Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[FrauBlucher]

I think Midnight Cowboy is an Easter Egg on the Il Sorpasso disc that no one has found yet.

[RSTooley]

They did knock out 'coat unknown', 'inn cold blood', and 'don't look Bach' in a single month.

That is, if 'inn cold blood' doesn't end up being a double clue for Only Lovers Left Alive.

Because double clues exist...

SpoilerShow

[Cinephrenic]

Smart drawing

[Altair]

Peter Bogdanovich, in an interview with RogerEbert.com:

Q: A lot of your films have been reedited or reshaped a little after the fact…there’s a different version of “At Long Last Love” on Blu-ray, you put the right music back in for “Mask,” and I think the long version of “Texasville” is one of the great American films of all time. It’s only available on Laserdisc though.

A: I’m trying to get Criterion to put it out, and they’re thinking about it…it’s a much better film in the long version.

[hollis]

Since they're splitting up the BBS box, might as well pair it with The Last Picture Show

[ianungstad]

Scorsese's Film Foundation is world premiering it's restoration of John Ford's The Long Voyage Home at the NYFF.

[andyli]

FWIW, under the entry of The Long Voyage Home at NYFF website it says "A Westchester Films and Shout! Factory release".

[Ashirg]

Shout! Factory owns streaming rights. Westchester Films can still entertain option to release it through Criterion, like they recently done with Breaker Morant and Mister Johnson.

[FrauBlucher]

The Wexner Center said Criterion will not be there in October but will be there in January.

[ianungstad]

The Long Voyage Home has been licensed to Criterion by Westchester. It's on Criterion's Hulu channel.

The NYFF also has a program dedicated to Scorsese's WCP Project. Weirdly; only two of the titles screening are credited to Janus:

A Touch of Zen (King Hu)
Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene)

[FrauBlucher]

Maybe I should hold off on ordering BFI's Black Girl.

[jwd5275]

The NYFF also has a program dedicated to Scorsese's WCP Project. Weirdly; only two of the titles screening are credited to Janus:

A Touch of Zen (King Hu)
Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene)

Having Janus credited for Black Girl is certainly encouraging, in that it shows that they have plans for the newer WCF titles. The only other WCF titles are Insiang and The Boys from Fengkuei, which are the two most recent 2015 restorations and The Boys from Fengkuei is not even up on the WCF website.

This confirms A Touch of Zen. It would be nice if they picked up the restored Dragon Inn along with Come Drink With Me too.

[ianungstad]

I don't think the restoration of Dragon Inn from last year was done by the WCP. I'm not sure if Criterion is obligated to release these films in catch-all boxsets or if they have to include the WCP branding but from a commercial standpoint; it would make sense for them to license the restoration of Dragon Inn and pair it up with A Touch of Zen and market it as a set of classic kung fu films.

[Drucker]

Maybe I should hold off on ordering BFI's Black Girl.

BFI confirmed for me here, their release of both films is sourced from WCP.

[htom]

I don't think the restoration of Dragon Inn from last year was done by the WCP.

Apparently it wasn't.

[jwd5275]

A Touch of Zen is not a WCP film either, it is just playing at the NYFF at the same time as the Film Foundation/WCP retrospective. The restoration most likely was done by the Taipei Film Archive like Dragon Inn (It was a rep from Taipei film archive that first passed on the info in July).

[ianungstad]

The Telluride slate was announced today. One of the major galas is the premiere of the restoration of Abel Gance's Napoleon. I remember Peter Becker making some suggestive comments at the Wexner Center chat 2 years back that Criterion may have the rights to it and they were waiting on a restoration.

[RyanGallagher]

The Telluride slate was announced today. One of the major galas is the premiere of the restoration of Abel Gance's Napoleon. I remember Peter Becker making some suggestive comments at the Wexner Center chat 2 years back that Criterion may have the rights to it and they were waiting on a restoration.

It sounds like it's just a documentary on the restoration: “RESTORING NAPOLEON with Georges Mourier who is currently overseeing the six-and-half-hour restoration of the film for Cinémathèque Francaise”

From the program: “Georges Mourier, a filmmaker with a deep knowledge of Gance’s work, was chosen to oversee the Cinémathèque Française’s new six-and-half-hour restoration, likely to be completed in 2017, and to be presented live with Carmine Coppola’s score. Mourier will bring a fascinating presentation on the history of the film’s many versions and restorations, culminating with the spectacular “La Marseillaise” sequence in its new and definitive incarnation”

[criterion10]

to be presented live with Carmine Coppola’s score

How likely is it that it will be presented with the original score as well?

[ellipsis7]

to be presented live with Carmine Coppola’s score

How likely is it that it will be presented with the original score as well?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Carmine Coppola's score was I believe for a specific (now dated) version of the restoration, and it seems this was why Francis Coppola resisted later longer versions (particularly from Kevin Brownlow with available & flexible Carl Davis scores as the project evolved) because it appeared his father's fine music no longer fitted the new cues... Perhaps a compromise has been reached and a new 'arrangement' of the original Carmine Coppola score has been applied, otherwise it doesn't make sense (to me anyway)...

[bearcuborg]

I just want Coppola and his father to be removed from the project ...

[EricJ]

to be presented live with Carmine Coppola’s score

How likely is it that it will be presented with the original score as well?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Carmine Coppola's score was I believe for a specific (now dated) version of the restoration, and it seems this was why Francis Coppola resisted later longer versions (particularly from Kevin Brownlow with available & flexible Carl Davis scores as the project evolved) because it appeared his father's fine music no longer fitted the new cues... Perhaps a compromise has been reached and a new 'arrangement' of the original Carmine Coppola score has been applied, otherwise it doesn't make sense (to me anyway)...

It's possible--Unlike Davis's film score, it's a live orchestra non-stop for a three-hour-plus movie, which is why Carmine had to write a solo organ passage in the middle, but it's not out of possibility for him to have tweaked some new cues for the restored cut.
(Although I haven't heard the Davis score, but had the Coppola score on soundtrack album.)

Added benefit, it would verify that "Napoleonic army" from the New Year's hint.

[onedimension]

Folks, seems likely they will show the doc, recap the restoration, and premiere the restored "La Marseillaise" sequence while a live orchestra accompanies it.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

A Touch of Zen is not a WCP film either, it is just playing at the NYFF at the same time as the Film Foundation/WCP retrospective. The restoration most likely was done by the Taipei Film Archive like Dragon Inn (It was a rep from Taipei film archive that first passed on the info in July).

Well, sort of. The Taipei Film Archive doesn't exist anymore—last year it became the Taiwan Film Institute, which is basically the same organization but with a bigger budget and some additional functions. Both restorations were collaborations between the TFA/TFI and L'Immagine Ritrovata.

[Yaanu]

Janus Films posted this to their Twitter:

#FakeHintFriday

Then they deleted it and posted it again with the file name deleted from the image.

Obviously it's not a sign of things to come, but I wouldn't be opposed to a CBS TELEVISION MOVIES box set of some sort.