Criterion Random Speculation Vol.2

[Kudzu]

There seems to be a real sour feeling on this board for Criterion's Samurai film releases. As if genre movies aren't worthy of notable film analysis and the Criterion treatment. snobs, snobs, snobs

get over it, there will be plenty of neo-realist, and French New Wave, and German Expressionist stuff coming from Criterion. Don't hate on the Japanese cinema bitches!

Bitches, leave!

But seriously, I doubt it's animosity towards genre films on this board. It's probably just that board members are chomping at the bit for some Japanese drama.

The fact is that between the Ozu releases last year and Ugetsu this year, all the Japanese releases have been genre films. You have the singular samurai films (Kagemusha, Harakiri, The Sword of Doom), Seijun's pinku and yakuza flicks, the "Sun Tribe" genre film of Crazed Fruit and the upcoming Rebel Samurai box set.

Am I unhappy with this? No. The Sword of Doom was in the top five movies that I've seen this year on DVD or the big screen. Gate of Flesh and Harakiri are on my must-sees. However, I can see how people would be getting frustrated with not being able to get a Criterion release of Oshima, Naruse, Teshigara or Ichikawa's fiction work.

When have we ever seen..."German Expressionist" film via the Criterion Collection??

Uh, M?

[analoguezombie]

all good points. What I'm getting at is thnat Criterion is obviously dedicated to world cinema in all its forms, and that the recent glut of Japanese genre films is most likely more reflective of what titles Criterion holds current rights to, and can produce quality dvds of, on a quick production schedule.

It's been fully discussed that the Beckers are deeply committed to Mizoguchi, for example. And while its a shame its taken so long for Ugetsu to arrive, I am sure its because their dedication to providing the best dvd available.

I'd love to see much more Japanese drama, but I don't want them to rush and end up with a bad transfer or little extras. Also, Criterion does have to make money to fund their efforts, and as has been mentioned, the samurai films definitely sell well.

What should be more worrying to those who clamor for Japanese drama, is the seeming dissolution of HVe, who have put out their fair share of Japanese genre movies. Are their future efforts in this department going to end up on the Image label, or more likely on Criterion, which would take even more production time away from future Mizoguchi, Naruse, etc...?

I can appreciate the frustration though, I'm almost foaming at the mouth waiting for The Bad Sleep Well.

[HerrSchreck]

I asked-- When have we ever seen..."German Expressionist" film via the Criterion Collection??
He/she answered: Uh, M

UM... M? That would definitely be, UH, G E R M A N, yes... old too... but definitely not Expressionist. I'd say you're far safer klunking Lulu into the Expressionist box owing to the fine touches of atomic moodiness in Gunther Krampf's fine photography (for another fine example of his non-expressionist, yet expressionist-reminiscent mastery of exaggerated lighting, see 1932's rarely seen THE GHOUL w Karloff, made in the UK).

Fritz Lang, who most emphatically regretted categorization of any of his films as Expressionist, would double over with cramps at hearing his grittily realistic suspense thriller being called Expressionist. If anything-- and for a pure iconoclastic filmmaker like Lang, most of his (best) films fail to comfortably inhabit any 'label' beyond A Lang Film-- M would fall somewhat into the following catgories: "New Objectivity" (a determined effort towards a New Realism vs. the deliberate artifice/exaggeration in art direction, acting etc which defined expressionism)... or, the ex-post-facto assignation Pre-Noir. There are also definite traces of the "Kammerspiel"-- technique-wise, i e uses of the camera & moody, smoky 'stimmung'-- those cloudy, gloomy, melancholy chamber dramas which, as opposed to the sprawling, heavily populated M, took place within confined, limited spaces with small casts.

There very simply are NO German Expressionist titles in the (very very fine notwithstanding the absence... and this is why it's nice that there is a Kino International, Milestone, AND a Janus-- which actually did at one point have The Last Laugh on Laserdisc... which itself is in sum more a Kammerspiel rather than Expressionist... though there are touches in the dream sequence) CC catalog, nor have any been announced for the future.

They more than make up for it however with their wonderful selections, and technical QC... although I seriously doubt (the otherwise baffling addition of) KING OF KINGS would have made it into the catalog vs. so many other available silent masterpieces, had "faith" not been the big buzzword at that time just after the 04 election. In the bleak artistic landscape of the present generation, they have every right to hold their chins up high, and the DVD's I've acquired from their catalog never cease to cultivate my ongoing thankfulness for the simple fact of Janus/CC's existence (and prosperity). They have singlehandedly changed the rare-title home video playing feild from Be Glad You Have It In ANY Form (Kino up till a year or two ago) to Freely & Guiltlessly Demand Optimal Image Elements/Transfer-Quality from your label.

Though the HVE/Image situation makes me nervous. Those HVE discs (SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, anyone?) were sort've like Criterion Jr.'s to me.

[zedz]

They more than make up for it however with their wonderful selections, and technical QC... although I seriously doubt (the otherwise baffling addition of) KING OF KINGS would have made it into the catalog vs. so many other available silent masterpieces, had "faith" not been the big buzzword at that time just after the 04 election.

I'm as disappointed as you by the dearth of silent films, but it's unfair to label this release opportunistic: it had been in the works and on the cards long before the election (and the surprise success of the Gibson film).

[Cinephrenic]

Most high output of German Expressionism is already released on DVD such as Murnau, Wiene, Lang, but we will get Vampyr and Pandora's Box, cleary German Expressionism.

[HerrSchreck]

I'm as disappointed as you by the dearth of silent films, but it's unfair to label this release opportunistic: it had been in the works and on the cards long before the election (and the surprise success of the Gibson film).

I'll take your word for it on that-- if you saw announcements that far preceded the election, then so be it (although that "faith" issue was a pre-existing hot-topic owing to Rovian machinations more Driven Home by the election, rather than a brand new social issue triggered entirely by election day). I was watching for TESTAMENT OF, PORT OF SHADOWS, at the time & wasn't following that DeMille title.

I just have a Real Hard Time believing the Beckers and Mr. Kline, Ms. Palazzola, Fumiko, etc, all sat around bouncing up & down clapping with enthusiasm watching KING OF KINGS passing around a bong saying "DUDE you don't underSTAND... this movie is PURE CINEMA maannnnn!!!" bunching their hair up in clumps, with their brains pouring out under the strain of their desperate enthusiam to get it out on DVD.

[toiletduck!]

Apparently someone's never been to a Criterion Christmas Bash....

-Toilet Dcuk

[flyonthewall2983]

Should we discount The Searchers, or Once Upon a Time in the West, or The Wild Bunch simply because they are Westerns? The only reason lots of western classics haven't been put out on Criterion is because the original studios aren't willing to sell the rights

I have a feeling that if Once Upon A Time In The West was put out by United Artists, based on the success of his 3 previous films for him, rather than Paramount, Criterion would have fought tooth and nail to get it on laserdisc way back when. But that's just my two cents...

[HerrSchreck]

Most high output of German Expressionism is already released on DVD such as Murnau, Wiene, Lang, but we will get Vampyr and Pandora's Box, cleary German Expressionism.

Neither are "clearly" Expressionist. VAMPYR is far more French-Avant/Experimental along the lines of Dimitri Kirsanoff (Menilmonant), and, more particularly, Jean Epstein's La Chute De la Maison Usher-- a rare masterpiece which was enormously influential at the time.

And for god's sake-- it's almost embarassing to ask it of Janus anymore-- if you know something we all don't know about Koerber's VAMPYR restoration coming out via CC at last... PLEASE SHARE IT.

And again-- the above-mentioned Lulu is far more Kammerspiel/New Objectivity (lots of fog & shadows most emphatically do NOT = expressionism.) And last I heard, Lulu's BOX has been taken off the IMMEDIATELY PENDING list. Pabst's 3Penny Opera would be nice, also.

TORGUS, RASKALNIKOV, HINTERSTEPPE (BACKSTAIRS), SYLVESTER (NEW YEARS EVE), WARNING SHADOWS, SHATTERED, DER SHATZ, INRI, THE HANDS OF ORLAC, OPIUM... all early German silent masterpieces (most at least, with the rest at least Important & Worthy of DVD release)... many of them genuinely Expressionist... none of them available.

[HerrSchreck]

The Crowd is an MGM film, and is held by Warner Bros. I would expect this to hit streets around the same time as The Big Parade is released. I haven't heard anything about either title for awhile, but it was mentioned in the March '04 Warner chat, that The Big Parade was being restored. I imagine a King Vidor TCM Archives release might be down the line.

Hey-- any New Yorkers catch the SUNRISE/THE CROWD double bill at Film Forum over the summer? Or otherwise catch the current CROWD revival print circulating art houses? The F%$#ing thing had the great tracking shot of the camera climbing thirty stories up the building side-- then slowly downward for half a football field size expanse of desks to pick out the protagonist at work-- excised from the film. You just cut to him sitting there at his desk. Which blew me away because I have the MGM VHS of the complete print from a nice fine grain master (albeit a bit cropped in telecine) which includes that awesome shot.

That's like an old Swedish Erotica 8mm (CC spine number 724) without the obligatory end-off facial.

[Brian Oblivious]

Or otherwise catch the current CROWD revival print circulating art houses? The F%$#ing thing had the great tracking shot of the camera climbing thirty stories up the building side-- then slowly downward for half a football field size expanse of desks to pick out the protagonist at work-- excised from the film. You just cut to him sitting there at his desk.

The shot was certainly there on the print shown at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in July 2003.

Print source, according to festival program: Warner Bros. Classics

[HerrSchreck]

Apparently someone's never been to a Criterion Christmas Bash....

-Toilet Dcuk

No but I heard at Lee klines Channukah get together they snap on Kino's Kadosh, Kedma & Kippur, eat hashmatzo and roll around pissing their clothes dying laughing over the ghosting & low bitrates. #-o

[the dancing kid]

From another forum I visit.

There's a release of Clean, Shaven, the 1994 Sundance pic by Lodge Kerrigan coming (shot in glorious 16mm). Kerrigan's films are incredible, surely won't dissapoint you Criterion lovers.

Not a film I'm familar with unfortunately. It was previously put out on DVD by Fox Lorber, but that edition is OOP.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106579/

[Buttery Jeb]

Golly, for a good long while "Clean Shaven" was one of my favorite films ever, and I still think it's one of the best portrayals of schizophenia and psychosis committed to film.

I will be picking this one up if it rears its ugly head.

Unfortunately, not all news is so rosy. From over at the Moebius forum:

http://s8.invisionfree.com/MHVF/index.p ... topic=3583

-BJ

[toiletduck!]

Gotta say, the Coming Soon page has managed to make the switch from a three to four month advance notice rather under the radar.

Damn you and your awkward Criterion status, December! (but thanks for Christmas... and my birthday...)

-Toilet Dcuk

[Cinesimilitude]

so ladies and gents, spine #322, Bergman, De Sica or neither?

[Lino]

Nah, they're just prepping up a mega 10 disc set with ALL his films and ALL the various versions, plus extras. That's why it's taking so long.

(sighs and falls into reverie)

we are happy to report that we are indeed planning to release a new edition of Playtime—either individually or as part of a Jacques Tati box set—sometime in 2006. Watch the Criterion website for details.

Told ya'!

[Cinéslob]

Nah, they're just prepping up a mega 10 disc set with ALL his films and ALL the various versions, plus extras. That's why it's taking so long.

(sighs and falls into reverie)

we are happy to report that we are indeed planning to release a new edition of Playtime—either individually or as part of a Jacques Tati box set—sometime in 2006. Watch the Criterion website for details.

Told ya'!

Hopefully Mon oncle and Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot will have brand-spanking new transfers too, so as not to seem incongruous. Either way though, great news!

[Cinephrenic]

Well will Criterion release Trafic or Parade? They have control over the rights, but are they worthy? I understand that Parade was released on laserdisc.

[backstreetsbackalright]

Am I crazy, or do we already have a strong inkling of a good 20% of next year's Criterion output? Ignoring the possibility of stall-outs a la Cocktail Molotov, we already know:

Virgin Spring
Young Mr. Lincoln
The Bad Sleep Well
The Children Are Watching Us
Murmur of the Heart
Lacombe Luciene
Au Revois Les Enfants
Metropolitan
Playtime (Remaster)

And there seems to be very strong prospects of at least:

Jour de Fete
Trafic
She's Gotta Have It
Spirit of the Beehive
Picnic At Hanging Rock (Remaster)

[Cinephrenic]

The Steel Helmet, I Shot Jesse James and The Baron of Arizona will be released on DVD in 2006 by The Criterion Collection

Plus the already announced January titles. So its a little more 30-40%.

[backstreetsbackalright]

The Steel Helmet, I Shot Jesse James and The Baron of Arizona will be released on DVD in 2006 by The Criterion Collection

Plus the already announced January titles. So its a little more 30-40%.

Good call on those Fuller titles. I listed the January titles already.

So then we've got the following confirmed:

Virgin Spring
Young Mr. Lincoln
The Bad Sleep Well
The Children Are Watching Us
Murmur of the Heart
Lacombe Luciene
Au Revois Les Enfants
Metropolitan
Playtime (Remaster)

And very strong suspicions of:

Jour de Fete
Trafic
She's Gotta Have It
Spirit of the Beehive
The Steel Helmet
I Shot Jesse James
The Baron of Arizona
Picnic At Hanging Rock (Remaster)

2005 saw 52 Criterion releases, and since 2003 there's been an increase of production of 3 titles a year. Assuming that 2006 yields 55 titles, we have reason to believe that we've got 30.9% of 2006 figured out. I'm not sure what that means, but those are the numbers as I see it.

[Cinephrenic]

I bet we got 95% figured out with a few wild cards if we consider the list we got of rumoured titles.

[backstreetsbackalright]

I bet we got 95% figured out with a few wild cards if we consider the list we got of rumoured titles.

Agreed. Narrowing the Forthcoming Criterion List down (based on assumptions that verge on arbitrary), I've already got another 35 speculative picks for next year, which would pretty much make for a full calendar. If I were more inclusive, that number could almost be doubled. Even if there is uniform veracity to our information on potential titles, there's no way all of those will come out next year. But I think we all knew that anyway.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Metropolitan confirmed? As in Whit Stillman? When was this confirmed?