In order to try and buy us a bit more time - as we struggle with large projects that are nowhere near completion - we are releasing 4 titles on DVD in February 2011. These are titles that we released "on Blu-ray only" in 2010.

PROFOUND DESIRES OF THE GODS
THE BURMESE HARP
MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW
WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER?

As far as I'm concerned this is a retrograde step which sends out confusing signals and pits an inferior format against an already released superior format -- and I apologise to those who might have been expecting fresh Blu-rays from us -- but it fills a hole in our schedule and will presumably please those who still only have [s]VHS[/s] DVD players. It goes without saying, we worked very hard bringing these titles out in 1080p this year and we urge everyone to experience these films on Blu-ray in 1080p.

*through gritted teeth*

My current favorite post on the board.

Ouch.

Let's hope the forthcoming November offer brings better news.

Please also give us previous MoC DVD releases such as LA NOTTE & IL GRIDO on the superior BR format, along with hopefully more MA to come... Actually DVD probably is the widespread and longstanding archival format, in terms of reference/individual libraries, while we all crave BRs of our favourite titles...

I'm not confused in the least!!!! You're gonna get money from me for these....now if you can only find it your heart to release City Girl on DVD....but hell, I'm not complaining in the least. Thanks a ton!!!!

If I'm not region free on Blu by February, I might wind up picking up Rock Hunter (the Blu is region locked, right?).

All four of those titles are Region B-locked, which is presumably why City Girl and The World (both region free) aren't included.

PLEASE release "City Girl".

We have plans to do CITY GIRL on DVD. But not THE WORLD. We'll use CITY GIRL DVD to fill a gap somewhere along the way.

Oh man...more fantastic news! Where else can you find people willing to hand over money to you, huh?

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I was pretty bummed when it was announced as blu only. But better later than never for SD!

So in other words, it'll be reissues for Jan and Feb (Mizoguchi box and DVD editions of the abovementioned Blu titles) and no genuinely new titles? Pity, I'm sure many were looking forward to finding out which director was getting two films released on Blu in February. Again though, you guys have had an amazingly productive year considering it's only 3, 4 full-time staff.

Great news!

Heh! City Girl is the main reason I went Blu (before I even had a flat screen!) and I'm glad I did.

I may get the Mizoguchi box though. If I can find the MK2 Mizoguchi box for cheap (Osaka Elegy, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums and the 47 Ronins, I think It's french subs only but I wonder if anybody knows about the picture quality) with it, that's a crazy instant Mizoguchi collection I could get.

to be honest, the blu titles were going to be the main reason i was going to upgrade.

and now i really don't have to. hooray!

I upgraded a few months ago and will only buy BR from MoC (well, when I have some money for it).
Anyway, I don't think it will confuse people, but you may get a few customers back from all the ones which stop buying MoC because they didn't upgrade yet.

It is sad to see that now, you have to release the "inferior" DVD editions, but I do believe that it can only be interesting for the customers that couldn't buy these new releases.

City Girl and Profound Desires are pretty much the reason God invented region-free Blu-ray players. You don't want to anger the gods, do you?

Thanks Peerpee, I'll certainly get "Profound Desires" and probably also "Make way for tomorrow" now. That gives me hope for future releases, perhaps indeed as dual format sets a la "Metropolis" at least for the more iconic films (such as more Antonioni, should the speculations be right).


The gods invented 35mm prints in the first place. The rest is just human religion.

We shan't be pursuing the "Dual Format" edition as a regular thing. It has an inbuilt obsolescence and is environmentally unfriendly/wasteful. We much prefer the Criterion route of entirely separate format releases (if we're doing a BD and a DVD release of a particular title).

Hell yes on the former and maybe on the latter! Thanks for making these available on DVD now. I'll definitely be getting that Imamura.

i'm working on it. but new tv + new region free blu-ray player = less money i can spend on buying movies readily available in a format i've already invested a ton of money in.

MoC is going to make me do it eventually. i guarantee it.

If you have a computer you can hook up to your TV, it is way way cheaper to get a blu-ray drive and download software to get region free blu-ray capability than it is to buy a Momitsu or whatever. You can get the drive for around $60, and the software ranges from free to maybe $25 if you want something nice.

tv is only 720p. seems silly to not take advantage of the format.