MoC Forthcoming, Wishlist, and Random Speculation

[peerpee]

You're doing a fine job of dodging that there Epstein question, young Sir Wrigley... if this keeps up we're going to have to release the hounds!

I can't discuss anything that hasn't been signed for, and even if it had been signed, we wouldn't talk about it until 10 weeks before release. Really sorry, but we're working hard on it here.

[bamwc2]

This is not new information really, just confirmation:

The Lubitsch Boxset and THE BURMESE HARP have slipped to January 2010.

A NOS AMOURS and SOUS LE SOLEIL DE SATAN are February 2010 (both are 2-disc sets)

March onwards is top secret and will remain so until Xmas Eve

I haven't heard anything about the Lubitsch yet. Can you you reveal any titles?

[Michael Kerpan]

I think I would probably agree with Lightning as the top priority.

Of course, I think that at least 2 50's 5-packs would be needed, and at least one 5-pack each for the 60s, 40s and 30s.

(I may finish my quest to see all the available Naruse films in the next week or so -- 2 incomplete war-time films remain almost totally inaccessible).

Most essential (not yet available) after Lightning...

Top 10 films of the 30s and 40s

Flunky, Work Hard!
Apart From You
Every Night Dreams
Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts
Wife! Be Like a Rose!
(Morning's Tree-Lined Street) (extra, but I love this unusually wacked out film)
The Whole Family Works
Traveling Actors
Hideko the Bus Conductress
The Song Lantern
Spring Awakens

No time to winnow later films now...

[peerpee]

I haven't heard anything about the Lubitsch yet. Can you you reveal any titles?

A detail from the new MoC printed Catalogue:

[peerpee]

Most essential (not yet available) after Lightning...

Thanks Michael, and everybody else. I'll see if I can turn this into a viable release next year, and I'll keep you all informed along the way.

[FerdinandGriffon]

Blue blistering barnacles, Nick, give me a chance to breath! The old ticker can only take so much excitement in one day.

[domino harvey]

Is the Lubitsch just a port of the Transit box plus MOC extras?

[peerpee]

No.

The Transit set did not contain DIE PUPPE.

The main effort and expense of our edition has been the completely newly translated intertitles (as optional English subtitles). If Craig's reading, I'm sure he'll explain why this needed doing, and why it's so important that we focus our efforts there.

Our boxset will be 6 x discs (the first two films will be on DISC 1).

[tojoed]

... When are the two remaining Murnaus due, Nick? The same month as Sunrise?

I'm not Nick, but the website says October for the two Murnau films.

[Felix]

So the best way forward would probably be for 4 or 5 films in a NARUSE VOLUME 2 set, with no extras, no booklets, just a short essay on the reverse of the sleeve -- ie. the Eclipse model.
I don't want to get everyone's hopes up... but *if* we released 5 x Naruse in VOLUME 2, and 5 more in VOLUME 3 -- which 10 titles would folk like to see in such releases?

Much as I love the booklets the Eclipse way works for me and I would buy regardless of titles.
Audie Bock's Japanese Film Directors has these as the prime Naruse (current releases excluded).

Flunky work Hard
Apart From You
Three Sisters With Maiden Hearts
The Whole Family Works
Ginza Cosmetics
Mother
Lightning
Wife
Older Brother, Younger Sister
Untamed
Herringbone Clouds
A Wanderers Notebook
Scattered Clouds

All the current releases are also starred in his book. I am pretty sure that is more then he gives any other director.

[tojoed]

I've done my bit for the Naruse fan club, just ordered the box from Eureka's website.
I'm new to his films, but I'm sure it will be worth it.

[lazier than a toad]

I don't want to get everyone's hopes up... but *if* we released 5 x Naruse in VOLUME 2, and 5 more in VOLUME 3 -- which 10 titles would folk like to see in such releases?

A nice vol 2 might be:

Apart From You
Nightly Dreams
Wife! Be Like a Rose
Three Sisters With Maiden Hearts
The Whole Family Works

Five well regarded earlier films. Although I am not too fond of The Whole Family Works, the other four are amazing. Maybe Flunky Work Hard (I haven't seen it) would be a good alternative (though I am sure no-one would complain if Whole Family was released and am still glad I've seen it).

[domino harvey]

I've done my bit for the Naruse fan club, just ordered the box from Eureka's website.
I'm new to his films, but I'm sure it will be worth it.

You should have downloaded it first to see if you enjoy them

[Michael Kerpan]

FWIW -- Audie Bock wrote off many of Naruse's less well-known movies without actually having seen them (one can tell, because often her plot descriptions for these are very incorrect).

[Michael Kerpan]

You should have downloaded it first to see if you enjoy them

You'd better PRAY that Peerpee sees your (all too inconspicuous) subject heading. ;~}

[BB]

Regarding future Naruse discs,
Recognizable stars make for good advertising copy and reviewer talking points.
A Wife's Heart ------ Toshiro Mifune
Sudden Rain,
Daughter's Wives, and a Mother ------ Setsuko Hara
(Although I don't think Daughters... is one of Naruse's best)

The best Naruse I've seen (not yet available on disc) would be
Hideko the Bus Conductress
A Wanderer's Notebook
Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts


There are countless titles I'd love to see released, but I think the priority should be trying not to overlap with future criterion/eclipse releases.
Easier said then done I'm sure...
Thanks Nick, I await drooling and with cash in hand.

[Michael Kerpan]

Mifune got to play rather atypical parts in his two Naruse films --

In Ishinaka-sensei's Observation Notes on (Human) Behavior (not -- as mis-translated -- Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka), Mifune is a country boy so shy that he can scarcely speak a word in the presence of a pretty young girl (Setsuko Wakayama) and stutters when he _does_ manage to get something out. In A Woman's Heart, Mifune is a rather sweet-natured banker. He is excellent in both unusual roles.

[SoyCuba]

Every Night Dreams

I'm no Naruse expert as this one is the only one besides the MoC box I've seen from the director, but I absolutely loved the film. Easilly one of the most visually masterful silent films I've seen.

[Michael Kerpan]

Every Night Dreams

I'm no Naruse expert as this one is the only one besides the MoC box I've seen from the director, but I absolutely loved the film. Easilly one of the most visually masterful silent films I've seen.

I go back and forth on the question of whether I prefer this or "Apart From You". Since I wrote an article on the latter (and not the former), I suppose I should stick up for its claim to be Naruse's best silent -- but truthfully, both are equally wonderful.

[James]

Michael: Is it true that Wife! Be Like a Rose! is one of Naruse's best movies? If so, I think we should seriously consider asking for that along with Lightning. Here is a link to Slant Magazine's Mikio Naruse retrospective.

[Michael Kerpan]

Michael: Is it true that Wife! Be Like a Rose! is one of Naruse's best movies? If so, I think we should seriously consider asking for that along with Lightning. Here is a link to Slant Magazine's Mikio Naruse retrospective.

I love "Wife! Be Like a Rose!" -- but prefer his two best silents (by at least a little bit). The problem with Naruse is that he made way too many wonderful films. ;~}

[artfilmfan]

We've gone from a possibility of two more titles to two more (larger-sized) box sets in two days! This is too much good news for me to handle! But, I like it

May I suggest:

1. Scattered Clouds
2. A Woman’s Heart
3. Husband and Wife
4. Yearning
5. Lightning
6. A Wanderer’s Notebook
7. Daughters, Wives, and a Mother
8. Hideko the Bus Conductress
9. Anzukko
10. Mother

"Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts" and "Wife, Be Like a Rose!" would be good choices, too.

Thanks!!

[Adam]

Hi,

Would a subscription model work, do you think? Let people pre-pay for a series of boxes with 5 films each, limited notes, perhaps one commentary per box and one essay per film. It would take some complicated math, but maybe 2000 subscriptions could be sold globally, or 3000, and that money could cover the production costs of 3-5 boxes?

[Michael Kerpan]

While I am a sucker for anyting starring Hara -- and I don't dislike Daughters, Wives, Mothers (or Daughter, Wife, Mother -- but not the ungainly Daughters, Wives and a Mother -- yet another idiotic English title) -- DWM is not one of _my_ top 60s choices (aside from Woman Ascending):

Autumn Approaches (a rare child-centered Naruse film)
As a Woman, As a Wife (his most atmospheric color cinematography)
Wanderer's Notebook
Yearning
Scattered Clouds
(all the other films from the decade are worth seeing, despite some flaws)

Picking and choosing amont the 50s films strikes me as an almost hopeless task -- very painful leaving out any of the films I love.

[peerpee]

Hi,

Would a subscription model work, do you think? Let people pre-pay for a series of boxes with 5 films each, limited notes, perhaps one commentary per box and one essay per film. It would take some complicated math, but maybe 2000 subscriptions could be sold globally, or 3000, and that money could cover the production costs of 3-5 boxes?

Have you ever operated anything like this before? It would require full-time staff whose sole job would be this. Furthermore, we're a British DVD label and we licence for UK & Eire, so we couldn't sell subscriptions globally.