Criterion Random Speculation Vol.1

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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DrewReiber
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Criterion Random Speculation Vol.1

#1 Post by DrewReiber » Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:03 am

Does anyone have any ideas yet as to which Bunuel, Welles and Antonioni films Criterion is planning to release in 2005? I know there has been talk about The Milky Way, Phantom of Liberty, Tristana, F for Fake, Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) and L'Eclisse, but what of others?

Most of Antonioni's films are still unavaible, with Red Desert and Beyond the Clouds having gone out-of-print more recently on DVD. Though Criterion has already put out L'Avventura, a problem in Criterion's theme linkage between Antonioni's works occur when you consider that La Notte is still available through another label. If L'Eclisse is their only acquisition, it would be a real shame.

Presentations of Welles works are plentiful whenever it comes to some of the copyright free films, but most of the transfers are unwatchable save for Roan Group's The Stranger (on a double feature disc) and Image's The Trial. I would hope that Criterion could step in with their own transfers and some kind of boxset, but so far I've heard nothing. I would also hope that they might have access to Touch of Evil through Universal and that they could afford/manage to find a way to get MacBeth, Chimes at Midnight and The Immortal Story on DVD as well.

And lastly, Bunuel seems to be getting the best treatment out of all three directors lately. Koch Lorber is working on Los Olvidados, Kino is putting out L'Age D'or and VCI just released The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. If Criterion can afford to get a few more of his films in addition to the ones we already know of, most of his finest features will be available by the end of next year.

I'm very anxious to find out what else Criterion has in store for these directors in the coming year, as I'm sure you all are, but also because it's becoming increasingly difficult to explore their works through such limited catalogues. Thanks for any additional information.

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Cinephrenic
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#2 Post by Cinephrenic » Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:09 am

I'm speculating:
From Antonioni: I believe the out-of-print disc Red Desert and the long rumored L'Eclisse.
From Welles: The Janus catalog title Confidential Report (aka Mr. Arkadin) and the confirmed F for Fake. Maybe more Welles.
From Bunuel: The two Rialto titles The Phantom of Liberty and The Milky Way, the Janus title Tristana as also supposibly coming in 2005. JM gave me an impression that maybe Viridiana and The Exterminating Angel may be coming from his mail. All other Mexican work are all possibilities.

Here is a list of out-of-print R1:
- Atomic Submarine, The
- Beyond the Clouds
- Black Rain
- Black Sunday
- Breaking the Waves
- Brute Force
- Corridors of Blood
- Crash
- Damage
- Day for Night
- Double Indemnity
- First Man Into Space, The
- Garden of Finzi-Continis, The
- Haunted Strangler, The
- Human Condition I - No Greater Love
- Human Condition II - The Road to Eternity
- Human Condition III - A Soldier's Prayer
- Naked City
- Nostalghia
- Odd Man Out
- Open City
- Padre Padrone
- Pierrot le Fou
- Red Desert
- Senso
- Seven Beauties
- Stavisky
- Swept Away
- Woman in the Dunes

Please help me keep this list of dvds that are out-of-print and Criterion-worthy films. You may send me a private message for any corrections or additions.
Last edited by Cinephrenic on Mon Jan 31, 2005 6:38 pm, edited 14 times in total.

DrewReiber
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#3 Post by DrewReiber » Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:23 am

cinephrenic wrote:I believe the out-of-print disc Red Desert and the long rumored L'Eclisse.
Would it be possible to license La Notte?
cinephrenic wrote:JM gave me an impression that maybe Viridiana and The Exterminating Angel may be coming from his mail. All other Mexican work are all possibilities.
If they got those two and Simon of the Desert (oh I hope, I hope), every film from Viridiana on would be available on disc. Hen's Tooth Video holds/held the rights to these titles and probably some others, but there's no telling what has come of the proprietary rights.[/quote]

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Cinephrenic
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#4 Post by Cinephrenic » Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:42 am

Would it be possible to license La Notte?
I doubt it. It is already out and in print by Fox Lorber. Maybe another two years or so depending on the kind of licence. But I don't see why it wouldn't come in the future. They have a good relationship with Criterion.
Last edited by Cinephrenic on Sun Nov 07, 2004 5:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Ashirg
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#5 Post by Ashirg » Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:44 am

Perhaps Fox Lorber will licence La Notte if Criterion would only release it as part of a boxset - with Red Desert and L'Eclisse...

DrewReiber
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#6 Post by DrewReiber » Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:49 am

Ashirg wrote:Perhaps Fox Lorber will licence La Notte if Criterion would only release it as part of a boxset - with Red Desert and L'Eclisse...
I would gladly sell my copy of L'Avventura if they did. However, I would also like to see them do something with Beyond the Clouds as a seperate release.

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Cinephrenic
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#7 Post by Cinephrenic » Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:55 am

La Notte is a trilogy with L'Avventura and L'Eclisse. I believe it was his Trilogy of Loneliness. They are all worthy of seperate releases alone. With L'Avventura a special edition and more higher regarded, I doubt this will ever happen. If anything, maybe a gift set.

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solaris72
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#8 Post by solaris72 » Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:55 am

cinephrenic wrote: Here is a list of out-of-print R1 and possible Criterions:
-12 Monkeys
I'm surprised to find out 12 Monkeys is OOP. I really don't know what Criterion could add to its release. It's got an anamorphic transfer, production sketches, commentary, and a first rate making of documentary (by the same people who did the unmaking of documentary for Gilliam's Don Quixote movie). All Criterion could really add would be a $40 MSRP and maybe La Jetee, and La Jetee is a film I would want to have its own release, or at least released alongside Sans Soleil.

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#9 Post by DrewReiber » Sun Nov 07, 2004 5:01 am

cinephrenic wrote:La Notte is a trilogy with L'Avventura and L'Eclisse. I believe it was his Trilogy of Loneliness. They are all worthy of seperate releases alone. With L'Avventura a special edition and more higher regarded, I doubt this will ever happen. If anything, maybe a gift set.
Well, some critics feel that Red Desert presents a kind of tetrology once combined with the trilogy you speak of. In fact, I was just reading about that today. As for the more highly regarded film, I've heard that said about La Notte and L'Eclisse, always depending on just which film analyst I was reading at the time.

Any way you put it, it seems to me that all four of these films would benefit from getting the Criterion treatment.

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Cinephrenic
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#10 Post by Cinephrenic » Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:56 pm

Does anyone know about the other two out-of-print titles The Naked City and Brute Force? One was from Image as the other from Universal. Does anyone have a clue about a release, perhaps from Criterion in the future?

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#11 Post by bjeggert82 » Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:02 pm

According to both Amazon.com and DVDaf.com, both Brute Force and The Naked City are out of print, and were former Image titles.

Great, though speculative news. Especially after the announcement of Night and the City & Thieves Highway.

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Cinephrenic
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#12 Post by Cinephrenic » Tue Nov 30, 2004 9:54 pm

You just restated what I asked and already knew.

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ellipsis7
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More Bergman?

#13 Post by ellipsis7 » Thu Dec 02, 2004 3:18 pm

Do the first three Bergman intros on the FANNY AND ALEXANDER set - SUMMER WITH MONIKA, SAWDUST & TINSEL, A LESSON IN LOVE - give any clue for forthcoming releases from the CC?

The other 8 intros are for Bergman titles already released by the CC... The SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT is a repeat of the intro from that disc, so we maybe should expect the same for the above three...

SUMMER WITH MONIKA apparently was the highest grossing theatrical release of a Bergman film in the US, not least for its uninhibited scenes with Harriet Anderson, striking at the time...
Last edited by ellipsis7 on Thu Dec 02, 2004 3:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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justeleblanc
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#14 Post by justeleblanc » Thu Dec 02, 2004 3:27 pm

I sent in a question to the JM himself a few days ago and he has yet to return my emails.

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Keaton
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#15 Post by Keaton » Thu Dec 02, 2004 3:59 pm

Hi,

As I posted in the Fanny and Alexander thread, it would be more than a strage move by criterion to put the introductions of these three movies on the Fanny Disk if they plan to release them on DVD...I mean that would be a waste of extras. Or what do you guys think? Why would criterion not put the introduction on the individual releases of the movies, if they release them? It would be like putting on introduction of Seven Samurai on the coming Kagemusha disk, despite the fact that they going to re-release seven samurai.

Regards,

Dennis :)

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Cinephrenic
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#16 Post by Cinephrenic » Thu Dec 02, 2004 4:08 pm

I'm curious how many Bergman films they are planning on releasing under the Criterion label. Already The Virgin Spring and The Magician is in the works for future release. I'd love to see Sawdust and Tinsel released.
As I posted in the Fanny and Alexander thread, it would be more than a strage move by criterion to put the introductions of these three movies on the Fanny Disk if they plan to release them on DVD...I mean that would be a waste of extras. Or what do you guys think?
I agree, but would like to add that those films will eventually get a release either Home Vision or Criterion, but they could still use the extras regardless of label. Interesting point though Keaton.

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zedz
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#17 Post by zedz » Thu Dec 02, 2004 4:19 pm

Keaton wrote:As I posted in the Fanny and Alexander thread, it would be more than a strage move by criterion to put the introductions of these three movies on the Fanny Disk if they plan to release them on DVD...I mean that would be a waste of extras. Or what do you guys think? Why would criterion not put the introduction on the individual releases of the movies, if they release them? It would be like putting on introduction of Seven Samurai on the coming Kagemusha disk, despite the fact that they going to re-release seven samurai.
I'm with Dennis. I think that the inclusion of those introductions is more likely a clue to which Bergman titles won't be released in the future. It would probably be more profitable to find out which films Bergman has recorded introductions for and count on the ones left off Fanny.

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Keaton
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#18 Post by Keaton » Thu Dec 02, 2004 4:21 pm

cinephrenic wrote:I'd love to see Sawdust and Tinsel released.
Oh yes, its my most wanted Bergman release from criterion now, and I would be more happy about that one than about The Magican or Virgin Spring (maybe because I own the quite nice Tartan disc's).

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#19 Post by Narshty » Thu Dec 02, 2004 4:45 pm

I'm very much hoping for Sawdust and Tinsel, The Magician, The Virgin Spring and Summer with Monika this year. Now they've got Bergman himself to slap his thumbs-up sticker on all their releases of his films (something I still find absolutely extraordinary), I'd have thought they'd want to get as many out as quickly as possible.

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ellipsis7
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#20 Post by ellipsis7 » Thu Dec 02, 2004 5:00 pm

As I posted in the Fanny and Alexander thread, it would be more than a strage move by criterion to put the introductions of these three movies on the Fanny Disk if they plan to release them on DVD...
That's the point... The confounder is that they have already put the SVE 2002 introduction to SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT onto that single disc release, and then have put it AGAIN onto the FANNY AND ALEXANDER disc! They are repeating the same introduction on two releases!

That establishes the clear principle that these set of introductions 1). update the previous releases that didn't have them 2). repeat the one that did have them 3). probably foreshadow those that will have them in the future....

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jedgeco
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#21 Post by jedgeco » Thu Dec 02, 2004 5:16 pm

ellipsis7 wrote:
As I posted in the Fanny and Alexander thread, it would be more than a strage move by criterion to put the introductions of these three movies on the Fanny Disk if they plan to release them on DVD...
That's the point... The confounder is that they have already put the SVE 2002 introduction to SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT onto that single disc release
That they re-include SMILES makes me think that someone thought there would be some intrinsic value to having an archive of all 11 intros in one place, collected together. Of course, that would mean that you can't infer anything about a future release of the three non-CC films.

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ellipsis7
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#22 Post by ellipsis7 » Thu Dec 02, 2004 5:23 pm

Does anyone know how many introductions Bergman recorded in total - or is just the eleven we have on disc? I was under the impression it was a full retrospective on Swedish Television and that he covered most of his films - correct me if I'm wrong...

Nice also to hear Bergman is also rewatching his films on DVD!

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Keaton
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#23 Post by Keaton » Thu Dec 02, 2004 6:15 pm

jedgeco wrote:That they re-include SMILES makes me think that someone thought there would be some intrinsic value to having an archive of all 11 intros in one place, collected together. Of course, that would mean that you can't infer anything about a future release of the three non-CC films.
Thats of course possible, in a way, but as I said it would be really strange.

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ellipsis7
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#24 Post by ellipsis7 » Thu Dec 02, 2004 6:37 pm

Don't follow what you're saying Dennis...

It's a clear fact that the SMILES OF SUMMER NIGHT intro is repeated on both releases. Your original point is thus invalidated... (Sorry)

What we're now trying to tease out is whether there's positive (having ruled out the negative) meaning to the 3 titles intro'd on top of the 8 already released...

Of import to this musing, is whether the full 11 is a complete set, or just part of a larger collection of Bergman intros... If it is the latter, it would suggest there was a reason for the inclusion of these particular 3 intros of CC unreleased films...

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Keaton
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#25 Post by Keaton » Thu Dec 02, 2004 6:55 pm

ellipsis7 wrote:Don't follow what you're saying Dennis...

It's a clear fact that the SMILES OF SUMMER NIGHT intro is repeated on both releases. Your original point is thus invalidated... (Sorry)

What we're now trying to tease out is whether there's positive (having ruled out the negative) meaning to the 3 titles intro'd on top of the 8 already released...

Of import to this musing, is whether the full 11 is a complete set, or just part of a larger collection of Bergman intros... If it is the latter, it would suggest there was a reason for the inclusion of these particular 3 intros of CC unreleased films...
Well, I don't want to argue about that, and what you've said is quite possible but I still think, even if you are right, its not criterion like to recycle supplements. I think its a strage move by them...but if you are right I won't complain, I even hope they release these three.

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