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Dave Kehr wrote an appreciation of John Auer and (among other films) The City Never Sleeps in Film Comment two years back; the full article doesn't appear to be online but one of Kehr's blog entries talks about Auer.

Hans Guerth wrote:
"Visually, the movie endorses Sean's Edenic vision. The vibrant greens and scalding reds of Innisfree are so bright as to make Oz look drab by comparison." (William C. Dowling In: EIRE-IRELAND: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Irish Studies 2002)

Written in 2002. If the author didn't have a chance to see an original theatrical print, he would most likely have seen the film on one of the old DVD editions. Which indeed have that awful 'more Oz than Oz'-look.

Hans Guerth wrote: "Three-strip dye transfer Technicolor was ... generally used not for naturalism but for glorious artifice. The deep scarlet of the roses is one such example, the greenness of the fields another - Ford was actually accused of painting the fields." (Tag Gallagher)

Which comes across very well in the new transfer IMHO. And as to the Barbara Ford quote: it still looks like Fairyland, but like an Irish fairyland, finally.

Tommaso wrote: Written in 2002. If the author didn't have a chance to see an original theatrical print, he would most likely have seen the film on one of the old DVD editions. Which indeed have that awful 'more Oz than Oz'-look.

I must assume that William Dowling does know the film not only by the really abominable DVDs (3 of them I own, but all of them unwatchable). By the way: He is one of the more proficient talking heads in the 2012 documentary Dreaming the Quiet Man (92 minutes, on DVD in UK). Another one of them is Martin Scorsese but unfortunately he seems not to be intimately connected with this picture (otherwise we possibly may have a better edition). Among other topics Scorsese talks about the influence of the dreamlike boxing match scene on Raging Bull.

Sorry, I do not know what an Irish fairyland looks like, but what I can see are sear and barren meadows. This can't be a CMYK restoration. It could be the scan of an already enormously faded negative/print. And then even 8K cannot bring the color back.

Three more April titles:



Also, Mr. Lime told me on HTF that The Pawnbroker is currently looking at a June/July timeframe for release.

I went through IMDB's list of films Olive has the Blu-ray rights to, and compiled a list of all as-yet unannounced titles from 1935-1970. Apologies if I've missed any.

The Devil's Widow
The Bamboo Saucer
Blind Man's Bluff
The Magic Christian
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969)
The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers
The Pawnbroker
Father Goose
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
Caine
Ophelia
Touch of Mink
The Grass is Greener
Operation Petticoat
High School Confidential!
Marjorie Morningstar
Ambush at Cimarron Pass
Fire Maidens of Outer Space
Plunder Road
Shack Out on 101
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
A Man Alone
Last Command (1955)
Crashout
The Americano
Young at Heart
Cry Vengeance
Secret of the Incas
Blowing Wild
Flattop
Beware My Lovely
Stranger on the Prowl
Hoodlum Empire
Retreat, Hell!
Distant Drums
Lost Planet Airman
Bullfighter and the Lady
Only the Valiant
Cry Danger
The Enforcer
Sound of Fury/Try and Get Me
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
The Men
The Lawless
No Man of Her Own
Sands of Iwo Jima
Love Happy
The Fighting Kentuckian
Home of the Brave
South of St. Louis
Caught
Good Sam
One Touch of Venus
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Ruthless
The Miracle of the Bells
Arch of Triumph
The Lost Moment
That's My Man
The Other Love
Angel and the Badman
Magnificent Doll
Cloak and Dagger
The Bells of St. Mary's
Dakota
Guest Wife
Flame of Barbary Coast
Blood on the Sun
The North Star
Johnny Come Lately
A Lady Takes a Chance
Flying Tigers
In Old California
One of Our Aircraft is Missing
Penny Serenade
Lady from Louisiana
Three Faces West
Dark Command
New Frontier
Pals of the Saddle
J'Accuse!/ I Accuse (1938)
The Lonely Trail
The Oregon Trail

I tried putting spoiler tags around the list to shrink it, but all that did was create a massive black box around it.

Edit: Removed a couple of already-released/announced titles.

I think they've already announced The Fighting Seabees. Can't wait for One of Our Aircraft and Cloak and Dagger, though both seem like missed opportunities for a Criterion caliber release.

They've already released No Man of Her Own and The Lawless, though not on Blu-ray.

Also, spoiler tags here don't ever shrink anything.

swo17 wrote:They've already released No Man of Her Own and The Lawless, though not on Blu-ray.

Also Pony Express and Something to Live For, and City That Never Sleeps has been announced for April.

Mr. Lime did say the following on the HTF (with his usual tact), so no guarantee that every one of those titles make it out:

They've run into some problems with a few of the titles, so some titles may be dropped. At this time, I don't actually know the titles, so please don't bother asking.

Also, here's a list of titles they've released that are DVD only. I can see them doing BD releases on some of these that are from Paramount in the future like they did with some of the other titles (such as the Noir and Preminger box sets).

4 and a Half Terrorists (2008)
50 Ways of Saying Fabulous (2005)
Amerikana (2001)
Atomic City, The (1952)
Bal - The Yusuf Trilogy (2010)
Beyond the Clouds (1995)
Boyfriend for My Wife, A (2008)
Brotherhood (2009)
Buccaneer, The (1938)
Casablanca - The Complete Series (1983)
Chocolate News - The Complete Series (2008)
Day I Became a Woman, The (2000)
Devil, Probably, The (1977)
Dog Bites Man - The Complete Series (2006)
Escape from Zahrain (1962)
Face to Face (1976)
Freak Show - The Complete Series (2006)
Frozen Land (2005)
Girl, The (2009)
Harlow (1965)
Histoire(s) du Cinema (1989-98)
Hunter, The (2010)
I Only Want You to Love Me (1976)
Ici et ailleurs (1976)
In Passing (2007)
Knock on Wood (1954)
Lawless, The (1950)
Letters to Father Jacob (2009)
Mammuth (2010)
Me Too (2009)
Mirush (2007)
Monte Carlo (1986)
My Favorite Spy (1951)
No Man of Her Own (1950)
Notes from Underground (1995)
Nothing Personal (2009)
Numéro deux (1975)
Off Limits (1953)
On the Double (1961)
Once Is Not Enough (1975)
Playing for Time (1980)
Police (1985)
Pony Express (1953)
Queenie (1987)
R (2010)
Raymundo: The Revolutionary Filmmaker's Struggle (2002)
Riot (1969)
Sins (1986)
Slavoj Zizek: The Reality of the Virtual (2004)
Something to Live For (1952)
Summer and Smoke (1961)
Süt - The Yusuf Trilogy (2008)
Temptation of St. Tony, The (2009)
Thief, The (1997)
Tree That Remembers, The (2002)
Tropic of Cancer (1970)
Visions of Eight (1973)
When We Leave (2010)
Who Killed Pixote? (1996)
Woodenhead (2003)
World Is Big and Salvation Lies Around the Corner, The (2008)
WUSA (1970)
Yumurta - The Yusuf Trilogy (2007)

Just announced for April:



FLIRT SPECIAL FEATURE:
• NYC 3/94 – Short Film written and directed by HAL HARTLEY
• Theatrical Trailer

MEANWHILE SPECIAL FEATURE:
• The Everyday (Making of MEANWHILE)
• Theatrical Trailer

How awesome is that! Two more great Hal Hartley films! He's gone from zero to 6 Blu-rays in just a few months. Possible Films must really be pleased with Olive's handling of the Trust release.

Nevermind

More Wellman on Blu, my heart is aflutter.

knives wrote:More Wellman on Blu, my heart is aflutter.

I wish I liked Magic Town more than I did when I watched it via Netflix streaming a few weeks ago, because I do really like Wellman and Stewart. I'll gladly be picking up the BD of The Public Enemy from Warner when they formally announce a release date, and here's hoping for Warner to release a BD of Battleground, and Fox to get around to a BD of my favorite of his films, The Ox-Bow Incident.

warren oates wrote:How awesome is that! Two more great Hal Hartley films! He's gone from zero to 6 Blu-rays in just a few months. Possible Films must really be pleased with Olive's handling of the Trust release.

I'll second that!
Not that I want to upgrade yet another Hartley film so soon after buying it, but fingers crossed these do well and the Surviving Desire/Theory of Achievement/Ambition release heads to Blu too. Would never've thought we'd see so many Hal Hartley films stampeding onto blu-ray in such a short time, if ever. Couldn't be happier...

warren oates wrote:How awesome is that! Two more great Hal Hartley films! He's gone from zero to 6 Blu-rays in just a few months. Possible Films must really be pleased with Olive's handling of the Trust release.

I count two from Artificial Eye (The Unbelievable Truth & Amateur) and three from Olive (Trust, Flirt & Meanwhile). What's number 6?

RobertAltman wrote:

warren oates wrote:How awesome is that! Two more great Hal Hartley films! He's gone from zero to 6 Blu-rays in just a few months. Possible Films must really be pleased with Olive's handling of the Trust release.

I count two from Artificial Eye (The Unbelievable Truth & Amateur) and three from Olive (Trust, Flirt & Meanwhile). What's number 6?

Simple Men from Artificial Eye

Don't know how I missed that one. Hope Henry Fool & Fay Grim are not far behind!

More April titles:

Oh hell yes, Cloak and Dagger. How's The Enforcer? It sounds from brief reading like it's a Walsh film in disguise.

More Lang! TFINTT!

RodneyOz wrote:

RobertAltman wrote:

warren oates wrote:How awesome is that! Two more great Hal Hartley films! He's gone from zero to 6 Blu-rays in just a few months. Possible Films must really be pleased with Olive's handling of the Trust release.

I count two from Artificial Eye (The Unbelievable Truth & Amateur) and three from Olive (Trust, Flirt & Meanwhile). What's number 6?

Simple Men from Artificial Eye

The Unbelievable Truth looks like it's coming out on U.S. Blu-ray via Olive Films. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

The Enforcer is in that "good but not great" range for me... some interesting stuff (flashbacks within flashbacks) but overall feels a bit stale. It's a worth a look, though, and I'd like to see it again since it's been a while.

Hoodlum Empire, on the other hand, is a complete pass. Messy, tedious, corny, blah.

I'm thrilled that Olive is releasing so much noir, but I wish they'd get to the titles I want. Plunder Road, Cry Vengeance, and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye especially.

More April titles:



That makes 18 BD/DVD releases in April. Wow.

New cover art for Flirt:

Jesus, I wonder when the well of shitty pre-Stagecoach John Wayne westerns is going to dry up