Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.3

[RyanGallagher]

For what it's worth, regarding the Naked Blu-ray, in the acknowledgments section of the booklet they state:

"Stills courtesy of New Line Cinema"

[Sir Alexander Saxton]

I hear a new Hitchcock is being prepared for Criterion, 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' (1934) I believe.

[movielocke]

I hear a new Hitchcock is being prepared for Criterion, 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' (1934) I believe.

That's funny, I was thinking last night about how there hasn't been a box set all year and that perhaps Criterion would shock everyone by releasing a Hitchcock set in November or December. In my dreams, it'd be a much bigger year end set, in the vein of the New Hollywood set. I know, I know, the three colors are coming, yay, I'd be more excited for a multifilm set of Hitchcock blus though.

It would be amazing if the studios in questioned licensed bluray only and/or boxset only rights to the OOP Hitchcocks to criterion and films like Rebecca and Notorious came back in print for criterion. otoh, it would be less amazing to my wallet which would complain at buying the films yet again.

But even without the OOP Hitchcocks, a Hitchcock in the 30s & 40s or a Hitchcock: From England to America set that covered films from The Man Who Knew Too Much through Foreign Correspondent would be amazing. Hopefully such a set would include blu upgrades of 39 Steps and Lady Vanishes available separately as well.
At the very least, I'm hoping for Lady Vanishes blu upgrade in November alongside another rumored Hitchcock like Foreign Correspondent. Lady Vanishes and Salo are the only two do-over titles that have not been upgraded to Bluray, and we saw in the facebook photo that Salo is getting upgraded next year, so Lady Vanishes should be happening soon as well.

[Finch]

39 Steps has not had a BD upgrade either yet.

[marnum]

39 Steps has not had a BD upgrade either yet.

Please explain.

[Minkin]

39 Steps has not had a BD upgrade either yet.

Please explain.

Other than the UK Region B ITV version that nobody bought, which doesn't relate in any way to the discussion on the possibility of a Hitchcock boxset from Criterion.

[matrixschmatrix]

Yes, but 39 Steps also isn't a reissue- I think the crux of the argument about the Lady Vanishes is that every single other reissued disc has also gotten a BD upgrade, eventually (or will, if the clue about Salo is accurate)

[Gary Gnu]

I was just looking through Woody Allen's filmography, and became somewhat depressed that none of his films are currently represented in the Collection. (Again...) I know that Criterion's been having trouble regaining the rights to his films, but is it likely that they'll acquire any in the near future? (Something on the heels of Midnight in Paris??) Is there some story similar to David Lynch's as to why Criterion's having difficulty regaining the rights?

[Peacock]

Well there's the oft-discussed thing that Allen doesn't like special features and thinks his films should stand on their own. And I doubt Criterion would want to pay the cash for something like Allen without special features. Although a) his viewpoint seems pretty backwards in 2011, so I wouldn't be surprised if it has somewhat relaxed. b) Criterion released The Makioka Sisters with just a trailer recently, so it's possible if that's the only option, that they could do budget releases in a similar manner.

But to be honest I think the reason his films aren't in the collection is down to rights, and a lack of interest in his later, less well received, work.

[Gary Gnu]

All of his early work is certainly deserving of being inducted into the Collection. Over 20 of his movies could "qualify." (Maybe there's just too damn many!!) That is an interesting point about him not being partial to supplements, though. I was actually bringing this up because I was annoyed by the lack of extras on all of his DVDs! I thought it was simply because the distributors just didn't give a crap!!

Have the rights-holders of Allen's films specifically marked his films off limits?? Whenever Criterion strikes a deal with another distributor, there's always the off-limits titles, like Last Tango in Paris and Burn!.

[Der Spieler]

The day Criterion announce a Blu-ray of Manhattan, I will faint.

[Gary Gnu]

The day Criterion announce a Blu-ray of Manhattan, I will faint.

Yep. Manhattan is one of the ones that I really want to see get the Criterion treatment. I'd faint, as well. No one would want to help me up, though; since... It'd just be a huge mess. 8-[

[jwd5275]

Criterion released The Makioka Sisters with just a trailer recently, so it's possible if that's the only option, that they could do budget releases in a similar manner.

...but Makioka Sisters is a Janus property and they didn't have to acquire the US rights to it and the margin for a release to be considered profitable is not cut into by a huge licensing deal. I imagine they wouldn't put out no frills versions of release already readily available on the market at cheap prices with no addition to use as selling point, just to fulfill some abstract ultimate corporate film collection.

[Peacock]

Criterion released The Makioka Sisters with just a trailer recently, so it's possible if that's the only option, that they could do budget releases in a similar manner.

...but Makioka Sisters is a Janus property and they didn't have to acquire the US rights to it and the margin for a release to be considered profitable is not cut into by a huge licensing deal. I imagine they wouldn't put out no frills versions of release already readily available on the market at cheap prices with no addition to use as selling point, just to fulfill some abstract ultimate corporate film collection.

Very true. Well then, unless Allen has changed his mind on supplements (do his newest films have them?), we won't be seeing a Criterion...

[Gary Gnu]

unless Allen has changed his mind on supplements (do his newest films have them?), we won't be seeing a Criterion...

Well, the current transfers of his films aren't very good, anyway. If his films are meant to stand alone, the transfers had better be pretty fucking amazing to compensate for the lack of supplements. Also, his references are often "cryptic." (Clever, but intellectual to an extreme at times.) That's the appeal of his films, but some of the references do go over my head. (Love And Death) I don't see what's so wrong with having a film historian or theorist write an essay explaining some of the references, sources, etc. Woody Allen does research before filming, so why can't the viewer be given some (convenient) resources, as well?? I'd love to hear Woody talk for about a half hour on what the film in question means to him, his reason for making it, etc. Those would be interesting. Still, I wouldn't mind all of that, if the quality of his transfer were spectacular. (Criterion is the place to go for "simulating" the theatre experience.*)

By the way, his most recent film doesn't have supplements. I used to own Vicky Christina Barcelona, and it may have had very minor ones, like a trailer.

* I read that home video just disinterests Allen, so he doesn't care all that much about his transfers. I can respect that ideology to an extent, but I definitely don't like the inconvenience that spurs.

[rrenault]

why is Last Tango in Paris off limits?

[shiftyeyes]

I'd love to see some of Allen's work in the collection especially since the studios seem to have no interest in releasing his films on Blu. Unfortunately, Allen himself has no interest in revisiting his films so it'd be hard to get his approval on new transfers, etc. Still, never say never. There are about a dozen titles Criterion has released or will release that I never dreamed would join the collection.

[Gary Gnu]

why is Last Tango in Paris off limits?

When Criterion was cutting its deal with MGM, MGM explicitly gave a long list of titles that they could not have. Last Tango was sadly one of them. (My favorite movie, too...)

I'd love to see some of Allen's work in the collection especially since the studios seem to have no interest in releasing his films on Blu.

There's been rumors this past year about Woody Allen's films being released on Blu. It's going to happen soon, if you ask me. I wish I had better eyesight, or I'd be trying to decipher that photo from the Criterion Twitter to see if there is a Woody Allen title on there. There's so damn many of them that warrant a spine number!!

[jwd5275]

Whenever Criterion strikes a deal with another distributor, there's always the off-limits titles, like Last Tango in Paris and Burn! ...

why is Last Tango in Paris off limits?

When Criterion was cutting its deal with MGM, MGM explicitly gave a long list of titles that they could not have. Last Tango was sadly one of them.

...but Burn! was not one of those. In fact it is likely one of the MGM titles coming soon.

[knives]

More importantly Heaven's Gate. My opinion will be valid now that a corporation has agreed with me.

[rrenault]

What's the deal with films like Last Year at Marienbad, Le Doulos, and Army of Shadows? I guess they're not going out of print? I don't know why, but I sense it would have happened by now if it was going to. (Knock on wood)

[Gary Gnu]

I'm pretty sure that Burn! might be coming next year, actually.(!) I think it was on the off-limits list at the time of the deal, though. Maybe I'm wrong. I couldn't remember any of the other titles, and remembered seeing Burn! mentioned somewhere on that thread. Heaven's Gate's definitely coming next year. It's featured on one of the pages within the 2012 teaser photo, and has apparently been in the works for over a year now. (Love that movie. I'm so happy for Cimino.)

(Damn you, jwd! I was hoping that no one would call me out on that! )

EDIT: Yup, I was wrong. I probably should have used a David Lynch title as another example.

[Jun-Dai]

unless Allen has changed his mind on supplements (do his newest films have them?), we won't be seeing a Criterion...

Well, the current transfers of his films aren't very good, anyway. If his films are meant to stand alone, the transfers had better be pretty fucking amazing to compensate for the lack of supplements. Also, his references are often "cryptic." (Clever, but intellectual to an extreme at times.) That's the appeal of his films, but some of the references do go over my head. (Love And Death) I don't see what's so wrong with having a film historian or theorist write an essay explaining some of the references, sources, etc. Woody Allen does research before filming, so why can't the viewer be given some (convenient) resources, as well?? I'd love to hear Woody talk for about a half hour on what the film in question means to him, his reason for making it, etc. Those would be interesting. Still, I wouldn't mind all of that, if the quality of his transfer were spectacular. (Criterion is the place to go for "simulating" the theatre experience.*)

By the way, his most recent film doesn't have supplements. I used to own Vicky Christina Barcelona, and it may have had very minor ones, like a trailer.

* I read that home video just disinterests Allen, so he doesn't care all that much about his transfers. I can respect that ideology to an extent, but I definitely don't like the inconvenience that spurs.

My guess is that his films aren't that easy to get, and given that Allen (according to what I've heard, anyways) doesn't really like to talk about or even watch his older films, I wouldn't be surprised that Criterion would feel they have more pressing titles to release.

Or to put it another way, if his films fell into their lap or Allen were interested in working with them, of course Criterion would jump at the chance. But absent either of those scenarios, why would Criterion bother when they have so many other films and people to work with that are happy to be involved and make the release as interesting as possible?

[Gary Gnu]

The rights to his films are definitely (somewhat) hard to acquire. It's true that Woody Allen doesn't care for revisiting his older films, but I'm sure that he's still proud to have made them and would be willing to revisit them. Criterion must not be trying all that hard to acquire the rights to them. I'm also certain that Woody Allen's more approachable than.. um... Louis Malle and Claude Chabrol; whom Criterion have recently gone after. (Please, get Woody to cooperate while he's alive.)

[jwd5275]

I'm also certain that Woody Allen's more approachable than.. um... Louis Malle and Claude Chabrol; whom Criterion have recently gone after.

Once again, most (if not all) of the Malles and Chabrols are Janus properties. Far from something they have 'recently gone after', it is their own back-catalogue finally seeing the light of day. Additionly, these are the first that the films have seen a release since the VHS days, so there is no low cost competion...