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ianungstad wrote:^

I might have jumped the gun on Othello. I spent a few days googling Caidin Trust trying to find a contact (boy are they discreet. Took me awhile to find an email for Peter Langs). I just remember Othello being one of the Caidin titles. It might not be. I never asked about the Welles specifically but listed it in my post because I remember it being one of the titles included in the Caidin library. All Peter Langs told me was that the Caidin library is in Cri's hands now.

Even if this doesn't pan out, there's enough of an upside in your news to compensate.

If it does pan out, let's hope for a special edition presenting the original Welles version of the film, Filming Othello, The Merchant of Venice and, in place of the revised version of the film, an individually numbered Beatrice Welles voodoo doll.

As I posted a page or so back, I think Criterion will pair up I Married a Witch with The Ghost Goes West. The Gost Goes West is part of the Korda library that Janus picked up and it's a title I don't really see Criterion releasing on it's own. It would make a great release to have both films together, as they are both by Clair and are Hollywood films with a "supernatural" theme. While I have not seen I Married a Witch, it seems to be fairly well regarded....the Korda title not so much.

I'm still hopeful for a Welles-Shakespeare set.

I Married a Witch would indeed be great news ('He didn't even vote for himself!'), and it's very short so it would make sense to pair it with something else. Othello would be even better news - the second best Shakespeare film ever made, but I've only ever seen the revised version, and my God Criterion could go to town on the extras.

I asked Turrell about Welles' Othello in December of 2007 and he said, "It's high on our list and we're trying to get it. I imagine we will but nothing is confirmed." I'm not sure that means a whole lot except that if they can get it, they will. Of course, that was nearly two years ago, but hopefully they still have some enthusiasm for this.

Y'know, maybe the breakdown of the U.S. financial system isn't so bad after all. It seems to be working out pret-ty good for Criterion.

My only lingering negative thought about all of these announcements, deals, etc. is that it will take like three years to unload all of this stuff!

It would be nice if Criterion could use their licensing/distribution deal with Image to rerelease Under Capricorn and get a double bill of Hitchcock in 2010. The Image DVD is suppose to be terrible.

ianungstad wrote:It would be nice if Criterion could use their licensing/distribution deal with Image to rerelease Under Capricorn and get a double bill of Hitchcock in 2010. The Image DVD is suppose to be terrible.

Under Capricorn is in the public domain, and the film (according to Robert Harris) needs no restoration, so Criterion just needs to get ahold of the film elements and make a transfer.

Sorry guys. Othello isn't Caidin, definitly owned by Beatrice.

Blockade (William Dieterle) and You Only Live Once (Fritz Lang) along with the titles Jeff listed in his post seem to be all the classic titles in the Caidin holdings. Pretty good batch of titles. Can't wait!

ianungstad wrote: Blockade (William Dieterle) and You Only Live Once (Fritz Lang) along with the titles Jeff listed in his post seem to be all the classic titles in the Caidin holdings. Pretty good batch of titles. Can't wait!

For whatever its worth, those are both Image Entertainment DVD releases.

Perkins Cobb wrote:(Well, except for History Is Made at Night.)

HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT is a fantastic genre-bender and would of course be Criterion's first Borzage.

I think it's very exciting to see Criterion cut a deal that focuses on classical Hollywood. I'm not criticizing, but they've only released a handful of classical Hollywood titles in the past four years (YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, THE NAKED CITY, BRUTE FORCE, ACE IN THE HOLE, THE FURIES and MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION).

Can't wait to get my hands on this Caidin batch. Great detective work, Ian and Jeff.

Speaking of classic Hollywood, whatever happened to Cry of the City? Still drumming my fingers waiting on that one.

ianungstad wrote:Sorry guys. Othello isn't Caidin, definitly owned by Beatrice.

Perhaps not any more, according to this report.

I'm going to risk tremendous future disappointment and keep hoping for a comprehensive Welles-Shakespeare box set from Criterion.

ianungstad wrote:It would be nice if Criterion could use their licensing/distribution deal with Image to rerelease Under Capricorn and get a double bill of Hitchcock in 2010. The Image DVD is suppose to be terrible.

The image DVD is ghastly--- a travesty. In all fairness though, Under Capricorn is the weakest of 40 Hitchcock films I've seen--- this includes all of his US work and a handful of English work I've seen. It's just very atypical for his work. It's a league below a film like Torn Curtain which is flawed but still a good film and very well made.

How come Criterion doesnt release any of of Eureka's MOC DVD titles?

They've done that before.

ianungstad wrote:It would be nice if Criterion could use their licensing/distribution deal with Image to rerelease Under Capricorn and get a double bill of Hitchcock in 2010. The Image DVD is suppose to be terrible.

FYI, there is a pretty nice French release for only EUR 10. However, I agree it would be wonderful if Criterion could improve on the Image release of this outstanding, underrated Hitchcock film.

In response to a query of mine asking whether there were plans for David Lean's Night Train to Munich, I've had a letter from Jon Mulvaney that reads:

I wanted to let you know that NIGHT TRAIN is expected to release next year.

ebkaram wrote:In response to a query of mine asking whether there were plans for David Lean's Night Train to Munich, I've had a letter from Jon Mulvaney that reads:

I wanted to let you know that NIGHT TRAIN is expected to release next year.

I hope they also plan to release David Lean's THE THIRD MAN and David Lean's THE FALLEN IDOL next year!

Seriously, though, good news.

December titles will be announced in a couple of weeks, and how I wish Andrei Rublev in a 3-disc digipak akin to Seven Samurai would grace that list.

The Third Man and The Fallen Idol already have premium Criterion releases. The former was, in fact, redone just a couple years ago.

ebkaram wrote:The Third Man and The Fallen Idol already have premium Criterion releases. The former was, in fact, redone just a couple years ago.

I think you missed the good-natured humor in Jaredsap's post.

ebkaram wrote:The Third Man and The Fallen Idol already have premium Criterion releases. The former was, in fact, redone just a couple years ago.

Yes, but we're still waiting for them to correct those pesky "Directed by Carol Reed" typos.

swo17 wrote:

ebkaram wrote:The Third Man and The Fallen Idol already have premium Criterion releases. The former was, in fact, redone just a couple years ago.

Yes, but we're still waiting for them to correct those pesky "Directed by Carol Reed" typos.

You're thinking about the ones directed by Carol Channing.