Archived Criterion Streaming Discussion

[swo17]

How not to get me to give Hulu another try:

[mfunk9786]

Hey thats the guy from family guy

[domino harvey]

Hey thats the guy from family guy

This post could be a Family Guy joke!

[mfunk9786]

[Minkin]

Jan Troell’s Here’s Your Life (1966)- has been added to Criterion's Itunes (via Criterioncast).

[roderigo]

am i the only one who has trouble with hulu plus while watching films on hd? i don't know if having to load every couple of minutes is a distinct feature of the service, but that's keeping me away from renewing my membership for another month.

[feihong]

I just watched my third film on Hulu plus, after Suzuki's Everything Goes Wrong and Oshima's Diary of a Shinjuku Thief. This time it was another Oshima--The Ceremony--which I had never seen. I had tried to watch it in SD before, but I could never get into it with much sense of urgency. But Hulu had it in HD.

Oh, wow, what a movie. I was moved and moved again by the picture. Its sepulchral imagery was so well-served by HD, it made the experience more vivid than I had imagined it could be. And as a result I finally got into a movie that ultimately seems really amazing.

Reading back through this thread, it seems that many of the films that were posted to Hulu have gone on to be blu-rays in the collection. They have these gorgeous HD transfers for the two Oshima films. I wonder if these pictures will make it onto bluray? Not sure why these movies aren't priority #1 at Criterion this very minute.

[mhinrichs]

Did Criterion delete some of their films off Hulu Plus? I tried looking for Andrei Rublev and couldn't find it.

[RSTooley]

Did Criterion delete some of their films off Hulu Plus? I tried looking for Andrei Rublev and couldn't find it.

I don't think they have deleted anything. I still have Andrei Rublev in my queue and I can still find it using the search function.

What I hope is that Criterion ADDS some more movies to the Hulu streaming service.

[mhinrichs]

Did Criterion delete some of their films off Hulu Plus? I tried looking for Andrei Rublev and couldn't find it.

I don't think they have deleted anything. I still have Andrei Rublev in my queue and I can still find it using the search function.

What I hope is that Criterion ADDS some more movies to the Hulu streaming service.

Apparently they deleted it for a week or so, since it just reappeared on the list of Alexander Payne's favorite Criterion films.

[gubarenko]

Korda's An Ideal Husband is now available on Hulu

[RyanGallagher]

Watership Down is now available to pre-order on iTunes

[Jeff]

Watership Down is now available to pre-order on iTunes

Glad to see this confirmed. I believe that Peter Becker's comment at the 2013 Wexner event was that an animated title was part of a package of films that they were licensing. I'm wondering if that's just a random package repped by Westchester Films or if it's a group of films owned by Martin Rosen. If it's the latter, it's possible that the rights to Ken Russell's Women in Love have reverted to Rosen.

[ianungstad]

I can't see them not licensing The Plague Dogs from Rosen as well. I think it's the better of the two films.

[bamwc2]

I can't see them not licensing The Plague Dogs from Rosen as well. I think it's the better of the two films.

Agreed, though I dearly love both.

[rrenault]

So what's the deal, have they given up on the Hulu channel? Did it eat into physical disc sales too much? Is that why they won't update it and add HD transfers of many of the films they've already released on blu-ray. I just find it odd it's the most popular titles that most conspicuously lack HD transfers like Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Amarcord, Tokyo Story, and so on whereas the Naruse titles can pretty much all be seen in their HD glory.

[jwd5275]

So what's the deal, have they given up on the Hulu channel? Did it eat into physical disc sales too much? Is that why they won't update it and add HD transfers of many of the films they've already released on blu-ray. I just find it odd it's the most popular titles that most conspicuously lack HD transfers like Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Amarcord, Tokyo Story, and so on whereas the Naruse titles can pretty much all be seen in their HD glory.

Why would that signal that they have given up on Hulu? It makes completely sound business sense to reserve the HD copies of those relatively few titles out on blu-ray for people who care enough to lay down the cash for a HD copy on blu-ray (or itunes).

[rrenault]

A Hard Day's Night is up on Hulu.

[AlexHansen]

Browsing Amazon right now, Hitchcock's Sabotage is available in HD from Criterion. Am I behind the times or is this a recent addition?

[domino harvey]

We know they have the Brit Hitchcocks MGM released a few years ago (that, Young and Innocent, and the Lodger) and there will surely be a boxed set one of these months

[AlexHansen]

Ah, MGM's the connective tissue escaping me (remembered The Lodger popping up a while back). Thanks!

[HitchcockLang]

But they also have Downhill which was not released by MGM. I would suspect a Lodger standalone release with Downhill included as a bonus film (sort of a Hitchcock Directs Ivor Novello Double Feature).

[Shrew]

I think it's a case where MGM's rights for all those films expired and Criterion has a new arrangement with ITV, who have the four films mentioned. They should also have The Pleasure Garden, Easy Virtue, and possibly Secret Agent.

[HitchcockLang]

Well I say bring them all on! Criterion's releases of Hitchcock's British films has elevated them above the poor quality PD releases that make them forgotten among his much more well treated (though not always better or even as good) Universal films.

The Criterion Man Who Knew Too Much was a revelation.

[krnash]

Well I say bring them all on! Criterion's releases of Hitchcock's British films has elevated them above the poor quality PD releases that make them forgotten among his much more well treated (though not always better or even as good) Universal films.

The Criterion Man Who Knew Too Much was a revelation.

Amen. To me, The Man Who Knew Too Much is probably one of his five best films, but I never realized it until Criterion got its hands on it.