Janus Films

No actual catalog up yet, but this has been a long time in coming regardless. One question though: which Gus Van Sant film does Janus represent? The only one I can think of is "Mala Noche," which hopefully explains why the Plexifilm release never got off the ground.

-BJ

Nice to see Fires on the Plain and three documentaries by Saul Turell there.

so are janus going to start releasing dvds of films by themselves for a more reasonable price?

No. Janus IS Criterion. They have the same President/CEO, much of the same staff, and are housed in the same offices. They answer the phone, "Thank you for calling Janus Films and the Criterion Collection." The Janus domain name has been registered for years, and has just pointed to the Criterion site. They are simply promoting their theatrical distribution unit during its anniversary.

So is there anything to the Saul Turell's documentaries? Or are they just in the set because of nepotism?

Ha. How did I not know that? thanks.

This should prove helpful:

From September 30 through October 26, Lincoln Center and the New York Film Festival will present a tribute to Janus Films, featuring new or pristine 35mm prints of thirty-two of our most classic titles, many of which have not been seen in years and are unavailable on DVD.

Many of which have not been seen in years? Please.

Oh? When's the last time you saw The Organizer or The Makioka Sisters?

Makioka Sisters was on VHS, for what its worth.

Makioka Sisters was a Criterion LD.

Holy shit, Criterion. Get the lead out! I've never wanted to see Duvivier's The Golem or Cocteau's The Eternal Return so much in my life.

Paris Belongs to Us -- finally Rivette in the Criterion Collection!!! Come on, CC, what are you waiting for!

They've got a closet full of marginally interesting independent films from the 1990s to get to first.

The cinematography in LE GOLEM is just unbelievable.. a medieval version of John Alton, soaked with shadows and bizarre angles. While the film is mostly melodrama, the setups are pure gothic horror.

The Duvivier Golem is quite a piece of work, but it's not one his really personal and more intuitive 30s films, like the fantastic la Tete d'un Homme or la Belle Equipe. Much more an important "project" picture, like Golgotha. But his production design, the photography and the mise-en scene are wonderfully rich and fluid.

L'Eternel Retour (recently acquired via a French TV dub) was something Ive been wanting to see again for over 30 years after a single TV viewing way back when. Alas, the mood and atmopshere do not live up to expectations, much like the wartime Carnes, Visiteurs du Soir etc. But - again - another lush visual optique that should be very appealing to a lot of viewers even if the movie basically has that not atypical "enervated" Occupation feel to it.

And, despite my own reservations (which many wouldn't share) I would FAR prefer to seee both of these as Criterions than 90% of the dreck they've pumped out this year.

I find that spending too much time over at TCM's messageboards can give me a headache, but you can occasionally find intriguing or even important information buried in some of the threads over there. For instance, TCMProgrammer (an actual representative from the channel's programming department) responded to complaints about the channel's last-minute pull of Clouds Over Europe this morning with this comment:


The Korda films were themselves part of the Rank library, so I'm curious if this means that Janus now controls all of the Rank library in R1 (which would include some of Hitchcock's early films and those David Lean titles that MGM never got around to releasing on DVD). I suppose the first result of this rights-exchange has been Sanders of the River, which was included in the Robeson boxset, but there are quite a number of other gems that Korda produced and which have never been given a proper DVD release: The Private Life of Henry VIII, The Drum, etc.

At any rate, I thought this info was worth sharing. Perhaps someone around here who has had luck getting responses from Criterion lately ought to inquire about their plans for these British films.

The one David Lean film i want to see on dvd is the BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER (1952) which the last itme i saw it i was a kid. And also a new print of Korda's THINGS TO COME (1936) would be nice too!

Does that mean we get to see some rare Powells? "Spy in Black", "The Lion has wings" and so on ?

Oh my...The Thief of Baghdad maybe? Is it even on DVD anywhere?

Tribe

There are several dvds of "The Thief of Bagdad" all around the globe, and all seem to come from the same restoration which has one of the best technicolor renderings I've ever seen. Stunning!! For the R1 version, look here.

Tribe, look no further than this thread for some breathtaking screencaps!