criterionforum.org

Askew wrote:Why is everyone predicting A Matter of Life and Death? Was there a recent hint for it that I missed?

Drucker wrote:It's been restored by Film Foundation.

In conjunction with Grover Crisp and Sony, which owns the rights to the film. The restoration premiered at the TCM Film Festival back in April. So the chances of CC releasing this sooner rather than later are very good.

Similarly, why is everyone predicting a La Strada BD upgrade? Was there a hint?

Why does anyone predict anything? Because they like being wrong.

swo17 wrote:Why does anyone predict anything? Because they like being wrong.

I'll bet they're closer than Eric Cantor's pollster. :-k

Too bad we aren't paid for our guesses.

aox wrote:Similarly, why is everyone predicting a La Strada BD upgrade? Was there a hint?

La Strada, is just a random pick or any Fellini upgrade, which is wishful thinking for me at this point. Only two Fellinis in 6 years of blu ray from CC. Sigh.

Fortunately MoC has done an admirable job of filling the gaps.

FrauBlucher wrote:

aox wrote:Similarly, why is everyone predicting a La Strada BD upgrade? Was there a hint?

La Strada, is just a random pick or any Fellini upgrade, which is wishful thinking for me at this point. Only two Fellinis in 6 years of blu ray from CC. Sigh.

Ya gotta have faith

ianungstad wrote:The New York Times put up a page today on it's website crediting Janus films as the domestic distributor of Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will. Did we know that this was a Janus title? I know that Olympia had been mentioned before as being a Janus holding.

Interesting. IFA kidding aside, wasn't Synapse going to put out a special edition blu-ray? That certainly doesn't mean they have the US rights by any means - since the film is in Public Domain (see Flicker Alley-and several of their titles) and I assume that they don't have access to the original negatives/elements?

I think most of the Riefenstahl - Janus connection is explained fairly well in David B. Hinton's book:

Since securing her 1975 copyrights, Riefenstahl contracted with Janus Films of New York for the American rights, using prints from her negatives.

I also found this bit fairly hilarious/sad:

Riefenstahl reasoned that her possession of the original negatives of the films.... constituted a greater competitive advantage in the marketplace than the constant threat of legal action against film pirates

Emphasis likely points towards why Cohen are dubiously claiming several Riefenstahl films as part of the Rohauer collection.

So, the question remains: Why hasn't Janus/Criterion done anything with these titles since the 70s/80s? Either their contract with Riefenstahl ended or they've been screwed by the constant PD bandit releases - which would be very sad, although some of their recent Hitchcock blu-rays seem to indicate Criterion's willingness to work with Public Domain titles.

In any case, the titles in question are: Triumph of the Will, Tiefland, Olympia, and The Blue Light. Hopefully these will come to disc soon/some day (from a non-PD bandit source).

She has a phantom page on Criterion's site; so I assume they plan to release these eventually.

This tweet from Ignatiy V. makes me think a new Chaplin will probably be announced on Monday:

https://twitter.com/vishnevetsky/status ... 2321904640" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fingers crossed for Limelight!

It's probably either Limelight or The Kid. Limelight seems like it might be more in Vishnevetsky's wheelhouse (his excellent piece on Monsieur Verdoux indicates he's got some knowledge and interest is sound Chaplin, whereas pretty much anyone could write about The Kid).

I wonder if we're going to see a box set in September. The rather sudden announcement of the end of the dual-format makes me think it could be motivated by a specific release. Surely, the dual-format box sets would've been particular targets of complaints.

Sorry to disappoint, but the tweet was not in reference to a Criterion release. But, hey, I wouldn't mind a Limelight BD either...

Me thinks some kind of Oshima set.

FakeBonanza wrote:I wonder if we're going to see a box set in September. The rather sudden announcement of the end of the dual-format makes me think it could be motivated by a specific release. Surely, the dual-format box sets would've been particular targets of complaints.

Tati would be my guess, with all the alternate versions of the films involved.

captveg wrote:

FakeBonanza wrote:I wonder if we're going to see a box set in September. The rather sudden announcement of the end of the dual-format makes me think it could be motivated by a specific release. Surely, the dual-format box sets would've been particular targets of complaints.

Tati would be my guess, with all the alternate versions of the films involved.

This all makes so much sense.

Predictions for tomorrow:

Tati Box
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
Midnight Cowboy
Tootsie
The Vanishing BD
Short Cuts

Every time I read over the guesses on this thread I feel like Ned Flanders saying, "I'd like to hear from Sideshow Mel."

What are the odds of Nymphomaniac coming to Criterion?

It's already coming from Magnolia next month.

D'oh, I somehow missed that

Predictions:
Tati Box
Midnight Cowboy
Macbeth
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Masculin feminin blu

It feels like an unusually long time since we've had a Godard release, and lately Criterion has been consistently upgrading films that I've been waiting for, so what the hell.

No solid predictions from me--just the usual hopes, which would include some color Fellini, and perhaps a rerelease of Kaufman's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being".

FrauBlucher wrote:

aox wrote:Similarly, why is everyone predicting a La Strada BD upgrade? Was there a hint?

La Strada, is just a random pick or any Fellini upgrade, which is wishful thinking for me at this point. Only two Fellinis in 6 years of blu ray from CC. Sigh.

The one I really want is Nights of Cabiria. But CC lost the rights to it or am I misinformed?