Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 6

[Moe Dickstein]

According to RAH Spartacus is cost prohibitive for Criterion to do on their own. Universal has to fix it.

The Pie Fight scene EXISTS???

[Moe Dickstein]

WOW - Now They are posting pics of their Ghostbusters LD.

If that happens I am going to flip out. We can finally get all the deleted scenes in one place (The CC LD had two that weren't on the later DVD, and maybe the complete castle scene as well)

Very hopeful now.

[criterion10]

Don't get your hopes up; they've posted pictures of their LaserDisc titles in the past, and it's turned out to have meant nothing.

And seriously, why on Earth would/should Criterion re-release Ghostbusters when there's already a fine Blu-Ray of it?

[captveg]

Don't get your hopes up; they've posted pictures of their LaserDisc titles in the past, and it's turned out to have meant nothing.

And seriously, why on Earth would/should Criterion re-release Ghostbusters when there's already a fine Blu-Ray of it?

Well, there's yet to be a release with the new 4K master and all the bonus content.

[FrauBlucher]

Stop it, Moe, before someone has you committed!

[adavis53]

Stop it, Moe, before someone has you committed!

Oh come on, if we can have House in the collection I think we can tolerate the cultishness of Ghostbusters.

[criterion10]

Stop it, Moe, before someone has you committed!

I actually totally understand Moe's point here: He feels that yet another release of Ghostbusters is far more important releases of A Brighter Summer Day, The Apu Trilogy, and the countless other films that have never even been on DVD or Blu-Ray in North America (some anywhere in the world for that matter).

[captveg]

I don't see anyone ranking the value of releases. Ghostbusters was a LD release and Criterion has been re-acquiring a few more of those larger studio releases from those days, particularly from Sony. It's a legitimate speculation regardless of one's enthusiasm for it.

[criterion10]

My comment was obviously tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken all that seriously. That being said, I have no problem with Criterion releasing more mainstream titles, assuming that there is a purpose. Regardless of one's thoughts of the film, Criterion's release of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World did bring an entirely new cut and set of special features that the prior release did not have. Other than a few tidbits here and there, I can't see what a Criterion release would bring to Ghostbusters. I'd much rather them spend there time on other films that do need the extra care the label has become famous for.

[Cinephrenic]

I rather see another Michael Bay movie.

[ianungstad]

I don't see any evidence of it happening but it's certainly plausible. Already mentioned but the blu with the special features uses a very dated transfer. Sony did major restoration work on the film and put out the new transfer as a barebones release in their "4K" line.

It's been a while since I've seen the "special edition" but I kind of remember that a good chunk of the special features had nothing to do with the film and were hyping other Ghostbusters related products like sneak peeks of videogames.

Sony also did a big 4K restoration of Groundhog's Day that remains unreleased. (Though the resto has been screening at repertory houses over the last year.)

[FrauBlucher]

Ivan Reitman does have a phantom page.

[dwk]

Reitman's phantom page is from the April Fools' Day Kindergarten Cop page

[Moe Dickstein]

What if the purpose is to sell a bunch of copies so they can use the money to fund smaller projects that don't sell as well? I'm personally in favor of them at least attempting to re-issue EVERY film they did on Laser on Blu.

[bugsy_pal]

I don't care greatly for 'Ghostbusters' as a film, but the bluray can certainly be improved - a lot. I hired the Australian BD to watch with the kids, and it was about the first disc I watched when I first got a bluray player. It suffers from awful 'blowout' in the whites. I kept thinking something was wrong with my player, or this whole bluray thing wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

I'm sure Criterion would improve on that - I would hope.

[Moe Dickstein]

There is a new and "corrected" transfer of Ghostbusters - released as mentioned above only through the new "Mastered for 4K" line of Blu discs from Sony.

But it would be nice to have the new transfer and all the extras in a non-exclusive Criterion release.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The Pie Fight scene EXISTS???

The BFI has a copy. Ken Adam screened it in the company of a writer and gave his impressions here (I believe the writer is Ed Sikov, of the Sellers biography Mr. Strangelove). There are also claims that it was screened publicly during the National Film Theatre's 1999 Kubrick retrospective, after which the estate contacted them and told them not to do it again. It'd be nice if someone could confirm whether the NFT screening really happened, since I've never seen this claim from anyone who was actually there.

[razumovsky]

I was at a screening of Dr Strangelove at the BFI at weekend, after which Christiana Kubrick, Jan Harlan, and the curator of the Kubrick archive at the London University of the Arts took part in a Q&A. The interviewer mentioned that the custard pie fight sequence was screened at the BFI "seven or eight years ago", by which he must have meant the 1999 retrospective because it certainly wasn't screened at the last Kubrick retrospective, in 2009. Neither Christiana Kubrick nor Jan Harlan commented on this, although Harlan was very clear that the sequence should remain, unseen, in the vaults of the BFI. He was also very cross about the reappearance of Fear and Desire. I have to confess I find this a perplexing attitude, since they have by all accounts been very generous in making Kubrick's archive available to the public. If we can paw Kubrick's initial drafts of screenplays, why shouldn't we also see the work he committed to celluloid, however much it fell beneath his ambitions?

[criterion10]

I have to confess I find this a perplexing attitude, since they have by all accounts been very generous in making Kubrick's archive available to the public.

Well, Kubrick himself disowned Fear and Desire and even tried to destroy all remaining copies of it at one point. Considering his attitude towards the film, it doesn't surprise me that his estate isn't exactly happy about the resurfacing of the film.

[razumovsky]

I have to confess I find this a perplexing attitude, since they have by all accounts been very generous in making Kubrick's archive available to the public.

Well, Kubrick himself disowned Fear and Desire and even tried to destroy all remaining copies of it at one point. Considering his attitude towards the film, it doesn't surprise me that his estate isn't exactly happy about the resurfacing of the film.

Fair point - the estate clearly sees its role as keeping the canon as close to Kubrick's wishes as possible, and I respect that. I still find it a bit odd that you can study the screenplay for the different ending to Strangelove, see photographs of it, imagine it , but not actually see it. I've never heard anyone claim that this should be regarded as an alternative version of the film. It would just be fascinating to see, wouldn't it. But we're not going to, so we'll just have to keep on imagining.

[criterion10]

I still find it a bit odd that you can study the screenplay for the different ending to Strangelove, see photographs of it, imagine it , but not actually see it.

Again, there have been many reports about Kubrick not wishing for the public to even view deleted scenes and alternate takes of his films. He would even burn many of these excised moments with his assistant director, Leon Vitali (Vitali actually has told a story where he found a copy of the pie fight, and then proceeded to burn it with Kubrick upon sharing the news with the late director).

I can't say if Kubrick would want people to read the screenplay and look at the photographs or not, though it is transparent that he would not have wanted the alternate ending to be easily accessible for viewing by the public (no different than the excised coda from The Shining, wish does survive). And the Kubrick estate simply wishes to help preserve his wishes.

[headacheboy]

Whether or not Kubrick wanted us to see any of this, I'm still stunned to learn that the pie fight actually exists. It's akin to discovering the Beatles 25 minute version of "Helter Skelter" actually exists. While it might not be Kubrick's finest cinematic moment, I'd still watch the scene without any guilt! I don't think anything could take away the brilliance of Dr Strangelove.

[ptatler]

On Facebook this morning:

[ianungstad]

Image discontinued all of their Handmade titles this week. This would indicate that rights to these films are available again. It would be nice if Criterion acquired the library and put OOP titles like Time Bandits, Withnail and I, etc. back in print.

[Bando]

Image discontinued all of their Handmade titles this week. This would indicate that rights to these films are available again. It would be nice if Criterion acquired the library and put OOP titles like Time Bandits, Withnail and I, etc. back in print.

This would be fantastic. I'd love to see Criterion revisit The Long Good Friday, Mona Lisa, and How to Get Ahead in Advertising.