'Forthcoming' Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.2

[HerrSchreck]

Just one man's opinion guys. I think if it were to pop in the collection, an image disc wouldn't have stopped it (see Bicycle Thieves, 81/2, etc). There's something about Capra that I can't really put into words-- and again, this is based on my own opinion-- the kind of melodrama that he's famous for, I can't see CC really pulling for him in the collection. The other titles (like Make Way, Night Train) that are mentioned may be equally "known" in terms of their name recognition (or lack thereof)... but these films--debateably-- SEEM to have more worth studying, the mise en scene seems more complex/considered on multiple levels and operating in greater depth vs the surface narrative than the straight melodrama of Capra.

But this is merely my take. Capra might pop and I'd happily be proven completely wrong (I like his early work, especially those Stannies).

[bamwc2]

Just one man's opinion guys. I think if it were to pop in the collection, an image disc wouldn't have stopped it (see Bicycle Thieves, 81/2, etc). There's something about Capra that I can't really put into words-- and again, this is based on my own opinion-- the kind of melodrama that he's famous for, I can't see CC really pulling for him in the collection. The other titles (like Make Way, Night Train) that are mentioned may be equally "known" in terms of their name recognition (or lack thereof)... but these films--debateably-- SEEM to have more worth studying, the mise en scene seems more complex/considered on multiple levels and operating in greater depth vs the surface narrative than the straight melodrama of Capra.

But this is merely my take. Capra might pop and I'd happily be proven completely wrong (I like his early work, especially those Stannies).

Criterion released Capra's Lady for a Day on LD way back when and there was an Andy Klein post on their site about the film as well.

[oldsheperd]

I watched the documentary "It Came From Kuchar" this weekend. Their films would be a great Criterion Anthology ala By Brakhage or at the very least and Eclipse set. BTW does anyone have any news on Thundercrack?

[joshua]

I believe Don May plans on releasing Thundercrack through his Synapse label.

[goner]

I watched the documentary "It Came From Kuchar" this weekend. Their films would be a great Criterion Anthology ala By Brakhage or at the very least and Eclipse set. BTW does anyone have any news on Thundercrack?

A Kuchar Brothers set would be great. My "pie in the sky dream" Criterion release would be a Jack Smith anthology. But I don't think that will ever happen. Anyone know if there is a legal issue with his films? I think they are not on dvd anywhere.

[Murdoch]

I would love to see Hold Me While I'm Naked in the collection, the Kuchars deserve more attention.

[HistoryProf]

Domino's guarantees aside, can anyone elaborate at Diabolique's inclusion under the "Distinct Certainties" section in the forthcoming list?

DIABOLIQUE - email to member confirmation - Release on schedule, no sure street date yet (Last Update: 02/09)

Do we know which member received the email and what was actually said? given that it was a year and a half ago, I find the "release on schedule" bit particularly intriguing, and would LOVE to see this upgraded. It fits with their focus on the first 100 or so spine #s, and we've seen how glorious their black and white blu rays can be, and this is simply a phenomenal film from a true master of suspense that has sat on my shelf for too long in a very bland release, low quality A/V and zero extras...it's practically screaming for a blu ray extraveganza. I just have to wonder if the upgrade of Wages perhaps set this one back...like they have some director quota they have to fill before returning to some that have re-releases done already.

So is this touring anywhere in a new print or anything? Or was this a one-off email that may in fact be complete fiction?

[AfterTheRain]

I, ladies and gentlemen, was the one that inquired about a possible re-release of Diabolique. The e-mail that I got a year ago - I'm sorry, but can't remember the full details of it, was that Criterion does have plans to re-release it; it's only the matter of when. I suspect they're probably going through and remastering the film and probably preparing for Blu-ray. This is only speculation on my part. The best way to know is to inquire the power that be about the status of it.

[zedz]

Re: Kuchar. I remember hearing some time back that George was personally averse to DVD releases of his films, which was why we'd seen a set of Mike's films (Sins of the Fleshapoids) but none of George's. However, since then I, an Actress came out on the Film Archives set, and BluRay upped the ante, so maybe things have changed.

EDIT: Just checked and Sins of the Fleshapoids seems to be OOP and pricey, so if you can find it at a reasonable price, pick it up. George Kuchar is the bigger deal, but this is nevertheless a good set, particularly The Secret of Wendel Samson.

[oldsheperd]

Actually, on the It Came From Kuchar dvd you can see George handing out dvd copies of the film he screens to audience members.

[Matt]

To put it more precisely, George is (or was, at least as of 5 years ago) uninterested in revisiting his old films for DVD release. Like Woody Allen, he's only concerned with his next movie. That said, if you have very deep pockets, you can get much of his more recent video work from Video Data Bank.

[Adam]

A healthy assortment of Kuchar films have been restored in the past five years by Anthology, and could certainly serve as the anchor of any set.
That said, I don't know of any plans for a set.
George has DVDs of his video work, because it is video work.

[HistoryProf]

If Exterminating Angel was remastered in Hi-def, and released just as the first blu rays came out in early 2009, wouldn't that be an easy one to toss in one month as a blu addition a la Breathless, Days of Heaven, or Peirrot le fou? I keep wanting to buy it and can't help but feel like it's an obvious candidate for an extra blu one month soon. It's also equally probable that I don't remotely understand the meaning of "hi definition" transfer and it could be much more complicated and therefor no more likely than Mamma Roma or some other two disc that would be lovely to have on blu.

[med]

Criterion has been doing high-definition transfers on their releases for years, at least as far back as 2005. It means nothing as far as potential Blu releases go.

[Tom Hagen]

Also, what's the big deal about unloading a DVD of basically any Criterion on the used market, even after they announce a Blu? It's not like these things turn into paper weights. If possibly losing five to ten dollars and worrying about the hasssle is too much to bear, don't buy a DVD if you think it will come out on Blu. If you want to have the title now, then buy the title . . . And if you want more uninformed speculation, start more threads/posts about "will they/won't they release x catalogue title on Blu."

[aox]

Also, what's the big deal about unloading a DVD of basically any Criterion on the used market, even after they announce a Blu? It's not like these things turn into paper weights. If possibly losing five to ten dollars and worrying about the hasssle is too much to bear, don't buy a DVD if you think it will come out on Blu. If you want to have the title now, then buy the title . . . And if you want more uninformed speculation, start more threads/posts about "will they/won't they release x catalogue title on Blu."

I have sold every Criterion DVD that has been upgraded to Blu Ray for no less than $16 (and some for over $20), and have been able to upgrade to Blu for less than $10.

[Noiradelic]

I think if they really wanted to release a Blu of Exterminating Angel sooner rather than later, they would've done a simultaneous release ala The Last Metro or In the Realm of the Senses. If it'd come out a year later, they probably would have. Because of the evisceration of the Bunuel catalogue by Studio Canal, it's hard to say what the first Bunuel Blu would be, in light of Viridiana being a lower tier title. If they've acquired Tristana or Los Olvidados, either could end up being the first one.

[HistoryProf]

Criterion has been doing high-definition transfers on their releases for years, at least as far back as 2005. It means nothing as far as potential Blu releases go.

That's what I thought...I seemed to recall something about it being meaningless as far as blu possibilities because they still have to redo them anyway? I know nothing about the tech side of such matters so was just curious and that seemed a good example.

[cdnchris]

I believe they said they discovered a lot of their early hi-def transfers weren't up to snuff for Blu-ray so they have to redo them for the format.

[movielocke]

it depends, I think their HD transfers prior to 2005 were 1080i, and on HDCAM tape stock. So those will definitely have to be redone. The HD telecines after 2005 would be in 1080p and on HDCAMSR tape stock. These don't necessarily have to be redone but scanning technology HAS advanced significantly in the last five years. Sensor size affects resolving power which affects how much detail is captured by those 1080 lines of resolution, naturally the speed, sharpness, software aspects of scanning has also all changed. Additionally, it's been shown repeatedly that oversampling matters in the digital arena as well (oversampling is well known to be superior in analog, for obvious reasons). because it turns out that a scan done at 3k or 4k then downconverted to 2k (1080p) has more detail and more robust image harvest than the same scan done natively at 2k (1080p). This is why the big studios, like WB, have converted to all 4k or higher scanning. They rarely work in actual 4k, but they scan at 4k and downconvert to 2k because it results in a better image harvest than just scanning at 2k to begin with.

The superiority of the Red Shoes (scan originated in 4k, downconverted to 1080p for bluray) to Black Narcissus (scan originated in 2k, no downconversion necessary) illustrates this somewhat well. It's not an entirely fair comparison though, since iirc, all restoration work on red shoes was also done at 4k resolution, which is still a tremendous rarity.

This is why they were making HD transfers as far back as 2001, because making a 1080i telecine and downconverting to 480p for DVD resulted in an enormously better DVD image than performing a 480p telecine.

As best I know criterion doesn't originate scans any higher than 2k, so this is still not a factor for them, but the scanning technology has sufficiently changed that a 2k (1080p) transfer five years ago may look substantially less acceptable than a 2k (1080p) transfer made today.

[dwk]

I know this forum has a blood feud with Sam Smith, but he posted this picture, which is clearly for Kuroneko. Don't know if it is for a theatrical poster or a DVD/Blu-Ray cover, but either way it is a good sign that it is finally getting released.

[tojoed]

Criterion confirmed "Kuroneko" a while ago.

[ianungstad]

According to High Def Digest, the Videodrome blu streets Dec.7

No real surprise there. Hopefully they announce 1-2 new titles!

[bnowalk]

Since Drive, He Said and A Safe Place are sharing a disc, is this the first time two spine numbers have gone to the same disc?

[knives]

No, the madmen and monsters boxset had a similar setup. Incidentally go get the madmen and monsters boxset if just for the Karloff films.