Criterion Random Speculation Vol.4

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#601 Post by **Jeff** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:23 pm

davidhare wrote:I also assume, given the heated words here and elsewhere they will present the title in Academy Ratio.

It would be ideal if they included both 1.37 and 2.00 versions. If they only include one, somebody's bound to bitch about it.

Morbii · #602 Post by **Morbii** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:24 am

Jeff wrote:It would be ideal if they included both 1.37 and 2.00 versions. If they only include one, somebody's bound to bitch about it.

Somebody's bound to bitch about it even if both versions are included!

cgray · #603 Post by **cgray** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 2:00 pm

I don't mean to derail a Magnificent Obsession conversation, so please continue.

Finished watching Yi Yi for the Xth time the other day. It is such a wonderful film and, regrettably, the only Yang I have seen. I don't know the studio status of his other films, but could any of these be in the works? If anybody has any good recommendations for ways for me to see more of his stuff, please pm. I'm region free.

The Fanciful Norwegian · Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:24 pm

Being region-free isn't much help in this case -- AFAIK the only other Yang films available in legit DVD editions are a Taiwanese release of The Terrorizers and a mediocre Japanese release of Mahjong (under the title "Couples"). No English subs on either, but some poor fansubs (just a smidgen better than a straight machine translation) exist for Mahjong. For everything else you'll have to track down bootlegs or old VCDs/laserdiscs/VHS tapes -- it's possible to see Yang's entire feature filmography, with English subs, as long as you're not obsessed with legality.

Edit: Looks like A Confucian Confusion was also released in Japan; it's apparently OOP, along with Mahjong. No English subs on that either, but there was an English-subbed VCD.

Cronenfly · #605 Post by **Cronenfly** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:50 pm

souvenir wrote:Someone at the Turner Classic Movies message board is reporting that Sirk's Magnificent Obsession is headed to Criterion:

Just picked up an interesting piece of information. Criterion has licensed the Douglas Sirk classic drama MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION from Universal. This one stars Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson. One wonders why Universal has not released this popular title on its own. But then Universal is very strange about releasing titles from their vast Paramount-Universal library. The Criterion DVD is rumored for release next year.

Universal is being really weird about how it's handling its Sirk in R1; I assumed that Written on the Wind and All That Heaven Allows were going to end up in a barebones boxset with the rest of the Universal-owned Sirks (a la The Lady Eve and Sullivan's Travels in the Sturges set), more or less an R1 NTSC version of the R2 Universal Sirk box. I guess they decided to do the double-film set of Imitation of Life, license a few to Criterion, and say screw it to the rest? I guess Universal could still release a barebones set of all their Sirk, but it seems pretty late in the game for that to happen if they're only licensing Magnificent Obsession to Criterion now (or even if it's just now that Criterion is choosing to release it).

Universal must be very happy with Criterion's work on their library (or the profits from their licensing fees), given the especially large number of Uni titles as of late. I hope this means that an Arkadin-like set of Touch of Evil isn't too far off.

Cronenfly · #606 Post by **Cronenfly** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:19 pm

davidhare wrote:
I hope this means that an Arkadin-like set of Touch of Evil isn't too far off.
We can all pray (or whatever one does) for this but unless we hear something directly from Rosenbaum I don't think it will happen, sadly. Universal in their bloody minded wisdom seem to believe that the 98 revision is the definitive version, superseding both previous ones, and that's the end of it. And there's always the possibility youknowwho is lurking in the shadows waiting for some kickback or other.

Yes, probably best not to get one's hopes up (certainly not without word from Rosenbaum or another reputable source), but it seems to me that if anyone's going to be able to do it it's Criterion, and they've done stellar work with films Universal has never known what to do with/always handled stupidly, like Videodrome and Walker. Whether this means they could sweet talk Universal into letting them release all the cuts of Touch is, of course, another matter entirely (though one would think Universal would realize how lucrative the multiple-cut bandwagon can be with a film like this, given the success of the Blade Runner re-release, et al) but I remain (very) cautiously optimistic, Beatrice and all the other BS be damned.

PimpPanda · #607 Post by **PimpPanda** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:33 pm

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:AFAIK the only other Yang films available in legit DVD editions are a Taiwanese release of The Terrorizers and a mediocre Japanese release of Mahjong (under the title "Couples").

Yes, I've seen them all now but I wouldn't have been able to if it wasn't for eBay and downloading. The Terrorizers was actually once shown on television a few years ago and you can watch the conversation about the film and Yang that was shown after the showing of the film on youtube.

Perkins Cobb · #608 Post by **Perkins Cobb** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:38 pm

I've heard from a reliable source that Universal is working on a Touch of Evil package that would include all three cuts of the film.

Awesome Welles · #609 Post by **Awesome Welles** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:57 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:I've heard from a reliable source that Universal is working on a Touch of Evil package that would include all three cuts of the film.

Are you serious? That would be heaven.

Person · #610 Post by **Person** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:22 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:I've heard from a reliable source that Universal is working on a Touch of Evil package that would include all three cuts of the film.

Liar and slave!

Cronenfly · #611 Post by **Cronenfly** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:51 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:I've heard from a reliable source that Universal is working on a Touch of Evil package that would include all three cuts of the film.

Only bad thing about that would be Charlton Heston's doubtlessly being plastered all over the packaging to the exclusion of all the movie's other, more worthwhile attributes. But if (and, granted, I may be off-base in saying this) it takes capitalizing on Chuck's death to get this out then that's no problem with me.

miless · #612 Post by **miless** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:52 pm

Person wrote:
Perkins Cobb wrote:I've heard from a reliable source that Universal is working on a Touch of Evil package that would include all three cuts of the film.
Liar and slave!

Beatrice, is that you?

Person · #613 Post by **Person** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:43 pm

miless wrote:Beatrice, is that you?

It's a line from Macbeth. I enjoy using it (sparingly) when I can.

criterionaficionado · Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:21 am

i do not have a problem with CC potentially putting out movies that have already been released on more than adequate dvd formats (i.e. spy who came in from the cold, touch of evil, gray's anatomy, bottle rocket, etc), not to mention others already in the catalogue. i feel though, and i've stated this before, that CC should focus more on yet to be released great films. one such idea would be 'the magnificent ambersons' by orson welles. or, how about the picture of dorian gray . i know CC most likely has rights issues to such films. but, doesn't anyone think (like myself) that CC should expend its energies on those films have yet to be released on dvd period? having said that, i still will purchase any movie CC decides to release due to the superiority and clarity of the film after CC has worked its magic!

another suggestion for CC (and a long shot at that of course) i would like to make is germaine dulac's films to make it somehow to CC with english subtitles (unlike the dvd boxset that was released in germany). i would love to see CC go all out with such an original/off the mainstream choice...
later.

kaujot · #616 Post by **kaujot** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:15 pm

I believe My Dinner With Andre is confirmed for later this year.

Antoine Doinel · Thu May 01, 2008 11:15 am

Apple is expected to announce today same day/date DVD releases available for download from their store. One of the labels/distributors mentioned as signing on is Image Entertainment. I have it from a pretty good source that Criterion was in talks with iTunes at one point but this is definitely an intriguing development. I wonder if it will be film only (as I'm sure Apple bargained the same cost for every film from each studio) as part of Criterion's whole appeal are the care they put into extras.

AfterTheRain · #619 Post by **AfterTheRain** » Sun May 04, 2008 8:02 am

A Matter of Life and Death will be coming out on DVD from Sony (no date has been announced yet), so a CC DVD will not happen for that title. The other two (One of Our Aircraft is Missing & The Battle of the River Plate) I'm not too sure about.

One film I would just love to see Crierion get their hands on is The Battle of Neretva, though. And hopefully in it's full 175 minute cut.

#620 Post by **Jeff** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:40 pm

There is much discussion of the possibility of A Matter of Life and Death and several other P&P films on the preceding pages of this thread, beginning here.

Cronenfly · #621 Post by **Cronenfly** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:29 am

Now that Chungking Express has been confirmed for (at least) BR, does this open up the potential for other Jet Tone (or Miramax/Weinstein Co., whoever owns the US rights to Chungking now) licenses (at least Fallen Angels)? I guess it's hard to know without seeing the licensee(s), and without knowing how BR licenses differ from standard def (all on a case-by-case basis, I'm sure), but I'm interested to know what everybody else thinks.

And the firm, official confirmation of Bottle Rocket will (I hope) commence the flood of Sony-controlled properties.

#622 Post by **Jeff** » Thu May 08, 2008 3:27 am

Cronenfly wrote:the firm, official confirmation of Bottle Rocket will (I hope) commence the flood of Sony-controlled properties.

I hope you're right, but I'm now leaning toward the possibility that Sony's license has expired and this has been licensed directly from either Anderson or James L. Brooks.

kaujot · #623 Post by **kaujot** » Thu May 08, 2008 3:32 am

Jeff wrote:
Cronenfly wrote:the firm, official confirmation of Bottle Rocket will (I hope) commence the flood of Sony-controlled properties.
I hope you're right, but I'm now leaning toward the possibility that Sony's license has expired and this has been licensed directly from either Anderson or James L. Brooks.

I always heard that Criterion was granted the rights because they gave Sony the right to use a Python commentary.

#624 Post by **Jeff** » Thu May 08, 2008 4:02 am

kaujot wrote:I always heard that Criterion was granted the rights because they gave Sony the right to use a Python commentary.

I've heard that one too, but I don't think that it was anything more than a guess that circulated until it became a "fact." Truthiness.

jaredsap · #625 Post by **jaredsap** » Thu May 08, 2008 4:51 am

Jeff wrote:
Cronenfly wrote:the firm, official confirmation of Bottle Rocket will (I hope) commence the flood of Sony-controlled properties.
I hope you're right, but I'm now leaning toward the possibility that Sony's license has expired and this has been licensed directly from either Anderson or James L. Brooks.

It was licensed directly from Sony. No rights expiration involved.

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