Criterion U.K.

[TMDaines]

I would admire them for not releasing it. Not in favour of getting cut releases. I know legally it would have to be cut, but I find cutting works to pretend that animals weren’t harmed is morally suspect. It’s like eating meat and running one hundred miles-an-hour in the other direction when confronted by farming and processing practices.

[KJones77]

I would admire them for not releasing it. Not in favour of getting cut releases. I know legally it would have to be cut, but I find cutting works to pretend that animals weren’t harmed is morally suspect. It’s like eating meat and running one hundred miles-an-hour in the other direction when confronted by farming and processing practices.

You can feel that way about cuts and still think Criterion should be admonished here.

They knew this would happen. The law hasn't changed and the horse falls in War and Peace were known. Yet, they got the rights and stupidly tried to release the film. They did this exact thing with Andrei Rublev last year, only to hit the same road block. The fact they didn't learn is embarrassing. It just further underscores Criterion's ignorance of the UK market. It is a shame great films like War and Peace wound up with them in the UK, as another UK label could've released it instead.

[swo17]

Perhaps they didn't realize that horse falls would be treated the same as the onscreen death of a horse?

Your last sentence raises an interesting point--since they have just decided not to release it in the UK, does this leave another company to snap up the rights?

I guess I feel for you if you're region-locked, but not if you're just opposed to paying a premium to import the Criterion.

[Jonathan S]

Perhaps they didn't realize that horse falls would be treated the same as the onscreen death of a horse?

If they didn't realise that (certain types of) horse falls have always been treated the same under the 1937 Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act, Criterion can't have bothered to perform even the most cursory research before entering the UK market. Any well-informed film professional (or collector) in the UK knows that. The BBFC website confirms such horse falls are among the most common cuts they are forced to make by the law - and indeed their site also indicates that previous UK video releases of War and Peace were cut by the BBFC or apparently pre-cut by the distributor.

[swo17]

I never claimed they did any research! Just speculating how they wouldn't have learned their lesson after Andrei Rublev

[Jonathan S]

And I didn't claim or imply you claimed they did. I'm only commenting, as others have done, on Criterion's sloppy, hit-or-miss approach to the UK market.

[mistakaninja]

I suspect Criterion have very little to do with the UK operation. Probably only came about because of the distribution tie-up with Sony and is handled on the side by a one man band at Sony UK.

[MichaelB]

I’m under this impression too. The kind of changes required here are very simple to make at the authoring end, but much less so if you only have access to final encodes.

[dwk]

August 2019 releases:
Kiss Me Deadly
Klute
Do the Right Thing

[rapta]

Great lineup for August. In for Klute for sure, and tempted by the other two - though I might skip Do the Right Thing for the time being if it's £25.99 as all digipack titles have been for the UK!

[DavyGallagher]

Good lineup but it's clear by now - and pretty much since day 1- that Criterion UK is a joke, and they just release whatever they have rights to in a very haphazard fashion, regardless of the territory's tastes or the law of the land. This is the company that used Burroughs as a launch title after all. A fine doc, but not exactly how you'd announce your arrival as the king of the American boutique labels coming to take on the UK.

I kinda suspect its one guy who just has a list of what they have rights to and he just takes the top 3 each month. There's no curation at hand.

[Finch]

Well, after the fiascos with Rublev and now War & Peace, you'd hope that said person has an email printout from Mr Becker attached to their office monitor saying "(1) check that no one else has the rights in the UK and (2) do your selections have any actual animal cruelty in them? if yes to either or both questions, pick something else".

[FrauBlucher]

Isn't Sony UK as much to blame. After all they're the distributor and know much more about the UK market than Criterion.

[reaky]

Well, after the fiascos with Rublev and now War & Peace, you'd hope that said person has an email printout from Mr Becker attached to their office monitor saying "(1) check that no one else has the rights in the UK and (2) do your selections have any actual animal cruelty in them? if yes to either or both questions, pick something else".

(3) “Is there already a release on the market?” (cf Les Diaboliques and For All Mankind).

[dwk]

Scratch that, it appears Amazon UK listings are for the US releases.

[dwk]

Ok it appears that the September titles are
The Koker Trilogy
Shock Corridor
The Naked Kiss

[Billy Beta]

Thank God I read this...was going to order Koker from the B&N Sale this morning....

[Matt]

Thank God I read this...was going to order Koker from the B&N Sale this morning....

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but it's not eligible for the sale because it comes out after the sale ends.

[swo17]

Some were thinking they might be able to "ship to home" it for 50% off, which has worked before for some titles like the Olympics set a month before it came out

[Matt]

You kids and your wacky schemes

[swo17]

Where Is the Friend's Home So I Can Order It Shipped There for 50% Off Two Months Before Street Date

[Apperson]

Forthcoming releases:

Polyester- October 14th
Eating Raoul- October 21st
The Before Trilogy- October 28th

[rapta]

Great news they finally managed to secure The Before Trilogy for here. I imagine it helped they were talking to Dogwoof regarding The Eyes of Orson Welles for the US/Canada, and either licensed Dream is Destiny from them or bought the rights. Dogwoof never even released the doc on DVD so I doubt they had much faith in its appeal beyond a Blu-ray release such as this. Eating Raoul has my interest too but might wait 'til a sale.

I'm hoping we get Matewan in November/December, as well as the recent Ozu and Ritwik at some point. I assume the rights to latter are no longer with BFI, so there's a chance Criterion will port it here. I'm also going to go out on a limb and assume a UK label (MoC, Indicator, Arrow Academy) have a Douglas Sirk set in the works, explaining the lack of Magnificent Obsession being ported over.

PS: Frustrating we haven't had some of the best Warner Bros titles released here yet. Barry Lyndon won't be 'til next year at the earliest now thanks to WB's decision to release it as an HMV exclusive, but I was hoping they'd have the sense to hand over titles like Being There, Blow-Up, Lost in America, The Asphalt Jungle, They Live By Night and The Breaking Point to Criterion UK. I suppose with Badlands being ported we could see McCabe & Mrs. Miller and My Own Private Idaho appear soon too (the latter apparently having worse encoding than the HMV edition).

[kidc]

Hmm, Polyester but no Female Trouble? Could there be a rights issue with FT?

[L.A.]

I’m hoping for Three Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg. If by some miracle...