MoC Forthcoming, Wishlist, and Random Speculation

[Erikht]

An early Fritz Lang boxset along the same lines as the Mabuse set would be most welcome

Absolutely, but I don't know how good the available materials are at this point. "Die Spinnen" has been restored by the Czechs I think, so it should look much better than the old Shepard version, which had English titles on top of it. The beautiful "Harakiri" is also now available in a resto based on a not quite complete Dutch print, and the Brazilians restored whatever remains of "Die Vier um die Frau". That leaves "Der müde Tod", certainly the most important of Lang's pre-"Mabuse" films. The version I have comes from TV and was probably put together in the 80s, and it shows; but I don't know of any newer resto made by FWMS. Perhaps that is what's keeping MoC from releasing at least this masterpiece film.To know that such a much talked about and influential film is only available on a heavily cropped US disc with English titles is rather disheartening.

Just show me where to sign on for the cause, and I'll sign on for the cause. Also, ina boxed set like that, I would like to see production stills (is possible), cinematic posters (if possible), and scripts (is possible) of the lost Langs. If I can't see them, then at least give me what is available.

[Tommaso]

I think the best way to sign on for the cause is posting in this thread. I'm sure Nick is reading this.

[akaten]

An early Fritz Lang boxset along the same lines as the Mabuse set would be most welcome

Absolutely, but I don't know how good the available materials are at this point. "Die Spinnen" has been restored by the Czechs I think, so it should look much better than the old Shepard version, which had English titles on top of it. The beautiful "Harakiri" is also now available in a resto based on a not quite complete Dutch print, and the Brazilians restored whatever remains of "Die Vier um die Frau". That leaves "Der müde Tod", certainly the most important of Lang's pre-"Mabuse" films. The version I have comes from TV and was probably put together in the 80s, and it shows; but I don't know of any newer resto made by FWMS. Perhaps that is what's keeping MoC from releasing at least this masterpiece film.To know that such a much talked about and influential film is only available on a heavily cropped US disc with English titles is rather disheartening.

Just show me where to sign on for the cause, and I'll sign on for the cause. Also, ina boxed set like that, I would like to see production stills (is possible), cinematic posters (if possible), and scripts (is possible) of the lost Langs. If I can't see them, then at least give me what is available.

If they could manage bringing all of those films and materials together, maybe a video discussion to go with it, would be one of the finest releases MOC has put out, which is saying something.

Regarding Der mude Tod I suppose it would really be a case of whether FWMS has it high up on an internal schedule, otherwise, and I'm guessing after having waited on Die Nibelungen they might be inclined to agree that there is an imperative in the meantime for a watchable edition to be made available, even if it required a Second Run type disclaimer. Could always return to it on Blu Ray if a FWMS restoration were possible in the future. On the subject of another Lang film unavailable, the You & Me captures in the auteur article links on the MOC twitter points towards a film that is an absolute blast for Lang converts.

While I'm at it has MOC or Eureka considered porting the 20th Century Fox special edition DVD with both cuts and the Blu Ray edition of Robert Wise's The Sand Pebbles? They don't seem to be planning any UK edition and while I'm not sure how much interest here for the film but the cast could ensure it does solid numbers.

[broadwayrock]

From the new MOC catalogue:

[Fierias]

not to mention two from Pedro Costa!

[Awesome Welles]

From the new MOC catalogue:

Holy moly. Une femme mariee just went into my sale pile. City Girl too! Amazing. Any news on new SD releases?

[GringoTex]

Holy moly. Une femme mariee just went into my sale pile. City Girl too! Amazing. Any news on new SD releases?

That really sucks that Une femme mariee is coming out on BR so soon after the SD was released, which I bought. How often is this going to happen?

[Awesome Welles]

Holy moly. Une femme mariee just went into my sale pile. City Girl too! Amazing. Any news on new SD releases?

That really sucks that Une femme mariee is coming out on BR so soon after the SD was released, which I bought. How often is this going to happen?

Exactly. I have been anticipating this for a while. We all know the commitment to blu, whatever has a chance of going blu will do so in time, which is why my MoC collection has slimmed down from about 30-40 titles to 8 or so.

[Peacock]

Ahh very excited about City Girl, presumedly this will be seeing a nice SD release too?

[Awesome Welles]

3rd Catalogue pdf from Twitter.

[peerpee]

re: UNE FEMME MARIEE on BD. Things move quickly. When we were working on the SD disc this time last year it wasn't considered a candidate for BD. Now, costs have come down, we're throwing ourselves behind the format, and there will be hundreds of folk excited about this BD for each person who thinks releasing this title on BD now "sucks". We didn't decide to do this now in order to personally spite you and your purchase of the SD, for which we're very grateful, and which directly contributed to the BD release.

[Awesome Welles]

Nick, is there any liklihood you can tell what definitely won't be released on blu due to poor materials for instance?

Lovely catalogue by the way. Noticed you have credited Epstein on the back as part of the collection. Hope that's all going well.

[GringoTex]

re: UNE FEMME MARIEE on BD. Things move quickly. When we were working on the SD disc this time last year it wasn't considered a candidate for BD. Now, costs have come down, we're throwing ourselves behind the format, and there will be hundreds of folk excited about this BD for each person who thinks releasing this title on BD now "sucks". We didn't decide to do this now in order to personally spite you and your purchase of the SD, for which we're very grateful, and which directly contributed to the BD release.

You didn't answer my question, which is how often will MoC release an SD followed by the BR of the same title a few months later?

[peerpee]

Sorry, I thought the answer to your question could be inferred from what I'd written.

The quick answer is "we plan for that not to happen again" due to the reasons I stated, UNE FEMME MARIEE was an unusual case.

There are only a handful of catalogue titles that we would be willing to revisit for BD. Among them, Japanese titles such as KWAIDAN, ONIBABA, and big German titles such as METROPOLIS.

[RodneyOz]

At least the gap between SD and BluRay means that the booklet for Un Femme Mariee wasn't trimmed down to fit the BR case ala Sunrise - that booklet is hands down my favourite supplement of the year, and I wouldn't want to lose anything from it (even if available online).

Wonderful catalogue and I'm especially looking forward to 101 and 102 - having finally experienced Costa last year, I can't wait.

[GringoTex]

The quick answer is "we plan for that not to happen again" due to the reasons I stated, UNE FEMME MARIEE was an unusual case.

Thanks. Sorry for teeing off. I should have known better than to think you were going to follow Criterion's ridiculous business model.

[sidehacker]

Edit: Some people are faster than me. Colossal Youth could be in our hands much sooner than I expected!

[Tommaso]

Ahh very excited about City Girl, presumedly this will be seeing a nice SD release too?

Great news, even though I already have the Murnau/Borzage box. But that film deserves to be seen by many more people in a great edition; and in retrospect, with the best of the Borzages from the set now also coming from the BFI, the big Fox set becomes almost unnecessary. Almost. I'd never want to go without it.

[eerik]

Great news. I'll get them all eventually.

[TheGodfather]

Not likely to double dip on Une Femme Mariee on BD since I think the SD edition to be excellent with the book being one of the best things of the year.
Will City Girl be released on SD as well? and does it still stands that the booklet for the Soul Power bd will be bigger than the one that comes with the SD version??

[artfilmfan]

It would be great if MoC revisit "La Notte" for a BD release.

[tajmahal]

Kwaidan is an automatic pre-order, but the real treat in that list is Onibaba. I have both dvd's, but for what it's worth, Nick, a double Blu-ray pack of Onibaba and Kuroneko would be a must-buy for me.

Either way, some more goodies to look forward to over the next few years.

[ellipsis7]

It would be great if MoC revisit "La Notte" for a BD release.

Seconded (I understand it was a great seller on DVD - why not a BR then? - no problem with double dipping for me)...

[hidaniel]

There are only a handful of catalogue titles that we would be willing to revisit for BD. ... big German titles such as METROPOLIS.

Any chance of Spione making that list?

[denti alligator]

There are only a handful of catalogue titles that we would be willing to revisit for BD. ... big German titles such as METROPOLIS.

Any chance of Spione making that list?

That would be an excellent opportunity to fix the jaggy problems on the SD release.

The catalogue is beautifully put together. And the upcoming releases look very exciting, especially the Blus.