criterionforum.org

Peacock wrote:World Cinema Foundation

Seriously, what ever happened to these. Nothing ever panned out?

I hope there are still plans to release them, been waiting for Limite.

An Eclipse set of Marker shorts would be timely.

Perkins Cobb wrote:I love how the August guesses all take the form of "here's my last shot this year at everything they promised and didn't deliver, even though it's twice as many titles as they've ever released in a single month."

At this point we should guess what won't come out in 2012. I say :
Heaven's Gate
King of Comedy
Pasolini's Trilogy of Life
Red River
Wenders' Road Trilogy
Week End

Carlotta released a World Cinema Foundation DVD box set a few months ago, we could get the same on Eclipse here (minus the bonus features, of course). They're currently playing Hanyo in theaters.

I'm sure this 'delayed' set is something unsurprising; Qatsi, WCF, Trilogy of Life (? They have had the rights for years so it might fall under that definition), or even the Wenders (face it, they tend to tease and hint about the most obvious titles the most nowadays, a 3 month delay could count to them here)

Last I heard about the WCF set was that thing they said in a reply on Facebook ages ago that there was a hold up, and not on their end... and this came a few months after that interview online with Kent Jones where he mentioned working on a WCF boxset with Criterion.

So it would be surprising if they completely dropped the project.

I personally figured it would be a mainline Blu and DVD set, maybe a Volume 1, with Volume 2 and 3 in the distant future relegated to Eclipse with more less well known titles...

See, A Brighter Summers Day and The Housemaid would likely be among the first of the WCF titles they release and I imagine they would get Blus no? I guess they could just make a couple of Eclipse sets and a couple of mainline individual films (maybe a $30 in there as well).

Would Kent Jones really talk about working on a WCF boxset if it was an Eclipse set with existing restored masters already in existence and no special features?

My Dream Eclipse Set: Late Powell & Pressburger, containing "The Elusive Pimpernel", "Gone to Earth", "Oh...Rosalinda!" and "Honeymoon".

Can't quite imagine A Brighter Summer Day relegated to Eclipse. You would think they would be prouder to have released this title.

feihong wrote:Can't quite imagine A Brighter Summer Day relegated to Eclipse. You would think they would be prouder to have released this title.

:-k

*picks up nearby Eclipse package, turns over to mission statement on back*

"Eclipse is an ongoing series of films we are ashamed and embarrassed to find in our catalog. Released only to fulfill contractual obligation, we recommend that you never watch them."

Huh. Never noticed that before.

Predictions:

*Wim Wenders Box
*On the Waterfront
*Weekend
Tokyo Story
Rashomon
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

DATED AUGUST 7th via [email protected] (feel free to of course move to the appropriate thread, i just saw the other discussion)

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for your email.

Right now we're working with various distributors around the world to get our films to market as soon as possible. In the US we're working with the Criterion Collection to release our films and hope to see them commercially available sometime within the next 1-2 years.

However, we do not own the rights to A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY. We're hopeful that this film will be released but it's out of our hands for the time being and so unfortunately there are no current plans for a release.

Hope this helps, and thanks for your patience!

Best,

Shira Peltzman

I think we had kind of puzzled that out on our own about A Brighter Summer Day, but it does beg the question of how exceptional its status is. Does the WCF have home video rights for all, most, any of the other films it has restored? If it's just a sort of marketing hook / organizing principle and the films all have to be secured from different rightsholders around the world, then no wonder it's taking Criterion forever.

Anyway, very glad I caught the Yang film at FSLC last year instead of shrugging it off as a future Criterion, which I almost did.

I think it's the Central Pictures Corporation that own the rights to A Brighter Summer Day (they seem to think they do anyway). I'm not sure the World Cinema Foundation own the rights to any of 'their' titles.

Thought I'd share this. Criterion responded to one of the posts on their Facebook page, asking for a hint.

Criterion Collection Facebook Page wrote:Here's a hint: A film from 1950 will be getting a Blu-ray upgrade.

My guess is it's going to be Rashomon. Thoughts?

It has to be that, La Ronde, the Furies, Variety Lights (did they actually lose the lights to that one or just put it quietly out of print because the Essential Art House version bettered it?), Les Enfants Terribles, or The Flowers of St. Francis. I just bought a copy of The Furies, so I'm guessing that one.

There's also Night and the City, which naturally would be upgraded along with Thieves' Highway.

Given the restoration of Rashomon toured by Janus was a few years back, I'd say a new Blu edition is overdue. But, like matrix, I bought The Furies during the last B & N sale, so it's likely that!

Probably Rashomon, since that's the one I'd like to see upgraded the least out of all the films mentioned above.

Please please be Rashomon. The Film Foundation restoration is gorgeous. How about also giving us the equally gorgeous restoration of Tokyo Story, to make up for the wait??

med wrote:Given the restoration of Rashomon toured by Janus was a few years back, I'd say a new Blu edition is overdue. But, like matrix, I bought The Furies during the last B & N sale, so it's likely that!

Would you gentlemen like me to post the material on the false cause fallacy from my logic text here? Oh, and at the risk of sounding like a complete jackass, can we all agree to stop misusing the term 'begs the question'?

As for predictions, mine are once again based on little if anything but random speculation. I'll go for a big month, consisting of:

Pasolini's Trilogy of Life (I've been guessing this for months on end now...)
On the Waterfront
A Man Escaped
The Trial of Joan of Arc
Rashomon Blu
I am Curious set Blu

Eclipse of films by Diane Kurys, which will include the long awaited Cocktail Molotov, but more importantly someday give us the one-two combination of her Peppermint Soda and Carlos Saura's Peppermint Frappé.

Criterion is due for its yearly Kurosawa fix, it's been since July of 2011 since they released anything...

bamwc2 wrote:Would you gentlemen like me to post the material on the false cause fallacy from my logic text here? Oh, and at the risk of sounding like a complete jackass, can we all agree to stop misusing the term 'begs the question'?

You do realize that literally nobody believes there is actually a causal relationship involved here, right

I did and now my world's completely shattered.

"I just paid a lot of money for another edition of something = Criterion will release its own edition soon" is not that much more of a leap in logic than that informing most of the other predictions in this thread. Which begs the question, why can't I find a good meatball sandwich anywhere locally anymore?

matrixschmatrix wrote:

bamwc2 wrote:Would you gentlemen like me to post the material on the false cause fallacy from my logic text here? Oh, and at the risk of sounding like a complete jackass, can we all agree to stop misusing the term 'begs the question'?

You do realize that literally nobody believes there is actually a causal relationship involved here, right

Yes, I understood. I suppose that it was an ill-fated attempt at humor, hence the emoticon.