Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 4

[Matt]

I'm as shocked as you that you got such a forthright response. Before Facebook and Twitter and the Criterion email newsletter, it was actually pretty common for people to get news like that out of a Mulvaney. So much so that we had a dedicated thread for "Mail from Mulvaney." Then Criterion closed the iron door on everybody and stopped telling anyone what was coming up except for hinting with cryptic drawings.

[triodelover]

Then Criterion closed the iron door ...

Heh,heh. One of my all-time favorite performances from The Great Profile.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I'm as shocked as you that you got such a forthright response. Before Facebook and Twitter and the Criterion email newsletter, it was actually pretty common for people to get news like that out of a Mulvaney. So much so that we had a dedicated thread for "Mail from Mulvaney." Then Criterion closed the iron door on everybody and stopped telling anyone what was coming up except for hinting with cryptic drawings.

I really miss those days before they were bombarded with lots of "When is Pulp Fiction coming out?" type questions on their Facebook timeline. I'll never forget my excitement when Mulvaney replied to my e-mail years ago to confirm that David Mamet's Homicide was in the works. Did Criterion always have this crazy fanboy cult it has now on the Facebook page? I remember when I discovered the label when I was in my early teens, it didn't seem to have the type of following it has now.

Anyway, I'm sure those people browse this site and they will start e-mail Criterion again after this response. #-o

[Matt]

Did Criterion always have this crazy fanboy cult it has now on the Facebook page?

There's always been that element since the DVD era, but we've tried to tamp it down as much as possible here. It flourished a little more on the defunct CriterionDVD.com forums. Facebook is just a whole other monster of its own.

[mfunk9786]

The Blu-ray.com forums have spawned a weird cult of collectors that'll buy films that they have no intention of watching because of the packaging, slipcovers, steelbooks, etc - and some of the folks on there extend that logic to Criterion Blu-ray releases.

[captveg]

The Blu-ray.com forums have spawned a weird cult of collectors that'll buy films that they have no intention of watching because of the packaging, slipcovers, steelbooks, etc - and some of the folks on there extend that logic to Criterion Blu-ray releases.

Indeed. The Slipcover Fetish is quite extreme. I love revealing every once in a great while that my own quickly make it to the garbage bin. Every bit of shelf space I can gain is a plus.

[warren oates]

The Slipcover Fetish is quite extreme. I love revealing every once in a great while that my own quickly make it to the garbage bin. Every bit of shelf space I can gain is a plus.

Couldn't agree more. Some people treat slipcovers as if they were HB bookcovers, which is weird to me as I'm a bit of bibliophile (Brodart, etc.)., and it's the rare slipcover that even tries to look different from the case art or special in some other way (some of the Arrow UK releases, the original pressing of The Dark Knight or The Ring), and I've happily tossed most of those too.

[bamwc2]

I'm as shocked as you that you got such a forthright response. Before Facebook and Twitter and the Criterion email newsletter, it was actually pretty common for people to get news like that out of a Mulvaney. So much so that we had a dedicated thread for "Mail from Mulvaney." Then Criterion closed the iron door on everybody and stopped telling anyone what was coming up except for hinting with cryptic drawings.

Back during my undergraduate days (slightly before and after the dawn of the new millennium), I probably bombarded Mulvaney with dozens of emails like that one. Some of the responses I got were pretty rote, along the lines of "We'd love to release that, but no longer have the rights" (I used to beg for a heck of a lot of LDs to come to DVD), but would occasionally get lengthier and more personal responses. In the latter category, Jon would go off talking about why he loved a particular film. Two questions that I remember particularly well were when I asked him about the rumored pick up of Fat Girl and the non-rumored Faith Trilogy by Bergman. He denied any work on either at the time, but sent me responses on why he thought that they were worth looking into. About a year or two after those messages, both were released. I used to feel so powerful back then.

[Askew]

With the BFI releasing Jour de Fete and Mon Oncle in October, I wouldn't be surprised to see Criterion upgrade their Tati's by the end of the year.

[scoundrel]

Hmm, according to the Studio Canal thread below, Criterion's rights for the Tatis are about to go adieu.

[jwd5275]

Hmm, according to the Studio Canal thread below, Criterion's rights for the Tatis are about to go adieu.

...maybe not quite yet.
Truth is we don't know length of their current contracts on those Tatis ...or for that matter, on a couple of others like Last Year at Marienbad, Mafioso, Native Land, as well as five of the in print Melvilles. This likely explains the rush to release Leon Morin and upgrade Army of Shadows and Le cercle rouge to blu within the span of a single year. The best case scenario would be for them to do the same with releases of Jour de fete and Parade, as well as the upgrades of Hulot's Holiday and Mon Oncle.

[feihong]

I never thought about how intense a crunch it was with all those Melvilles at the same time. It was welcome, but also pretty intense. Still, I wonder if they plan on getting to Le Samourai any time soon. It's a separate license, isn't it?

[thelberg]

I believe that Le Samouri is coming. Proof:

hey @Criterion this on blu ray please http://twitpic.com/a3hvyj" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sit tight...

[feihong]

That's great. That gives me shivers.

[perkizitore]

I really hope they upgrade Le Samurai and Brazil in 2012, they are my most anticipated Criterion upgrades!

[Finch]

Barring a L'Enfance Nue cock-up, Crit's Le Samourai BD will banish lingering memories of Pathe's shoddy French disc.

[duck duck]

Re: Jon giving direct responses
Remember the brief era of Tamara who would tell you damn near anything?

[feihong]

Barring a L'Enfance Nue cock-up, Crit's Le Samourai BD will banish lingering memories of Pathe's shoddy French disc.

Yeah, that thing is a nightmare. Since it's the only blu-ray of the film I know of, it's a persistent nightmare. If Criterion throws it's hat into the ring the Pathe disc will just creep away into legend.

[TMDaines]

Barring a L'Enfance Nue cock-up, Crit's Le Samourai BD will banish lingering memories of Pathe's shoddy French disc.

People trashed the non-US releases of The 39 Steps and Welt am Draht in the past, which were both considered poor, and then kept their mouth shut when the Criterions didn't exactly deliver too much more.

[matrixschmatrix]

Who did that? Who are you talking about? Criterion's 39 Steps is from the same source as the ITV, so a lot of the print damage is the same, but it's double the bitrate and a significantly better transfer overall. Tooze thought the French blu of World on a Wire was fantastic for a 16mm source.

At any rate, the current Le Samourai blu is shitty because it's absurdly over DNR'd, not because of weak source material, and there's no reason to think Criterion would repeat that mistake (nor a conspiracy to claim that Criterion's great when it's awful.)

[fdm]

The big difference/improvement between the Welt Am Draht discs is that the French disc had most of the grain sucked out of it, and Criterion's did not. Don't recall reading any complaints about Criterion's version, aside from yours (TMDaines).

[feihong]

In both cases Criterion delivered far superior picture quality as compared to the previous editions. Not sure if you've seen captures of the Le Samourai Pathe disc, but Criterion could hardly fail to improve upon it. There's a lot of sharpness and detail in Le Samourai that could emerge in a well-done blu-ray edition.

[zedz]

I've only seen the Beaver screencaps of the French World on a Wire, but it looked like a complete disaster due to excessive filtering and processing, to the point where basic visual information was scrambled (even to the extent of objects behind characters being grafted to their skin). Criterion's transfer simply looks like it comes from an extremely grainy 16mm source. Which it does.

[knives]

I'm going to abuse the random part of the header right now, but is it safe to assume that Criterion will never in a million years release any of the films Donald Richie directed even the ones in that Japanese set?

[captveg]

November predictions:

Foreign Correspondent (BD & DVD)
Pasolini's Trilogy of Life (BD & DVD)
On the Waterfront (BD & DVD)
Red River (BD & DVD)
Wild Strawberries (BD upgrade)
Y tu mamá también (BD & DVD)