criterionforum.org

The April covers are at the website:

UNE FEMME MARIEE (Godard)
LA GUEULE OUVERTE (Pialat)

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May is TOKYO SONATA on DVD and Blu-ray, and possibly IL GRIDO, but we're not sure yet.

Having been reduced to a slavering loon at the prospect of some decently treated Epstein when can we expect some hints on this please ?

Would Erice's "El Sur" be a possibility in the UK or does someone else holds the rights? It's a shame this film isn't released anywhere on neither R2UK or R1.

I can't say how much I second the Erice suggestion. That this marvellous filmmaker is so poorly represented outside Spain is truly deplorable. He has made only THREE films on top of it, all of which are masterpieces, so actually - rights permitting - it would be easy to come up with some 'The Complete Victor Erice' box set. But at least "El Sur"... c'mon MoC, I'm not even asking for "Sol del Membrillo"

Another vote for EL SUR. Consumer opinions on Amazon/ImdB hint that the Spanish DVD looks like a VHS transfer. Sounds like a new master is needed.

Can you please release Francis Verber's wonderful Three Fugitives? Maybe as a double bill with the original French film (don't know the name).

Cold Bishop wrote:

peerpee wrote:We hear ya re: Epstein. We're currently in Paris, working on the situation!

As long as you're making dreams come true... can you try to dig out Raoul Ruiz's Le Destins de Manoel from the vaults while you're there.

The correct title is Manoel dans l’île des merveilles. "Destins" is the title of the feature version, which may (unless I'm wrong) be only 50 minutes long.

The production company in France only has a 50-minute version, which costs a pretty penny.

The portuguese five-episode version of the film (Aventure au Madeira) is pretty much lost and it would be a miracle if it was ever found. The four-episode series ('merveilles') is out there via a VHS rip made 16 years ago off Australian tv. The original thing is presumed lost/destroyed.

As far as I know, the copy mostly circulates among a select circle of film critics (who aren't terribly eager to share) and their close friends. One of them claims that Ruiz has the very same copy.

I'm pretty close to getting the film, but there's still a few things to iron out...

jaked wrote:

Cold Bishop wrote:

peerpee wrote:We hear ya re: Epstein. We're currently in Paris, working on the situation!

As long as you're making dreams come true... can you try to dig out Raoul Ruiz's Le Destins de Manoel from the vaults while you're there.

The correct title is Manoel dans l’île des merveilles. "Destins" is the title of the feature version, which may (unless I'm wrong) be only 50 minutes long.

The production company in France only has a 50-minute version, which costs a pretty penny.

The portuguese five-episode version of the film (Aventure au Madeira) is pretty much lost and it would be a miracle if it was ever found. The four-episode series ('merveilles') is out there via a VHS rip made 16 years ago off Australian tv. The original thing is presumed lost/destroyed.

As far as I know, the copy mostly circulates among a select circle of film critics (who aren't terribly eager to share) and their close friends. One of them claims that Ruiz has the very same copy.

I'm pretty close to getting the film, but there's still a few things to iron out...

The title, as it comes directly from the terribly-uneager-to-be-shared (? - not everyone has the time or equipment for these things) Australian TV broadcast, is actually:

L'Île aux merveilles de Manoël

ck.

evillights wrote:The title, as it comes directly from the terribly-uneager-to-be-shared (? - not everyone has the time or equipment for these things) Australian TV broadcast, is actually:

L'Île aux merveilles de Manoël.

I'll take your word about the title. I've not seen the film yet.

Stefan Andersson wrote her a couple years ago:

The 2007 resto of Losey´s EVA, some nine minutes longer than the Kino on Video resto, would look great in the MoC line! It showed at the London Film Festival in 2007 but nobody discusses it. The Royal Belgian Cinematheque handled it and told me the restored scenes were in different places in the film, so should contribute to the overall understanding of the film.

A review of the 2007 128-minute cut of Losey's Eva

I believe Kino held the US distribution rights at one time for this title but I'm not sure who holds them now. What are the chances of Masters of Cinema releases the restoration?

The 128 minute version was Losey's forced compromise for the producers after cutting from his original 155 minute cut (but the 128 minute version didn't last long - the producers then cut it down to 119 and ultimately 105). This cut is a restoration taken from different sources, including (I'm assuming) the best materials from the 119 version and another cut that surfaced this decade, along with the 105 minute version.

Peacock wrote:Still shocked that Passion of Joan of Arc isn't out in the UK, think MoC could come up with something tasty

......and in my dreams they'd release a lavish multiple disk Greed

The Danish Film institute has a zone 2 version of the Passion, as well as other films by Dreyer.

Erikht wrote:

Peacock wrote:Still shocked that Passion of Joan of Arc isn't out in the UK, think MoC could come up with something tasty

......and in my dreams they'd release a lavish multiple disk Greed

The Danish Film institute has a zone 2 version of the Passion, as well as other films by Dreyer.

Ahm, I see a lot of Dreyer discs on the site you linked (and they are all absolute must-buys), but there's still no "Jeanne" from the DFI...

Tommaso wrote:Ahm, I see a lot of Dreyer discs on the site you linked (and they are all absolute must-buys), but there's still no "Jeanne" from the DFI...

Blast, I am sure I saw it there. Well, that was a bummer.

Then Artificial eye got the only zone 2 version of this film, i guess.

Erikht wrote:

Tommaso wrote:Ahm, I see a lot of Dreyer discs on the site you linked (and they are all absolute must-buys), but there's still no "Jeanne" from the DFI...

Blast, I am sure I saw it there. Well, that was a bummer.

Then Artificial eye got the only zone 2 version of this film, i guess.

?

Artificial Eye has the Bresson 'Trial of Joan of Arc'.

cheers for the website though there's some very interesting films..

I give up trying to be smart. What do I care, I got a zone free player anyway.

Yeah, it's a nice page. I like what the Danes has started to do with their golden age of silents. I have been looking forward to "A trip to Mars" for quite a while now, and it came in the mail yesterday.

Peacock wrote:

Erikht wrote:

Tommaso wrote:Ahm, I see a lot of Dreyer discs on the site you linked (and they are all absolute must-buys), but there's still no "Jeanne" from the DFI...

Blast, I am sure I saw it there. Well, that was a bummer.

Then Artificial eye got the only zone 2 version of this film, i guess.

?

Artificial Eye has the Bresson 'Trial of Joan of Arc'.

cheers for the website though there's some very interesting films..

I wouldn't be surprised if AE do own Passion for DVD release, they own the theatrical licence last time I checked...

I've emailed MoC for Dreyers Jeanne D'arc.

Apparantly AE owns rights for a dvd release , but they don't respond to mail. So maybe it's coming, my guess is probably not. Otherwise they would've at least mentioned a release in the far future. I mean, it sure is a title a lot of people want to see.

That sucks: buying rights for a film so no other company can release it. And not releasing it yourself.

Well, let's ALL email AE!

AE have also been sitting on Chen Kaige's FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, like, forever. They definitely had the video rights for it and i don't think that someone else has acquired the rights for the film since then.

Re MoC wishlist: just wanted to reiterate my support for more Johnnie To (Sparrow? The Mission? both would be fab) in the collection and a reissue of DER BLAUE ENGEL even if it's not out until late 2011 or 2012.

If more classical Hollywood was possible, I'd vote for licensing some Mitchell Leisen films from Paramount/Universal, especially TO EACH HIS OWN with Olivia DeHavilland. To my knowledge, this hasn't been released in R1 even.

Vanrippestein wrote:I've emailed MoC for Dreyer's Jeanne D'arc.

I don't really understand this desire for Dreyer's "Joan of Arc". There's already an excellent Criterion edition. Many of us hope for MoC to release stuff that's completely new to DVD in the west, like the Ichikawas or Murnau's "Der Brennende Acker".

Or, staying with Dreyer, "The Bride of Glomdal" or "Die Gezeichneten". Nevertheless, an MoC "Jeanne" would be welcome considering the amount of information one could expect from the booklet, if not on-screen extras. Also, I would have nothing against an alternative soundtrack to the Einhorn score (which I like, actually). I'd love to see the film with the new In The Nursery soundtrack, for instance. But I agree completely that other important silents should have priority, and if AE are sitting on the film, any speculation about an MoC edition is futile indeed.

tojoed wrote:

Vanrippestein wrote:I've emailed MoC for Dreyer's Jeanne D'arc.

I don't really understand this desire for Dreyer's "Joan of Arc". There's already an excellent Criterion edition. Many of us hope for MoC to release stuff that's completely new to DVD in the west, like the Ichikawas or Murnau's "Der Brennende Acker".

I'd love to see a release of Dreyer's Jeanne... on Blu-ray. But I don't think it'll be coming from MoC, though I'd loved to be proven wrong and as Tommaso says, that booklet would be superb.

tojoed wrote:

Vanrippestein wrote:I've emailed MoC for Dreyer's Jeanne D'arc.

I don't really understand this desire for Dreyer's "Joan of Arc". There's already an excellent Criterion edition. Many of us hope for MoC to release stuff that's completely new to DVD in the west, like the Ichikawas or Murnau's "Der Brennende Acker".

True, but it would be nice to buy something from an actual store for a change. The Netherlands don't have a lot of dvd import shops. And one of the last closed about a month ago. So an extra release would always be nice. Murnau's are indeed always welcome: Phantom is coming from MoC during Halloween... Der Brennende Acker would be great as well.

tojoed wrote:I don't really understand this desire for Dreyer's "Joan of Arc". There's already an excellent Criterion edition. Many of us hope for MoC to release stuff that's completely new to DVD in the west, like the Ichikawas or Murnau's "Der Brennende Acker".

I agree with you. A multi-zone player is relatively cheap, and it would be idiotic if the high-quality film providers beat each other to death over the same titles,

Considering that Joan of Arc's DVD is ten years old, and the film is not available in the UK, I think this is ample reason for MoC to release it.

Erikht wrote:

tojoed wrote:I don't really understand this desire for Dreyer's "Joan of Arc". There's already an excellent Criterion edition. Many of us hope for MoC to release stuff that's completely new to DVD in the west, like the Ichikawas or Murnau's "Der Brennende Acker".

I agree with you. A multi-zone player is relatively cheap, and it would be idiotic if the high-quality film providers beat each other to death over the same titles,

Multi region players are dirt cheap. Technically they're free, considering everyone has a dvd player (majority are hackable) or a computer (just get VLC media player). But importing criterion dvds isn't. Last time I checked the Joan dvd was c.£20. If MoC released a version it wouldn't be more than £15 and would certainly come down in price, not to mention being able to rent it.

I can't speak for everyone, but I can't afford to import every single film I want to see. I think a region 2 Joan would be welcome for a lot of people.