and they have a recent trend to create separate entries for all films, even if they are only available in a boxset.

[Minkin]

Does anyone know why bluray.com has six Criterion titles listed with release dates TBA: Kwaidan, Badlands, Brazil, and Inagaki's Samurai trilogy? (This may be completely old news, but I searched & didn't see it mentioned on the site.)

I wouldn't look into it at all - Amazon does the same thing and has a few holding pages as well (Kwaidan, etc). I suppose all this stuff is coming eventually anyway, but they're just for the convenience of the website, not confirmation of anything.

[dwk]

(credit to John Hodson at Roobarb's forum for pointing this out) From Kim Newman's Facebook page:

I've just written an essay for the Criterion Collection's BluRay release of The Blob.

[bainbridgezu]

Thanks for the news; hopefully they won't change the (already perfect) cover.

I wonder if Equinox will also be upgraded? It's the only other title in the collection licensed from Worldwide Entertainment.

[domino harvey]

I was the one who just bought it, in case you were curious why it was getting upgraded

[Jeff]

Predictions for the rest of the year:

September
Wenders' Road Trilogy
The American Friend
Children of Paradise redux
Grey Gardens Blu
Umberto D. Blu

October
Rosemary's Baby
The Game
Eating Raoul
The Blob redux
Wild Strawberries Blu

November
Y Tu Mama Tambien
On the Waterfront
Weekend (1967)
The Soft Skin
Czech New Wave Eclipse: vol. 2

December
Pasolini's Trilogy of Life
Pina

[ianungstad]

I'd add Ministry of Fear to your fall predictions. It was one of the only titles in that 2012 teaser I could actually make out!

[Jeff]

I'd add Ministry of Fear to your fall predictions. It was one of the only titles in that 2012 teaser I could actually make out!

That would be great, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it turn up. October maybe. Of course there's no way they could get all of the films on those lists in the picture out in 2012.

[AfterTheRain]

I'm still holding out hope that Heaven's Gate will be announced for release this year. I would also like to see Ministry of Fear as well.

[bainbridgezu]

Universal has licensed The Island (Michael Ritchie, 1980) to Shout! Factory to release under their new Scream Factory imprint. Interestingly, the film was recently issued by Universal themselves as a "Vault Series" DVD-R (on 07/27/2011).

I wonder if this means that Universal would still be open to allowing Criterion to produce their own editions of other MOD titles like Blue Collar (Anchor Bay release had a commentary with Schrader) or Fellini Casanova (available on blu-ray elsewhere in the world).

[eerik]

I'm going to guess that Spartacus will be upgraded sometime after the Academy premieres a new DCP/digital restoration of it later this summer/fall.

It will be screened from "a new 70mm print".

[SpiderBaby]

Universal has licensed The Island (Michael Ritchie, 1980) to Shout! Factory to release under their new Scream Factory imprint. Interestingly, the film was recently issued by Universal themselves as a "Vault Series" DVD-R (on 07/27/2011).

I wonder if this means that Universal would still be open to allowing Criterion to produce their own editions of other MOD titles like Blue Collar (Anchor Bay release had a commentary with Schrader) or Fellini Casanova (available on blu-ray elsewhere in the world).

Or Dishonored and Shanghai Express. [-o<

[bainbridgezu]

Or Dishonored and Shanghai Express. [-o<

I would love a Criterion Shanghai Express, but have the missing footage issues been sorted out?

Maybe they really love us and are planning a concurrent re-release of Scarlet Empress from the new print.

[zedz]

Figured this should be cross-posted from Hellman's filmmaker thread:

From Monte Hellman's twitter:

Bootleg of DVDs. Wait for authentic Bluray scans from negative THE SHOOTING & RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND next year.

[onedimension]

According to Amazon, the Hellman westerns on the way from "Intergroove"..

[knives]

Hellman's said they're bootlegs and that those titles will get real releases next year.

[nolanoe]

But what about Cimino's Heave's Gate!!
Still my most anticipated BD of... ever!! Seriously, I want to see this film for about a decade now, and the DVD is a travesty of which I aspire not to give it a spin!! :^o

[Minkin]

Rossellini's L'Amore (1948) playing at BAMPFA with Janus/Criterion credits

An epigraph from Rossellini calls this two-part film “an homage to the art of Anna Magnani,” but “homage” may not be strong enough to describe a work so deeply in the actress’s thrall. Based on a play by Jean Cocteau, the first segment, A Human Voice, focuses intensely on the voice—and face—of Magnani, alone with the telephone, talking her way through the end of love. Promising strength while evincing its opposite, Magnani creates a portrait of implacable grief. The film moves from claustrophobic interiority to the rustic open air for The Miracle, in which Magnani is coarse, funny, and unsentimentally touching as a naive goatherd pregnant by a mysterious stranger whom she believes to be Saint Joseph. Federico Fellini cowrote the script (also appearing as the dubious Joseph), and there is a touch of La strada’s Gelsomina in Magnani’s daft peasant soul. Fellini and Rossellini’s unconventional parable didn’t sit well with the American Catholic church, sparking a protracted censorship battle that ended in a key Supreme Court decision upholding cinematic freedom of speech.

—Juliet Clark

• Written by Rossellini, Tullio Pinelli, Federico Fellini, based on the play La voix humaine by Jean Cocteau and on a story by Fellini. Photographed by Robert Juillard, Aldo Tonti. With Anna Magnani, Federico Fellini. (78 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, From Cinecitta Luce S.p.A., permission Janus Films/Criterion Collection)

[eerik]

Summertime was released on Blu-ray last week in Japan. Picture quality is reportedly excellent and YesAsia.com lists copyright as "(C) MCMLV by Lopert Films Incorporated.^/^(C)2012 Janus Films Incorporated.^/^(C)A.M.P.A.S.", if it means anything. It seems like a title that Criterion would/should/must re-issue to me.

[captveg]

September predictions:

Road Trilogy
Y tu mama tambien*
Children of Paradise (DVD/BD upgrade)
Grey Gardens/The Beales of Grey Gardens (BD upgrade)

* - I'm gonna keep guessing it until it actually happens. I'm guaranteed to be correct one of these months!