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Hitchcock has high name recognition and is probably about the easiest director in the world to get a commentary for (seriously, there must be like five thousand Hitch scholars out there)- plus, Sabotage and so forth actually have extant commentaries from the Premier collection release. Plus they can always slap more of his Truffaut interview on there. Heavily feature-laden releases are a no-brainer.

There's only so much to be done for the silents. If they can get Blackmail at least they have a commentary for that from the laserdisc.

Extras relating to the restoration, [insert facebook friendly name] talking pieces, and commentaries are easy filler.

Criterion answered one of the great mysteries of our time. On facebook, they were asked:

Didier Rochefort wrote:Is it true that Criterion boss - Peter Becker- doesn't fancy Werner Herzog? Is it because Herzog is a German?

and they answered:

The Criterion Collection wrote:Crazy talk. just haven't had the opportunity to work with him yet, except on the late Les Blank's amazing Burden of Dreams.

The second part of that question is stupid bordering on the offensive. Criterion has done plenty of German films lately.

Gregory wrote:The second part of that question is stupid bordering on the offensive. Criterion has done plenty of German films lately.

That's Didier for ya. Guy's a jerk, occasionally trolling Criterion's facebook page, either suggesting for ridiculous films like Battlefield Earth, or criticizing them for not releasing The Devils. Every so often, he asks something serious like in this case, albeit in his usual asshole manner.

chatterjees wrote:An eclipse set with those films (with available HD masters) will not be a great idea!!! I am sure CC knows their business well and realizes that any Hitch film on blu will sale like hot cake. A box set with all the early Hitch films would make much better sense (I wouldn't mind including Foreign Correspondent in that set). It seems that the HD versions of other early Hitch films (silent ones) are still available from Lionsgate @iTunes!!!

Not just available HD masters, but expensive frame-by-frame restorations created by one of Criterion's regular collaborators. It's simply not credible that Criterion would insult the BFI by taking their masters and downconverting them to DVD.

But I wouldn't hold your breath for "a box set with all the early Hitch films", since Studio Canal owns the rights to a fair proportion - including five out of nine of the surviving silents. Which is presumably why Lionsgate has them.

Nicolas Winding Refn stopped by the office.

It would be nice if they released that loaded edition of Drive that Nicolas wanted to do. With Sony these days; anything is possible.

There is only a feature-less dvd of Valhalla Rising here in the U.S., could be that (IFC released it).

Films by Andy Milligan Purchased By Nicolas Winding Refn on Ebay

Valhalla Rising was released by MPI; so I would assume Criterion passed on it.

Grand Wazoo wrote:Films by Andy Milligan Purchased By Nicolas Winding Refn on Ebay

Would be the best outcome, or the underrated Fear X.

From indiewire:

Although a date has yet to be announced for the home video release of “Drive,” director Nicolas Winding Refn suggests that fans might want to skip the first release of the film on DVD and Blu-ray and wait for a deluxe edition that he’d like to put together in a year or so. Speaking to The Playlist recently, Refn indicated that an upcoming double-dip will offer greater insights and information about the film than the bare-bones iteration that’s due in a few months.

“The version that is released now, like soon, is fairly standard,” Refn revealed. “It does not include any audio commentaries with either Ryan [Gosling] or myself, and it does not include any secret, revealing elements, or mysteries solved, or a huge amount of spinoffs. [But] because I’m a Blu-ray fanatic – no, fanatic, like religiously – I hope that in the near future, I will be able to release a movie that’s not just a movie, but also one that describes the process of the filmmaking, and answers some of the more mysterious elements of the success of that it has achieved.”



Personally; I think Sony would be game. They are licensing everything these days.

Drive would be nice, but Criterion seems to reach for the most readily available work when it comes to contemporary directors, which is usually their earliest. I have to wonder whether it's the Pusher Trilogy (which would be somewhat disappointing).

Of course, this makes me wonder whether a Refn commentary would be anything more than him blathering on like a junior sociopath, as he tends to do in interviews.

Or maybe he just came by since he had a NYC premiere for his film?

He made a number of appearances around town this week: a Summer Session at the Lincoln Center and a screening of Valhalla Rising at Videology at the very least, in addition to his Q&A/premiere last night. Sure it could mean something, but it seems like just another thing to do while he's in town.

If it did suggest a future release, he could also be included on a Jodorowsky supplement, or something of that ilk.

A Drive Criterion would be sooooooooooooooo great.

Imagine the shit they'd get from the people who thought Harold and Maude and Being John Malcovich were too mainstream for Criterion.

Whatever, they released Benjamin Button and the head guys said they'd kill for an Alexander Payne movie- I don't think they're afraid of taking shit from the too cool for school crew, particularly when the movie in question is pretty great.

Moe Dickstein wrote:A Drive Criterion would be sooooooooooooooo great.

A-yup. Especially if they got whoever designed this to do the cover.

I saw a used R1 DVD copy of the Pusher Trilogy in the store the other day, thought about getting it, but maybe I'll wait on it.

By the way, there is a commentary by Winding Refn for "Drive" on the Japanese disc.

ianungstad wrote:From indiewire:

Although a date has yet to be announced for the home video release of “Drive,” director Nicolas Winding Refn suggests that fans might want to skip the first release of the film on DVD and Blu-ray and wait for a deluxe edition that he’d like to put together in a year or so. Speaking to The Playlist recently, Refn indicated that an upcoming double-dip will offer greater insights and information about the film than the bare-bones iteration that’s due in a few months.

“The version that is released now, like soon, is fairly standard,” Refn revealed. “It does not include any audio commentaries with either Ryan [Gosling] or myself, and it does not include any secret, revealing elements, or mysteries solved, or a huge amount of spinoffs. [But] because I’m a Blu-ray fanatic – no, fanatic, like religiously – I hope that in the near future, I will be able to release a movie that’s not just a movie, but also one that describes the process of the filmmaking, and answers some of the more mysterious elements of the success of that it has achieved.”

Personally; I think Sony would be game. They are licensing everything these days.

He is presenting Only God Forgives and 4 other films here at the Indiana University Cinema in September (11th & 12th if anyone's interested in attending). It's likely I will be invited to the reception preceding his lecture and presentation of the films. I had already planned on asking him about this. I will report back afterwards. BTW - Chantal Akerman will be here in the Spring...

Who wants to place bets that they had him there to talk about Michael Mann's Thief?