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Yes, that's a sad fact to hear, but the MoC DVD is so good that the higher priority of someone somewhere must be to get L'Humanité back in print (preferably on Blu) since it seems to have disappeared everywhere.

I am also saddened to hear that Life of Jesus has not sold well. I bought an MoC copy of it a few months ago! Where I live in Canada, VERY few cinephiles have heard of, let alone seen, Bruno Dumont's work. I have encouraged friends to check out his films, yet even finding a way to watch his films is very difficult to do here.

Jazzkammer wrote:Where I live in Canada, VERY few cinephiles have heard of, let alone seen, Bruno Dumont's work.

Where do you live?

I too, am sad. This and Humanite were outstanding, and while I own them both on NTSC DVD, I remember them being only so-so quality. I liked his later films, but I don't think they lived up to this initial salvo. Is the Criterion hope abandoned?

I'm guessing Criterion will still be releasing Dumont's first two features in Blu (otherwise why would they buy the rights?), which might factor into MoC's decision, especially if the sales have been so low (which I agree, is a real shame, it's one of my favourite films and the transfer is beautiful). Hopefully they won't leave it too long...

Der Spieler wrote:

Jazzkammer wrote:Where I live in Canada, VERY few cinephiles have heard of, let alone seen, Bruno Dumont's work.

Where do you live?

I live in Edmonton, sadly. Not a good city for a cinephile.

How about releasing Max Ophüls' sublime adaptation of Schnitzler's Liebelei (1933)? Sadly, there seems to be no DVD/Blu-ray available anywhere in the world.

Nick will there be a Blu-Ray release of the oop Toni or will i have to hunt down an expensive copy from the net?

Hunt down a copy.

Just had the pleasure of watching a great pre-code Universal film called Afraid to Talk, directed by Edward L. Cahn. Can't seem to find a DVD release anywhere so I'm hoping MoC pick it up as part of their Universal deal!

Seconded!

I would love that as much as anyone, but it would be a real gamble for MoC on a completely unknown quantity.

What would be awesome, and a little more financially feasible, would be a box of Universal Pre-Codes, much like the Forbidden Hollywood box. Universal certainly wouldn't do it themselves, but there has to be more gems like this hiding beneath all the horror films and James Whale pictures. Ed Cahn himself made two films within a year of Afraid to Talk which may even be better: the gritty Western Law and Order and the gutsy police procedural Radio Patrol. Be the guys to track down the thought-lost Laughter in Hell, and you got release-of-the-year material ready to go.

Then again, I don't know if the concept of "Pre-Code" has much of an appeal in the UK.

You shouldn't treat it as though Whale has been treated well. Outside of his horror pictures he's had a grand total of one of his films released. The majority of his output is hidden away unseen by those who who haven't searched the Internet for them.

Well, I count three, but at least the reputation is there. Most of these Universal films are completely unknown.

I suppose Hell's Angels also counts, but what's the other one?

No. In fact, there's one more than I thought: Waterloo Bridge (Forbidden Hollywood), The Great Garrick (Warner Archive) then Sinners in Paradise and Wives Under Suspicion (both Alpha). There's also a Man in the Iron Mask floating around, but even as far as grey-market goes, it sounds pretty disreputable.

The Man in the Iron Mask is scheduled for Feb 14 in a transfer said to be from 35mm fine grain.

I didn't know any of that. I'm not sure if Alpha counts as much (and my dear Journey's End is still MIA), but this is all great news to me. Is Henstooth a reliable company?

When I posted the news on Nitrateville, someone assured me they are "a quality company" and vouched for their releases of Battle of the River Plate, Ill Met by Moonlight and Cross of Iron (I haven't seen any of those issues myself). They are also releasing The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) on the same date and also said to be from 35mm fine grain.

anxiously awaiting the swimmer blu-ray announcement, myself.

What? Is this really forthcoming?

rwaits wrote:

skeets kelly wrote:anxiously awaiting the swimmer

What? Is this really forthcoming?

well, i'm hoping it is. universal title, plus i'm pretty sure nick has mentioned somewhere it's one of his favorites.

i mean, they totally should, don't you think?

It's a Sony/Columbia title.

peerpee wrote:It's a Sony/Columbia title.

ah, balls. you're right. used to have the LD, too. now i remember the columbia logo at the beginning.

seriously, though, seems unlikely it will ever get a stateside blu-ray release anytime soon. you guys need to wrangle it.

A couple of tidbits from the year-end message now up on MoC's webpage:

1. The remaining 8 dual format repressings of titles that were previously available in separate DVD and BD editions will be available in early February.

2. The release slate for April, May, and June of 2012 will be announced in mid-January.