On Five: Criterion Collection Blog

[keeproductions]

Paid 40 bucks for mine in 1999, I wonder what's the window to still get 400 for it before the word gets out???

[Gigi M.]

I wonder how many people here paid that absurd amount of money for the first release.

I'm wondering how many people paid an absurd amount of money for a 'genuine' bootleg of the first release.

Even better.

[skuhn8]

Paid 40 bucks for mine in 1999, I wonder what's the window to still get 400 for it before the word gets out???

Sell ASAP obviously. When the new one comes out the old won't be worth squat. Crappy quality DVD to begin with.

[Gigi M.]

Paid 40 bucks for mine in 1999, I wonder what's the window to still get 400 for it before the word gets out???

Sell ASAP obviously. When the new one comes out the old won't be worth squat. Crappy quality DVD to begin with.

Yeah, look for how much the older version of Playtime is selling for. Sell now.

[justeleblanc]

Paid 40 bucks for mine in 1999, I wonder what's the window to still get 400 for it before the word gets out???

Sell ASAP obviously. When the new one comes out the old won't be worth squat. Crappy quality DVD to begin with.

Yeah, look for how much the older version of Playtime is selling for. Sell now.

I bet you can sell a bootleg for over 60. I did.

[Kristoffer4]

I am hoping for a rerelease of Alphaville and a release of Vivre sa vie

[jbeall]

I am hoping for a rerelease of Alphaville and a release of Vivre sa vie

I'm with you there! I've been waiting for a re-release of Alphaville, and now that I know they have "around two dozen" films" in need of upgrades, I'm hoping (assuming, really...) that Alphaville will be one of them. All my friends are under strict orders NOT to buy Alphaville for me for Xmas.

As for Vivre sa vie, doesn't Fox/Lorber own the rights to that dvd. I watched it and was unimpressed with the overall dvd (although I liked the film). It'd be great if criterion put this one out, but can they get the rights?

[godardslave]

I hope that none of you punk-ass kids respond to their openness and generosity by flooding their inboxes with odes to Bottle Rocket and The Game.

Speaking of which, Jon, (because you said you read us) may be you can quell the clamor by giving us your Salo-like definitive answer on the status of aforementioned mini-masterpieces in your next blog entry. Thank you.

all he said was "we do check the forums". That could refer to any of hundreds of internet dvd or cinema forums. He mentioned none by name.

[Cinephrenic]

For the very few of you who have written that you'll never buy another Criterion disc with the new logo, I think you're missing some great movies.

I want to know who these idiots are???

[Napier]

Easy Cinephrenic, they ARE idiots.

[a.khan]

I would very much like remasters and boost of supplements on "The Walkabout" and "The Lady Vanishes."

[ianungstad]

Definitly WALKABOUT. I loved the movie, was very unimpressed by the DVD. I held out when they did the Roeg films last year, hoping maybe that they would have recorded some footage for a future remaster...we'll see...

[Napoleon]

It is so far unprecedented for them to re-release a disc that has a decent anamorphic transfer of the fill-length film, so that leaves:

High and Low, Diabolique, Cleo From 9 to 5, Kwaiden, Autumn Sonata, Walkabout, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Seventh Seal (acceptable, but can be improved, and I suspect that this is a big, big film as far the cc are concerned), Rublev, The 2 early Suzukis, Black Narcissus (good at the time but since eclipsed), Nights Of Cabiria, Salo, *Naked Kiss, *Schock Corridor.

If cc gave my the choice of which I'd most like to be given a super-duper re-release I'd go for for Walkabout, Rublev and Cleo (well actually I'd go for Red Shoes, Blimp and Peeping Tom, but I'm not sure that good masters exist for these just yet, so they don't enter the equation).


*Forget this two.

[Le Samouraï]

Well, I might be the only one, but I am really thrilled by the possibility of a re-release of Shock Corridor. It is one of those small gems that makes the collection interesting for me. A remastered nympho ward? Count me in!

[fdm]

My reissue preference would be for the non-anamorphic 2.35:1 (approx) titles to get the treatment first. Quite annoying having to watch one of these in 4:3 mode on a widescreen TV because the subtitles aren't readable otherwise.

So, for me: Andrei Rublev, Branded To Kill, High And Low, Tokyo Drifter

Sanjuro and Yojimbo are about to be saved.

[mezcla]

My reissue preference would be for the non-anamorphic 2.35:1 (approx) titles to get the treatment first. Quite annoying having to watch one of these in 4:3 mode on a widescreen TV because the subtitles aren't readable otherwise.

agreed. i have a 30" 16:9 tv and having to watch these in 4x3 mode makes me lose a lot of screen space. i have put off watching yojimbo and sanjuro for that very reason.

[MichaelB]

Andrei Rublev seems to be the most urgent of these - not least because neither version has had a truly satisfying DVD release yet!

And a definitive edition really needs to include both cuts, as there's no consensus on which is the best version. The 205-minute cut came first, and Tarkovsky made the 185-minute cut under some duress - but it's also undoubtedly true that several sequences in the shorter cut feel tighter and flow more effectively. Put it like this: I'm glad to have had the chance to see the longer version, but if I personally had to choose just one, it would be the later cut.

(The 140-minute cut can be quietly brushed under the carpet - I don't think anyone wants to see that abomination revived!)

[Matt]

Hey, folks. What say we move our random speculation to the... oh, I dunno... random speculation thread?

[Morbii]

I hope that none of you punk-ass kids respond to their openness and generosity by flooding their inboxes with odes to Bottle Rocket and The Game.

Speaking of which, Jon, (because you said you read us) may be you can quell the clamor by giving us your Salo-like definitive answer on the status of aforementioned mini-masterpieces in your next blog entry. Thank you.

all he said was "we do check the forums". That could refer to any of hundreds of internet dvd or cinema forums. He mentioned none by name.

I found out about these forums from him...

[godardslave]

I found out about these forums from him...

i dont quite understand what you mean. from who?

[Napoleon]

Mulvaney?

[Matt]

all he said was "we do check the forums". That could refer to any of hundreds of internet dvd or cinema forums. He mentioned none by name.

Yeah, those hundreds of forums that talk about Criterion discs.

[Cinesimilitude]

This is semi-unrelated, but I googled "criterion forum" and we came up first (with .com a few results after), but one of the other results was interesting...

This thread makes me laugh.

[godardslave]

This is semi-unrelated, but I googled "criterion forum" and we came up first (with .com a few results after), but one of the other results was interesting...

This thread makes me laugh.

from 1st post:

Pretty interesting & informed, if often a little stuffy, group of people post there on a regular basis

A disturbingly accurate summary of our forum!

[colinr0380]

from 1st post:

Pretty interesting & informed, if often a little stuffy, group of people post there on a regular basis

A disturbingly accurate summary of our forum!

The only real problem is when people start being asshats and have to be slapped around a bit.

I agree with godardslave - they seem to know our characters quite well!