Criterion and MGM

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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flyonthewall2983
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#601 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:52 am

41 minutes into this discussion of Salvador, Oliver Stone states that MGM refused to do a Blu-Ray for the film. Maybe a good opportunity for CC to do?

Putting it up for that, and mostly just to link it because it's a really good discussion on the making of that movie.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#602 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:09 pm

Gosh, Salvador on Blu from Criterion would be amazing. Plus it would be an excellent opportunity for more James Woods extras (commentary or interview), along with the area that Criterion usually excels in: the historical background to a film (and there is a heck of a lot of it to discuss here!)

beamish13
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#603 Post by beamish13 » Wed Mar 21, 2012 4:23 pm

I really hope Criterion licenses Elia Kazan's THE VISITORS and Tony Richardson's LAUGHTER IN THE DARK from MGM. They're United Artist titles that never received adequate releases.

Jameson281
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:53 am

Re: Criterion and MGM

#604 Post by Jameson281 » Wed Mar 28, 2012 1:22 pm

LAUGHTER IN THE DARK has rights issues.

beamish13
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:31 am

Re: Criterion and MGM

#605 Post by beamish13 » Wed Mar 28, 2012 3:45 pm

Jameson281 wrote:LAUGHTER IN THE DARK has rights issues.
I heard that somewhere. What a shame that a movie with such an interesting history and pedigree is completely unavailable. I think it screened at a Tony Richardson retrospective in NYC around 1994, but to the best of my knowledge it hasn't been seen since.

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captveg
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#606 Post by captveg » Fri May 18, 2012 3:26 am

Re: Long Day's Journey Into Night, it looks like it's one of the Republic catalog films acquired by Olive Films.

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captveg
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#607 Post by captveg » Fri May 18, 2012 3:29 am

BTW Jeff - any thought on updating the first post again?

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Jeff
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#608 Post by Jeff » Fri May 18, 2012 9:59 am

captveg wrote:BTW Jeff - any thought on updating the first post again?
The MGM one? It's more or less up-to-date, isn't it? What stuff am I missing?

EDIT: I did need to move 12 Angry Men to the "released" section.

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fdm
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#609 Post by fdm » Fri May 18, 2012 10:24 am

Jeff wrote:
captveg wrote:BTW Jeff - any thought on updating the first post again?
The MGM one? It's more or less up-to-date, isn't it? What stuff am I missing?

EDIT: I did need to move 12 Angry Men to the "released" section.
Hair and Sid & Nancy are out on blu-ray

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captveg
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#610 Post by captveg » Fri May 18, 2012 12:55 pm

fdm wrote:
Jeff wrote:
captveg wrote:BTW Jeff - any thought on updating the first post again?
The MGM one? It's more or less up-to-date, isn't it? What stuff am I missing?

EDIT: I did need to move 12 Angry Men to the "released" section.
Hair and Sid & Nancy are out on blu-ray
The Samuel Goldwyn titles are now with Warner per their recent acquisition, which includes The Best Years of Our Lives, Wuthering Heights, Ball of Fire, and ~70 other films not listed in the first post.

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Jeff
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#611 Post by Jeff » Fri May 18, 2012 5:41 pm

fdm wrote:Hair and Sid & Nancy are out on blu-ray
captveg wrote:The Samuel Goldwyn titles are now with Warner per their recent acquisition, which includes The Best Years of Our Lives, Wuthering Heights, Ball of Fire, and ~70 other films not listed in the first post.
Updated.

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captveg
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#612 Post by captveg » Fri May 18, 2012 6:52 pm

Jeff wrote:
fdm wrote:Hair and Sid & Nancy are out on blu-ray
captveg wrote:The Samuel Goldwyn titles are now with Warner per their recent acquisition, which includes The Best Years of Our Lives, Wuthering Heights, Ball of Fire, and ~70 other films not listed in the first post.
Updated.
Thanks man!

britcom68

Re: Criterion and MGM

#613 Post by britcom68 » Sat May 26, 2012 7:34 pm

SamLowry wrote:
MoonlitKnight wrote:I second "Long Day's Journey"... particularly since it got dumped onto DVD in pan-n-scan the first time around. :roll:
I'd third or fourth that, but Darling is my first choice, particularly if Criterion could get their hands on the original uncensored print, but given that they released Salo & If... blu rays with edits, I wouldn't hold my breath.
Did Criterion release the uncensored print of Darling on their Laserdisc release or was that edited too? I can't find an answer about that on the CC Laserdisc packaging and I have no laserdisc player to watch the Criterion release with anyway. The version available on Youtube is extended in several scenes compared to the current MGM dvd but there's no credits as to whether the user-posted Darling is from the Laserdisc by Criterion or another Region dvd print.

Such a shame, Darling seems so overlooked and it shouldn't be.

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HistoryProf
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#614 Post by HistoryProf » Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:10 am

So what do I have to do to get a blu ray of Matewan released? I would settle for a watchable OAR version really...but it's an absolute travesty that this remains OOP with only that old horrific Artisan hack job available. Years ago MGM redid Secaucus 7, Lianna, Brother from Another Planet, etc, but inexplicably this dropped out of the calendar never to reappear. Does anyone know where the rights reside and/or why this masterpiece remains unavailable?

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warren oates
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#615 Post by warren oates » Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:24 am

Magically turn John Sayles into a better director? For me his work as a writer for hire (Speed, etc.) is almost always more interesting than the films he ends up financing with that money. I'm with Pauline Kael who called him something like "the thinking man's boring writer-director." I don't even like baseball, but I think Eight Men Out is the only film of his that even seemed worth it the whole way through for me. Which is sad, because I nearly always agree completely with his politics and his well-intentioned desire to represent a more nuanced view of American life.

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PfR73
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#616 Post by PfR73 » Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:37 am

HistoryProf wrote:So what do I have to do to get a blu ray of Matewan released? I would settle for a watchable OAR version really...but it's an absolute travesty that this remains OOP with only that old horrific Artisan hack job available. Years ago MGM redid Secaucus 7, Lianna, Brother from Another Planet, etc, but inexplicably this dropped out of the calendar never to reappear. Does anyone know where the rights reside and/or why this masterpiece remains unavailable?
I don't know where the rights reside, but there are rights issues. I asked John Sayles about this a few years ago at a Q&A and he said he was trying/hoping to get the rights back so an improved release could be done.

Jameson281
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#617 Post by Jameson281 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:06 pm

From a preliminary list of program topics to be presented at this year's AMIA/The Reel Thing conference in August:

• Case Study – Reconstructing and Restoring “Heaven’s Gate” – (Lee Kline, Criterion)

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Lowry_Sam
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#618 Post by Lowry_Sam » Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:45 pm

PfR73 wrote:I don't know where the rights reside, but there are rights issues. I asked John Sayles about this a few years ago at a Q&A and he said he was trying/hoping to get the rights back so an improved release could be done.
My choice before Matewan (or a twofer release) would be City Of Hope, but i believe there are rights issues (Columbia?) with that one too.

rossbrew
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#619 Post by rossbrew » Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:45 pm

Any news on blu's for "Cutter's Way"? I thought it was MGM/UA when it came out....don't think it's available on blu ray right now...thanks!

Noiradelic
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#620 Post by Noiradelic » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:02 am

Cutter's Way is MGM, been OOP for a while. Definite possibility, but considering the bounty of OOP MGM's out there, probably not top priority. Speaking of which, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia's is in play now, though being that it's so newly OOP, if they bite, it may be way down the pipeline.

rossbrew
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#621 Post by rossbrew » Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:25 am

Cool...thanks!

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SamLowry
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#622 Post by SamLowry » Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:55 am

britcom68 wrote:Such a shame, Darling seems so overlooked and it shouldn't be.
Well it looks like Studio Canal has a John Schlesinger Box scheduled for France in November: Billy Liar, Darling & A Kind Of Loving. What little info that is out there claims these will be restored....I guess that bodes just as well as a Criterion release for the original uncensored print of Darling.
http://www.commeaucinema.com/notes-de-p ... ger,253483" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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knives
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#623 Post by knives » Wed Aug 01, 2012 12:57 am

If that release comes over here I'll pick it up for a good copy of A Kind of Loving. Mine has some weird damage to it.

Noiradelic
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#624 Post by Noiradelic » Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:13 am

Now that Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is OOP, is there any reason to think Criterion wouldn't pursue it?

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Napier
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Re: Criterion and MGM

#625 Post by Napier » Sun Aug 19, 2012 7:59 pm

I just caught Raintree County on TCM and it appears this never received a proper R1 release. This would make a swell Criterion BD.

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