Criterion Random Speculation Vol.2

[LightBulbFilm]

I think something big with Bengal is going to happen. Lately it just seems that a lof of Ray talk has been going on. I think come the end of this year Criterion will proudly present the Apu trilogy in beautifully remastered DVDs. Then I think to finish off the year they are goingto give one very important Hindi director a DVD premiere... Hell, a home video premiere he rightly deserves... Ritwik Ghatak.

[tavernier]

Then I think to finish off the year they are goingto give one very important Hindi director a DVD premiere... Hell, a home video premiere he rightly deserves... Ritwik Ghatak.

Good luck!

[godardslave]

I think something big with Bengal is going to happen. Lately it just seems that a lof of Ray talk has been going on. I think come the end of this year Criterion will proudly present the Apu trilogy in beautifully remastered DVDs. Then I think to finish off the year they are goingto give one very important Hindi director a DVD premiere... Hell, a home video premiere he rightly deserves... Ritwik Ghatak.

Yes, i agree!! And after that David Ehrenstein will announce he is really a straight guy, who adores and worships Brokeback mountain!!!

[Cinéslob]

I think something big with Bengal is going to happen. Lately it just seems that a lof of Ray talk has been going on. I think come the end of this year Criterion will proudly present the Apu trilogy in beautifully remastered DVDs. Then I think to finish off the year they are goingto give one very important Hindi director a DVD premiere... Hell, a home video premiere he rightly deserves... Ritwik Ghatak.

If one were to look at a globe in Criterion's offices, all one would see in the place of Asia (and Africa, Australasia and South America, come to think of it,) would be a vast pan-global ocean, interspersed with the islands of Iran, Australia, Hong Kong, and - of course - Japan.

[toiletduck!]

We can call it Criterigaea...

Iberian Peninsula my ass!

-Toilet Dcuk

[Cinéslob]

Iberian Peninsula my ass!

-Toilet Dcuk

Legend tells of a land mass of such a name, and hopes were raised when Criterion claimed to have found a Bunuel film of just such extraction. However, it has since emerged that neither Bunuel's Viridiana, nor Iberia, has ever existed at all, much like those mythic nations and territories that have such wonderful, mysterious names such as 'Mexico' and 'Russia east-of-the-Urals'.

[davida2]

Another bit of random speculation but Godard's NUMERO DEUX has become one of my favorite Godard's recently and one that I think would fit fairly well into the collection. It would also pair well with ICI ET AILLEURS in a similar fashion to how TOUT VA BIEN and LETTER TO JANE paired with each other.

I haven't seen COMMENT CA VA yet so I'm not sure if the three would make a decent trilogy or not, but as of now NUMERO DEUX and ICI ET AILLEURS would make a nice addition.

Comment Ca Va would be a weird one - a very thought-provoking film, but not very enjoyable; lots of LONG montages of strikers and headlines, intercut with closeups of a woman's fingers (while typing), as a voiceover discourses on the alienation of labor, ownership of the means of production, etc... At the time of my lone viewing of this, I thought it dragged badly in places, and was a little too much like an exercise in deconstruction, but I've never forgotten it, especially his extensive use of found images.

[davida2]

I think something big with Bengal is going to happen. Lately it just seems that a lof of Ray talk has been going on. I think come the end of this year Criterion will proudly present the Apu trilogy in beautifully remastered DVDs. Then I think to finish off the year they are goingto give one very important Hindi director a DVD premiere... Hell, a home video premiere he rightly deserves... Ritwik Ghatak.

I would love to see this - what makes you think so, out of curiosity? In the past I've gotten some definitive 'no''s on both Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, along with the standard "We would like to add an Indian film to the collection, but nothing is certain at this time" response. IMO Ray is probably one of the most glaring omissions from the collection, with Charulata, The Music Room and Mahanagar right up there with the Apu trilogy as potential great additions. I don't see it happening soon though.

Ditto for Ghatak - I've only seen Cloud-Capped Star, which (as the first part of a loose trilogy) only made me want to see more. A very disturbing and bleak film, but also unforgettable, and - in the universe of Indian film at least - a drastic departure from the norm.

Periodically I do re-send the suggestion of these directors; once a year or so just to see what kind of response I get...

[kschell]

William K. Everson has commented that The Loved One is one of the best and most underrated comedies of the 1960s.

Features Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Rod Steiger, Milton Berle, Liberace, James Coburn, John Gielgud, Tab Hunter, Roddy McDowall, and Robert Morley.

And sadly MIA on DVD....

[tryavna]

William K. Everson has commented that The Loved One is one of the best and most underrated comedies of the 1960s.

Features Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Rod Steiger, Milton Berle, Liberace, James Coburn, John Gielgud, Tab Hunter, Roddy McDowall, and Robert Morley.

And sadly MIA on DVD....

Yes, but that one was released by MGM, so Warners almost certainly owns the rights. It also appears periodically on TCM.

[rwaits]

domino harvey wrote:
Made in USA will never be released in the US because the author of the book it's based on refused to sell overseas (read: American) rights.


IMO that's no loss.

Why couldn't, or wouldn't this film be released though? I have never seen it, but certainly want to. I love 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (and there has been speculation of a Criterion release in the past)--it seems to me that this could be one of their most sensible 2-fers, and would definitely make a good companion to Tout va Bien.

[rwaits]

Whoops. Screwed up that post above, but you get the jist.

[justeleblanc]

While it would be nice for Godard to release them both (and it would make sense since they were made at the same time), Made In U.S.A. -- while worth watching -- is a below average Godard-flick. It's his and Karina's last film together and her performance really has no energy. His directing really doesn't have much energy either, it feels like he's shitting out his love for detective films in a rather dull way.... Dull for Godard at least.

Similarly, I doubt Criterion will ever release weak achievments like Lubitsch's Monte Carlo, Cassavetes's Too Late Blues, Altman's HealtH or Sturges's Beautiful Blonde.

But then maybe I'll be proven wrong, at which point I'll change my username to "I Eat Crow."

[analoguezombie]

My graphic design sources, who are often pegged to work on Criterion releases, have dropped a line insinuating that the Seven Samurai reissue, as well as more Fassbinder are on the way quite soon.

[ellipsis7]

Likely to be BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, restored - already!...

[Cinephrenic]

Matt, add this to the list. It was rumored to be underway by Criterion in the Fassbinder foundation newsletter.

http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/en/N ... nglish.pdf

[Mathieu]

I can't seem to bring up the newsletter, which film is mentioned? I've still got my fingers crossed for The Third Generation and World on Wires.

[Cinephrenic]

Try this:
http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/node ... newsletter

[FilmFanSea]

Likely to be BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, restored - already!...

Appears unlikely. From the RW Fassbinder Foundation website:

everyone agrees that Berlin Alexanderplatz is a monumental work of 20th-century film history. Until recently, its future was uncertain. Today, twentyfive years after its premiere, there are no copies of the original film which are in any condition to be shown. Its restoration, co-funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation and the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation, has many similarities to a rescue mission. It will be a gift to movie audiences on the 25th anniversary of the director's death in 2007 when the newly restored film will be presented in all its glory.

[Mathieu]

Try this:
http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/node ... newsletter

Argh, I still can't get it to come up.

[daniel p]

Try this:
http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/node ... newsletter

Argh, I still can't get it to come up.

Mathieu, does the page not load up at all?
If it does, try right clicking the pdf, and save as.

Basically, this is the text about Criterion:

Berlin Alexanderplatz, ein Film in 13 Teilen und einem Epilog (Berlin Alexanderplatz, a film in 13 parts and an epilogue), was produced exclusively using television resources, but for Fassbinder, the 15 1/2 hour serial was above all a film which was intended to be seen on the big screen –with all the parts to be viewed as close together and as coherently as possible. The premiere of the 14 episodes in 7 September 1980 at the Venice International Film Festival was a sensational success, but the first transmission on German television –at one episode a week –shortly thereafter, was to some extent too much of a challenge for the German TV audience. And so, today, Berlin Alexanderplatz is still known as "the dark film" in the memory of many German viewers and in recollected memories – whether seen or only read about. This judgment was also fostered by the huge criticism in the mass media, led by Bildzeitung, at the time still a ruthless publication which quite simply labeled the content and form of the film as "filthy sex out of murky depths". Nobody in Germany learnt of the film's triumphal success through the rest of the world –the premiere in the USA in September 1983 left the streets of New York empty for two whole weeks.

Twenty-five years later, the past hysteria is mere history now. The new presentation, in best quality and with a new technical format, enables a new engagement with the masterpiece, which is now part of cinematic cultural history. The task mainly involved blowing up the 16mm original negative to 35mm and putting the digital WetGate scan taken from the original negative onto HD format, which gives an authentic reproduction of the original lighting created by Fassbinder together with his cameraman Xaver Schwarzenberger; through this standard, it can also be viewed in TV and DVD format. Not only does the Museum of Modern Art wish to get involved, but also the biggest and most aspiring DVD company in the world, the New-York-based Criterion, is keen to acquire Berlin Alexanderplatz in a special edition for its Criterion Collection and the US market. Our French distribution partner Carlotta Films has also declared a serious interest, and we receive e-mails and enquiries every day asking about the DVD edition.

The RWFF has also contacted public institutions with regard to financial support for the restoration, and generated lively interest. We have incurred considerable financial outlay in purchasing the novel
rights by way of initial contribution, we will also provide Fassbinder's own rights to the screenplay and other services of our own, so we hope that our partners too will follow this example.

The total budget for the restoration alone is, according to our internal budget, approx. € 750,000, and this has been covered by us to date at a level of 1/3 of costs. A sum of € 500,000 is still to be financed.
Completion of the project should take place at the end of 2006. Please support us as much as you can: with your encouragement and positive thoughts –and if you wish, also with donations, for which
we can let you have a formal receipt.

[Mathieu]

Thanks for the text, the PDF file wasn't loading properly.

[Cinephrenic]

Re-install the PDF/Adobe plug-in from their site. You might have some problems with your settings or defective files.

[criterionsnob]

I selected "Browse the Collection" on criterion.com this afternoon and it is listing A nos amours (Maurice Pialat, 1983, France) as spine #0.

http://www.criterion.com/asp/browse.asp?sort=spine

[LightBulbFilm]

Mulvaney's response to me in question of any releases from the Indian filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak:

Hi Thomas,
We consider many films and directors, and face many factors in attaining
them I really can't speak to your question, because I can't discuss more
than the allready announced or released films.
Best
JM

I've never gotten a response like this before. It's always been: There are no plans to release anything... So these could be a possibility.