Criterion Random Speculation Vol.3

[Svevan]

I don't want to be a troll, but that would make my day wretched - Harold and Maude is overrated. Speaking purely of editing, the movie is a mess; the dialogue is barely believable; the relationship is completely undeveloped; and by the end, it turns into a message film delivered from the mouth of the divine Cat Stevens. I think it gains points with crowds for being anti-establishment and freewheeling, but in my proud opinion, it's as joyless as Little Miss Sunshine (a very similar film).

[Awesome Welles]

There's only one movie I would love to speculate getting released thanks to the Parmount deal, and that would be Harold and Maude.

It's up there on the list of favorite movies of all time, and it's a damn shame it has the edition it has now.

I would kill for one, maybe with a Wes Anderson intro, and commentary by Bud Cort.

Amen

[domino harvey]

I would kill for one, maybe with a Wes Anderson intro, and commentary by Bud Cort.

Me too.

EDIT: I thought you said I would kill myself if it contained a Wes Anderson intro

[bearcuborg]

There's only one movie I would love to speculate getting released thanks to the Parmount deal, and that would be Harold and Maude. It's up there on the list of favorite movies of all time, and it's a damn shame it has the edition it has now.

I would kill for one, maybe with a Wes Anderson intro, and commentary by Bud Cort.

I don't care much for the movie, but I would see it again with all the usual Criterion supplements for a re-evaluation.

But Wes Anderson is dreadful. His movies are OK, but he came off pretty bad in the Bogdanovich interview on They All Laughed.

[Narshty]

I'd be deliriously happy if Criterion's alleged handful of upcoming MGM titles included Blow Out and Hope and Glory. Just throwing that out there.

[Jeff]

I'd be deliriously happy if Criterion's alleged handful of upcoming MGM titles included Blow Out and Hope and Glory. Just throwing that out there.

Me too. I love Blow Out. I think it's DePalma's best film by a large margin. Laurent Bouzereau approached MGM about doing a special edition when he did their Carrie and Dressed to Kill discs. They were too far along in the production of their bare bones disc. Bouzereau is largely responsible for the supplemental content on Criterion's Carrie laserdisc, and worked with them on other laser projects. Perhaps they can get something together for this.

[ianungstad]

Where did the rumor come from that Criterion had any other MGM discs coming out? I thought that House of Games was just a one-off for a commentary track?

[CSM126]

Where did the rumor come from that Criterion had any other MGM discs coming out? I thought that House of Games was just a one-off for a commentary track?

Someone mentioned in, I believe, the House of Games thread that there would be something like four titles coming from MGM to Criterion.

House of Games was number one, Salo is likely number two...after that I don't think anything is known for certain.

[Derek Estes]

I would love Park Row to be on that list!

[domino harvey]

I think we'd all love to see Kiss Me Deadly rescued from MGM first.

[Buttery Jeb]

In spite of fearing a beatdown for doing so, I bring to you a link from MTV's MovieBlog:

[quote]Bottle Rocket' To Get The Criterion DVD Treatment At Last

More Wes Anderson goodness for you today, my fellow Max Fischer fanatics. Yesterday I filled you in Anderson's plans for The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

[pauling]

Agreed, BJ. Night of the Hunter would top my MGM wish list.

[125100]

Yes, but not before "Night of the Hunter."

Oh you big tease...

[dx23]

I just can't wait to read a blog post about how they managed to get the rights [for Bottle Rocket] from Sony...

I don't think it was that hard. I believe it was like 2 years ago that Sony publicly stated that they were discontinuing many of their titles, specially foreign and low budget films in hopes of licensing them to third parties for new, more elaborate releases. Several titles, like Goodbye Lenin and Loss of Sexual Innocences went OOP along with other 55 titles from the collection.

In other words, Sony is making all this films available to companies like Criterion and Anchor Bay.

[LightBulbFilm]

I just can't wait to read a blog post about how they managed to get the rights from Sony...

I don't think it was that hard. I believe it was like 2 years ago that Sony publicly stated that they were discontinuing many of their titles, specially foreign and low budget films in hopes of licensing them to third parties for new, more elaborate releases. Several titles, like Goodbye Lenin and Loss of Sexual Innocences went OOP along with other 55 titles from the collection.

In other words, Sony is making all this films available to companies like Criterion and Anchor Bay.

Ooh. Maybe that gives titles like Watermelon Man, Vanya on 42nd Street and Shadow Magic possibilities. Or am I stepping out way too far?

[domino harvey]

I'd be more hopeful for Safe and Mifune.

[malcolm1980]

Woody Allen doesn't like supplements, there would be no incentive for Criterion to acquire it.

Yeah. Unless somehow Woody changes his mind, his films already out on DVD is as good as they're going to get.

[Svevan]

Some highly opinionated directors have been known to "change their minds" from beyond the grave. Perhaps that will be true for Woody.

[domino harvey]

Some highly opinionated directors have been known to "change their minds" from beyond the grave. Perhaps that will be true for Woody.

Kubrick's widow wants the murder mystery put back in Annie Hall

[miless]

In other words, Sony is making all this films available to companies like Criterion and Anchor Bay.

so that's why Cronenberg's Spider went out of print (come on Criterion!)

[ianungstad]

TCM showed a restored print of Richard Kipling's Jungle Book tonight. It was the Korda production and the film was preceded by the Janus Logo. Does a restoration usually indicate a forthcoming DVD release?

Personally I didn't like the film at all. Definitely not something I feel would be worthy of the Criterion Collection... maybe as a bit of Eclipse filler.

Sign of the times I guess, but I particularly found the use of Caucasian actors with brown paint on them to represent the "Indian" people to be fairly offensive. The majority of the film is done with stock wildlife footage and poor animatronics.

Anyways, their wasn't any scratches or dirt on the print and the Technicolor looked pretty as Technicolor often does...

[justeleblanc]

Bottle Rocket' To Get The Criterion DVD Treatment At Last

Watch the forum membership decline.

And for what it's worth, I did break this news a few months back on this forum -- along with a few other goodies. Just, ya know, mentioning that again.

If we assume Criterion bought up a bunch of OOP Sony titles, should we start a running list of possibilities?

The few that came to mind:

CALIFORNIA SPLIT
REPULSION
VANYA ON 42ND
HUSBANDS
LOVE STREAMS

And isn't there an Ophuls?

[jaredsap]

In terms of OOP Sony -- as opposed to never released -- FAT CITY would make a tremendous addition to Criterion's catalog, although I guess it'd have to get in line behind WISE BLOOD and THE DEAD.

And let's not forget THE SPANISH PRISONER, especially since Criterion has acknowledged more Mamet is forthcoming. (Hopefully Criterion could manage both HOMICIDE and TSP.)

A recent forum suggestion of SAFE seems very realistic.

The thought of a LOVE STREAMS Criterion package is almost too awesome to bear, but has anyone confirmed that Sony actually owns the DVD rights?

[akaten]

Second the request for a Fat City release (I believe I already asked for it, somewhat naively from MOC) an excellent film, which just happens to be showing in the UK this Thursday, 10.50 pm on Five US (Freeview 35), shall keep an eye out for any dvd logos.

Also I believe The Hit has been mentioned as being acquired. Personally I much prefer Stephen Frear's debut Gumshoe but felt like mentioning if Criterion do release The Hit could include excerts from a documentary BBC aired about the Supergrass case which forms the backdrop for the film. Not in full mind, as it was elongated with endless repeats of reconstructions and padding...

Would very much like to see something by Robert Aldrich in the collection at some point. Never received a response from Criterion suggesting Ulzana's Raid...or Hard Times, Walter Hill's pseudo-sequel to Once Upon a Time in the West for that matter.

[tryavna]

TCM showed a restored print of Richard Kipling's Jungle Book tonight. It was the Korda production and the film was preceded by the Janus Logo. Does a restoration usually indicate a forthcoming DVD release?

Personally I didn't like the film at all. Definitely not something I feel would be worthy of the Criterion Collection... maybe as a bit of Eclipse filler.

Sign of the times I guess, but I particularly found the use of Caucasian actors with brown paint on them to represent the "Indian" people to be fairly offensive. The majority of the film is done with stock wildlife footage and poor animatronics.

I caught the TCM showing of Jungle Book, too. But my impression was that the restoration was not particularly recent. Wasn't there a UCLA film restoration card? So I imagine that Criterion would want to work their own magic on it before release. Unless, as you suggest, they have an Eclipse set in mind. In fact, since they now control the entire Korda library, a set of Korda adventure epics would make for an appealing set: The Drum, Fire Over England, etc. (I imagine that Thief of Bagdad is a big enough title to require full CC treatment.)

As for the film itself, I actually found myself enjoying it far more than I thought I would. The Technicolor looked much better than I had remembered it. The last time I saw it, it was incredibly murky. I guess I wasn't all that bothered by the casting decisions, but then again, I'm pretty willing to suspend disbelief for a lot of those pre-1945 adventure films, like The Four Feathers, Gunga Din, etc. And it has to be said that Sabu (both the actor and his character) seems to have been treated much less patronizingly by the Kordas than Paul Robeson was. (Someone really needs to write a study of Sabu's and Robeson's work with the Kordas: with a title like "Acting the Empire" or something like that.) In fact, for me, Sabu really is the film. In many respects, it may be his best all-round role/performance -- he's the lead and star, is at his most charismatic, and invests the role with everything he's got.