criterionforum.org

Last month Isabella Rossellini was here in the Dominican Republic promoting her new movie, The Feast of the Goat. A friend of mine who is in charge of the Cinema Department for the country, ask her about the lack of her father films on the DVD, and she told him that she worked with Criterion on some of her father films.

rented Germany Year Zero and Rome Open City a few months ago and was shocked at how bad the transfers were. if Criterion is working on them, I expect it to take a while to clean them up

I wonder if Criterion were to release the war trilogy, if they would also include Guy Maddin's tribute to Rosselini as a special feature.

domino harvey wrote:rented Germany Year Zero and Rome Open City a few months ago and was shocked at how bad the transfers were. if Criterion is working on them, I expect it to take a while to clean them up

I swore I read somewhere on this forum that new prints were recently screened of 8 of Rosselini's films.

Rome city council announced a few weeks ago that they're financing a restoration of Roma città aperta. There will be a complete Rossellini retrospective there in the autumn. There's a DVD of Paisà out next month, hopefully restored.

Open City plays in Seattle next week, showing with a new print I believe.

justeleblanc wrote:I wonder if Criterion were to release the war trilogy, if they would also include Guy Maddin's tribute to Rosselini as a special feature.

The Music Box in Chicago is going to be running The Flowers of Saint Francis in a couple of weeks. My Dad Is 100 Years Old is also on the bill. Don't know if it's helpful, but it's definitely of interest.

-Toilet Dcuk

It means little - I emailed JM a couple of months back asking about the possibility of a Rossellini set to mark the centenary - no reply, but that seems to be the norm now... Isabella Rossellini has a new book out now about her father, including her short on dvd about the same subject...

Journey to Italy is available from the BFI. La Prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV is available from MK2 (without English subtitles). As for the later TV films, most of them are available in Italy:
Socrate
Blaise Pascal
Agostino d'Ippona
Leon Battista Alberti
L' età di Cosimo de' Medici
Cartesio
Anno uno
Il messia

The ones I've seen have pretty good picture quality, and Socrate, Cartesio and Anno uno have English subtitles. Details here.

ellipsis7 wrote:I emailed JM a couple of months back asking about the possibility of a Rossellini set to mark the centenary - no reply, but that seems to be the norm now...

I e-mailed him a while back and got the standard "we plan to release more films but nothing is certain at this time." So that means more Rossellini will never be released

davidhare wrote:In preference to Kinjitsu's Generale della Rovere which is relatively minor, certainly almost entirely narratively conventional (with a nice perf from deSica) I would nominate Vanina Vanini which seems to have become a lost film.

Conventional or not, I'd prefer Generale della Rovere specifically for De Sica's performance.

I want a Rossellini-Bergman box set badly, especially "Europa '51". I do have "Voyage to Italy", "Paula", "We all are women", and "Stromboli" on DVD, but won't mind a Criterion box set.

A Japanese series has been putting out a different Rossellini film every few weeks or so.
So far:

• La Macchina Ammazzacattivi - 1948
  Amore - 1948
  Stromboli - 1950
  Viaggio in Italia - 1953
  India, Matre Bhumi - 1959

But all without English sub-titles.
It's driving me crazy.

gigimonagas wrote:Last month Isabella Rossellini was here in the Dominican Republic promoting her new movie, The Feast of the Goat. A friend of mine who is in charge of the Cinema Department for the country, ask her about the lack of her father films on the DVD, and she told him that she worked with Criterion on some of her father films.

Great news indeed! Like others here I am dying for a Region 1 release of "Europa 51." Do you know from your friend if Ms. Rossellini said anything about in what capacity she had worked with Criterion in this project? Does this mean we have a pretty strong case here that we should be expecting some more Rossellini in the future?

Orphic Lycidas wrote:

gigimonagas wrote:Last month Isabella Rossellini was here in the Dominican Republic promoting her new movie, The Feast of the Goat. A friend of mine who is in charge of the Cinema Department for the country, ask her about the lack of her father films on the DVD, and she told him that she worked with Criterion on some of her father films.

Great news indeed! Like others here I am dying for a Region 1 release of "Europa 51." Do you know from your friend if Ms. Rossellini said anything about in what capacity she had worked with Criterion in this project? Does this mean we have a pretty strong case here that we should be expecting some more Rossellini in the future?

I hope so. According to my friend, Isabella just mention that she'd worked with Criterion on some of her father films, now that the films have been restore for the upcoming centenial. Probably interviews just like in The Flowers of St. Francis DVD. I'll try to find more information.

A Rossellini retrospective will screen in November at MoMA, and will travel to the Cinematheque Ontario, UCLA Archives, and the BFI in London.

On the Criterion home page, they are talking about Isabella's book on her dad. Maybe something is up, but they have used the homepage in the past to just promote previously released items.

pzman84 wrote:On the Criterion home page, they are talking about Isabella's book on her dad.

Apparently a dvd of Guy Maddin's film with her about her Dad is also included in the book.

No mention of anything Criterion related in this comprehensive roundup of Rossellini Centenary news in the Cinecitta newsletter...

Dissappointing...

Well Sight and Sound July #ish review of DVD and book is pretty scathing...

Isabella Rossellini talks about her week and her father in today's Observer, mentions the retros and her book and the short, but nothing on any DVD releases...

I'd just about punch my grandma in the face for a decent DVD release of The Rise of Louis XIV... Any news on that title? Does the French edition have English subs? I might spring for that...

Maybe NoShame could do something with it...

planetjake wrote:I'd just about punch my grandma in the face for a decent DVD release of The Rise of Louis XIV...

So would I!

Me too - for the time being I make do with an old VHS recorded off the BBC...

ellipsis7 wrote:Me too..

Planetjake's grandma is going to be mighty bruised!

they are showing restored prints of a couple of Rossellini films at this years Venice Film Festival

davidhare wrote:In preference to Kinjitsu's Generale della Rovere which is relatively minor, certainly almost entirely narratively conventional (with a nice perf from deSica) I would nominate Vanina Vanini which seems to have become a lost film.

A new restoration by Sony of Vanina Vanini played at the Bologna Cinema Ritrovato festival last week. Sandra Milo was there and described the appalling reception it got at Venice: she thought she was going to win the Best Actress award, and instead the film got booed and the next day's reviews carried the headline Canina Canini (an untranslatable pun calling the film - and her - a dog). She'd asked Rossellini whether she was really right for the role of the "spiritual" Vanina before they started shooting (he'd originally wanted to make La bugiarda, also written by Diego Fabbri, with her, but the producer Moris Ergas (her boyfriend), ixnayed that and suggested VV instead), to which Rossellini responded, "Say what you like about me, but I know how to direct actors." Result: Milo's career collapsed for two years till Fellini cast her as the most unspiritual Carla in 8½.

There have already been rumours of an Italian DVD release, but hopefully this means it will be out there reasonably soon. Incredible to think it was shot in 1961 - stylistically it's very similar to the TV stuff from the 70s, and Rossellini's "analytical zooming" is already present, though here coupled with Renzo's typically lush score (his last for his brother), a curious combination, to say the least. Whatever the shortcomings of Milo's performance, Paolo Stoppa is absolutely priceless as her dad, forever smothering her in kisses.

Incidentally, there also seems to be an Italian DVD of Il Generale della Rovere on the horizon from Minerva.

is there anywhere, a good print of Paisa? The dvd here in Spain is the worst ever released in History -believe me.

I've searched on dvd.it but there are few Rossellini's films avalaible.

So, I'll pray too for a possible Criterion edition.