Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
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barryconvex
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#326 Post by barryconvex » Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:03 pm

I'd like to try the chronological route myself but there are a few of these i'm unfamiliar with and some i've never seen on blu so i doubt i'll be going in any particular order as intriguing as it sounds. Really looking forward to revisiting the period immediately following Persona with Shame likely to be up first followed by ..Anna and Hour Of The Wolf. The box itself is about the size and shape of a good sized Phaidon-type catalogue raisonne, which is as it should be as this is essentially just that. It's a gorgeous set and the perfect companion for a long winter.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#327 Post by Rayon Vert » Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:13 am

Winter and depression do kind of go together...

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bunuelian
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#328 Post by bunuelian » Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:35 am

Instead of watching a film from this set I worked on putting together some Ikea cabinets.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#329 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:20 pm

Maybe one should start by focusing on films set in summer...

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#330 Post by FrauBlucher » Wed Nov 21, 2018 10:50 pm

Apparently, all of B&N are sold out of the Bergman Cinema and will not be back in stock till Febuary of 2019.

edit: I see this has been posted on the Barnes and Noble page.

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goblinfootballs
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#331 Post by goblinfootballs » Thu Nov 22, 2018 1:42 am

FrauBlucher wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 10:50 pm
Apparently, all of B&N are sold out of the Bergman Cinema and will not be back in stock till Febuary of 2019.

edit: I see this has been posted on the Barnes and Noble page.
February 28, specifically. Theory: Criterion gave B&N x number of copies upon release. Once those sold out, B&N doesn't get new copies until after the February flash sale.

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zedz
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#332 Post by zedz » Thu Nov 22, 2018 8:17 pm

goblinfootballs wrote:
Thu Nov 22, 2018 1:42 am
FrauBlucher wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 10:50 pm
Apparently, all of B&N are sold out of the Bergman Cinema and will not be back in stock till Febuary of 2019.

edit: I see this has been posted on the Barnes and Noble page.
February 28, specifically. Theory: Criterion gave B&N x number of copies upon release. Once those sold out, B&N doesn't get new copies until after the February flash sale.
I can't see how that would make any commercial sense for Criterion: let's not stock one of the major retailers with our most expensive and high-profile item of the season during the peak shopping period.

I could see them limiting the total number of copies available to B&N during their present sale, since presumably Criterion are providing stock at a reduced price for this period.

I'm sure this will miraculously come back in stock once the sale ends. Or else Criterion have shot themselves in the foot by drastically underestimating demand, the initial print run has already run out for everyone (and B&N is the canary in the coalmine because of the current sale), and they had no decent plan in place to do a second pressing so soon.

kekid
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#333 Post by kekid » Thu Nov 22, 2018 8:31 pm

Now that there is only one manufacturer of BD's across America, priorities have to be balanced among competing labels. If it is true that manufacture of BD's has been centralized in America (I am not sure whether this means one company or one physical facility), we may see some unintended consequences. The most troubling of these would be the risk exposure if something should happen to this manufacturer.

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Aunt Peg
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#334 Post by Aunt Peg » Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:31 am

This was posted on Blu Ray forum a couple of days ago:

TECHNICOLOR (Thomson) is the remaining 900lb gorilla (actually only gorilla at all) that produces all the discs pretty much in North America. They either bought or ran the other plants out of business

ALLIANCE(AKA SUPERD) is the the 2000 lb gorilla of Media Wholesalers. They own Deep Discount, Odd Banana, Blowitoutofhere and about 20 other online storefronts. They pretty much handle instore and online media sale for most of the B&M store (BN, FYE, and bunch of smaller stores), they supply a large chunk of BBY, Walmart, and Amazon stock. They also pretty much run the online distribution/order fulfillment of Criterion.com, TCM, WBSHOP (except WAC)

BN takes the order and passes it to ALLIANCE who processes and ships the product. ALLIANCE sends stock to BN stores (Baker&Taylor supplies some as well). BN handles very little of the order accept as the Front Man. They haven't had their own Media warehouses in years.

Target was an ALLIANCE client for awhile, but I'm not sure they're affiliated anymore. For some reason I think they are handled by INGRAM which also in Family Video wholesaler.

Pretty much after ANDERSON who used to directly handle Walmart and Best Buy store went bankrupt, ALLIANCE picked up some of the pieces and I think B&T got some, but it didn't leave many sources anymore.

I can't say for sure, but there may only be 3 main Wholesalers left in the US and ALLIANCE is far and away the largest. There is a reason the invoices in a lot of these online packages are identical, the packaging is oddly the same, and all packages seem to originate at Shepherdsville, KY outside of Louisville. It's also why stock at DeepDiscount, BIOAH, BN, FYE, TCM all appear joined at the hip -- is one store is OOS/Backordered, the same items also always are the same across the board.

If you look at Google Maps and find ALLIANCE WAREHOUSE, look at the adjacent Distribution Centers and notice the AMAZON and Best Buy are seconds away.

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tenia
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#335 Post by tenia » Fri Nov 23, 2018 5:28 am

As somebody working in the consumer goods manufacture industry, that's very familiar, and the usual case when there is massive widespread disturbance. It can be manufacture, it can be warehouse, it can be distribution, but as soon as one of these concentration hubs have issues, it will have an impact not on some of their customers, but the whole market.

Here, we're doing detergent tablets. If at some point, we get into some issues and our service level goes down, a good chunk of Germany, France, Spain and Italy retailers will have empty shelves, just because of the amount of customers we're handling.

The issue however has more to do about : what causes these disturbances ? Did they accept too many customers and orders and now can't follow up (which is just bad business altogether) ? Is there a raw material shortage somewhere to produce the discs or products ? I know transportation and distribution has become a major issue in Europe, maybe it's the same in North America ?

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MichaelB
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#336 Post by MichaelB » Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:04 am

This is one of the reasons why people who actually understand these issues are petrified at the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal, as current systems are so time-specific that even a small delay at customs can have a disproportionately huge impact. And delays at customs will be all but unavoidable once the UK adopts a separate regime.

All of which will be fixed in the long term, most likely, but the short-term impact is likely to be huge, and in ways that will directly affect pretty much everyone in all too immediate ways. Food supplies, for instance, will take some of the most severe hits - and that's on top of what have sometimes been substantial supermarket price rises since the referendum thanks to the sharp exchange-rate shift.

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tenia
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#337 Post by tenia » Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:29 am

Rationnally speaking, the only way to handle this is to include it in the production retro-planning and add x days for customs clearances. The first problem is that : I'm not sure this is technically feasible from a work planning point of view. We're having the issue with distribution currently, and no matter what we're doing, it's still hitting our service level because we just can't cope with how late the orders come in and how soon they need to go out.
The other problem is that this works well with a stable regular process duration. Which I don't think customs clearance is (regular).

This logistic point aside, I'm currently mostly buying UK releases but being in Belgium (and soon back in France), I'm quite certain I won't be able to buy as many of them next year (if Brexit goes ahead) because it will probably generate a surge in the exchange rate, on top of customs taxes that will probably slow me down.

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headacheboy
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#338 Post by headacheboy » Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:27 am

I just checked Barnes & Noble's online stock checker and it claims there are copies in the Champaign, Illinois store (it is currently 24 November, 12:27 a.m. Central time). I bought my copy the morning of 20 November. There were four copies available at the time. There was a clerk stocking the shelves with the new Criterion releases that day and she was quite enthusiastic that I was buying a copy.

Edit: I bought my copy in the Champaign store.

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headacheboy
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#339 Post by headacheboy » Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:37 am

If you check the Barnes & Noble online stock checker for Champaign, (the zip code is 61820, by the way), you'll see that it is in stock in other nearby stores such as Peoria and Lafayette, Illinois as well. So I'm guessing that in smaller towns you run a risk of bumping into a physical copy at various stores scattered across the US.

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eerik
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#340 Post by eerik » Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:46 pm

Wait, is the Blu-ray set really region free? Have I missed something? This is the first and only region free Criterion Blu-ray release so far, right? I received my set from Amazon yesterday, but have not had the chance to test it out myself yet. Just noticed region ABC logo on the back cover. This is so weird. Criterion has previously region locked everything out of a principle, and now, all of a sudden, decides that a 39-film boxset (likely much more complex licensing agreements than their average releases, right?) should be region free. I'm so confused.

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domino harvey
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#341 Post by domino harvey » Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:50 pm

Yes, DVDBeaver broke the news when they started reviewing the set a month ago. Be happy they're easy to watch!

FlickeringWindow
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#342 Post by FlickeringWindow » Sat Nov 24, 2018 6:49 pm

There's actually a page in the book on licensors and most of the films are from Svensk Filmindustri.

Folkets Hus och Parker: A Ship to India and Brink of Life
Cinematograph AB: The Touch and Faro Dokument
SVT: The Magic Flute
MGM/Fox: The Serpent's Egg
Sony: Saraband

(Also, The Touch is copyrighted to ABC Films and Saraband is copyrighted to SVT)

Also, if anyone is interested, here's a breakdown on transfers for the films (all 2K unless noted):

Original Camera Negative:
Autumn Sonata
Brink of Life
Cries and Whispers
The Devil's Eye
Dreams
Fanny and Alexander
Faro Document (16mm)
From the Life of the Marionettes
The Passion of Anna
Persona
The Rite
Sawdust and Tinsel
Scenes from a Marriage (1080p)
The Seventh Seal (4K)
Smiles of a Summer Night
Summer with Monika
The Virgin Spring
Wild Strawberries
Winter Light

Fine-grain Positive (B&W)/Interpositive (color):
All These Women
Crisis
A Lesson in Love
The Magic Flute
The Magician (1080p)
Shame
The Silence
Through a Glass Darkly
The Touch

Duplicate Negative/Internegative:
Faro Document 1979
Hour of the Wolf
Port of Call
The Serpent's Egg
A Ship to India
Summer Interlude
Thirst
To Joy
Waiting Women

Print:
After the Rehearsal (35mm)

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kcota17
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#343 Post by kcota17 » Sun Nov 25, 2018 12:37 am

Has there been any comparison between Criterion’s and Arrow’s versions of The Serpeant’s Egg?

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domino harvey
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#344 Post by domino harvey » Sun Nov 25, 2018 12:26 pm

Just a friendly reminder that as more and more of us receive our sets, it would be nice to use this thread to talk about these films as we watch and/or rewatch them. It's a rare opportunity where the majority of the forum will have access to the same exhaustive collection of films and extras, so probability is high that your comments on a film will lead to engagement from other members

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HitchcockLang
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#345 Post by HitchcockLang » Sun Nov 25, 2018 2:26 pm

Watched Fanny and Alexander for the first time yesterday with my wife because I had read it was a good movie for the holiday season. We watched the 5.5 hour TV version, thinking we’d only watch one episode and dole the others out over the next few nights but we just couldn’t stop watching. I feel like each of the four episodes has its own unique feel (the first episode did not at all prepare us for the kind of story it all turned out to be).

Still, we loved it. It may have become my new favorite Bergman.

Re: the question of color timing raised earlier in the thread. I did notice near the end of the Hamlet rehearsal scene that opens episode two, the entire color timing seemed to snap from one scheme to another noticeably and was not even covered by a cut or anything. Is this inherent to the source or could it have been a weird fluke for me? Anyone else see it?

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jedgeco
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#346 Post by jedgeco » Mon Nov 26, 2018 11:57 am

zedz wrote:
Thu Nov 22, 2018 8:17 pm
Or else Criterion have shot themselves in the foot by drastically underestimating demand, the initial print run has already run out for everyone (and B&N is the canary in the coalmine because of the current sale), and they had no decent plan in place to do a second pressing so soon.
Criterion told Glenn Kenny that they did, in fact, drastically underestimate demand.

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Lowry_Sam
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#347 Post by Lowry_Sam » Mon Nov 26, 2018 12:08 pm

So has anyone gone through the book to see if it includes all the essays from the booklets?

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MichaelB
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#348 Post by MichaelB » Mon Nov 26, 2018 12:10 pm

I hear that as soon as the news broke that it was region free, the number of orders from Sweden went through the roof, as there's no equivalent there.

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domino harvey
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#349 Post by domino harvey » Mon Nov 26, 2018 12:13 pm

Lowry_Sam wrote:
Mon Nov 26, 2018 12:08 pm
So has anyone gone through the book to see if it includes all the essays from the booklets?
The only one I checked was the Virgin Spring, which contains only the Cowie essay, plus a new filmmaking scrap/excerpt from Bergman in the margin. All other booklet contents are MIA, which is ridiculous, because the book is huge and could easily have accommodated more text if the designers weren't beholden to one essay per film.

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Lowry_Sam
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Re: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

#350 Post by Lowry_Sam » Mon Nov 26, 2018 12:16 pm

Criterion told Glenn Kenny that they did, in fact, drastically underestimate demand.
Hopefully they didn’t use the Olympic box to gauge interest for future comprehensive boxes.

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