criterionforum.org

swo17 wrote:

knives wrote:though I highly doubt it will be something like Angel which has an in print UK edition

Actually, most of MoC's Universal releases (all but Lifeboat and the Laughtons?) already had in-print UK editions. Angel's as likely as anything else.

LIFEBOAT is a Fox title, and it already has a (steelbook!) DVD release in the UK.

Anyway, whatever it is will be a welcome release for me. Lubitsch is sorely under-represented on DVD over here.

Twitter:

Q: Any chance you guys will release an Ambersons blu-ray?
A: We keep trying!

So there is a chance. :-"

Eureka's FB page

Eureka Entertainment are very pleased to announce the acquisition of rights to a sparkling new HD restoration of one of the great silent films – one of the most controversial films of all time – D. W. Griffith's THE BIRTH OF A NATION.

The film tells the story of the American Civil War and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of two families. The 1915 film has shocked audiences with its attitudes towards race yet remains one of the defining films of the silent era.

THE BIRTH OF A NATION will join Eureka's Masters of Cinema Series, the home of classic silent movies, and will be released later in the year on Blu-ray for the first time in a dual format (DVD & Blu-ray) edition.

Presumably this is the same version of the film as Kino's, rather than the different Photoplay cut (still listed on their website as "coming soon" from the BFI)?

Apparently Coeur fidèle hasn't been selling very well.

Do you have any discs you are fond/proud of above others?

Nick Wrigley wrote:I'm very proud of the ones that don't sell very well like COEUR FIDELE, the Franju, SALESMAN, LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI, +the Pialat.

Aww. If it helps, I bought almost all of those.

Yeah I own them all too.

Sad because we probably won't get any more Epstein.

Aw poo, I'll be working extra hard to berate people into picking these ones up.

Will be putting in an order for the Epstein & Ophuls today (already have the rest...)

La signora shouldn't susprise anyone since the truly excellent RHV disc, which was already out for a couple of years, was English-friendly and couldn't be bettered in anyway. It was never going to be a big seller and I'm sure this cut it down even further. I eventually sidegraded for the new extra but I'm sure there is many who didn't. I love MoC but this was a pretty pointless release from that point of view!

Coeur fidele was the total opposite, however, and it's sad to hear that that release didn't do too great.

The Epstein release should have sparked much interest in the man's work, and its a great pity that it didn't.

TMDaines wrote:La signora shouldn't susprise anyone since the truly excellent RHV disc, which was already out for a couple of years, was English-friendly and couldn't be bettered in anyway. It was never going to be a big seller and I'm sure this cut it down even further. I eventually sidegraded for the new extra but I'm sure there is many who didn't. I love MoC but this was a pretty pointless release from that point of view!

I don't agree at all. Despite having a great source to work from, the encoding on the RHV DVD of LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI was not stellar. We improved on that, as we did with the English subtitles, and we added a 30 minute Tag Gallagher video piece. Plus the 44-page booklet was one of our best.

The RHV DVD was hard to get hold of in the UK (and expensive) and we're very glad we released it. Of course, we didn't expect it to sell gangbusters, but I think a lot of people would be pleasantly surprised if they did pick up that disc.

Most disappointing recently has been TWO-LANE BLACKTOP.

You can get a good sense of what's selling from the Amazon sales rankings, which are live and generally reflect what's been sold over the last 2-3 days. They don't give you a sense of anything longterm (unless you monitor them constantly and track them!). Right now:

TWO-LANE BLACKTOP - 12,889 (it was at 30,000 the other day)
REPO MAN - consistently around the 2,000 mark
PUNISHMENT PARK - 9,327
TOUCH OF EVIL - 3,043
SILENT RUNNING - 4,934

If they stay under 5,000 then they're not selling tons, but they're selling consistently. If they go over 10,000 and stay there, then they're not selling much at all.

If something is under 1,000 then it's doing pretty well. A bunch of our releases go under 1,000 on release day, but it's about what happens in the subsequent months! If they sink to 20,000 or worse, then it's curtains really.

LA TETE CONTRE LES MURS - £9.99 - 48,077 -- ouch!
LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI - £10.47 - 46,831 - eek!

I'm a bit broke for the next month but both the Franjus were going to be my next purchase even before I saw this

I thought that, out of the Blu-Rays, the Antonionis would have been the poorest sellers but looking at Amazon, this doesn't seem to be the case! It's rather surprising to see Two-Lane Blacktop doing poorly and the sales rank for Make Way for Tomorrow is upsetting (although I suppose it may have sold well before the dual repackaging).

peerpee wrote:If something is under 1,000 then it's doing pretty well.

Unsurprisingly, the top 100 is dominated by mainstream blockbusters, TV box sets and sports documentaries. The BFI's The Devils is currently at 128, but I suspect that's unusually strong for a notionally independent-label release.

The BFI's Great White Silence looks to have done rather well - #1,094 nearly 10 months after release.

Calvin wrote:The BFI's Great White Silence looks to have done rather well - #1,094 nearly 10 months after release.

I suspect that's had a bit of a surge recently, what with the Scott centenary in March and all the accompanying publicity - let's face it, if you want actual footage of the Scott expedition, it's your only option.

But I'm very pleased to see that Alice, one of the recent releases that I'm proudest to have contributed to, is at 4,119 nearly a year after its release. Less pleased that Szindbád is at 16,896, mind.

The fact that Fidele lurks in the 30,000+ range is a crime against humanity. A stiff letter to the ICC in Den Haag is called for.

htshell wrote:I'm a bit broke for the next month but both the Franjus were going to be my next purchase even before I saw this

Franju double feature Judex/Nuits Rouges(Shadowman) is one of my favourite MOC releases,I'm surprised that it didn't do well as both films surely have certain cult appeal.Unfortunately Nuits Rouges is non-anamorphic but as such it's really beautiful transfer.La Tete contre les murs is much more obscure than these two so poor sales of that title is more understandable.

I'm kind of shocked that La Silence de la Mer is barely hanging on under 10,000 (9,088)- it's region free, it's a pretty undisputable classic that you can't get in the US, and it's a killer release. What the hell else do people want?

matrixschmatrix wrote:I'm kind of shocked that La Silence de la Mer is barely hanging on under 10,000 (9,088)- it's region free, it's a pretty undisputable classic that you can't get in the US, and it's a killer release. What the hell else do people want?

A Downton Abbey box set it would seem.

I have a huge list of stuff I'm going to pick up this summer when I have a little extra scratch, and those Franjus are near the top

peerpee wrote:Most disappointing recently has been TWO-LANE BLACKTOP.

You can get a good sense of what's selling from the Amazon sales rankings, which are live and generally reflect what's been sold over the last 2-3 days. They don't give you a sense of anything longterm (unless you monitor them constantly and track them!). Right now:

TWO-LANE BLACKTOP - 12,889 (it was at 30,000 the other day)
REPO MAN - consistently around the 2,000 mark
PUNISHMENT PARK - 9,327
TOUCH OF EVIL - 3,043
SILENT RUNNING - 4,934

If they stay under 5,000 then they're not selling tons, but they're selling consistently. If they go over 10,000 and stay there, then they're not selling much at all.

If something is under 1,000 then it's doing pretty well. A bunch of our releases go under 1,000 on release day, but it's about what happens in the subsequent months! If they sink to 20,000 or worse, then it's curtains really.

LA TETE CONTRE LES MURS - £9.99 - 48,077 -- ouch!
LA SIGNORA DI TUTTI - £10.47 - 46,831 - eek!

Though is the steelbook and normal edition splitting the rank for Two Lane?

Steelbook rank: 11,500
Standard packaging rank: 15,101

It is, but if they're both over 10,000 after just a couple of months. That's not great. REPO MAN is similarly split between regular and SteelBook and that's going great guns, likewise SILENT RUNNING.