Eclipse Discussion and Random Speculation

[backstreetsbackalright]

Just caught Titicut Follies yesterday. Really super. I think in another thread there's been talk of Wiseman putting out his work on DVD in the near future. Not sure through what channels tho...

[FilmFanSea]

Just caught Titicut Follies yesterday. Really super. I think in another thread there's been talk of Wiseman putting out his work on DVD in the near future. Not sure through what channels tho...

From the Zipporah Films website:

Are the films available in DVD?

No - not yet. We are working on it. Please check back for updates on the DVD release of the films, or, if you would like to be added to our email list to be notified when the DVDs are released for individual purchase, please write to us with your email address.

[Matt]

I may just be overly skeptical today, but I would be extremely shocked to see Wiseman films available for consumer purchase. As it is now, you can only buy them on VHS or on 16mm, for $400 each (Titicut Follies is $100 more), and you have to sign a rather restrictive contract.

Of course Wiseman is getting to the age where he may begin to worry about his legacy and to realize that broader distribution is the only way to secure that (see Brakhage, Maysles, et al).

[My Man Godfrey]

All of Wiseman's movies are going to be released "at consumer prices" by Zipporah later this year on DVD. That's not speculation; it comes from a contact at Zipporah. (If you email or call them, you'll hear the same thing.)

What I've been told is that the prices "will be comparable to Kino releases" -- which is bad news, obviously, since Kino DVDs are totally overpriced (and shittily designed, etc.). If Zipporah, independently or with the help of Anchor Bay (sorry -- Starz!) or Criterion, put Wiseman's work into a series of reasonably priced box sets, the collections would be a hit, I think. But who, apart from libraries and eccentric millionaires, is going to buy "Traffic Court 3," or whatever, as a standalone $30 DVD?

Wiseman's movies are excellent, by the way -- even the ones few people have heard of. I get the feeling that he may have some weird, outdated ideas about how to distribute his work, however. (Dude, NOBODY watches PBS anymore; if your work isn't on DVD, or otherwise available online, nobody is ever going to see it.)

This is my first post on Criterionforum, by the way, although I've been reading it for a few months now. It's absolutely insane how much most of you people know about movies. (All I ever do is watch movies, and I feel like I've seen a small fraction of the films most of the posters are referring to on this site. How do you do it? I'm impressed and geekily jealous.)

[domino harvey]

Everyone I know watches PBS, your points not withstanding.

[Matt]

All I ever do is watch movies, and I feel like I've seen a small fraction of the films most of the posters are referring to on this site.

The secret is that we all feel that way.

Oh, and DAMMIT! (if what you say about Wiseman's films is true). That means my library just bought a $400 doorstop. I assumed that their plans to put the films on DVD would be similar to every other small documentary/educational distributor: shoddily produced DVD-Rs with no cover art and a $400 price tag.

[CSM126]

So...has Janus' summer Mizoguchi line-up been brought up in here yet?

MIZOGUCHI: SEVEN MASTERPIECES

Our mini-retrospective of the great Kenji Mizoguchi continues to travel across the country this summer, with June-July stops currently scheduled for the Cleveland Cinematheque, LACMA, and the St. Louis Art Museum. Check each venue's website for titles, dates, and times.

Looking at LACMA's schedule, this series includes the following as-yet unreleased (on DVD) films:

Sisters of the Gion
Story of Late Chrysanthemums
The Life of Oharu
Utamaro and his Five Women
Street of Shame

Sounds like it'd be a heck of a box. The LACMA site also says these are being shown in "new 35mm prints", so it sounds like they'd be ready to go...Or do y'all think it would be more likely to see them go to the Criterion line instead of Eclipse?

[stepps]

They recently announced they got the rights back to release Pasolini's Salo. Would they bundle it together with Arabian Nights (which Image released on DVD in 1998) and Canterbury Tales as an Eclipse release? Even though it already has a Criterion spine number?

Nah. Salo, for certain, will get a big special edition. They'd be nuts to do otherwise.

If coprophagy is your thing...

Personally I think they would make more money releasing a cheap edition of it for the exploitation market. There would be some sort of justice in that.

[Cinesimilitude]

Shouldn't news of Series 6 be imminent? we heard officially of the Fuller set on the 16th of may if my research is correct...

[justeleblanc]

Shouldn't news of Series 6 be imminent? we heard officially of the Fuller set on the 16th of may if my research is correct...

There may not be an Eclipse box for September.

[Buttery Jeb]

Image has the September Criterion titles up on their website, but nothing for Eclipse. Seems like a good bet they're giving September a miss.

-BJ

[starmanof51]

Image has the September Criterion titles up on their website, but nothing for Eclipse. Seems like a good bet they're giving September a miss.

The Image site has frequently had the Criterion's up before the Eclipse set for the same month, so I wouldn't give up yet.

[ByMarkClark.com]

Random thought: Wouldn't October be the ideal month for an Eclipse J-horror set, with GOKE: BODYSNATCHER FROM HELL, Nakagawa's GHOST STORY OF YOTSUYA and another treat or two?

I was hoping for the Nouvelle Vague set in September.

[patrick]

An Eclipse Wiseman set in the vein of the Malle Documentaries box would be brilliant, but I'm sure that's not happening anytime soon.

[Saarijas]

An Eclipse Wiseman set in the vein of the Malle Documentaries box would be brilliant, but I'm sure that's not happening anytime soon.

I would be willing to sacrifice my first born for that set. But hopefully it won't come to that.

[Awesome Welles]

Has anyone speculated on the content of the Imamura box that is apparently a certainty?

I'd love to see Pigs and Battleships and The Insect Woman but these surely deserve their own releases along with The Pornographers and Vengeance is Mine?

As far as wants/suggestions/dreams, I second the vote for an Elio Petri box, his work is ridiculously hard to find, I have got Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion and The Working Classes go to Heaven on unsubbed VHS and whilst they are great my Italian just isn't good enough to fully appreciate his work.

I'd also be very interested to see an Eclipse box of Costa-Gavras's work, although Z is obviously owned by Fox, it'd be great to see State of Siege, The Confession and Special Section, plus maybe his early works, which I have read aren't as fantastic as Z or his other work, but show very well his style and thematic concerns -Sleeping Car Murders and Shock Troops.

[toiletduck!]

Has anyone speculated on the content of the Imamura box that is apparently a certainty?

I'd love to see Pigs and Battleships and The Insect Woman but these surely deserve their own releases along with The Pornographers and Vengeance is Mine?

I'm going to offer up some tenuous timeframe speculation on the Imamura situation while we're on the topic. The Siskel Film Center is running an Imamura retro in January/February (the fact that it's been announced this early is unusual enough), and going solely off the fact that they had a Teshigahara retro this past January, which I would imagine was a comparable situation distribution- and restoration-wise, I don't think we'll be seeing the Imamuras until sometime next summer, whether from Eclipse or the main line.

Voila.

-Toilet Dcuk

[Awesome Welles]

I know it's off topic, but this is a conversation, c'est la vie. What was in the Teshigahara retro? Did you see anything, I'd love to have been able to catch The Ruined Map or Summer Soldiers.

[toiletduck!]

Sorry, mini-retro. It was the three films from the box set plus Antonio Gaudi (read into that what you will). That's the main reason I'm thinking the Imamura (mini-?)retro might give us some clues to what's on the horizon.

And even worse, I wasn't able to hit any of the Teshigaharas, either...

I'll go hang my head in shame some more.

-Toilet Dcuk

[Nuno]

Does someone have any news about when more Naruse will be released? I plan to buy the MoC box, but I would prefer a Criterion version...

[zedz]

Has anyone speculated on the content of the Imamura box that is apparently a certainty?

I'd love to see Pigs and Battleships and The Insect Woman but these surely deserve their own releases along with The Pornographers and Vengeance is Mine?

There's some evidence scattered around the forum. Richie has recorded commentaries for Intentions of Murder and Pigs and Battleships, so they're presumably not going to be Eclipse releases. However, the other 60s films that have been associated with Criterion (Insect Woman and Profound Desire of the Gods) are major works that it seems strange to sideline to Eclipse. Eijanaika has also been mentioned, but that's a bit of an odd fit with the 60s titles. There's not actually much else that would fit together. If they have Ballad of Narayama, they'd surely save that for a stand-alone Criterion release, given its Cannes success.

On the basis of this info, my speculation for an Eclipse box would be Insect Woman, Profound Desire and one or two other titles. A Man Vanishes is the obvious candidate, and maybe they'll forget about the commentary in the can and include Intentions of Murder or Pigs and Battleships as well. (And one or other of the latter two would come out on Criterion with "Imamura in the 60s" extras that would help contextualise the entire body of work).

His four 80s films are another possibility, but at least two of them (Narayama and Black Rain) would make much more sense as stand alone releases.

I'd be really excited by a collection of his 1970s TV / Documentary work, but that's a pipe dream, and I think the chance of the four early features being released as a set is equally remote. Until the core films are released, it would be tough finding a market for either body of work.

[feckless boy]

I've posted some caps from japanese release of A Man Vanishes in the screencaps-thread.

[Nuno]

The Eclipse hasn't been updated for a while, Ozu is still "coming soon" and the site color is still refering to the Malle box...

EDIT 22/06: it has been updated now.

[patrick]

I would also love to see something along the lines of Artificial Eye's Tarkovsky Companion set come out from Eclipse, I think it's a really cool idea, but obviously Criterion would probably want to hold off on possible supplements until they know they absolutely don't have a home for them on a CC disc.

[What A Disgrace]

Since Eclipse isn't just limited to directors...how about a set or two of silent films from Paramount? The Covered Wagon, Old Ironsides, Underworld, The Last Command, Docks of New York, The Wedding March...point me in a proper direction if I've forgotten any.

Though I suppose the von Sternbergs would merit their own box, and The Wedding March would be worthy of its own spine number.