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Would 'Foreign Correspondent' & 'To be or not to be' considered part of the Warner deal? As the previous DVD releases were issued by Warner.

I too would love for Criterion to get 'Blow Up', which could be released with some supplements on fashion photographer David Bailey (whom Hemmings' character is loosely based on)

Supplements could include:
- 'David Bailey: 4 beats to the bar & no cheating ' (2010)
- 'Beaton by Bailey' (1971)
- original short story by Julio Cortazar reproduced in the booklet

There could also be a box set release with 'Blow Out'

To be or not to be and Foreign Correspondent are licensed from Westchester Films, not Warner Bros. WB no longer have rights to the films.

CSM126 wrote:To be or not to be and Foreign Correspondent are licensed from Westchester Films, not Warner Bros. WB no longer have rights to the films.

Thanks. Didn't know that.
Are there any other Hitchcock or Lubitsch films which fall into this category?

Not a Hitchcock or Lubitsch, but Stagecoach was another Westchester film licensed to Criterion that was previously licensed to WB.

CSM126 wrote:To be or not to be and Foreign Correspondent are licensed from Westchester Films, not Warner Bros. WB no longer have rights to the films.

What about Hitchcock's Suspicion? Is that still with WB?

Yes, Suspicion is still WB. Westchester is I think a firm that manages rights for a bunch of other trusts/groups. They have a lot of stuff, but not everything necessarily goes to Criterion because it all comes from various places. To Be or Not to Be, Stagecoach, Foreign Correspondent, and I Married a Witch (and Riot in Cell Block 11?) were all part of a package owned by the Caidin Trust, managed by Westchester and previously by WB. The remaining films in that group include Borzage's History is Made at Night and John Ford's The Long Voyage Home. Both are up on Criterion's hulu channel, and theoretically will eventually be released on disc.

As for other Hitchcock/Lubitsch films from other sources, sadly I don't think there are any signs of new Lubitsch. For Hitchcock, Criterion has Young and Innocent and Sabotage available via iTunes, so those will probably come eventually. I think The Lodger may have also been rumored. Unfortunately 5 of the 9 Hitchcock silents are with Studio Canal and are definite nos, so there won't be one big box of the new silent restorations

Shrew wrote:Yes, Suspicion is still WB. Westchester is I think a firm that manages rights for a bunch of other trusts/groups. They have a lot of stuff, but not everything necessarily goes to Criterion because it all comes from various places. To Be or Not to Be, Stagecoach, Foreign Correspondent, and I Married a Witch (and Riot in Cell Block 11?) were all part of a package owned by the Caidin Trust, managed by Westchester and previously by WB. The remaining films in that group include Borzage's History is Made at Night and John Ford's The Long Voyage Home. Both are up on Criterion's hulu channel, and theoretically will eventually be released on disc.

As for other Hitchcock/Lubitsch films from other sources, sadly I don't think there are any signs of new Lubitsch. For Hitchcock, Criterion has Young and Innocent and Sabotage available via iTunes, so those will probably come eventually. I think The Lodger may have also been rumored. Unfortunately 5 of the 9 Hitchcock silents are with Studio Canal and are definite nos, so there won't be one big box of the new silent restorations

I was wanting 'The Lodger' & 'Young & Innocent' on Criterion, so that sounds good. Also would like 'Secret Agent'.

With the silent films, are 'The Ring' & 'The Manxman' owned by Canal?

Baby Doll is another Caidin Trust title that was released by WB

Baby Doll's still in print with WB though, right? It's also not listed under the films on Westchester's website. I'm guessing that the Kazan estate's rights supersede the Caidin Trust's in this case.

For Hitchcock, Studio Canal definitely has rights to Blackmail, The Ring, The Manxman, Champagne, and The Farmer's Wife. Besides the Lodger, The Pleasure Garden, Downhill, and Easy Virtue may all also be available. At least, they haven't been listed as owned by Studio Canal.

Well, so what has happened to some of these other Warner titles, like Blow-Up and McCabe? I assume the Hammer movies no longer belong to Warner Brothers, right? I thought I had heard of another company planning to release them on blu-ray.

feihong wrote:Well, so what has happened to some of these other Warner titles, like Blow-Up and McCabe? I assume the Hammer movies no longer belong to Warner Brothers, right? I thought I had heard of another company planning to release them on blu-ray.

Hammer movies are still with Warner, so are Blow-up and McCabe.

No, I don't have any hot tips or anything, but given Warner's propensity for licensing things out, I think this is perhaps our best hope at this point:

Murdoch's Fox faces uphill fight in pursuing Time Warner

Bill Gunn's Stop is exactly the kind of film Criterion needs to license. Another title that was buried by the studio that needs to see the light of day is Nothing Lasts Forever (Tom Schiller).

Shrew wrote:Baby Doll's still in print with WB though, right? It's also not listed under the films on Westchester's website. I'm guessing that the Kazan estate's rights supersede the Caidin Trust's in this case.

For Hitchcock, Studio Canal definitely has rights to Blackmail, The Ring, The Manxman, Champagne, and The Farmer's Wife. Besides the Lodger, The Pleasure Garden, Downhill, and Easy Virtue may all also be available. At least, they haven't been listed as owned by Studio Canal.

Downhill and The Lodger are both among the titles in Criterion's iTunes library (along with the previously mentioned Young and Innocent and Sabotage).

I'd like to see Criterion secure the rights to Eros, but only to liberate "The Hand" for inclusion on a future WKW release (I'd like to think that, with the Sony deal, 2046 is coming at some point).

The Archive has stated for a number of years that they want to release both versions of TWICE UPON A TIME (1983),
although I really hope that Criterion can acquire it.

Regarding NOTHING LASTS FOREVER, I'd thought that some of the re-appropriated footage in it was holding up a release, as
those bits came from MGM titles (MGM being the original owners/producers of the film). Tom Schiller even had to get the Directors Guild of
America involved with forcing WB to make a new print of it several years ago, so there are clearly some big hurdles with that one.

Looks like Crash is currently available from Warner Archive. Maybe this bodes well for a CC re-release since Warner evidently isn't doing much with it?

Valin Kenobi wrote:Looks like Crash is currently available from Warner Archive. Maybe this bodes well for a CC re-release since Warner evidently isn't doing much with it?

I don't think Warner looks at films they release on Archive as "not doing much with it." Has another company ever licensed a title that was previously released through WAC?

Shout! Factory recently licensed Nightbreed's theatrical cut from Warner. It was and still is available as a DVD-R through WAC.

Bad Day At Black Rock seems like a no-brainer. I think WB only ever released it on DVD.

We can forget about Criterion release of Freaks.

Via WAC facebook :

Any chance of a Freaks (1932) Blu-ray?

Warner Archive Collection: Eventually, this will surface through WHV. However the rough condition of surviving film elements will make this a challenging project.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I don't think anyone has brought up Fritz Lang yet. Surely, at the very least, Criterion would find Fury an attractive title. I'm not sure whether Warner has the rights to any others outside of While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.

I also wonder whether Criterion would have much interest in either of the American Renoirs that Warner has the rights to. I've yet to see either This Land is Mine or The Woman on the Beach, but I'd like to think they could put together some nice contextual supplements in either case (though Woman on the Beach seems to be the more interesting of the two, from what I've read).

FakeBonanza wrote:I'm not sure whether Warner has the rights to any others outside of While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.

WB also owns Clash By Night, Rancho Notorious and Moonfleet.

I've been hoping the 2 Renoir's are part of the Warner list they're trying to secure.
Renoir belongs in criterion, and the Warner archive DVDs didn't do them any justice

I don't know why we don't have more Renoir from Criterion. The Boudu blu ray has been out for years now on Park Circus and looks great. La Bete Humaine was recently restored. The Technicolor Elena and her Men and French Can Can have European blu-rays. And of course, The River has a blu-ray from Carlotta...

FakeBonanza wrote:Maybe I'm mistaken, but I don't think anyone has brought up Fritz Lang yet. Surely, at the very least, Criterion would find Fury an attractive title. I'm not sure whether Warner has the rights to any others outside of While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt.

I also wonder whether Criterion would have much interest in either of the American Renoirs that Warner has the rights to. I've yet to see either This Land is Mine or The Woman on the Beach, but I'd like to think they could put together some nice contextual supplements in either case (though Woman on the Beach seems to be the more interesting of the two, from what I've read).

Personally I find This Land is Mine as better though the only copy of The Woman on the Beach I've seen is pretty rotted. It definitely needs a lot of restoration.