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david hare wrote:Underworld, Docks of NY and Last Command are likely for August or September, and in Blu Ray.

Probably not in Blu-ray. I would love to be wrong though.

I think I just crapped me pants. But now I don't know what to expect - an Eclipse set w/ decent transfers of ok prints w/ a page of notes for each film & a few jaunty tunes by Mr. Sosin OR maybe a Blu box w/ all that such a thing might entail. I'm either going to be bursting at the seams or crying in my pillow come August (or September).

Even if they put the box on the mainline, in a lavish edition, on Blu, there's still an 96% chance that all the music will be tinkly bland piano by Sosin.

I know he's Swedish, and his music is not, uh, GERMANIC or anything - but someone other than the Swedes need to take advantage of Matti Bye.

Cinephrenic wrote:

david hare wrote:Underworld, Docks of NY and Last Command are likely for August or September, and in Blu Ray.

Probably not in Blu-ray. I would love to me wrong though.

They haven't released any silents on Blu-ray, whereas Kino and MoC have. Maybe it's time to catch up?

According to a post on another forum, today's New York Times specifies August 10 as the date for Criterion's von Sternberg silents collection.

^^^ Yep, last page. Here's the relevant portion of the Times' DVD summer preview:

Criterion continues its season of releases on Aug. 10 with a collection of Josef von Sternberg silents, including “The Last Command” and “Underworld.”

And on Sept. 7 comes the bats-in-the-belfry Japanese horror film “House,” guaranteed to turn any day into Halloween.

When the Times publishes specific dates like this you can usually take this info to the bank... the blood bank! 8-[

Has there been any word about the likelihood of House being issued in Blu-ray? I would think it unlikely, but...

Davidspector wrote:Has there been any word about the likelihood of House being issued in Blu-ray? I would think it unlikely, but...

I would say it's extremely likely (in fact, I'll be rather annoyed if they don't). It has a huge cult following.

It would have a huge cult following, but it is unknown. I think most of use just learned the name when Criterion first announced it.

Do you guys think criterion will release Franju's Nuits rouge? I'm thinking strongly of just getting MOC's double pack of it.

mteller wrote:

Davidspector wrote:Has there been any word about the likelihood of House being issued in Blu-ray? I would think it unlikely, but...

I would say it's extremely likely (in fact, I'll be rather annoyed if they don't). It has a huge cult following.

I think it depends on whether they're using the same source as MoC. MoC are fervently pro-Blu, but they chose not to go with it in this instance, which suggests the available transfer was not up to it.

zedz wrote:I think it depends on whether they're using the same source as MoC. MoC are fervently pro-Blu, but they chose not to go with it in this instance, which suggests the available transfer was not up to it.

MoC used the Toho restoration from 2001, which is not a high-def master. Criterion did their own high-def transfer with their usual digital tweaks. Based on the 35mm print I saw, it's not going to look exactly pristine, but they do have the materials to go Blu and make it look as good as possible. I would be very surprised if they don't offer a Blu-ray.

Jeff wrote:Criterion did their own high-def transfer with their usual digital tweaks. Based on the 35mm print I saw, it's not going to look exactly pristine, but they do have the materials to go Blu and make it look as good as possible. I would be very surprised if they don't offer a Blu-ray.

Or, given that this movie is the very definition of movie geek fanboyism (featuring nubile Japanese giggling young girls to boot), I would be surprised if Criterion didn't release a DVD first and then a BD later (6 months to a year) hoping for the diehards to gladly (and profitably) double-dip.

dad1153 wrote:Or, given that this movie is the very definition of movie geek fanboyism (featuring nubile Japanese giggling young girls to boot), I would be surprised if Criterion didn't release a DVD first and then a BD later (6 months to a year) hoping for the diehards to gladly (and profitably) double-dip.

Except that Criterion doesn't have a track record of doing this at all...

No, they'd never do that, but they're certainly going to release a Blu-ray. The crowds at the two showings I've been to and hype from those that would otherwise seem disinterested in art house cinema (well, it's Janus-distributed) is incredible. I'd like to see some numbers on the House tours (two prints, I think?) versus other recently toured canonical stuff like Rashomon.

Mikos Stenopolis wrote:Do you guys think criterion will release Franju's Nuits rouge? I'm thinking strongly of just getting MOC's double pack of it.

I doubt it. Even if they did, MOC's edition is hard to beat. The booklet is a treat and I'm sure it'd go on sale on their site soon again.

Flike wrote:I'd like to see some numbers on the House tours (two prints, I think?) versus other recently toured canonical stuff like Rashomon.

Not complete, but it's all you're going to get:
House
Rashomon
Dillinger is Dead
Red Balloon
...and others

Take these tidbits with a grain:

Hausu- September 7th
Source: http://criterioncast.com/2010/05/03/new ... ase%20Date" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Via: NY Times

[Criterion continues its season of releases on Aug. 10 with a collection of Josef von Sternberg silents, including “The Last Command” and “Underworld.”]
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/movie ... 2stag.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks to kndy at blu-ray.com for the last item.

Thanks for the link to the Amazon pre-order page for The Thin Red Line, but that information from the New York Times has already been posted twice before in this thread (and I deleted a third attempt to post it just a couple of hours ago).

Thanks, Matt. I think it's done extremely well, comparatively. Criterion and Janus have marketed it very intelligently.

On its Facebook page, the Criterion Collection links to the NY Times story on the Von Sternberg set in August, saying "Somebody let the cat out of the bag!" Guess we can call that a confirmation.

dad1153 wrote:

Jeff wrote:Criterion did their own high-def transfer with their usual digital tweaks. Based on the 35mm print I saw, it's not going to look exactly pristine, but they do have the materials to go Blu and make it look as good as possible. I would be very surprised if they don't offer a Blu-ray.

Or, given that this movie is the very definition of movie geek fanboyism (featuring nubile Japanese giggling young girls to boot), I would be surprised if Criterion didn't release a DVD first and then a BD later (6 months to a year) hoping for the diehards to gladly (and profitably) double-dip.

yes. because they do that ALL the time.

September 7th is mine and LQ's birthday, and I can't really think of a better gift than a brand new Blu-Ray of Hausu [and the Larry Sanders Show complete series!] coming out on the same day. I might not leave the house until October.

buskeat wrote:On its Facebook page, the Criterion Collection links to the NY Times story on the Von Sternberg set in August, saying "Somebody let the cat out of the bag!" Guess we can call that a confirmation.

now we just wait to see if it's eclipse or a full blown set a la The War Trilogy. any guesses? opinion on the fb post seems to be the latter, while I always figured it for eclipse because of their lack of enthusiasm for silents. It will be interesting to see what they do with them.

August for the Malick is much sooner than expected but if true I won't be complaining. Would be quite a summer line-up with the Sternbergs thrown in for good measure. If it's a mainline release, it might be a boxset like the Antoine Doinel collection.