criterionforum.org

Count me amongst the fans. I thought it was a relatively unique twist on the satanic horror subgenre.

Fourthed

I stand corrected! This month's slate just got better. I admit I was too quick to jump onto the Rotten Tomatoes train (all eight of the critic and audience reviews were negative).

They're just bitter 'cause they don't belong to the Brotherhood of Satan like the four of us

Any chance of The Black Hole (1979) someday?

L.A. wrote: ↑

Fri May 28, 2021 3:58 pm

Any chance of The Black Hole (1979) someday?

No

Production company: Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by Buena Vista Distribution

I know that was a long shot but besides Disney really can’t think of another label putting TBH out. This deserves a stacked release.

They actually put it out on Blu-ray a couple years ago as a Disney Movie Club exclusive. You can get it on eBay if you're not a member

swo17 wrote: ↑

Fri May 28, 2021 4:31 pm

They actually put it out on Blu-ray a couple years ago as a Disney Movie Club exclusive. You can get it on eBay if you're not a member

Yes, although the Blu-ray has some really weird issues.

Unfortunately, I think we lost the opportunity for a general release on blu-ray, that actually looks good, when the propsed sequel got shelved.

I wonder if this new deal with Daiei, and the focus on Yasuzo Masumura, could lead to films by Kon Ichikawa or Kenji Mizoguchi being released by Arrow. Though I imagine Criterion has snatched most of the Mizoguchi films.

What A Disgrace wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 02, 2021 3:53 pm

Though I imagine Criterion has snatched most of the Mizoguchi films.

Mizoguchi's Straits of Love and Hate (Aien kyō, 1937) seems to be pretty much orphaned. There was apparently a copy in decent shape once upon a time. Not sure that there are materials that could be fixed up enough for bluray purposes.

My understanding is that the circulating version of Straits of Love and Hate comes from a 16mm print discovered in the '80s that was subsequently blown up to 35mm. Every account I've seen from a theatrical screening (in 16 or 35mm) describes the film's condition as dire—or "appalling," as David Bordwell puts it—with a noise-riddled soundtrack that renders some of the dialogue incomprehensible, loads of print damage, and the entire movie appearing out of focus. The film's star Yamaji Fumiko supposedly had a copy that she wouldn't let anyone access, but given that she died in 2004 and no better version has surfaced, I suspect a) those reports were in error, b) her copy ended up being even worse than the circulating version, or c) her heirs aren't letting anyone access it either.

What A Disgrace wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 02, 2021 3:53 pm

I wonder if this new deal with Daiei, and the focus on Yasuzo Masumura, could lead to films by Kon Ichikawa or Kenji Mizoguchi being released by Arrow. Though I imagine Criterion has snatched most of the Mizoguchi films.

Is there a new deal? Daiei is part of Kadokawa and Arrow's been licensing from them for awhile, but maybe Daiei titles were off limits until recently for some reason.

I see that Tom DeSimone's Reform School Girls (1986) is getting a Blu Ray release in Germany. I recall reading this may be a forthcoming Arrow release - can anyone confirm anything?

Arrow are teasing a Shaw Brothers announcement on July 9. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something for their streaming service.

yoloswegmaster wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 18, 2021 4:19 pm

Arrow are teasing a Shaw Brothers announcement on July 9. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something for their streaming service.

Probably a long shot, but here's hoping for Dirty Ho...

Maltic wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:36 pm

yoloswegmaster wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 18, 2021 4:19 pm

Arrow are teasing a Shaw Brothers announcement on July 9. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something for their streaming service.

Probably a long shot, but here's hoping for Dirty Ho...

A title that surely confused the raincoat crowd back in the day...

Yeah, it's been hard to see compared to some of Lau's other major works, and people have speculated that the misdirect English title has something to do with it

Maltic wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 19, 2021 11:43 am

Yeah, it's been hard to see compared to some of Lau's other major works, and people have speculated that the misdirect English title has something to do with it

It did get a US theatrical release back in the 80s, an official UK VHS in the 1990s, and Dragon Dynasty picked it up in the 00's for DVD release (it was one of at least two dozen Shaw titles they owned but didn't get around to releasing).

Also, AGFA recently remastered it (and I suspect these titles are the ones Arrow is going to release) - https://www.americangenrefilm.com/agfa- ... tribution/

So I'm fairly confident it's only a matter of time.

AGFA didn't remaster any of the films, they just licensed theatrical rights for a time from Celestial, either making DCPs from Celestial's HD masters or screening 35mm prints from their and Celestial's archives.

The advantage of preserving the old 35mm prints is that Celestial cut a lot of frames out of their masters between 2004 and 2007 - the current remaster of King Boxer on DVD is a good 4/5min shorter than the old VHS, even taking PAL/NTSC differences into account.

Top of my wishlist would be a release of King Hu's debut, Sons of the Good Earth, but it's not a title that seems to have interested anyone who has licenced from this catalog so far

Calvin wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:19 am

Top of my wishlist would be a release of King Hu's debut, Sons of the Good Earth, but it's not a title that seems to have interested anyone who has licenced from this catalog so far

Isn't his first The Story of Sue San?'

Pavel wrote:

Calvin wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:19 am

Top of my wishlist would be a release of King Hu's debut, Sons of the Good Earth, but it's not a title that seems to have interested anyone who has licenced from this catalog so far

Isn't his first The Story of Sue San?'

I'm unsure of who did what, but I think Li Han-hsiang gets the director credit on that film with King Hu credited as 'executive director'.

I was reading the latest issue of Cinema Retro and it mentions there’s a six-film Takeshi Kitano set coming from Arrow. This has to be a mistake right? I can’t see this being right especially as I don’t think Arrow has touched any Shochiku films and that they already publish all the Third Window titles in the UK.