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backstreetsbackalright wrote: Even if there is uniform veracity to our information on potential titles, there's no way all of those will come out next year. But I think we all knew that anyway.

Besides, criterion has never failed to suprise us numerous times a year what with all the Crazed Fruits, The Browning Versions, La Commare Seccas, etc...

-Toilet Dcuk

AMB wrote:Metropolitan confirmed? As in Whit Stillman? When was this confirmed?

In the newsletter.

New Line owns Metroplitan right?

Let random speculating more New Line titles begin.

In addition to the 2006 confirmations, 49th Parallel and A Canterbury Tale were strongly hinted for 2005 at the beginning of last year, so they must be near the top of the queue. Plus, wasn't there a Mulvaney promise of "more Ozu in 2006"?

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:New Line owns Metroplitan right?
Let random speculating more New Line titles begin.

Nah, most likely Stillman owns the rights. New Line was just a contracted distributor. Much like the Linklater/Orion/Slacker situation.

cinephrenic wrote:I bet we got 95% figured out with a few wild cards if we consider the list we got of rumoured titles.

i think 95% is slightly optimistic.

cinephrenic wrote:I bet we got 95% figured out with a few wild cards if we consider the list we got of rumoured titles.

No. Maybe we know 30-40% of what they will release in 2006. In September of 2004, I tried to predict what their 2005 schedule would look like. I only guessed 19 of the 52 films they ultimately released.

If you had asked me at that time, I would have told you that they would definitely release Confidential Report, 49th Parallel, A Canterbury Tale, The Only Son, Pandora's Box, Playtime, Jour de Fete, Matador, Six Moral Tales, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and another Hitchcock in 2005. None of those came to pass. We don't know everything we think we know, schedules change, rumors prove false. The surprises are part of the fun.

I may be minor on this one (crazy or both), but it seems that Criterion is trying to proportionally release films by country of origin whenever available depending on their priorities of which films, rights they have. For example, in 2005 their output on foreign films went somewhat like this:

Japanese films = 14 titles
French films = 13 titles
American films = 9 titles
British films = 5 titles
Italian films = 5 titles
Other films = 5 titles

This may all be nonsense, but still interesting I think.

I noticed that HVE are releasing the BBC's Five Children and It adaptation later this month, and I'm now wondering whether there is a faint possibility of Criterion releasing a few BBC titles, if Image's acquisition of HVE doesn't manage to muddy the legal waters. It'd be quite interesting to see a few Stephen Poliakoff or Peter Watkins productions be released by Criterion, perhaps even Ken Loach's Cathy Come Home.

I'm not holding out too much hope though, as Criterion appeared to pass on releasing Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderland...

cinephrenic wrote:I may be minor on this one (crazy or both), but it seems that Criterion is trying to proportionally release films by country of origin whenever available depending on their priorities of which films, rights they have. For example, in 2005 their output on foreign films went somewhat like this:

Japanese films = 14 titles
French films = 13 titles
American films = 9 titles
British films = 5 titles
Italian films = 5 titles
Other films = 5 titles

This may all be nonsense, but still interesting I think.

big ups to Nippon!!

I can only hope that 2006 will finally bring the Seven Samurai reissue, as well as other Kurosawa titles. We are starting to irk into next-gen technology territory here. Don't tell me there's the potential that during the initial lifespan of dvd there wasn't one decent Region 1 release of Record of a Living Being.

Jeff wrote: The surprises are part of the fun.

I agree. It would be kind of boring if we already knew all (or most) of the criterion releases for the next year (or whenever).

Jeff wrote:Maybe we know 30-40% of what they will release in 2006. In September of 2004, I tried to predict what their 2005 schedule would look like. I only guessed 19 of the 52 films they ultimately released[...] We don't know everything we think we know, schedules change, rumors prove false. The surprises are part of the fun.

This is very good to know, Jeff. Gives me a very different perspective on the Forthcoming Criterion list.

I should clarify that my objective was not so much to attempt to map out the calendar a year in advance as it was to suggest that between the announced January titles and the newsletter previews (plus I added some of the particularly strong tips), we know an awful lot for early October. I put together the list because it was feeling like Criterion was moving forward the speed of their announcements (perhaps coinciding with the Image acquisition).

The Belcourt theater in Nashville, TN is having a special screening of the film Elevator to the Gallows in October, which includes footage of Miles Davis at the Isle of Wight Festival, shot by Murran Lerner, after the feature. This, or some other Miles Davis material, could be included in the Criterion release.

There's your speculation.

What A Disgrace wrote:The Belcourt theater in Nashville, TN is having a special screening of the film Elevator to the Gallows in October, which includes footage of Miles Davis at the Isle of Wight Festival, shot by Murran Lerner, after the feature. This, or some other Miles Davis material, could be included in the Criterion release.

There's your speculation.

That would be a pretty crazy inclusion, in my opinion. (Pretty crazy programming too!) '58 Miles is worlds away from Bitches Brew Miles in live flight. I'm trying to find a film analogy and am coming up blank. . .

zedz wrote: '58 Miles is worlds away from Bitches Brew Miles in live flight. I'm trying to find a film analogy and am coming up blank. . .

Perhaps the Fellini of the early 50's and the Fellini who made Satyricon?

mcginty wrote:

zedz wrote: '58 Miles is worlds away from Bitches Brew Miles in live flight. I'm trying to find a film analogy and am coming up blank. . .

Perhaps the Fellini of the early 50's and the Fellini who made Satyricon?

Maybe more like the Fellini who helped write Rome Open City and the writer / director of City of Women. I think that'll do it. Thanks, McGinty.

I will highly recommend the Studio Canal R2 release of Saura's "Carmen" under contemporary series. It has English subtitles and is a good transfer that is 16x9 anarmorphic.

I find that nearly all titles in this contemporary group have superior transfers to the R1 releases, and most of them have English subtitles. Some of the movies in the series: Camille Claudel, Belle de Jour, and Romy Schneider's masterpiece "the most important thing is love".

Are you sure that French StudioCanal DVD of Carmen has English subtitles? According to dvdfr.com there are only French subtitles. Similarly:
L'IMPORTANT C'EST D'AIMER - no subtitles
CAMILLE CLAUDEL - no subtitles
BELLE DE JOUR - Italian subtitles only

There is UK DVD of BELLE DE JOUR (Warner) that has burnt-in subtitles.
Which contemporary group Studio Canal DVDs have English subtitles?

feihong wrote:Why can't we see the films he made in his most inspired and socially relevant period? No Cria!, nothing on The Hunt, nothing! Frustrating!

Don't forget THE GARDEN OF DELIGHTS, which is Saura's masterpiece.

tavernier wrote:

feihong wrote:Why can't we see the films he made in his most inspired and socially relevant period? No Cria!, nothing on The Hunt, nothing! Frustrating!

Don't forget THE GARDEN OF DELIGHTS, which is Saura's masterpiece.

Absolutely! More Pirandello-esque than Pirandello himself!

Cria Cuervos is out in Spain (R2/PAL) with Engl. subs. The transfer is decent, subs are very good. Oddly it´s the only release of the bunch of Sauras released by Manga Films, that carries Engl. subs. It´s the second once-in-a-lifetime performance by Ana Torrent (The Spirit of the Beehive being the other).

Review with screengrabs.

cinephrenic wrote:
Japanese films = 14 titles
French films = 13 titles
American films = 9 titles
British films = 5 titles
Italian films = 5 titles
Other films = 5 titles

Not one German title - no wonder I have been in such a bad mood this year!

Nights When the Devil Came (1957, Robert Siodmak)

It Happened in Broad Daylight (1958, Ladislao Vajda)
- Remade in Hollywood as The Pledge. The original is a landmark psychological drama in German Cinema.

Sterne (Stars) (1959, Konrad Wolf)
- The greatest anti-war film ever made?

I Was Nineteen (1968, Konrad Wolf)
- The ultmate 'soldier's journey' movie. Immensely powerful and moving.

Or... anything, really.

Christ, I'm such an ungrateful sod!

Not one German title - no wonder I have been in such a bad mood this year!

Young Törless we got.

But no Soviet, Latin, Swedish, Spanish. Hopefully 2006 will be a whole lot different.

I was thinking that Young Törless was a 2004 release. Great film, great disc. Similar treatment of German films of the 50s and 60s would be great as there are so mant great films in this period that have languished in the vaults for too long. Even if all we got in 2006 was Konrad Wolf's Sterne, I would forever be in Criterion's debt. It's an extraordinary film; very simple, but very moving.

Oh, and the CC hopes to released more Renoir in 2006 according to JM...

LA BETE HUMAINE & LE CRIME DE MONSIEUR LANGE would seem to be the leading contenders...

jlgcool wrote:How about Voyage in Italy? Will this ever get an R1 release? It seems ridiculous that such an important film has never made it to the states.

I agree.More than 300 films in the collection and only 1 Rossellini.That's ridiculous ! How about a (post)"War trilogy" box set? ('Roma, città aperta','Paisà' and 'Germania, anno zero')
=P~