Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[ianthemovie]

I think it's pretty fair to assume LE would have to get a new restoration to warrant a release. Certainly not a guarantee, but PBS had a 4k restoration, can't imagine LE wouldn't eventually be a candidate as well.

Fingers crossed. It's my favorite screwball. ("No, dear, they're more careful in choosing a tailor than they are in choosing a wife...")

[FrauBlucher]

I guess it's reasonable to assume the classic Hollywood screwballs are selling pretty well.

And yet The Lady Eve has yet to receive an upgrade...

I know Universal was working on this several years ago. So, maybe soon....

[DRW.mov]

I guess it's reasonable to assume the classic Hollywood screwballs are selling pretty well.

And yet The Lady Eve has yet to receive an upgrade...

I know Universal was working on this several years ago. So, maybe soon....

I mean they posted photos back in 2014/2015 of them working on a nitrate dupe of The Lady Eve shortly after their blu rays of Palm Beach Story and Sullivan's Travels. I expected it to be right around the corner.

[movielocke]

I'm gonna go out on a limb, and predict there will be no december announcements on October 16th! I think criterion will be taking a well deserved break in December.

[miless]

Does anyone know who owns the rights to Aleksei German's films? If it's mosfilm/ruscico, how likely do you think it is that Criterion picked them up in a bulk deal (alongside the Tarkovsky, Bondarchuck, Klimov, Kurosawa films that were purportedly licensed). Seems a likely candidate for an Eclipse release should Criterion decide to revive that venture.
Would also love to get some Lopushansky, but that seems even less likely.

similarly, who owns the rights to Miklós Jancsó's films? were his films funded via the Soviet studio system, or via a Hungarian entity?

[The Narrator Returns]

Kafka will come out on Criterion whenever Soderbergh is done tinkering with it. It's been "forthcoming" for many years

I think we're at the point where we can substitute "decades" for "years".

Soderbergh claims in his Reddit AMA that he's still editing this and hopes to be done by year's end

I just listened to this interview Soderbergh did about Logan Lucky, and he reiterates his plans to finish it by the end of the year (having not done anything with it for the last three years), and sez he wants to release the new version with the original cut and all of the memos Lem Dobbs sent him during production.

[qw0aszx]

similarly, who owns the rights to Miklós Jancsó's films? were his films funded via the Soviet studio system, or via a Hungarian entity?

Should be Hungarian Digital Archive and Film Institute, they restored some Miklós Jancsó's films, Second Run released Electra, My Love on blu-ray.

[Self]

SpoilerShow

Le Samourai

[Self]

Four titles for November. Seems light

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Four titles for November. Seems light

This forum seriously can't go a release cycle with some level of complaining.

[domino harvey]

That comment sucks

[Graphist]

How about the Olympic box set? That’s like 54 films!… If only they employed gnomes or elfes.

Very happy with Le Samouraï and will check Gilliam’s film.

[dwk]

Four titles for November. Seems light

I suspect that the Olympic Films box was initially planned to be a November release.

[Finch]

Eh. Might get Desert Hearts and Le Samourai if reviews for the latter are good. For a November slate, underwhelming.

[mindlabcreative]

I'm happy Jabberwocky is finally getting the release it richly deserves after all the half-assed DVDs floating around out there. And as far as November being a light month? I don't think I'd be complaining with 54 films coming in December + a few others probably. We are lucky to be living in such an amazing age for films, to have access to a vast library of classics, in high def, no less AND affordable. To have a film library like the ones people have now was just a dream for most people a quarter of a century ago. It's a joy to be a film collector in this day and age. : )

[felipe]

Four titles for November. Seems light

I suspect that the Olympic Films box was initially planned to be a November release.

I just hope the Olympic boxset won't be the only release announcement for December then. November is usually a big month for Criterion, this is underwhelming.

[domino harvey]

I think many of us are surprised the Hughes titles weren't announced-- those seem like popular releases that would be a better fit for release during such a retail-heavy month

[Graphist]

Maybe Hughes films were a joke and they’ve been messing with us.

[Luke M]

I’m happy with The Philadelphia Story. Hope to see Bringing Up Baby and The Awful Truth soon.

[flyonthewall2983]

Four titles for November. Seems light

I suspect that the Olympic Films box was initially planned to be a November release.

I just hope the Olympic boxset won't be the only release announcement for December then. November is usually a big month for Criterion, this is underwhelming.

It'll make sense if they announce 4 for December too.

[Ribs]

I think it's very likely there'll be only like two more releases in December, considering it'll probably just be releases for 12/12 and that's it. Could be a box or something I guess but I don't have great expectations.

[artfilmfan]

As the world turns, the sun also rises, and there's announcement for November titles after all. Ahhh, what a relief! Now it's time to think about the December titles. What about those Hughes titles? Seem probable!

[Minkin]

Here's the rundown:

Philadelphia Story - July 2017 newsletter clue

Jabberwocky - Twitter confirmation

Desert Hearts - In which ways has this not been confirmed? Probably a record for most confirmed title: Twitter leak + possible New Years clue + Sundance confirmation + being toured by Janus AND May's newsletter clue. Sheesh.

Le Samourai - Typical left-field upgrade (only surprise)
----------------------------------------------------------------
270 blu-ray upgrades remain. Despite us managing to complain about everything this month, Blu-ray.com seems happy -as Le Samourai is one of those titles that people couldn't shut up about every month (thus makes me wonder what they'll switch to now that its finally been announced). I suppose this might be why they announced the Olympics box ahead of time - as I'm sure that's the big end of year title, thus a perhaps lighter month for November - as things have likely been delayed for various reasons / to make room for the Olympics (A Hughes box + Monterey Pop seemed like obvious candidates here).

[Bressonaire]

270 blu-ray upgrades remain.

The Tokyo Olympiad in the December Olympics box is a Blu-ray upgrade too, or did you count that?

[Minkin]

270 blu-ray upgrades remain.

The Tokyo Olympiad in the December Olympics box is a Blu-ray upgrade too, or did you count that?

Hah! I totally forgot to mark that one off the list I keep. 269 it is then!

For the record, the Three Films by Teshigahara are counted as only one of the 269 remaining (as are all boxsets) - even though one of the of three films have been upgraded.

Also, as evidenced above, any non-upgraded OOP titles are included in that 269 total. So while we might not see an upgrade of Dead Ringers anytime soon, its still to be upgraded to blu-ray, thus is part of that #. There's 46 OOP titles that haven't been upgraded.