Criterion Random Speculation Vol.3

[Mental Mike]

I think Criterion is too director oriented...only releasing films based on the reputation of the director...How do you guys feel about a box set based on key method actors of the 20th Century...maybe a Brando movie, a Lee Strasberg, James Dean, Depp, Mickey Rourke, Paul Newman, Rod Steiger, etc...these films would not be major hollywood releases in which they appeared, but examples of the genius of each of the actors in the tradition of the method...so a movie like "The Pawnbroker" would be included...

[marty]

I would like to see Criterion acquire NEW films from NEW directors for DVD release that otherwise tends to get overlooked or mishandled by other US distributors. I don't see why Criterion cannot pick up films like Lucile Hadzihalilovic's Innocence, Lodge Kerrigan's Keane, Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy, Andrew Bujalski's Mutual Appreciation, Lou Ye's Summer Palace, etc.

Instead, you get other distributors picking these films up because they guarantee the sales agent a theatrical release. They give it a two print release, the film makes $10 and then throw it out on DVD with no extra features and a poor transfer.

[Tribe]

It seems like I've seen something on this in the past, but I can't find it....anyway, what's the chance of Renoir's La Chienne?

Tribe

[justeleblanc]

I remember it only being speculative talk. M Lange is the one that could see a release since it played at the Janus retrospective.

[Matt]

I don't see why Criterion cannot pick up films like Lucile Hadzihalilovic's Innocence

HVE actually had the DVD rights to this film but the disc never materialized and then HVE didn't exist anymore. I imagine they reside with Image now, who obviously couldn't care less. Speaking of HVE/Image, they also are just about to release Mutual Appreciation on DVD. It appears to be bare-bones. Criterion probably could have retained the rights to these if they wanted to.

Magnolia actually did a pretty decent job distributing Keane (it's not like it was going to play the mulitplexes), and the DVD is actually quite a nice package--it features a complete alternate cut by Soderbergh.

[flyonthewall2983]

I think Criterion is too director oriented...only releasing films based on the reputation of the director...How do you guys feel about a box set based on key method actors of the 20th Century...maybe a Brando movie, a Lee Strasberg, James Dean, Depp, Mickey Rourke, Paul Newman, Rod Steiger, etc...these films would not be major hollywood releases in which they appeared, but examples of the genius of each of the actors in the tradition of the method...so a movie like "The Pawnbroker" would be included...

I'd love to see Criterion do The Pawnbroker. I saw it on Turner Classic Movies, as part of a Lumet double-feature with Network, which I hadn't seen before either. Steiger is just heartbreaking.

[stroszeck]

There are far too many great films not already available in R1 land for Criterion to want to spend more time/energy/money picking up something like the Pawnbroker or even Network.

[godardslave]

whats the current expected release date for jour de fete, anyone know?

[Gigi M.]

whats the current expected release date for jour de fete, anyone know?

Yeah, were the hell are Tristana, The Milkey Way, Simon del Desierto, El Angel Exterminador? I guess will never know…

[ByMarkClark.com]

whats the current expected release date for jour de fete, anyone know?

Just in time for its centennial, at this rate.

[ByMarkClark.com]

Pardon me if this was asked before, but the impending release of BICYCLE THIEVES makes me wonder if we are likely to see Criterion-ized reissues of other titles previously released by Image, such as IL BIDONE, OPEN CITY, CHUSHINGURA and the early Visconti films? I didn't see any of those titles mentioned on the Forthcoming thread. But I would love to see a full-length IL BIDONE. And OPEN CITY and the Visconti films are in dire need of an upgrade.

[Derek Estes]

Not to mention Rocco and his Brothers!

[Cinephrenic]

La terra trema, Ossessione.

[kaujot]

Pardon me if this was asked before, but the impending release of BICYCLE THIEVES makes me wonder if we are likely to see Criterion-ized reissues of other titles previously released by Image, such as IL BIDONE, OPEN CITY, CHUSHINGURA and the early Visconti films? I didn't see any of those titles mentioned on the Forthcoming thread. But I would love to see a full-length IL BIDONE. And OPEN CITY and the Visconti films are in dire need of an upgrade.

The Leopard is hardly in need of an upgrade.

[kaujot]

This is a bit random, I know, but does anyone know how many of Bresson's films Criterion holds the rights to? I know New Yorker has A Man Escaped (unfortunately), but I don't know about any of the others.

[Cinephrenic]

The Leopard is hardly in need of an upgrade.

Where do you get The Leopard?

This is a bit random, I know, but does anyone know how many of Bresson's films Criterion holds the rights to? I know New Yorker has A Man Escaped (unfortunately), but I don't know about any of the others.

Janus has the rights to Procès de Jeanne d'Arc. As of now, the unreleased Bressons (Une femme douce, Four Nights of a Dreamer, The Devil Probably) are currently New Yorker's, unless otherwise Criterion may have a deal with some of them. I believe Angels of the Streets is Sony. Don't think anyone really knows...

[ByMarkClark.com]

>>The Leopard is hardly in need of an upgrade.<<

I was referring to the Visconti films currently only available in crap versions from Image. Namely, OSSESSIONE, LA TERRA TREMA and ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS.

[Arn777]

Une femme douce was produced by Mag Bodard and Paramount France, so it is likely to be with Paramount still.

[Narshty]

Une femme douce was produced by Mag Bodard and Paramount France, so it is likely to be with Paramount still.

Really? Then it's certainly in the running for a Criterion release.

[Matt]

No, just because Paramount distributed it in France doesn't mean they have US rights to it. As far as I know, New Yorker still own the US rights (they distributed it theatrically). Then again, it doesn't appear in their theatrical release library listings (but Lancelot, L'Argent, and A Man Escaped do).

[thethirdman]

Une femme douce was produced by Mag Bodard and Paramount France, so it is likely to be with Paramount still.

New Yorker released it in 1998 on VHS. I emailed New Yorker about the missing Bresson titles. Hopefully, I will get a response.

[Mental Mike]

Seeing that Huston's The Dead may be available, I am not impressed. Personally, I think there are better stories in Dubliners that could have been made into better movies, like "Araby" or "Ivy Day in the Committee Room"...The Dead is a boring story until the ending, and it is a boring movie until the ending...there's only so much talk about Irish singers and politics at the dinner table I can take...spare me!

[Tommaso]

It's not what they talk about, but HOW they do it, and how characters come to cinematic or literary life by that talking. Nothing seems to happen in both Joyce's story and Huston's film, but there are so many layers of meaning underneath (the nostalgia, the decline of a certain form of society, of personal relations etc.). I'd strongly suggest to read the story again.

[jbeall]

Seeing that Huston's The Dead may be available, I am not impressed. Personally, I think there are better stories in Dubliners that could have been made into better movies, like "Araby" or "Ivy Day in the Committee Room"...The Dead is a boring story until the ending, and it is a boring movie until the ending...there's only so much talk about Irish singers and politics at the dinner table I can take...spare me!

I assigned The Dubliners when I taught "Intro to Short Fiction" last year at Rutgers. As a teacher of literature, I hate it when people call a reading 'boring'. There's so much going on, above and beyond Irish politics, that makes "The Dead" a wonderful story to read and re-read and re-read. Joyce is so careful, so precise in his choice of words, that you can look for layered meanings in even the most prosaic passages. "The Dead" may not be Don Quixote, but it's anything but boring.

And while I'm usually less thrilled by movie adaptations of great literature, I think John Huston's version is excellent, and very faithful to the spirit of the source material. If criterion gets this out in 2007, it's not only a 'must-buy' for me, but probably a Christmas present to several friends as well.

[ellipsis7]

There's references also in Rossellini's VOYAGE TO ITALY to The Dead, not least in the couple's surname, Joyce...