'Forthcoming' Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.2

[Feego]

Ha! I didn't even notice the Howards End DVD for February. I guess that will make two people happy.

[Cinephrenic]

I wonder when we will get a expensive Ophuls gift set.

[Matt]

Wow! Lola Montes on blu

I can finally stop regretting selling my Criterion laserdisc of the film 10 years ago.

[Finch]

Am I right in thinking this is this the first time they've released Eclipse sets in successive months (Ackerman in January, now Shaw)? Here's hoping they can keep it up throughout 2010.

[Highway 61]

Nah, they've managed successive Eclipse months more than it seems. The string of Shepitko, Kaurismäki, and Mizoguchi, for instance. But they've never been able to do more than three months in row, as I recall.

[Flike]

Costa-Gavras says State of Siege is on the way.

Edit: Oh, wow, that's a long interview. Here:

AVC: It’s a shame that neither The Confession nor State Of Siege is on DVD.

CG: Yes, it is hard to find, I know. The rights used to belong to the group of Cinema Five. And now they have them back, so the people who did Z, they’re preparing also the DVD of State Of Siege.

[Doctor Sunshine]

There's also that clip from The Confession in the Z supplements, so there's a good chance they'll do that too.

[Jeff]

The Confession was tipped by a private source as having been licensed by Criterion from Paramount over a year ago. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see it paired as a sequential spine with State of Siege.

[Cinephrenic]

Thank you for that find. Great interview and good news.

[AisleSeat]

Some suggestions I recently zipped to the powers that be:

Naruse and Takamine: A Master Filmmaker and His Muse

On the Criterion label, a 3-film set:

Floating Clouds (Ukigumo, 1955)
Lightening (Inazuma, 1952) or Flowing (Nagareru, 1956)
Yearning (Midereu, 1964)
with Hideko, the Bus Conductress (1941, 54 min.) as a supplement. [This was Takamine's first movie with Naruse, and although only 17 years of age, she simply radiates from the screen, making the somewhat slight film worthwhile.]

Or as an Eclipse release:

Lightening (Inazuma, 1952)
Yearning (Midereu, 1964)
Hit and Run (Hikinige, 1969)
Untamed (Arakure, 1957)
Hideko, the Bus Conductress (1941)

There are several other Naruse/Takamine films--including A Wife's Heart (1956), A Woman's Life (1963), A Wanderer's Notebook (1962), A Woman's Place (1962), Daughters, Wives, and a Mother (1960), As a Wife, As a Woman (1961)--that deserve serious consideration as well.


Brit Noir

This suggestion comes from a currently playing film series at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Might very well make for a wonderful Eclipse box, or two. Pick and choose.

The October Man (Roy Baker, 1947)
On the Night of the Fire (Brian Desmond Hurst, 1936) w/Ralph Richardson
They Drive by Night (Arthur Woods, 1933)
The Criminal (Joseph Losey, 1960)
Seven Days to Noon (John and Roy Boulting, 1953)
I Met a Murderer (Roy Kellino, 1939) w/James Mason
The Upturned Glass (Lawrence Huntington, 1947) w/ James Mason
Brighton Rock (John and Roy Boulting, 1947)
Hell Drives (Cy Enfield, 1957)


Japanese New Wave: Boundary Pushing in the Late 1960s

These 4 films, all relatively unknown, tend to fit well together. As such, an Eclipse set might be more appropriate and workable than separate Criterion releases.

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (Nagisa Oshima, 1969)
Funeral Parade of Roses (Toshio Matsumoto, 1969)
The Inferno of First Love [aka Nanami, First Love] (Susumu Hani, 1968)
Eros Plus Massacre (Yoshisige Yoshida, 1969)

As it's been more than two years since Criterion released When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, it's likely more Naruse will be forthcoming in the not too distant future. But what about the pairing or Naruse and Takamine? How appealing would this be to potential buyers? Are the films strong enough, with the exception of Floating Clouds, for a mainline box?

A Brit Noir set seems tailor made for Eclipse. And because most of the titles above are not well-known classics, particularly outside of Britain, gaining license may not be all that difficult.

[mfunk9786]

More Costa-Gravas is very exciting indeed! =D> Both Z and Missing are fantastic releases.

[Michael Kerpan]

Floating Clouds (Ukigumo, 1955) masterpiece+
Lightening (Inazuma, 1952) masterpiece
Flowing (Nagareru, 1956) masterpiece
Yearning (Midereu, 1964) masterpiece-
Hideko, the Bus Conductress (1941) not really as slight as it first seems, with a devastating (and subversive -- considering its era) twist.
Hit and Run (Hikinige, 1969) interesting but minor
Untamed (Arakure, 1957) wonderful film (based on an excellent book)
A Wife's Heart (1956) very nice film, with fine performance by Mifune
A Woman's Life (1963) good but not great
A Wanderer's Notebook (1962) I think this one is excellent -- but opinion seems a bit divided on this
A Woman's Place (1962) good but not great
Daughters, Wives, and a Mother (1960) some fine moments, but a bit too diffuse
As a Wife, As a Woman (1961) first rate melodrama

Surely enough for at least one Eclipse set -- plus a mainline release of Floating Clouds

[perkizitore]

More Costa-Gravas is very exciting indeed! =D> Both Z and Missing are fantastic releases.

It's Gavras :-"

[zedz]

More Costa-Gravas is very exciting indeed! =D> Both Z and Missing are fantastic releases.

It's Gavras :-"

What's the cost o' gravlax got to do with the price of fish?

[tajmahal]

More Costa-Gravas is very exciting indeed! =D> Both Z and Missing are fantastic releases.

It's Gavras :-"

What's the cost o' gravlax got to do with the price of fish?

I think you are all Missing Z point.

[jaredsap]

A Brit Noir set seems tailor made for Eclipse. And because most of the titles above are not well-known classics, particularly outside of Britain, gaining license may not be all that difficult.

The rights are spread out for Brit Noir. Many are owned by Canal, which just yanked THE THIRD MAN away from Criterion. The other titles you've listed are owned by MGM and WB (good luck!), among others. Seems like quite a licensing challenge to me.

[AisleSeat]

A Brit Noir set seems tailor made for Eclipse. And because most of the titles above are not well-known classics, particularly outside of Britain, gaining license may not be all that difficult.

The rights are spread out for Brit Noir. Many are owned by Canal, which just yanked THE THIRD MAN away from Criterion. The other titles you've listed are owned by MGM and WB (good luck!), among others. Seems like quite a licensing challenge to me.

Given the pertinent information you've provided, it does indeed seem like a licensing challenge. That's disappointing because a Brit Noir Eclipse release would be nice. I'm hopeful Criterion will at least consider the idea.

Now, how exactly does Canal just snap back rights for the The Third Man. Isn't a contract, a contract? It seems the only way that Canal could do that to Criterion is if the licensing contract specifically allowed Canal to terminate rights anytime, and at their discretion. The Third Man is indeed a special film, but, unfortunately, the licensing contract was apparently tweaked to strongly favor Canal, much to the detriment of Criterion. Maybe Criterion should consider beefing up their legal team.

[jaredsap]

Now, how exactly does Canal just snap back rights for the The Third Man. Isn't a contract, a contract? It seems the only way that Canal could do that to Criterion is if the licensing contract specifically allowed Canal to terminate rights anytime, and at their discretion. The Third Man is indeed a special film, but, unfortunately, the licensing contract was apparently tweaked to strongly favor Canal, much to the detriment of Criterion. Maybe Criterion should consider beefing up their legal team.

Yes, a contract is a contract. Criterion has had THE THIRD MAN for a decade. I assume the THIRD MAN deal, like most licensing deals, was for a set period of time. Once the period of time elapsed, Canal was free to do what they want with the title (i.e. give to Lionsgate to release with a missing reel a la THE DEAD).

[polysicsarebest]

FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES is one of my all time favorite films. Any Toshio Matsumoto or especially any Shuji Terayama (EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP and PASTORAL: TO DIE IN COUNTRY would be perfect) would be great on criterion.

I do totally see Criterion releasing the best film of all time, EUREKA (2000), by Shinji Aoyama one day. Why wouldn't they? This is a MASTERPIECE. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243889/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd really love to see some Takeshi Kitano on Criterion. Really, all of his films are good enough, but a pimped-out edition of HANA-BI would be amazing. A company a while back bought up most of Kitano's early films and some of his later ones and then went out of business before they could release special editions of films like VIOLENT COP and SCENE AT THE SEA. I would do just about anything to see his latest trilogy on Criterion, because they would be given the respect they deserve. ACHILLES AND THE TORTOISE stands alone as one of the best films of the past 10 years, up there with Godard's NOTRE MUSIQUE and the aformentioned EUREKA.

Speaking of Godard, would love to see Criterion release some of his newer films. I like his early films but his newer ones blow them away. That Lionsgate box set blows away anything Criterion's released (the films themselves, not the features -- d'oh!). I think this is more of a question of "when", not "if", but a Criterion edition of something like NOVELLE VAGUE would be mindblowing.

[Flike]

Assuming this is in reference to Ride with the Devil.

[mfunk9786]

Has there been any discussion of Criterion releasing The Wicker Man? The Anchor Bay release is not only out of print, but it's Amazon Marketplace hell.

[ianungstad]

http://www.amazon.com/Wicker-Man-Juliet ... 115&sr=8-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wicker Man was a Studio Canal title, now with Lions Gate. Don't know how the Lions Gate dvd compares with the Anchor Bay release. All of the Ealing titles moved over to Lions Gate as well.

[HistoryProf]

I DVR'd Carol Reed's The Man Between the other day and noticed the Studio Canal intro at the beginning and remembered the confirmation of Odd Man Out a while back. While OMO has an overpriced Image DVD, tMB has also never been on dvd and is an obvious choice to go with The Third Man...anyone have any ideas on this? Could it also be in the works? Makes perfect sense to me that OMO should be accompanied by the excellent Cold War thriller tMB....second time i've caught it on TCM and it's among Reed's and James Mason's finest accomplishments.

Or....w/ the Third Man debacle....are all of these now out of the realm of possibility?

[Minkin]

I asked on the Facebook page a while back about The Man Between- and they said it wasn't theirs- but they sounded quite sad to admit that. Perhaps a closer reading into that statement could have predicted the demise of The Third Man. It would have been a nice counterpart to The Third Man- very similar wonderful use of bombed cities and Cold-War adventures. I can only hope who ever ended up with both titles now will actually take the titles seriously- though I can't see too much more improvement to be made on the Criterion disk. I thought the business motivation behind these companies retaking the films and distributing their own versions was quite nonsensical- If you already have such a minority market- why risk releasing an inferior product? I couldn't imagine anybody having heard/seen/be interested in buying Contempt or Ran or The Third Man- and not have ever heard of Criterion. Does anyone know how the Contempt bluray has been doing in sales? Perhaps the poor sales on whatever they decided to do with The Third Man will stop them from pulling titles. Does anyone believe that the Third Man deal could also possibly cause changes with the possible release of Odd Man Out?

[domino harvey]

Hi all, long time lurker first time poster here. Just wanted to pop in and confirm that Jean-Pierre Gorin's solo works are indeed in the pipeline for a Criterion (not Eclipse) box set release. I am taking his film theory courses here at UC San Diego currently and Gorin is making semi-weekly commutes between here and Los Angeles, where he is working on the restoration of his "Southern California" trilogy: Poto and Cabengo (1980), Routine Pleasures (1986), and My Crasy Life (1992). I spoke with him personally today about this release and he mentioned that he was done with restoring Poto and is now working steadfastly on the latter two films. When I asked for a rough timetable for its release, he said that they should be out "within a year or less".

He also mentioned that, as far as he knew, the set would not be part of the Eclipse series - though with some reservation, as he did qualify it by saying that his relationship with Criterion has been tenuous as of late due to his misgivings about the label's apathetic attitudes towards "low-budget, rock-n-roll films shot on 16mm and other cheaper film stock" (which apparently cost considerably more to restore than films shot in 35mm or higher? not sure, but that's what I personally gleaned from his slightly vague remarks). He mentioned how he wanted to use some kind of advanced restoration technique for Poto, whose name I can't quite recall (4000K? something like that), but which would've cost ~$150,000 - exponentially more than the production cost of the film itself. So he had to settle for a less advanced, presumably lower quality approach for the current project.

Lastly, to my delight, he confirmed that the box set would indeed be entitled Three Popular Films -- a nice little tongue-in-cheek gesture that reflects Gorin's reputation for being a punk kid from France who sought to condemn and subvert mainstream commercial cinema. Moreover, he remarked that he intends to re-release Poto at the NYC Film Forum -- a move that he regrets not doing back when the film was originally released (at the Whitney Theatre instead), and which he attributes to him not being too familiar with American distribution channels at the time, having only recently emigrated to the States.

All in all, good news for all us French New Wave fans out there!

If he thinks that timetable's gonna stop me from guessing "the Gorin box" every month in this thread, he's wrong

Great first post though, thanks for the info