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Continuing on from Vol. 5 and the mention of the Bogdanovich interview which raises the possibility of Saint Jack and Texasville...

Texasville is IDEAL for Criterion to do. They already have Last Picture Show, there's a vastly better director's cut that almost nobody has seen (over 30 minutes added), and Bogdanovich would give a fascinating commentary. The LD was done at the tail end of the original producers at Pioneer Special Edition, and Pioneer cut all the funding at the last minute - PB actually showed up to record the commentary track and nobody told him it had been cancelled.

The problem with the LD is that it's pan and scan, and the 1.85 DVD is the theatrical cut. Almost all the material removed related directly back to Last Picture Show, and the argument at the time of release is that nobody would remember these references since the film had been out of circulation due to music rights (it was finally released to video at the same time as Texasville in 1991).

So Texasville would be maybe the most exciting release for me that I could think of. It was the first novel I ever read and it's always held a special place for me.

I would love to see Texasville get the Criterion treatment! The theatrical cut, while a far different experience than the Last Picture Show, is wonderful in its own way and more of it would be welcome. This is exactly the kind of thing Criterion should be working on, restoring the vision of living auteurs on underrated classics

It might also be a good opportunity to unbox some of the bigger titles from the BBS set.

That could very well happen because of the dual format.

Nice that they are talking to Roger Corman about licensing some titles. It also looks like they are negotiating another wave of MGM titles. The director of Leaving Las Vegas posted similar comments on Twitter.

What other Corman titles would Criterion possibly license? Cockfighter (Monte Hellman) Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris) both would be good choices.

domino harvey wrote:I would love to see Texasville get the Criterion treatment! The theatrical cut, while a far different experience than the Last Picture Show, is wonderful in its own way and more of it would be welcome. This is exactly the kind of thing Criterion should be working on, restoring the vision of living auteurs on underrated classics

Wow we agree on something, my head is about to explode

If you like the short edit, you'll love the director's cut. I should pull it out and recap all the added scenes. Off the top of my head theres a scene where Duane goes to buy the pickles you see him eating in the boat at sunrise when he sees Jacy swimming. In that scene they talk about Sam the Lion and have a picture of Ben Johnson and Sam Bottoms. There's a scene of Sonny angrilly ripping down the ruins of the picture show after he visits the doctor, theres a long 10 minute or so sequence of Duane going to Jacy's house and spending time with her, and I forget if this is cut but it's great - theres a moment of Duane walking out to the pool with Karla and Jacy sitting together and they take one look at him and bust out sobbing, he then retreats into the house.

The thing I love about the film is the tone, Last Picture Show and Texasville both. There's a mixture of absurd comedy played straight and genuine sadness and longing that never becomes maudlin. Watching the two back to back is really something and I'd really love to see the later books get adapted now that Bridges is the right age.

Agree with everything I'm reading about Texasville. I love both of the books and the films, and now I feel I must run to look for that DVD-R someone made me of the director's cut...

ianungstad wrote:It also looks like they are negotiating another wave of MGM titles. The director of Leaving Las Vegas posted similar comments on Twitter.

If that's true, I hope they pick up Dassin's He Who Must Die from MGM.

ianungstad wrote:Nice that they are talking to Roger Corman about licensing some titles. It also looks like they are negotiating another wave of MGM titles. The director of Leaving Las Vegas posted similar comments on Twitter.

What other Corman titles would Criterion possibly license? Cockfighter (Monte Hellman) Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris) both would be good choices.

The Intruder would be great!

As for the animated title they are negotiating for; Watership Down might be a possibility. Warner Brothers let the rights lapse and the rights reverted to director/producer Martin Rosen. It was reissued in the UK on blu by Universal earlier this year. Who knows if Universal picked up North American rights too or if they were sold (or being sold) to some other company.

It will be interesting to hear about the director's cut of Thief and the Cobbler and what kind of state it's in. Criterion could probably swing something with Miramax like they did with the Qatsi set. If the cut is different enough they might even be able to sell it as a "new" film ie. Night Breed: Cabal from earlier this year.

The Gondry seems like the most likely choice though.

ianungstad wrote:As for the animated title they are negotiating for; Watership Down might be a possibility. Warner Brothers let the rights lapse and the rights reverted to director/producer Martin Rosen.

That makes the most sense to me. I suppose a package licensed from Rosen might also include Ken Russell's Women in Love.

I'm sure Criterion will eventually have access to the Gondry, but it seems unlikely that they were talking about it, since they already have a first look deal with IFC. It sounded like Becker was talking about a new deal that hasn't been finalized yet.

Linklater's Suburbia would be pretty good as well, including some extra content on the original play and interviews with Eric Bogosian. The film was not bad and had a pretty decent soundtrack, much better than a lot of the other poppy kind of soundtracks of the time and represented a more realistic 90's from the perspective of gen x'ers and burnouts. Don't think I ever saw it last long on DVD and I doubt a blu-ray exists.

Jeff wrote:

ianungstad wrote:As for the animated title they are negotiating for; Watership Down might be a possibility. Warner Brothers let the rights lapse and the rights reverted to director/producer Martin Rosen.

That makes the most sense to me. I suppose a package licensed from Rosen might also include Ken Russell's Women in Love.

I'm sure Criterion will eventually have access to the Gondry, but it seems unlikely that they were talking about it, since they already have a first look deal with IFC. It sounded like Becker was talking about a new deal that hasn't been finalized yet.

In that case I imagine that The Plague Dogs would be a more likely pairing especially since the Russell could stand its own with already made extras.

I think he meant a licensing package not that the two films would be released in the same package.

I thought MGM owned that still though?

Since Terence Davies' The Long Day Closes is getting a release in January, any chance of The Terence Davies Trilogy and Distant Voices, Still Lives? Also would more Ken Loach be in the works?

Criterion getting Abel Gance's Napoleon would be awesome. It would be a huge release considering it would take 2-3 discs just for the complete version, not to mention the Zoetrope cut (which would probably fit on one Blu or 2 DVDs). Kevin Brownlow has been giving lectures on his work with Napoleon and would be perfect to turn into a documentary. He even showed clips from a bunch of different versions like the bizarre 1930s talkie re-release, part of the tryptich showing up as stock footage in an MGM film, and even what his 9.5mm and 17.5mm copies looked like before all the 35mm was found.

For that matter, Brownlow's own film It Happened Here would be great for Criterion if Milestone doesn't still have the rights.

ianungstad wrote: It will be interesting to hear about the director's cut of Thief and the Cobbler and what kind of state it's in. Criterion could probably swing something with Miramax like they did with the Qatsi set. If the cut is different enough they might even be able to sell it as a "new" film ie. Night Breed: Cabal from earlier this year.
.

The Indiewire article is slightly misleading. From all other accounts, Richard Williams is showing a 35mm workprint he had printed the last day of production at his London studio. In theory, it should be identical to the bootleg making the rounds, but it might have some extra/more complete footage. There might be a rights problem since it's with Echo Bridge (who re-released the same old pan & scan DVD as Miramax and TWC) and the film elements are apparently owned by Disney.

Criterion would be a perfect outlet for a comprehensive set if they can sort out the rights and considerable work needed. There's certainly enough material for a huge Mad World styled release.

edit: The Academy website notes that Williams is showing a "reconstructed" workprint that uses multiple sources instead of a straight telecine of the 35mm workprint.

It will be disappointing for Bogdanovich to hear that Scorpion Releasing is working on a Saint Jack blu-ray.

ianungstad wrote:Nice that they are talking to Roger Corman about licensing some titles. It also looks like they are negotiating another wave of MGM titles. The director of Leaving Las Vegas posted similar comments on Twitter.

What other Corman titles would Criterion possibly license? Cockfighter (Monte Hellman) Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris) both would be good choices.

I can't see Criterion improving upon the The Little Shop Of Horrors blu-ray already out there, so I'm hoping It means A Bucket Of Blood is getting restored. The MGM dvd lacks any extras, is in the wrong aspect ratio & is only 66 minutes & feels like it may have been edited (with some abrupt scene transitions). It's definitely Corman's best directorial effort & deserves better. Otherwise, with Death Race 2000 and Rock N Roll High School already on blu-ray, it could mean a box set of titles, maybe a 50s horror/sci fi box or a 60s biker/teen rebellion/drug box.

Lowry_Sam wrote:

ianungstad wrote:Nice that they are talking to Roger Corman about licensing some titles. It also looks like they are negotiating another wave of MGM titles. The director of Leaving Las Vegas posted similar comments on Twitter.

What other Corman titles would Criterion possibly license? Cockfighter (Monte Hellman) Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris) both would be good choices.

I can't see Criterion improving upon the The Little Shop Of Horrors blu-ray already out there, so I'm hoping It means A Bucket Of Blood is getting restored. The MGM dvd lacks any extras, is in the wrong aspect ratio & is only 66 minutes & feels like it may have been edited (with some abrupt scene transitions). It's definitely Corman's best directorial effort & deserves better. Otherwise, with Death Race 2000 and Rock N Roll High School already on blu-ray, it could mean a box set of titles, maybe a 50s horror/sci fi box or a 60s biker/teen rebellion/drug box.

Maybe we'll finally get the Criterion/MST3K box set we've always wanted: A giant collection of the Corman films featured on the show.
One of the selling points: "You can watch all of these films in the same amount of time as it took for Corman to make one: Three days!"

knives wrote:I thought MGM owned that still though?

I'm pretty sure MGM does still own Women in Love. After all, it was a United Artists title.

I'd still love a Criterion release of this one. The current release isn't even anamorphic, but there are already two very good commentaries on it (one from Russell himself).

Hmm, interesting. Thanks for correcting me.

Do you know if this would apply to the other two United Artists Russell films: The Music Lovers and Valentino?

Depends what you mean. They are not owned by the same individual as Women In Love. The Music Lovers is owned by the Russell estate and Valentino is owned by United Artists outright. Do you not know how to use IMDB? (Not a dig, just click on productions credits for a "usually" useful idea of ownership questions.)

I do know how to use IMDb, but I don't still see how the Russell estate would own The Music Lovers. Are you suggesting this because Russ-Arts was the production company? They also served as the production company for Savage Messiah, which is now owned by Warner Brothers...